-^

'-^

-f'

M^

^

:'»'J*

W:

£¦*%>

ari
^- ^i^i
:^^^:>^-^,
a\ \&

/c^^SZ.

THE

flRGilA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

CONDUCTED BT THE

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

OF THE

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Volume I.

RICHMOND :
PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE,
BT MACPARLANE & PEEGUSSON,
1854.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In issuing this first number of our Virginia Historical
Reporter, we deem it only necessary to state, that we
intend it to serve as the organ of our Society, and to re
port to the members of it, first, the Proceedings of the
Annual Meeting, including the Annual Discourses ; and,
secondly, such articles and documents relating to the His
tory of Virginia, as any of our members, or others, may
'communicate to us for preservation in its pages ; the col
lection of which is indeed the main object of our engage-
ment, and that by which we chiefly hope to benefit the
State.
THE COMMITTEE.

TME •
VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY:
TSE seventh AMUAL MEETING.
The Seventh Annual Meeting ofthe Virginia Histofical
Society was held in the Hall of the AthenEeum, on Thursday
evening, December lo, 1853, and was favored with the com
pany of a large and brilliant audience — many members of
the General Assembly, gentlemen and ladies, citizens and
strangers — assembled on the intieresting occasion.
The President of the Society, (the Hon. Wm. C. Rives,
of Albemarle,,) presided; and, on t-aking the chair, made a
brief and very becoming address. After this, the Chair
man of the Executive Committee, Conway Robinson, Esq.»
read the report of the Executive Committee, showing the
progress of the Society during the past year, in a very
satisfactory manner.
The Secretary and Librarian, Mr, Maxwell, then read a
List of-the Books, and other donations which had been re
ceived since the last Annual Meeting.
After these proceedings, Hugh B. Grigsby, Esq., of Nor
folk, read a highly interesting discourse on the subject of
the Convention of 1829-30 ; which was received with due
and gratified attention by all present. '
The following resolutions were then unanimously adap
ted. On motion of Wm. H. Macfarland, Esq., of Richmond :
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to
Mugh B. Grigsby, Esq., for his able aud interesting discourse ;

2 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORflTI?/
find that he be requested to furnish the Executive CottiWitteff
Ivith a copy of it to be preserved in the archives; and to bef
liublished in such manner and form as they shall think proper.
On motion of Gustavus A. Slyers, Esq., of Richmond i
Resolved, That tbe thanks of the Society be presented to the
President, the Hon. Wm. C. Kives, for his elegant present of
the Portrait of Dr. Franklin, so handsomely and generously be
stowed by him for the ornament of its ball.
On motion of Tazewell Taylor, Esq., of Norfolk :
Resolved, That the Executive Committee cause to be prepar
ed aud presented to the General Assembly of Virginia, a me
morial in the name of the Society, respectfully asking an ap
propriation to the Society of one thousand dollars a year fof
such term of years as the General Assembly may deem advisa
ble, to enable the Society to procure from England copies of
manuscripts relating to the early history of this State, and to
prosecute its publication of the Early Voyages to America, and
the Annals of Virginia.
We report here Mr. Rives' Address, and the other pa
pers already referred to, as they were submitted :
MR. RIVES' ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Virgima Historical Society :
In occupying again by your leave the Chair ofthe Soci
ety, after an absence of several years from your meetinors
and from the country, the first impulse of ray heart, not less
than the dictate of duty, is to express to you ray sincere
thanks for the honor you have done me, by continuino- me
nominally in this place, frora year to year, notwithstanding
the wide distance which separated us. This kindness on
your part was the more gratifying, as besides the mark of
your good will and regard it conveyed to me, and which I
need not say how highly I prize, it was an evidence that
you gave me full credit for the deep and lively interest I
have ever felt in the fortunes ofthis Society. In tbis, gen'

THIS VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 3
tlemen, be assured, you were in nowise mistaken. Though
personally separated from you, rny heart has been with you
in your noble and patriotic labors. From beyond the ocean,
amid the din of Coups d' Etat, the fall of Republics and
the rise of Empires, I caught with eagerness every note of
your proceedings, and watched with solicitude and gratifi
cation the steady advances yo,u ha.ve been making in the
public favor and esteem.
This Society hab now beconie in effect, if not in forra,
by the merit of your labors, an Institution ofthe State. It.
has taken root in the generous sentiments and affections
of the T eople, and neither the present nor after-times willj
I fond'/ persuade myaelf, " willingly let jt die.'' Afl.d why
ifihould Jl notbe warmly and cordially supported by the piah'
lie sympathy and encouragement? Devoted to the pious
task of illustratinff and coramemoratina' the lives and ac-
tions of our glorious ancestors, of redeeming from oblivion
every thing which relates to them, of gathering from private
repositories and preserving in a durable form the Sybilline
leayes of our history, now become every day more and
jnore precious, from the waste which tirae and accident
.and neglect are committing araong them. What object
;can transcend this in nobleness and dignity, or more pow
erfully ftoromend itself to the hearts and judgments of all
(true and loyal Virginians?
Let not the earnest and praiseworthy pursuit of jfresent
interest, however important, divert us from this sacred du
ty. There is no undertaking of public utility, no generous
,scherae of conteraporary improveraent, in which profitable
lessons of one kind or another may not be drawn from the
history of the past; and just in proportion as, by these
means, the influence and importance of our State are mag
nified, as the stream of her prosperity and power growjs
fcroader and fuller in flowing onward in its course, should

4 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
our diligence and curiosity be quickened to explore the
first feeble springs in which so noble a current had its rise,
lo frace out and follow all the tributary rivulets which have
fed and augmented it, that knowing thus the various agen
cies by which il has been formed and brought to its actual
condition, we may the better provide for its future and pro
gressive enlargement. This, gentlemen, is the field of
patriotic labor, as full of interest as of usefulness, which
you have chosen for yourselves. I am proud to be thought
worthy to be a fellow laborer with you in such a field. The
period of my return to the country frora other duties is too
recent, and that short interval has been too much crowded
with urgent engagements of a different character, to per
mit rae to offer you, on the present occasion, any substan
tive proof of a use.'ul participation in your labors. But I
pray you to be assured, gentleraen, tbat, trusting to zoalto
make amends for the want of ability, my hand as well as
my heart shall be wilh you, as opportunity may allow, in
your pious eff'orts lo keep bright and clear the historic glo
ries of oui ancient commonweallb, and thus lo supply
the purest and best incentive of emulation to that auspi
cious revival of Virginia enterprise and self-reliance that
are now again so happily dawning upon us.
THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
Report made to tke Virgima Historical Society, by its Ex
ecutive Committee at tke Annual Meeting in Becemher,
1853.
We have the pleasure of informing the Society, that its
life-members, paying fifty dollars each now number forty-
two; that its investraent in certificates of debt ofthe State
of Virginia, amounts to twenty-six hundred dollars; and
that from the subscriptions already made, it is anticipated
the investment will in a few weeks be enlarged to three

THE tVIHGINIA HISTOTtlCAL REPORTER. 5
thousand dollars. This constitutes our perraanent fund ;
a fund which all must acknowledge it is very important to
increase ; for the larger the amount ofthe perraanent fund,
the raore confidence there will be in the stability of the
Society ; and the larger the yearly income from that fund,
the greater will ibe the Society's capacity for usefulness.
A conviction of this, blended with a hberal spirit, has caus-
•ed one gentleraan lo propose to subscribe a hundred dol
lars a year for five years, if four would join him; and has
led tvvo to respond to the proposition. We feel muc'h con-
"fidence that during the ensuing year, two others will come
forward, and thus enable our institution to reap tihe benefit
of a liberal proposal, full of so much advantage to it.
However limited the Soeiety's income has hitherto been,
it is satisfaoloiy to know that with such aid as could be
extended from it to Mr. Maxwell, he has been enabled, for
six years, to publish ihe Virginia Historical Register, and
thereby diffuse in an agreeable way a large amount of in
forraation bearing upon the history of the State. It is a
subject of sincere regret now when there is so general, we
may say, so universal a concurrence of opinion as to his
peculiar fitness for the task of editing this journal, that he
should haive determined .to bring it to a conclusion. What
ever may be our regret at this determination, we are not
disposed to question the sufficiency of the considerations
which, in his judgment, rendered it advisaible. It is pleas
ing to know that'th ough his periodical has ceased, his work
remains in such a form that it will be a welcorae addition
to the libraries of our country, private as well as public,
and be a raeraorial in after tiraes of the valuable service
that he has rendered to his State.
An important object of the register has been, the publi-
.calion of the proceedings ofthe society, and papers of in
terest communicated toit, or to its committee or secretary,
1*

6 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
including letters and other manuscripts, material to be
published proraptly. This object we deem of loo much
importance lo be relinquished ; and keeping it in view,
we still contemplate a publication annually or semi-annu
ally, under Mr. Maxwell's editorial agency.
Such a publication of scattered letiers and papers bear
ing on our history which we may receive or collect, is im
portant alike for their preservation and to facilitate the lar
ger woik which we have in view ; one in chronological
order, completing the account of the voyages lo the Atlantic
coast of North America prior to 1606, and then proceed
ing willi iiie Annals of Virginia.
As years roll on, it will be a subject of increased regret
that 30 little has been done by the men of Virginia in for
mer days to collect and preserve the materials for her his
lory. It becomes us, however, and the men of our day not
simply to deplore the losses arising frora past neajlect, but
to do all that is practicable lo i)revent those looses from
being increased by neglect in our time.
A visit to England during the past summer and Hill, by
the chairman of the committee, ha? enabled him to obtain
more exact information than we before had here in reo-ard
lo the valuable materials which exist there. As manv days
as he could well spare from other objects of inierest, w
spent by him at London, in examining the volumes con
taining the catalogues of manuscripts in the extensive libra
ry of the British Museum, and in inspecting manuscript:
.nt the state paper office, and noting their nature. Copie^
ivere obtained by hiin of three manuscript letters written
to Sir Francis Walsingham by Ralph Lane : two of them
dated the 12ih of August, laSo, from Port Ferdinando, in
Virginia; and the other written the Sih of September, in
the same year, from the New Port in Virginia. These lel-

ere

les

in

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 7
ters fall within the period lo be embraced in the second
volume of "Early Voyages to America."
But the manuscripts in the stale paper office of mosl in
terest to a citizen of this State, are those which relate to
the proceedings in what is now Virgima.
The first General Assembly held in this Colony, was con
vened at James Cily, the SOth of July, 1619. Hening al
ludes to it, but is unable to tell what it did ; and Stith says,
he could no where find among the records extant any ac
count of the particulars that passed.* Ofthe proceedings
of this General Assembly, the chairman saw at London,
in the stale paper office a full report, embracing 30 pages.
It contains the names of the burgesses, their manner of
proceeding; their resolutions and acts or ordinances.
Not only are there in the state paper office manuscripts
relating to the early legislation of Virginia, which it would
be discreditable to this State not to take steps to procure.
But other manuscripts are to be found there of great inter
est as illustrative of the condition of the colony. They
consist chiefly of letters and official documents. Among
them may be mentioned papers in the nature of a census ;
for example, one dated February 16lh, 1623, containing in
18 pages a list of the names of the persons then living in
Virginia ; and in 4 pages a list of the dead ; another called
a muster of the inhabitants in Virginia, taken in January
1624. This is a manuscript of 103 pages, and seems to be
a very complete census; beginning with the inhabitants of
the college land, and ending with those of the eastern
shore. It is most remarkable that Virginia, whose history is more
full of interest than that of any of her sister States should
be so far behind many of them in what is essentially ne
cessary to have the materials for her history, collected, pre-
* 1 Hening's Statutes, p. 119, 121.

S THE VniGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
served and perpetuated ; materials many of which exist
now in a perishable forra, and which if steps be not soon
taken to prevent it, may be forever lost.
Such arrangeraents have been made by the chairman,
with ofiicers at the state paper office, that now copies of
interesting manuscripts in that ofiic«, can be obtained
throuoh his corresjxjndence ; at a cost which though it
might be heavy upon the present limited income of this
Society, would be to Virginia, for the object to be effected,
exceedingly sraall.
An appropriation by the General Assembly of this State
of a thousand dollars a year, for as raany years as to the
General Assembly may seem advisable, would enable us to
go on each year, obtaining materials that are wanting frora
abroad ; publishing m tlie chronological work contempla
ted by us, all that may appear of sufficient interest or value
to deserve publication io that way ; and arrangiugthe rest
in manuscript volumes for convenient reference.
We submit to the Society the expediency of an applica
tion frora it at this meeting to the General Assembly for
such an appropriation.
Although the publication of our regular chronological
series may be suspended, it is agreeable to kn-ow that
through voluntary donations, and by means of the $150
a year, appropriated by the Council of the City of Rich
mond, there are yearly additions to the Society's library.
The chairraan during his recent visit to England, made
sorae purchases of which as well as of the donations, you
will have more particular information from the Secretary.
The chairraan also did soraething in Enoland in aid of
our eflTort to have the walls of the Society's library room
decorated with portrahs of Governors of Virginia and of
others distinguished in her history.
It may be remembered that Thomas Percy, a kinsman of

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 9
the Earl of Northumberland, was concerned in the gun
powder plot. The day before it was to be executed, he
was at Sion House, the Earl's seat. The earl was suspec
ted of being concerned in the plot, and was committed lo
the tower; there he was confined many years with Sir
Walter Raleigh and Thoraas Hariot araong his constant
companions. The disfavour in which the Earl was — his
iraprisonraent and the views of such men as Raleigh and
Hariot, we may infer were not without their influence upon
George Percy, his youngest brother. George came to
Virginia, and in 1611 between Lord De La Ware's depar
ture from Virginia and the coraing of Sir Thomas Dale,
this colony was left to his charge. Captain George Percy,
we are told, was " a gentleman of honor and resolution."
He was not only araong the adventurers for Virginia, but
distinguished hiraself in the wars of the low countries.
In connection with the portrait about to be mentioned,
it may be proper to note that in those wars he had a finger
shot off. Having been born the 4th of Septeniber, 1580,
Captain Percy had not completed bis 31st year, when in
charge of the government of Virginia; nor his 52d when
in March 1632, he died a bachelor.
Our chairraan, having Ihrough the kindness of a barris-
ter who is the professional adviser of the Duke of Nor
thumberland, received tt card of admission to the Duke's
house and grounds at Sion, saw among the portraits there,
one dated in 1615 of Captain George Percy ; slating hira
to be brother of Henry, Earl of Northuraberland, and show
ing the loss of the finger. Through the professional gen
tleman above referred to, the chairraan applied to the Duke
for perraission to have a copy of this portrait made, that it
might be presented to our Historical Society; and the per-
mission was proraptly granted.
About six weeks afterwards, the chairman was at Leeds

10 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
Castle, and among the portraits there saw one whieh the
proprietor, (Mr. Charles Wykehara Martin,) stated to be of
Lord Culpeper, who was a governor of Virginia, and of
which he kindly offered to present a copy to our Society-
Within a week past letters have been received from Eng-
iand, stating that the copy of the former portrait is now
ready to be sent; arid that Lord Culpeper has "gone to
London lo be copied and will soon be finished."
Directions will be given by the chairraan that these two
copies of portraits be shipped frora England direct to Rich
mond- Within a few days past, an offer has also been made to
place with us on deposit, until it shall be called for by its
owner, a portrait of Governor Giles, believed to have been
painted by Harding, during the convention of 1829-30.
But the finest work of art that we have received within
the past year, is a portrait of Franklin, painted by one of
the raost eminent painters of Paris, in the pastel style, for
our President, who while in the service of his country, at
the Court of France, availed himself of the opportnnity
ito obtain some suitable present for the ornament of our
room. It is a copy from the famous portrait of the phil
osopher taken from life by Greuze, the distinguished artist
of the reigns of Louis XV. and XVI. Our secretary in
laying before you what he has to communicate, will read
the letter of Mr. Rives describing this portrait. The do
nation of it cannot fail to afford lo the merabers of the
Society lively satisfaction, not only for the excellence o^
the painting ; but rauclj raore for the additional evidence
which it furnishes, of the donor's interest jn the cause in
whjch we are engaged.

TMfi Virginia HisToftlcxt reporter, II
DONATIONS.
List of Books and Paintings Presented to the Society dur
ing tke past year.
Owens' Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa,
and Minnesota; transmitted by the care "of the Hon. A. H. H.
Stuart; 1 vol. large 4to., with Illustrations.
Schoolcraft's History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian
Tribes ofthe U. S., Illustrated by S< Eastman of the U. S. Ar-
tny ; transmitted by the care of Geo. W. Manypenny, Commis
sioner for Indian Affairs. 1 vol. large 4to,
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. Sth, 4to, ; by
the Institution.
Memoir of Robert Troup Paine, 1 vol. 4to; also three other
vols, two 8vo., and one 12mo. ; by Martyn Paine, M. D., of New
York. Journal of Science and the Arts, 5 vols. 8vo., Lynch's Dead
Sea aud the Jordan, 1 vol. Svo. ; and Edwards's Works, 10 vols.-
8vo. ; by Williain H. Macfarland, Esq., of this city.
Memoir of a Huguenot Family, 1 vol. ]2rao. ; by Edmund
Fontaine, Esq., of this City.
Documentary History of New York, 4 vols. Svo.; and Broad-
head's History of the State of New York, 1st. vol. Svo.; by
Theodore Sedgewick, Esq.
Anderson's History of the Colonial Church, 2d vol. Svo. ; by
Rev. James T. Anderson, M. A., Chaplain in Ordinary to the
Queen, &c., &c. ; by Charles Wykeham Martin, ot Leed's-
Parisb. Smith's Prelections, 1 vol. 12mo; by the Author, John A.
Smith, M. D., of New York, an Associate of the Society.
Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, from the Papers
of Thomas Jefferson, 4 vols-, Svo. ; by T. J. Randolph, Esq.,
of Albemarle.
Peter Martyn's Work " De Insulis Nuper Inventis ;'' and the
Second and Third Narrations of Fernandez Cortes, 1 vol., 4to.,
(printed in I.'532;) another volume of the same author, (printed
in 1533;)Malte-Brun's Geography, S vols. Svo.; Collins's Peer
age, 9 vols. Svo. ; Platt's Universal Biography, 5 vols. Svo. ',
Bisset's History of England, 5 vols. 8vo.; Autobiography
df Hamilton Rowan, 1 vol. Svo. ; Irving's Conquest of Florida,

IS THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
S vols. 12mo.; The Two Charters of South Carolina ; South'
ern Review, 5 vols. 8vo ; Hawkins' Quebec, 1 vol. Svo. ; and
Butlers' Reminiscences, 1 vol. 12mo. ; by Conway Kobmson,
Esq., of this City.
A Sketch of Petersburg, (by Peticolas ;) by Wyndham Rob-
eftson, Esq., of Abingdon.
A Portrait of Dr> Franklin, copied from the original of Greuze,
byMons. Guillaume, of Paris; by Hon. Wm. C. Rives.
In teference fo this Portrait of Dr. Franklin, which is
executed in the pastel style, and is a beautiful specimen of
the art, Mr. M. read a letter from the donor, addressed to
him as Secretary of the Society, which was apparently
very agreeable to the audience, and ran as follows :
Castle Hill, 14th November, 1S53.
My Dear iSir,-^ While I was in Paris, I sought diligently for
some representation of an American subject by an eminent Eu
ropean artist, which might prove an acceptable addition to the
collection already commenced by the Virginia Historical Soci
ety. I should have preferred that the subject were specially
Virginian, such for example, as a reproduction on canvass or in
marble of the features of some one of the great worthies of our
own State, who, by their illustrious career of virtue and patri*
otism, bave given us the proud name we bear before the worldi
No such work, however, being extant there, the next most de*
sirable acquisition seemed to rae to be an authentic likeness by
a gifted contemporary hand, of the great American Philosophei?
aild Statesman, who laid the foundation Of our political rela
tions with that country, and by his influence and popularity at
the first court of Europe, procured for us the advantages of a
powerful alliance, which stood side by side with us through the
struggles and the triumphs of our great Revolutionary contest.
Besides the common claim which Franklin thus acquired to the
gratitude ot all Americans, he has a special hold on the consid
eration of Virginians in the intimate confidence aud friendship

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 13
which subsisted between him and our two great Virginia States
men, Washington and Jefferson, and which towards the close of
his life, led to a noble aud touching interchange of mutual es
teem and affection between them, (with the former by letter and
the latter in person,) of which History no where presents a
more august and beantiful example.*
I flatter rayself, therefore, that in the Portrait of Franklin,
whieh I left in your possession a few days ago, I am offering
to the Historical Society of Virginia a memorial which they
will be pleased to accept. It is from an undoubted original by
Greuze, the most eminent French artist of the reigns of Louis
XV. and Louis XVI. The original could not be purchased for
any price; aud the painting now offered to the Historical So
ciety, executed by a very superior Parisian artist, is ihe only
copy ever permitted to be taken from it, which was accorded
as a special mark of consideration for the Institution to which
it was destined, as w ell as of kindness to myself.
A brief history of the original painting may not be without
interest to the Society. It was obtained by the present posses
sor from a descendant of Beyer. Beyer, from a zealous prac
tical application to the physical sciences, came to be employed
by the Freuch Government to superintend the construction and
arrangement of Paratonneres, or Lightning rods, on the public
Edifices and Monuments of Paris. This employment biought
him into communication with the inventor of the Lightning rod,
who was then the American Minister at Paris, and who, from
the sympathy for mechanical pursuits which his own early his
tory naturally begat, took great interest in his new acquaintance.
A mutual kindness sprung up between them. Beyer who was
distinguished by his extraordinary mechanical ingenuity, inven
ted nmong other things a contrivance suggested by Dr. Frank
lin's diplomatic wants, of which the inventor gives the following
naive accouut :
"Monsieur Franklin, during his residence at Paris, desired to
* See Washington's Papers, by Sparks, vol. x., p. 33, and Jefferson's
Writings, vol. i. p. 88.

14 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
have a means of writing without being seen. I invented for
him des tablettes mecaniques, by means of which one may wriJe
in his pocket without looking at what he writes, and without
dauger of making mistakes."
The portrait by Greuze is supposed to have been presented by
Franklin to Beyer in return for these kind attentions, and as a
Souvenir of a friendship cemented by striking resemblanees in
iheir early career.
The best voucher for the fidelity of tbe portrait is to be found
in its exact correspondence, (the fur cap alone excepted,) with
the following familiar and playful description of himself, con
tained in a letter dated Paris, Sth Feb. i777, addressed by him
to Mrs. Thompson, (aajEwg-Zis/i acquaintance,) onlya few months.
after his arrival in France, on bis memorable mission.
" 1 know you wish yon conld see me, but as you can't, I will
describe myself to you. Figure me in your mind as jolly as
formerly, and as strong aud hearty, only a few years older;
very plainly dressed, wearing my thin grey straight hair that
peeps out under my only coiffure a fine fur cap, which comes
down my forehead almost to my spectacles. Think how this
must appear among the powdered beads of Paris! I wish ev
ery lady and gentleman in France would ouly be so obliging as
to follow my fashion, comb their owu beads as: 1 do mine, dis
miss their friseurs, aud pay me half the money they paid to
them. You see the gentry might well afford this, and I could
ihen enlist these /r/sfurs, (who are al least, 100,000.) and with
the money I would maintain them, make a visit to England,
and dress the heads of your Ministers and Privy Counsellors,
which I conceive, at present, to be un peu derang'ees."
Praying you, my dear sir, to piesent these few words of ex
planation to the Historical Society with the painting I had the
honor to leave with you, I remain,
With the highest esteem and respect.
Very truly aud faithfully yours,
W. C. RIVES.
Wm. Maxwell, Esq.,
Secretary of the Fa. His. Society.

THE VIRGINIA HISTOaiCAL REPORTER. 15

THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1829-39.
-5 Discourse delivered before tke Virginia Historical Society,
at ikeir Annual Meeting, held in the Athenamm in tke
City of Richmond, December Wth, 1853. By Hugh B.
Grigsby, Esq.
Mr. President and Gentleinen
of tke Virginia Historical Society :
Could we point to some succinct and authentic record of
the lives of those great men who laid the foundations of
our institutions and reared upon them the structure, which
it was the privilege of our fathers and ourselves for half a
century to inhabit, — hovf delightful would be the office of
pointing out their worth to the young men of the country,
and of exhorting them to imitate their glorious example?
Alas ! no such record exists ; and the Virginian, old and
young, knows less of George Mason and Edmund Pendle
ton, than he does of the statesmen of Greece or Rome ;
and when the patriotic parentis sensible of the importance
of imbuing the youthful mind with a knowledge of our
early benefactors, he finds the task difficult and almost im-
piossible. Much has been lost, but much may yet be done.
I hold that every fact relating to those eminent men is of
real value. It may seem at first immaterial to know that
Pendleton was a cripple ; but, when it is known that, lame
as he was, and unable to rise frora his chair to put a ques
tion to the house, he was nevertheless unanimously chosen
president of the Virginia Convention of 1788, and allowed
to perform the duties of the station sitting, and afterwards
presided for so many years in our highest courts, the fact
contains a moral which posterity will delight to learn and
to apply. Let us hope that the glorj of performing such

16 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
an office awaits some member of our association, and, if he
should execute it with the skill and grace with which the
character and services of Hampden have been recorded by
an eminent Virginian, he will accomplish a work which
the present age will hail with applause, and which poster
ity, if I may use the words of Milton just quoted by the
chair, will not willingly let die.
I come to lay my own humble but grateful tribute at the
shrine of the past, and, while I sincerely wish that the task
of recalling to the recollection of the present generation
the lives and services ofthe members ofthe Virginia Con
vention of 1829-30 had been assigned to worthier hands
than mine, I trust the readiness with which I have under
taken it, deeply sensible as I am of its difficulty and deli
cacy, will aflTord no uncertain measure of the regard with
¦which I cherish the purposes of our society, and of my
thorough conviction of its importance to the historical hter
ature of our native State. Premising that I shall mainly
speak of those members who are no longer living, \vith a
becoming respect to their meraory indeed, but with all the
freedom of history, I proceed at once to my office.
When the General Assembly of Virginia, during the
winter of 1828-9, passed the act calling a Convention, to
be composed of four delegates from each senatorial dis
trict, and required it to assemble in the city of Richmond
on the fifth of October following, the attention of the
people was soon directed to the choice of delegates to so
important a body. Federal politics were laid aside ; and
public worth and eminent abilities were the onlv standards
in the selection of its members. Actual residence was
overlooked, and the unusual sight was presented of one
distnct selecting its representatives from anoiher and a dis
tant one. What was rarer still, the opinions of many of
persons voted for were unknown, and in a comparatively

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 17
few instances did any candidate address the people from
the hustings.
A body of men, selected under such circumstances, might
well attract attention at home and abroad ; and the period
of its assembling drew towards Richmond a large concourse
of intelligent persons from various parts of the Union.
Young men came on horseback from Kentucky, Tennessee,
and other Southern States. Statesmen, men of mature
years, who had already earned for themselves a title to
the public regard, ministers of foreign powers, who wished
to see men whose names had become historical, educated
men of every profession and class, came, many of thein
with their families, to behold the gathering, and listen to
the discussions of the body. The citizens of Virginia,
¦who came to Richmond from within her own borders and
from abroad, would alone have formed an auditory, Avhicli
any speaker would have been proud to address.
It was about ten o'clock of the fifth of October, 1829, a
morning as lovely and as auspicious as could have been cho
sen, that hundreds of persons, of all ages, were seen throng
ing the public square, and walking through the apartments
of the Capitol, now halting about the statue of Washing
ton, which was soon to look down on some of the patriots
and sages who had upheld the living original in the field
and in the cabinet, then moving towards the library, then
recently established, which was thrown open to public in
spection. As the hour of twelve drew near, and the mem
bers elect began to assemble in the hall of the House of
Delegates, and exchange salutations, the crowd gravitated
toward the gallery and the lobby, and filled every place
from which it was possible to see or hear. At twelve, the
house was called to order by James Madison, \yho nomi
nated James Monroe as President ofthe Convention, and
was seconded by John Marshall. Tliat the nomination

18 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
of such a man, made by such men, was unanimously con
firmed, is known to all.
Here let us pause, and contemplate the members who
then filled the seats in that hall. To behold those venera
bly men — to listen to their names as they fell distinctly and
deliberately from the lips of the accomphshed clerk, was
to feel the whole history of Virginia from the memorable
session of 1765 to that moment flash full upon you.
It is true, that no member of the House of Burgesses of
1765 was present, nor any one, who, like the youthful Jef
ferson, had heard the eloquence of Henry iu defence of
his resolutions. Peyton Randolph had departed before the
clouds had begun to break away from the sky of the Revo
lution. The waters ofthe Potomac and the Staunton had
been flowing beside the graves of Washington ^nd Henry
for more than a quarter of a century ; and before Wash
ington and Henry had departed, Richard Henry Lee had
been gathered to his fathers amid the shades of Chantilly.
It was the fortune of George Wythe and Edmund Pendle
ton lo survive to the present century, and to behold the
federal government in the full tide of successful experi
ment, their ancient friend, Thomas Jefferson, at the helm.
Paul Carrington, who had moved the appointment of Pey
ton Randolph as President ofthe Convention of 1775, and
of Edmund Pendleton as President of the Convention of
1788, and was the last survivor of the House of Burgesses
of 1765, had died eleven years before. The author ofthe
Declaration of Independence, who, as a spectator in the
lobby, had drank in the inspiration of Henry's eloquence
in the debate on the resolutions against the stamp act, and
has given us the most interesting reminiscences of the
scene, had died in less than four years before the meeting
of the body. These distinguished patriots were not indeed
present in the Convention of 1829-30, yet were so con-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 19
nected in their lives with those who were, that our whole
history seemed reflected in the panorama that was moving
before us. If Jefferson were not present, there was Madi
son, who carried out in the Assembly the great measures
¦which his absence during his mission to the Court of
France rendered it impracticable for him to do in person,
and to whom he had recently said: " To myself you have
been a pillar of support through life ; take care of me
when dead," If Pendleton and Wythe did not appear,
there were Madison and Marshall, who had struggled with
them in the Convention of 1788 against the eloquence of
Henry, and who brought them into view; and if Grayson
and George Mason were absent, there was Monroe, who
united with Ihem in opposing the adoption of the federal
constitution by the people of Virginia. Marshall and Mon
roe had been wilh Washington in some of the hard con
tested fields of the Revolution, while Madison in the coun
cils of Virginia, and in the Congress of the Confederation,
had sustained by his eloquence and patriotism the plans of
our Great Leader. If George Mason, who drafted the
constitution which the Convention was assembled to re
vise, was no more, there was Madison who aided him in
sustaining that instrument in the Convention of 1776, and
who could speak in his behalf.
Perhaps the most important act in our history was the
adoption of the federal constitution, — an act, the full pur
port of which was not known at the time of its adoption,
if indeed it is fully known at present ; and the history of
that instrument and of the measures of those who carried
it into execution, was wrapped up in the lives of the men
who then sat in that hall. If to any one individual more
than another the paternity of the federal constitution may
be ascribed, James Madison was that man. It may be that
the present form of that paper is from the pen of Gouver-

20 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
neur Morris, but Madison was the inspiring genius of the
new system. He it was, who, while a member of the old
Congress, drew the celebrated appeal to the people at the
close of the war to adopt some efficient mode of paying
the debts of the confederation ; who procured in 1786 the
passage of the resolution of this commonwealth inviting
the meeting at Annapolis, which resulted in the assembhng
of the Convention in Philadelphia ; who attended the ses
sions of that body, and as much as any one man, if not
more, guided its deliberations. He, too, ¦^vas the author of
the letter accompanying the constiiuiion, signed by Wash
ington, and addressed lo the President of Congress. He
it was, who yvilh Jay and Hamilton sustained the consti
tution by those essays which, under the name of the Fe
deralist, have attained the dignity of atest-1 -jok and a clas
sic. He il was who, more than any one raan, braced the
nerves of the Virginia Convention of 1788, while Henry,
George Mason, Grayson and Monroe were breathing awful
imprecations on the head of the new sy-slem ; and who
drafted the form of ratification of that instrument bv the
body ; — a form destined lo be known belter hereafter than
il is al present. He it was, who repaired lo New York,
and assisted in the deliberations ofthe iir^t Congress. He
il was, whose influence was felt in the federal councils,
eilher by his personal presence as a member of the House
of Representatives, Secretary of State, and President, or
by hi's writings from 1786, when Virginia adopted his reso
lution inviting the meeting al Annapolis, lo the moment
of the assembling of the body of which he was then a
member. The bistory of that one man was the hislory of
his country. There, lo Ihe extreme lefl of llic chair, as it
then stood, dressed in black, wilh an olive colored over
coat, now and then raising liis hand to his powdered hair,

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 21
and studiously attentive to every speaker, he was sitting
before you.
When Mr. Madison took his seat in the Convention, he
was in the seventy-ninth year of his age; yet, though so
far advanced in life, and entitled alike by age and position to
ease, he attended the meetings of the body during a ses
sion of three months and a half wiihout the loss, so far as
I now reraember, of more than a single day. That he was
entitled to the chair, and that the universal expectation
was that he should receive that honor, none knew bettei-,
or could have acknowledged more gracefully, than did Mr.
Monroe. He spoke bul two or three times, when he as
certained that his voice was too low to be heard ; possibly,
too, he might have been averse from mingling loo closely
in the bitter strifes of a new generation. When he rose
to speak, the members, old as well as young, left their
seats, and, like children about to receive the words of wis
dom from the lips of an aged father, gathered around him.
That he still retained the vigor of his intellect, and that un
approachable grace in his written compositions, his two
short speeches written out by hiraself, and his letters to
Mr. Cabell, Mr. Everett, and Mr. IngersoU on the Tariff,
Bank and Nullification controversies, show clearly enough.
As a speaker, Mr. Madison yvas more distinguished by
intellectual than physical qualities. His voice al no period
of his life was strong enough to be heard distinctly in a
large assembly. In the House of Delegates of which he
was a member at intervals from 1776 lo 1788, and in 1799,
his influence in debate was more by the impression which
he made upon prominent men than upon the house itself.
The Continental Congress and the Philadelphia federal
convention, in which he gained so much renown, were
sraall bodies, rarely exceeding forty, and sometimes not
half that number, and -yvere within the range of his voice.

22 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
The first Congress under the federal constitution was com
posed of less than sixty members, Rhode Island and North
Carolina not having then adopted that instrument, and its
whole complement was bul sixty-five. Butin the Virginia
federal convention and in the House of Delegates, the num
bers of which exceeded those of the two bodies first named
four times, and of the lasl named nearly three limes, he
was rarely heard throughout the hall. Several of the finest
passages in his speeches in the Virginia federal conven
tion are lost to posterity from the weakness of his voice.
His style of debate was in unison with his general cha
racter, and partook more of the essay than the speech. He
adhered closely to his subject, and, avoiding all personali
ties towards others, was prorapt, however, to repel them
when aimed at himself. When Grayson, in the conven
tion of '88, made some allusions to hira of a personal na
ture, he instantly rose and demanded an unequivocal re
traction. This was the only instance of a personal kind
that he encountered during the session, and, perhaps,
throughout his whole career, while Patrick Henry and Ed
mund Randolph, who had been friends, became, in the
course of the session, bitter enemies ; and it is probable
that tbe amicable relations of George Nicholas and Henry
were seriously impaired by the coHisions of debate.
It would be difficult to estimate too highly his services in
the Virginia federal convention. As he had studied the
Constitution as a whole, which no other member except
George Mason had done, and discussed it minutely in the
numbers of the Federalist; moreover, as he had been one
of the most active members of the body which formed it,
he stood by its side throughout the session of twenty-five
days, and explained its probable working as readily as if
he had seen il in full operation for a quarter of a century.
It required his ready tact, his range of historical iUustra-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTER.
tion. and his philosophical caste of mind which kept hira
free from the personalities of debate, to reassure the friends
of the constitution, who were daily shaken by fhe vatici
nations of Henry and Mason, and to reconcile them to its
adoption. As it was, in a house of one hundred and sixty-
eight members, it was carried by a majority of ten votes
only. When it is remembered that the favorable vote of
Virginia was alone wanting to save the constitution, ei^ht
States having already ratified it, and that North Carohna
and Rhode Island afterwards refused lo adopt it, it is more
than probable that its rejection by the largest Slate in the
confederation, as Virginia then was, yvould have settled its
fate, and the federal constitution would have sunk to rise
no rtiore. If the adoption of that system were wise and
proper ;— if it has shed boundless blessings on our own
people, and lifted its cheering light to the eyes of the op
pressed of every clime; and if such a glorious result can
be traced to the action of anyone State and any one man
Virginia is the State, and James Madison is the man, to
whom honor is due.
I have said that Mr. Madison rarely took part in the pro
ceedings of the Convention then silting. It was in con
versation that he made the strongest impression on the
hearts of all who sought hira. A severe student in early
life, he, never forsook his first love, and the accuracy and
freshness of his hterary and political reminiscences aston
ished the admiring hstener. In the midst of his retire
ment he had watched the general current of hislory, and
was prompt to correct any material error. His graceful
refutation of a theory of the historian Robertson, which he
presented in the course of an agricultural address in 1819,
is well known ; and when Dr. Ramsay, in his account of
tha Revolution, alluded to the instructions of Virginia to
her delegates in the Continental Congress, on the subject

24 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
of a surrender of the navigation of the Mississippi, in such
a way as to conflict with the consistency of the State, he
stepped forth and put the whole subject in its proper light.
Whatever he did, was thoroughly done. The memorial on
religious freedom prepared by him in 1780, in which he
demonstrated, perhaps for the first time, the cardinal doc
trines which ought to control governments in matiers of
religion, was mainly efficient in putting an end to that un
natural connexion between church and slate to which some
of the ablest statesmen of Ihe Revolution, guided by early
prejudice, too closely adhered, and will henceforth appear,
as well from the beauiy of its style as from the weight of
its philosophy, araongthe most conspicuous religious land
marks in the history of our race. He was the delight of
the social circle, and seerned incapable of imputing a harsh
motive to any human being; and to a young friend, fresh
from a New England College, he spoke of Quincy, Olis,
Daggett, Dexter, and the younger Sherman, — men who had
opposed his administration with a zeal that brought them
to the verge of disunion — wilh as deliberate an apprecia
tion of their merits as if they had held a far different
course. But he preferred to dwell on incidents of an ear
lier period, and recalled to his young friends in his charra
ing way the memory of Witherspoon \vho blended so inti
mately the duties of the scholar and the statesman, and
who was the guide of his youth,— of Frankhn, and of the
elder Sherman, with both of whom he had been intimate
in early life. His wife, whose elegance difi'used a lustre
over his public career, and who was the light of his rural
home, accompanied him to Richmond, and, as you left
their presence, it was impossible nol lo rejoice that Provi
dence had allotted to such a couple an old age so lovely.
Bul, prominent as was Mr. Madison in that Convention,
none would allow sooner than he that he was among equals.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 25
No individual could vie with him in his peculiar career in
federal politics, nor in that happy corabination of faculties,
¦which, coraprehending all classes of political subjects, had
adorned them all. In general learning he was not only
ahead of his contemporaries in that body, but may be said
to have stood alone. Not even the raciness and research
of Mr. Jefferson could surpass him ; and if he had devoted
his time to jurisprudence, the student would not have been
compelled, if he did not recognise them in Story, to look
abroad for the blended strength and elegance of a Stowell.
But there were men now before hira, whose career was
conteraporaneous wilh his own, as well as others who had
grown into eminence since the beginning of the century,
who had shared or might well have shared divided erapire
with him. In surveying a body of men, the representatives
of two generations, the observer, with a view of arranging
them in their respective classes, would insensibly call to
mind the leading epochs in the tyvo great parties of the
countr}-, since the adoption of the federal constitution
This period, ^t least for the present purpose, readily re
solves itself into four great epochs ; the first extending from
the organization of the government in 1789 to the close
of the administration of the elder Adams ; the second,
from 1801 to the year 1806, when the restrictive policy of
the adrainistration made a breach in the ranks of the re
publican party ; the third from 1806 to the close of the
war in 1815 ; and the fourth from 1815 to the assembling
of the Convention. Now of these iraportant epochs the
most influential personages were asserabled in that hall.
Of thefirst epoch— frora 1789 to 1801, there were Mad
ison, Monroe, Marshall, Giles, Randolph, Taliaferro and
Tazewell. The history of these names is the history of
the period. Madison and Giles in the House of Repre
sentatives) and Monroe in the Senate, guided the coimsels

2d THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER*
of one great party, until the two first in 1798, retired with
a view of entering the General Assembly, and the last
was sent as envoy to the French republic. Their influ
ence in their new spheres is known to all. Randolph did
not enter the House of Representatives till 1799, and Taze
well, who had voted with Madison and Giles in the memo
rable session of the Assembly in 1799, and was elected to
fill the vacancy made by the appointment of Judge Mar
shall lo the War Department, did not take his seat till 1800.
Here we approach one of those monumental names which
make the era in which they appear their own. What Ed
mund Randolph said of bimself is quite as applicable to
John Marshall,— that he was a child of the Revolution. He
had seen the first flash of the yvar at the Great Bridge, had
been at Brandyv/ine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and
had gone forth under Steuben. In 1782 began his legal
and political career ; and from that time till 1796, he was
at intervals a member of the House of Delegates. Here
he won some of his greenest laurels. In the Yirginia con
vention of 1788, he made a speech which called forth the
praise of Madison. Il ^yas near the close ofthis epoch he
entered the House of Representatives, and, although he
remainedliut one session, and made but one regular speech,
he gained great distinction, and was regarded as the leader
of the administration of Adams in the Southern States.
He had fought the battles of his party with such success
in the House of Delegates, and had inspired such confi
dence in his patriotism and purity of purpose, that the lof
tiest honors of the Washington and Adams' administrations
were within his reach. Washington solicited him to accept
the office of Attorney General and tbe mission lo France ;
but he declined both ; and it was only al the urgent solici
tation of the greatest names that he consented at a later
period to accept the French mission. From the War he

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 27
passed to the State Department, and thence, in 1800, to
the office of Chief Justice, which he filled until his de
cease in 1835, a space of more than thirty five years, dur
ing which he was the judicial arbiter of his country. This
is not the place to review his judicial career; but it may
be said, that it was his singular glory that, though called
frora the fiercest political contests to decide questions which
have been and are the themes of party discord, and con
cerning which there has been and will ever be a difference
of opinion, he has not only escaped any serious suspicion
of improper bias, but, by the supremacy of his genius and
the simple majesty of his deportraent, won the general ad
miration and regard.
The personal appearance of Judge Marshall, and his
manner of speaking, will be known to posterity from the
descriptions of Wirt, and the British Spy is in every hand.
He spoke but seldom in the Convention, and always with
deliberation. I would say that an intense earnestness was
the leading trait of his manner. His first speech was made
at a time when a spirit of compromise began to shew itself.
When he had demonstrated conclusively that the federal
basis was the mean proportional between the two extremes
of the bases which had engaged the public attention, he
examined with critical care the schemes which had been
offered, and exhibited by way of comparison some calcu
lations of his own. He bore his testimony in favor of the
County Court system, and defended it briefly but abjy. It
was in the discussion of the judicial tenure, that he came
forth in all his strength. The question was virtually the
same as that presented in Congress in 1802 on the repeal
of the judiciary act ; and what enhanced the interest of
the debate, was the presence of Mr. Randolph, who report
ed the bill to repeal the judiciary act of 1800, and of Mr.
Giles who had advocated the repeal in the House of Rep-

28 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
resentatives, and both of whom engaged in the present de-
bale. He spoke with deep feeling, and, Ihough pressed by
Tazewell, Giles, and Barbour of Orange, he maintained his
ground with surpassing skill ; and when in conclusion, and
under the full excitement of debate, he declared : "I have
always thought from my earliest youth till now, that the
greatest curse an angry heaven ever inflicted upon an un
grateful and a sinning people, was an ignorant, a corrupt,
or a dependent judiciary. Will you call down this curse
on Virginia?" all felt the power of his eloquence. Let me
observe thatthe debate on the tenure of the judicial office —
a debate in which MarshaU, Tazewell, Leigh, Scott, Jon
son, Giles, Randolph, and Barbour of Orange, engaged; —
was one of the most brilliant exhibitions of the Conven
tion. In the domestic relations of life, which, as they ever af
ford the true test of intrinsic worth, become the crowning
grace of an illustrious character, he was beyond aU praise.
Great in inteUect he undoubtedly was, but he was as good
as he was great ; and those who knew him longest and
best, found it hard to say whether they regarded him most
wilh veneration or love.
Bul, however eminent as a debater, a statesman, and a
jurist, it is in the garb of an historian that he wiU appear
mosl frequently before the generations to come, and it is
the only garb that sets ungracefully upon him. The hfe of
Washington, if I may so speak, was made to order. The
federal parly was fast melting away. The administration
of Jefferson was in the full tide of success. The alien law
had expired by its own limitation. The sedition law had
also expired, and its victims were set free. The judiciary
act had been swept from the statute-book. The charter of
the Bank of the United States and the assumption act
¦ffere in bad odor, and would have been repealed, if it had

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 29
been practicable. The excise law was numbered ¦ft'ith the
slain. Every vestige of the past dynasty was disappear
ing. A new generation, which partook of the opinions
around it, was stepping on the stage. Now was the time
for a master spirit to appear, who might not only recover
the lost ground, but gain fresh conquests. Politicians of
both parties had long known the abilities of John Marshall.
He had broken the force of many a democratic measure in
the House of Delegates. In the convention of 1788, he
seized with great tact the phantoms which the genius of
Henry had raised, reduced them to substantial forms, and
broke them on the wheel of his resistless logic. His cor
respondence with the French Directory, and especially the
celebrated letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, almost
a book in itself, which, though signed by Gerry and Cotes-
¦worth Pinckney, was from his pen, and which was not only
unanswered but unanswerable, had been published in aU
the papers, and was universally applauded. His speech
in the case of Jonathan Robbins, which was his first great
effort in the House of Representatives, into which he en
tered soon after his return from France, raised his reputa
tion still higher in the estimation alike of friends and op
ponents. And it was hoped that a history from his han d
of the federal party during the adrainistration of Wash
ington, and under the wing of his great name, would make
a deep impression on the popular mind. But to be effec
tual it must corae forth at once. The most courteous re
publican was not bound to wait for it. A princely sum,
then unknoyvn in the annals of American authorship,
awaited its completion. And in due time, and in five vol
umes, it made its appearance. Mr. Jefferson was in the
second year of his second term. He had been re-elected
almost without opposition. There was hardly a show of
fight at the poUs. To put down the doctrines of the party

30 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
of which he was the head was the mission of the new
book ; and, by a singular coincidence, simultaneously with
the appearance of the book, occurred the schism in the
republican party on the restrictive pohcy of the adminis
tration. StiU it came too late.
From the data already given, and with a knowledge of
the fact that the author was engaged in performing official
duties arduous enough to employ the time and all the fac
ulties of ordinary men, a hterary geometer might have de
scribed beforehand its essential form and character. Of
all the kinds of writing that of history is most difficult.
A great speech, a well-reasoned State paper, a fine poem,
may be struck off from the impulse, or under the inspira
tion, of the moment ; but to write history requires other
and more complicated qualifications ; qualifications which
cannot be conjured up for the nonce, and which are so
rare, that, while the number of histories is legion, the
names of the great historians, like those of the great epic
poets, may be written in a nutshell. Probably, when Mar
shall undertook the composition of his work, he had never
contemplated with critical accuracy the distinctive merits
of any great history. His early opportunities of acquiring
knowledge were few ; and, instead of spending his youth
and middle age in the closet wilh Hume and Gibbon, cuU
ing phrases and recasting periods, he was engaged in the
field contending for the liberties of his country, or in the
busy strifes of the bar in pursuit of an honorable indepen
dence. But this explanation, while it accounts for the ab
sence of those qualities which make an excellent history,
by no means supphes the defect. The result i.s that the
Life of Washington— I speak of the fifth and leading vol
ume of the first edition— is a strong off-hand argument in
defence of the measures of the federal parly during the
administration of Washington, and, ifit had been pronoun-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 31
ced in the House of Delegates, or in the House of Repre
sentatives, it would have passed well enough, and only be
comes out of place when put into the mouth of the muse
of history. As might fairly have been anticipated, a work
from such a hand, though it was not to make a revolution
in existing parties, produced a marked effect. Of its strictly
literary merits, there was at home and abroad but one
opinion ; but, while the political friends of the author hailed
its appearance with joy, and were quite willing to shelter
themselves behind the massy bulwark which it reared in
their defence, it was warmly condemned by the opposite
party. Mr. Jefferson protested against it to the end of his
life, and died in the full belief that Mr. Madison was pre
paring a counter-history, or at least a refutation of the
fifth volume. Mr. Giles, at a late day, addressed a letter
to the author, disclaiming certain expressions attributed to
him, but not materially objecting, if I remember rightly,
to their substantial meaning. It is proper to say that the
second edition presents the work in a greatly amended
form. The colonial history is separated from the body of
the work, and has been revised with great care and respect
for authorities then accessible. The style of the work is
greatly improved in the new edition. Not only are'the
grammatical errors corrected, but the diction approaches to
purity and sometimes to elegance. In a note to the second
volume of the second edition, he examines at length the
charges of Mr. Jefferson on the subject of the Mazzei let
ter, but does not allude to other objections urged by him
against the work. From the blended influence of the names
of Washington and MarshaU, the history in its new form
wUl always hold a place in our hbraries, but it may be al
lowed the mere student of history as well as the states
man and the politician to regret that a history of the same

32 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTEa.
epoch from the pen of Madison does not exist to take its
station by its side.
No two eminent contemporaries appear at the first glance
to have fewer points of friendly contact and connexion, if
not of resemblance, than James Madison and John Mar
shall. In their persons, dress, manners and mind, they
appear to be in strong contrast. Madison, from infancy to
age, was of a deUcate constitution, small in stature, scrupu
lously attentive to his dress, and, though accessible and
easy of approach, and in the highest degree courteous, was,
like mosl dehcate men, naturally reserved. MarshaU en
joyed robust health in his early years, was six feet high,
was ordinarily regardless of his personal appearance, and
was hearty in his address, retaining to the last the do\^n-
right cordiality of the camp. Madison was extremely so
cial in his feelings, but these were exhibited in his parlour
from the walls of which the works of the first masters of
painting were looking down upon him, or in his library in
the midst of his cherished books, with far more zest than
under the freshening influences of physical exertion. If
he sought exercise, il was on a weU-broken horse, or from
a drive in his carriage. He had no tasle or sirength for
the rougher modes of muscular exertion. MarshaU never
lost his youthful habits of early rising, of y\^^lks over hill
and moor, which he had taken wilh a musket on his shoul
der and a knapsack on his back at the darkest hour of the
Revolution, and of contests of personal strength. He
would enjoy wilh as much relish a triumph on the quoit
ground as at the bar, or on the bench. If Madison had
lived in a cily, he would have despatched every morning
to market a well-dressed servant, wilh a tidy basket on his
arm, and supplied his table through him. Marshall did his
own marketing, and not unfrequently brought it home wilh
his own hands. The grounds of Madison's town-residence

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 33
would have exhibited a specimen of landscape gardening,
and a view in petto ofthe Virginian Flora. Marshall, like
Stephen Girard, had no opinion of a plant or a tree that
did not bear something for the support of human life ; and
would have had a bed of fine cabbages or an orchard of
delicious fruit. Madison spent his youth at Nassau Hall,
as a student and resident graduate. Marshall had few op
portunities of acquiring knowledge in his boyhood, and
was engaged in the labors ofthe farm. Madison, who was
four years older than MarshaU, chose the cabinet; Marshall
took the battlefield and the bar. These diversities lie on
the surface, and strike the attention at once. Yet it will
appear that there were points of friendly contact and com
munion between these eminent men from the beginning to
the end of their lives. Both were members of the House
of Delegates prior to 1788, and exerted their influence to
provide for the debt of the Revolution, and to amend the
articles of confederation. When the federal constitution
•was formed, Madison and Marshall were among the ablest
champions in sustaining it before the people. And when
the Virginia federal convention was assembled, on Madi
son and Marshall, as much, if not more than on any other
two men, did the responsibility of defending that instru
ment devolve. In the organization of the new govern
ment they went hand in hand. Both enjoyed the unUmi
ted confidence of Washington, and could have obtained
the honor of a seat in his cabinet. Marshall went to France
in 1797, but Madison bad previou,sly declined a mission to
the same court, Both fiUed the office of Secretary of Stale
at the most trying periods of our foreign relations, and
acquitted themselves with equal honor. Marshall was call
ed to the highest seat in the federal judiciary, and Madi
son to the highest seat in the federal executive ; yet the
questions which engaged the attention of each, from the

34 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
perplexed commercial relations of the period, were nearly
the same. The famous tract of Stephen, " War in Dis
guise," was as closely studied by Marshall a-; by Madison ;
and, if Madison, as a politician, was required to refute it
through the press, MarshaU, as a judge, was compeUed to
examine its doctrines on the bench. From the commercial
difficulties which existed from 1800, when Marshall took
his scat on the bench, to 1817, when Madison retireifrom
the Presidency, the number of topics of common interest
between the Executive and Judiciary departments of gov
ernraent was greater than it has been since, or ¦wiU be
again, unless it shall be our misfortune to see aU Europe
at loggerheads, and to be involved in a quasi-war with the
two greatest commercial nations of the globe. These erai
nent men moved in different orbits, but were bound by a
common law and a common sympathy. Both possessed
minds of the highest order — magis pares quam similes — and
peculiarly adapted to their respective spheres. Both yvere
dislinguished for their generous humanity, the strength of
their friendships, and the moral beauiy of their lives. And,
fortunately, both were summoned by their countrv to afford
their aid in revising the constitution of their native State;
and here — in this city^where it had begun fiftyyears be
fore, and which had been uninterrupted by a solitary act
or word of unkindness toward each other, both closed their
long and illustrious political career.
Among the names of this epoch which deraand sorae
thing raore than a passing nolice, is that of William
Branch Giles. He had taken his degree at Nassau HaU
in 1781, len years after Madison had taken his at the sarae
college, and had the good fortune also of receiving the in
structions of Witherspoon, whose memory in familiar talk
with his younger friends he delighted even in old age to
recall. A member of the House of Representatives from

the VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

35

1790 lo 1798, and from 1800 to 1803, and of the Senate of
the United States from 1804 to 1815, he was beyond any
other man the great champion of his party in public de
bate. That he perforraed his part successfully may be in
ferred from the fact that Mr. Jefferson pronounced him the
ablest debater of the age. He was then the Governor of
Virginia. In aU things but in the vigor of his intellect, he
v/as but the shadow of his former self. He could neither
move nor stand without the aid of his crutches, and, when
on the conclusion of his able speech on the basis question,
the members pressed their congratulations upon him, he
seemed to belong rather to the dead than the living. His
face was the face of a corpse. Although he was four years
younger than Monroe, seven younger than Marshall, and
eleven younger than Madison, his personal appearance had
suffered more from disease than that of any of his early
contemporaries. To behold his rugged face and beetling
brows, such as are now preserved in the portrait by Ford,
it was difficult to believe that he was the handsome young
man, radiant wilh health aud arrayed in the rich costume
of the last century, that is represented in one of the finest
portraits from the easel of Stuart.
He was strongly attached to the existing constitution,
which he had defended in one of his ablest speeches two
years before in the House of Delegates, and he evidently
came to speak on the basis question with his life in his
hand. To criticize the action of a dying man would be
idle enough ; yet it was plain to see ¦wlj^t were the cha
racteristics of his manner in his prime. His mode of speak
ing was conversational. His political illustrations were
mainly drawn from the British constitution, and from the
federal governraent, in the service of which so much of
his hfe was spent. His range of reading beyond the com
mon walks of history did not appear extensive, and it was

S6 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
obvious that he had paid but slight attention to the orna
mental departments of literature. His comparisons were
usually drawn from common life, and before a Virginia
audience he was irresistible. He had practised law with
success four or five years before he entered the House of
Representatives, and was always able, with some prepara
tion, to cope on legal topics yvith his ablest opponents.^ In
his speech in the Convention on the judicial tenure, to
which an allusion has already been made, he showed that
he had not forgotten the excitements of a time long gone
by, and gave to his auditors the best specimen which they
had yet seen, of those powers of debate for yvhich he was
so justly renowned. Il was his wish to speak on the sub
ject of corporations, and he had prepared himself carefully
for the occasion, but, his increasing infirmities confining
him almost constantly to his room, his resolutions were
definitively acted upon during his absence. His published
writings, though revised by himself, will afford posterity an
imperfect standard in estimating his powers in debate.
To those who are fascinated with the glitter of a public
career the hfe of Mr. Giles presents a striking lesson.
He had fought all the great battles of his party, many of
them single handed, against the greatest odds and always
with success, and borne the brunt of the fight from 1790
to his retirement in 1815 frora the Senate of the United
States. He had defended the Report of 1799 in the House
of Delegates, and was raainly rehed upon to withstand the
force of Patrick Henry, who had been elected to the As
sembly, but died before its meeting. He had more than
any other individual, not excepting Mr. Madison, sustained
the doctrines of his party in the House of Representatives
and in the Senate, and was thoroughly committed to aU its
great measures. He had fought through the darkness of a
long and cheerless night to the dawn of day, aud just as

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 37
the day was breaking, and he felt that he might at length
repose safely upon his well-earned laurels, a storm suddenly
rose that was to sweep them from his brow.
The session of the General Assembly of 1811-12 pre
sented a crisis in the hislory of parties. Issues that had
been ringing for six years past in the public ear had sud
denly died away. Non-intercourse and embargo were no
longer talked of. The war, which was to sink them for
ever, and to cover the country with a blaze of glory, had
not yet been declared. For the first time since 1806, the
republicans, so called, had recently received the aid of
their dissenting brethren. The constitutionality of a Bank
of the United States had broug-ht them toselher at the
preceding session. But in the interval Mr. Giles had ex
pressed some opimons in the Senate on the right of in
struction, which were not in unison with those of his party,
but had declared in the strongest terms his readiness to obey
the instructions of the Assembly, and to carry out to the
utmost all its wishes. As he yvas the oldest public servant
in Congress, and had borne aloft the ark of the political
covenant at a stormy period, when most of those who were
about to instruct him were in their syvaddling clothes or in
the first forms of the schools : as he had ever been prompt
in the discharge of the most difficult and perplexing offi
ces of party, andhad clung to the laboring oar while his
compatriots had once and again sought the honor and profit
of a foreign mission, or a seat in one of the departments
or on the bench, or tasted the fruits of service in retire
ment, it would seem that a distinct affirmation of the prin
ciples of the Assembly, and an expression of its regret at
the difference of opinion on this isolated question, coupled
with an honorable recognition of the great services of Mr.
Giles, were all that the occasion demanded. And in ordi
nary times such probably would have been the case. But

38 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPOfiTEK.
such a policy was not suited to the mood of the momraf.
Itwas a remarkable era of political fusion. Men, who had
long eyed one another askance in the House of Delegates,
now shook hands, inquired every morning after each other's
health, and laughed immoderately at each other's jokes.
The lunch and the dinner yvere potent yveapons of the day.
Cobwebs woven during the consulship of Plancus — con-
sule Planco — were hurriedly brushed aside, and the long-
imprisoned juice once more sparkled in the face of day.
There was a commingling of old friends and old enemies,
of federalists and republicans, and of that vigorous offshoot
of one party, and the active ally of the olher, the tertium
quids. To bind together such a brotherhood two things
were indispensable; a common ground to stand on, and a
common victim. The first was found in the right of the
Assembly to instruct the representatives of Virginia in the
Senate of the United States, and the victim was found in
the person of Mr. Giles. A more fortunate selection of a vic
tim could not have been made. To the tertium quids, who
once loved him and hated him the more, — whose scheraes
he had ever been the first to detect and the stronsest to
crush,— he was thoroughly odious ; he could not be raore so
than he was ; and these eneraies had become the eaffer
allies of his friends. The federalists, who never loved hira
and who hated him the less, but from yvhom of all men
living he had the least to hope, delighted at the prospect of
beholding the sacrifice of their most formidable foe by his
own friends, clapped their hands and shouted Io Ptean in
the ecstasy of their joy. It yvas easy for the new brother
hood, under the influence of good dinners and old wine, to
chat pleasantly of former times, to grow very loving, and
insensibly to ghde together to some half-yvay house in the
past. It is a noteworthy fact in pohtical ethics, that par
ties, when the danger is past, are too apt to sacrifice soon-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 39
est those who were most prominent in defence of measures
deemed vital at the time, but which in the retrospect ap
pear of doubtful policy. Mr. Giles, two or three years be
fore, had brought in a bill to define treason, defended il in
a speech, and carried it through the Senate. He had also
brought in a bill to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, sus
tained it in a speech, and carried it through the Senate.
Unwise and dangerous measures these may have been at
any time, but,- when discussed over a glass of wine in a
season of comparative tranquility, they were absolutely
shocking. StiU they were called for by a republican ad
ministration, and were upheld by its friends at a time when
condemnation, if ever, was justly due. These bills were
defeated in the House of Representatives. Here was
anoiher fact for the new brotherhood. It separated the
repubUcans of the House frora those of the Senate ; and,
if a Senator were sacrificed, the act might not only not
reflect injuriously on the members ofthe House, but might
imply an appreciation of their conduct. I do not affirm
that these were the ostensible grounds of difficulty between
Mr. Giles and the Assembly, nor is this the place to detail
at length the controversy which ensued ; but whoever will
look into the secret history of that day yvill be apt to con
clude, that the torch which was applied to the funeral pile
of Giles was lighted at a fire kindled some years before for
the sacrifice of a still more illustrious personage. The re
sult was that Mr. Giles came to the ground with a force
unknown in the annals of political tumbling. From a
height of popularity almost unequalled he became the
most unpopular man in the Slate. He lingered in the
Senate until the beginning of 1815, yvhen he withdrew to
the Wigwam. Years rolled on. A retributive ray of the
public sunshine was at last seen to play about his hoary
temples, and to cheer bis brave old heart. He Uved to be

40 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
elected Governor thrice by a republican Assembly, and to
gain distinction in a new sphere ; buthe did not live to see
that mighty master-spirit, now silling near him, who press
ed Ihe bitter cup to his lips, receive it on hi-^ own.
The second great epoch extending from the accession of
Mr. Jefferson in 1801 to the second term of his adminis
tration in 1806, was fuUy represented in that body. Madi
son, yvhose nomination to the Senate hadbeen defeated by
Patrick Henry, and who had hitherlo appeared in the House
of Representatives only, now bore on his shoulders the
burden in no wise light of the State department. In the
Senate Mr. Giles sustained the administration wilh increas
ing fame, while Monroe, yvho had exchanged his seat in
the Senate for the mission to England, brought his untiring
industry and zeal to bear in the same cause abroad. Ran
dolph and James Mercer Garnett, who were now in the
House of Representatives, and Tazewell, who, unless when
sent to the Assembly on some occasion of special interest
to the people of Norfolk with whom he had now taken up
his abode, was in private life, were toward the close of
the term ranged in the opposition. Randolph had taken
his seat in Ihe House of Representatives in 1799, wilh but
slight preparation for the new career he yvas about lo be
gin. I am not ayvare that he ever spoke in public before he
entered Congress. It is true that he yvas a candidate for
Congress, yvhen Patrick Henry, yvho yvas a candidate for a
seat in the House of Delegates, made at the March court
before the eleclion from the porch of the old tavern at
Charlotte Court House his lasl address to the people, but,
having a severe cold, he was able to say a few words only ;
and all reports to the contrary must be ranked among those
kindly myths -which popular tradition deUghts to strew over
the cradle of genius. He soon, hoyvever, attracted public
attention by his feariessness of spirit, and by the point and

THE VIRGINIA HISTO-RICAL REPORTER. 41
i)rilliancy of his speeches in the house, and had now at
tained the responsible and laborious position at the head of
the committee of ways and means. Thus far he had sailed
with the administration. He had labored in the cause of
retrenchment and reform with such indefatigable industry
as seriously to impair his sight. He had made in his speech
on the judiciary repeal bill by far his most brilliant display,
and had heartily approved tbe purchase of Louisiana; — a
measure whieh he then sayv in all its present usefulness,
and in all its glorious promise. From this date he declared
unceasing war against his former friends. He well knew
that the great parly from which he was about to separate
¦himself, guided by ancient associations, yvas disposed to
regard France with kiniier feelings than it did England,
and he accordingly sought to put in train a course of mea
sures yvhich would involve the country in a war with Spain,
yvhich necessariljr involved a war with France. He oppo
sed with yvarmth the restrictive policy of the administra
tion, and in later Ufe he has been heard to say, that " when
Mr. Jefferson made war upon his tobacco, he made war
.upon him ;" and, as he is reported lo have said, that his es
tate, yvhen it cam-e into his possession, was mortgaged nine
teen shiUings and six -pence in Ibe pound, ilis quite certain
that a policy yvhich checked the free interchange of com
modities yvith foreign nations, would prove most hostile to
his private interests. Contemporaneously, however, yvith
his hostility to the party of which heretofore he had been
a prominent member, was the appointment of a Minister
to the Court of Sl. James, and il was rumored that private
griefs were mixed up wilh his politics. That such a charge
was generally believed at that day is certain, and that the
.administration believed that he desired the mission to Eng-
Jand and declined to confer it upon him, is a fact which
.seems to rest on unquestionable testimonj.. Whether Mj.

42 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
Randolph was privy to any action in the premises, is ano
ther and a very different question. There, silling within a
few feet of him, was the man who could settle the question
at once. Yet let those who are incUned to think that per
sonal feelings impelled Mr. Randolph in his new career,
reflect upon his elevated position, and what it yvas to op
pose such a man as Mr. Jefferson. I have already alluded
to the exalted position of Mr. Randolph in the House of
Representatives, and before the country. If we were to
judge of the popularity of Mr. Jeflferson by the standard
which we apply to modern Presidents, we y\-ould err widely.
It was far-reaching and overwhelming. Nothing equal to
it had been seen before ; nothing equal to it has been seen
since ; and nothing equal to it will, I trust, be seen again.
Such was the fascinating address of that illustrious man,
such the high estimate of his services abroad and at horae,
so universal was the confidence in his yvisdom and ability,
and, above all, in the goodness and purity of his aims, that
in a contest with him any one man, or squad of men, would
be indignantly cloven down. By others popularity raust
be wooed before it is won ; to him it came spontaneously
on every breeze from the sterile hills of New Hampshire
and from the remotest savannahs of that land of promise
which he had recently added lo the Union. While Wash
ington had been unable to command the vote of the Virgi-
ginia delegation in eilher house of Congress, and could
only secure the ratification of the British treaty, on yvhich
he had set his heart, by a bare majority, the senators from
his own state voting against it, it yvas only necessary for
Mr. Jefferson to express a yvish in favor of a measure to
ensure its success. To go to war yvilh such a man was to
extinguish aU hope of successful ambition. On the other
hand it may well be thought strange, that a man, yvho had
aided in bringing an administration into poyver, had de-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 43
fended all its acts, and with the warmest zeal those most
odious to its opponents, and had recently confessed his
conviction of the honesty and purity of the men at the
head of affairs, should suddenly turn about, and, disappro
ving a system of temporary policy, which his friends had
been compelled, at an extraordinary period, to adopt, not
for its intrinsic worth, but asthe lesser of two evils, should
not only draw the sword against them but fling away the
scabbard. His efforts in such a position were any thing
but refreshing. He was at once plunged into the midst of
the federal party. Politicians have long memories. Men,
who for the past seven years had been gritting their teeth
at hira across the desks of the House of Representatives,
who beheved that Randolph, though on their side to-day,
might, if he were consistent, on a change of policy, be on
the other to-morrow, and who knew better than he did the
terrible strenglh of the administration, thought themselves
sufficiently complaisant in adjusting their faces to a smile.
To add to his embarrassment, though a few personal friends
in and out of Congress upheld hira, he saw in the popu
larity of the President, which was constantly increasing,
that all his aspirations, if he had any, must henceforth be
confined to the bosora in which they rose. Such was the
state of things at the close of this period.
Of the epoch extending from 1806 to the close of the
war in 1815, the representatives in the Convention were
more numerous. In its course Madison, who was to write
his celebrated letters to Erskine, which, like those of Mr.
Jefferson to Hamraond, still exhibit the finest models of
diplomatic writing in our history, and was to put forth his
answer to Stephen, whose " War in Disguise" was the
text-book of the foreign and domestic foes of his adminis
tration, had become President, calling to the state depart
ment in due time his ancient coadjutor Monroe, with whom

44 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
he had adjusted, much to the annoyance of others, a very
promising quarrel. Giles was the right arm of the dorai
nant parly in the Senate and had nev,r duties to perform;
for Randolph had not only abdicated the leadership in the
House, but had become an enemy. Randolph, Garnett,
McCoy, Bayly, Pleasants, Philip P. Barbour and Taliaferro,
were al different tiines members of the House of Repre
sentatives. Randolph still continued in his solitary path,
opposing the policy of commercial restrictions, and, what
was singular enough, the war. He seemed to be alike un
vrilling that the administration should defend the country
against the commercial despotism of France and England
by legislative enactments and by the sword. He yvould
not only allow our merchant ships to be seized, our sailors
to be impressed, and our property to be confiscated by
England, in violation of the laws of nations and of her
own municipal law, buf, though the ships of the eneray
tilled our waters and his feet were pressing our soil, he
was unwilling that the adminislration should use either law
or lead in our defence. His efforts, though frequent and
long-continued, were of no avail, unless il be affirmed that
the equivocal raerit was his of transferring the honor of ac
quiring Florida from Thomas Jefferson to John Quincy
Adams, whose pen at a later day was to win its fairest tro
phy in accompUshing a measure of such vital importance
to the Southern Slates. Yet il was during this period that
he spoke with the greatest preparation, and one of his
speeches yvas not only republished in England \vith a lau
datory preface by Stephen,, the author of War in Disguise,
but had the honor, then deemed no trifling one, of a review
in the Edinburg ; and il is lo this period that the admirers
of Randolph must look for the mosl vigorous productions
of his mind. His speech on Gregg's resolution is one of
his greatest efforts, and, if it has not the polish of his later

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 45
speeches, it shows the body of his mind in bolder relief.
But, if Mr. Randolph gained reputation abroad, he lost it
throughout the Union and at home. The state of Georgia,
which had hailed his talents with enthusiastic applause,
became so indignant at his course, that she blotted his name
from her statuie book and from her map. And in 1813 he
was no longer returned to the House.
Of the new members who appeared in the House of
Representatives during this period none has made a more
lasting impression on the country, and won greater distinction
for himself, than Philip Pendleton Barbour. He came
in toward its close. He had defended the administration
in the Assembly and before the people, and was about to
embark on a new and dangerous sea. But we must trace
him in the Convention. That body was fortunate in avail
ing itself, on the retirement of Mr. Monroe, of the services
of such a man at its most difficult crisis. He had filled
the Speaker's chair in the House of Representatives, and
brought to his new office the knowledge and the tact yvhich
the occasion demanded. If he had not the personal presence
of his friend Clay, or of anoiher eminent Virginian who
afterwards filled the chair of the House of Representatives,
he yvas, perhaps, superior to eilher in a knowledge of the
logic and law of parliament. The most intricate skein of
parliamentary difficulties seemed to unravel at his touch,
and such was the confidence in his judgment and sense of
honor, that his decisions, yvhich were almost electric, were
ahvays satisfactory. As a speaker, his great aim seemed
to be to apply mathematical reasoning to moral and politi
cal topics, and to, give his speeches the terseness and pith
of a judicial decision. Few productions could stand the
test of his severe analysis ; and it is said that Mr. Clay, as
his published speeches shoyv, would not lake the floor on
constitutional questions until Barbour had spoken. His

46 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
voice was shrill and sharp ; too angular for the public ear.
His speech on the basis question is a fair sample of his
mode of conducting an argument. He spoke yvith great
fluency, and with much emphasis and gesticulation, and,
intent on demonstrating the case in hand, thought the form
of his argument needed not the aid of drapery. He was
apt to apply his own standard of style and manner in esti
mating the eloquence of others, and when a persoii spoke
in his presence of the eloquence of Daniel Webster, he
admitted in aU their extent the reasoning powers of that
dislinguished statesman, but not only denied hi.s litle to
eloquence but the title of any man born east of the Hud
son. SettUng his creed in early Ufe on the solid basis of
demonstration, he continued to the end of his career the
unfaltering advocate of aU its great doctrines ; and, al
though, unfortunately for his consistency, he was prevailed
upon to withdraw his opposition to the bUl incorporating
the lale bank of the United States, which was sure to pass
without his vote, yet all the persuasions of Mr. ]\Iadison,
yvhose representative he yvas, and of other friends, could
not prevail upon bim to follow the example of th? parly
which had carried the country triumphantly through the
war, and sustain that measure. He yvas about the middle
height, remarkably thin, and rarely in robust health. He
was plain in his dress, simple in his tastes, retiring in his
habits. His early education was defective, and, although
he bad a general notion of what the Latin classics contain
ed, there was that incompleteness in his knowledge which
usually marks attainments in the languages made late in
life, and he was more apt to make out the Latin from the
sense than the sense from the Latin. Of course, he was
altogether unversed in the critical niceties of that lan
guage ; a defect which would have passed unobserved but
for the frequent attempts whicii he made in tbe teeth of

TKE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 47
the rule of Horace to coin words of his own. Hence it
might well happen that persons who observed his attempts
in philology which he thought he understood bul of which
he was really ignorant, would be prone to draw very un
fair conclusions respecting his knowledge on olher subjects
as well as of his general ability. A strict economist from
principle, he could walk with the Guyon of Spencer un-
tempted amid the glittering treasures of the cave of Mam
mon ; and when the state of Virginia remitted him what
in those days was deemed a large fee for his services in
the case of Cohens, he decUned receiving il. It was on
this occasion that he first came in contact with William
Pinkney who was counsel for the appellants, and of whom,
long after the grave had closed above that eminent lawyer,
he ever spoke in terms of high admiration.' He was a
close student, and, amid the distractions of a long public
career, never lost sight of the law. When a friend once
called upon him during the ¦winter of the Convention, he
found him reading one of the volumes of Reports which
had just appeared, and which, he said, afforded him a choice
entertainment. He paid but Uttle attention to literature,
and in the lighter departments of letters he was so unin
formed as never to have heard of Major Dugald Dalgetty
of Drumthwacket, until Mr. Randolph introduced him to
his acquaintance, and some time after, learning from a let
ter of a friend the history of the Major, he told it to his
associates as a piece of news. Like Mansfield, he yvas
more attached to law than to politics, and would have pre
ferred the first seat on the bench to the first seat in the
cabinet. In 1836, after a short term of service in the
District Court, his aspirations were gratified with a seat on
the bench of the Supreme Court. He had now attained
the goal of his ambition, and all his faculties were called
into full play. The federal constitution had been the study

48 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTER.
of his life, and the leading cases of the reports involving
a conflict of the powers of the state and federal govern
ments were well known to him ; but there were depart
ments of the law, reared, during the third of a century
then past, by a StoweU in the British Courts, and by Mar
shaU and Story in our own, that were in a measure new
to him ; for, living within the shadow of the Blue Ridge,
those important topics of his profession which bore the
fragrance of the sea had not been brought ordinarily be
fore him. But with Barbour to see a defect was to mend
it; — to have an object in view was, as far as industry and
sheer ability could go, to attain it. He was of all men
whom I have known most devoted to an advancement in
knowledge. He never stood still, nor halted by the way
side. He went from topic to topic. The acquisitions of
one year became the solid foundations of those of the next.
I have said thatthe law was his master passion. He loved
those studies which are the handmaids of the law. Poli
tical economy and history were his deUght. Not that his
tory which Dr. Johnson defined to be the best, and which
modern historians approve, — a history of morals or raan
ners, but the poUtical history of a country. Man in his
political, not in his social, capacity yvas his study. He
passed yvithout interest over the description of a great bat
tle, but looked closely to its results. Marathon, Morat,
Waterloo, were soon read, bul he never yvas tired of look
ing at the detaUs of the Achaian or Amphyctionic league,
of the Swiss confederation, of that condition of France
when the feather of a Duke of Burgundy overshadowed
the house of Orieans, or when the departments yvere amal
gamated into a single systera, and of the state of Europe
when it was cut up by the sword of Napoleon and cut
down by the goose-quill of Castlereagh. Il yvas his mis
fortune never to have had access to a good Ubrary of the

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 49
law ; — one that held its antiquities and the great landmarks
in its history. Nothing would have afforded him more ex
quisite delight than to have been able, instead of resting
on the authority of Coke, to trace for hiraself Magna Charta
through all its confirmations back lo Runnimede and from
Runnimede forward to the lime when an elector of Hano
ver sat upon a British throne. As his learning was ever
in the field of facts, not of imagination, he was irresistible
in conversational debate. The recollection of the conflict
at a Wistar party in Philadelphia between Mathew Carey
and himself is stUl a subject of mirth to those who saw the
discorafiture of the charapion of a different system from
his own. In his new sphere on the federal bench an illi
mitable field stretched far and wide before hira. With the
gigantic raind of Marshall he had long been intiraate — in
the very body in which he then sat, in the debate on the
judicial tenure, he had sensibly felt its force ; but it was in
his daily associations with the accomplished Story that he
learned to feel, perhaps for the first lime, the undying
grace which letiers shed upon the law.. His improvement
during the four years he sat upon the bench was striking.
In an elegant tribute to his meraory Judge Story states,
that " during his brief career in the Supreme Court, he
widened and deepened the foundations of his judicial
learning to an extraordinary extent ; his reputation con
stantly advanced, and his judgments were listened to with
increased respect and profound confidence. If he had
lived many years with good health, he would not have fail
ed to have won the highest distinction for all those quali
ties which give dignity and authority to the bench. It
might be truly said of him that he was not only equal to
all the functions of his high station but above them— jtiar
negotiis et supra. His country has lost by his death not
only a bright ornament but a pure and spotless patriot."

50 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
A beauUful tribute from one who was himself worthy of
aU praise, and who, like Barbour, is now only seen through
that glorious light which exalted genius and virtue cast
upon the grave. As it was, Virginia delighted to behold
in Barbour the venerated name of her Pendleton invested
¦with a new and appropriate illustration.
The fourth epoch in the organization of parties, extending
from 18 15, when the financial measures consequent upon the
¦war withEngland which had just terminated, were adopted,
to the period ofthe assembling of the Convention, embraced
the history of some of the most eminent men in the body.
Monroe soon succeeded Madison in the Presidency. Mar
shall was still on the bench. Giles, who yvas to yield to
the thunderstorm, tbe first blasts of which he had defied,
had not at the beginning of this period resigned his seat in
the Senate. Tazewell was to begin his splendid career in
the same body, in which his father had sat before him, both
father and son succeeding, at a long interval, the same in
dividual, the late John Taylor of Caroline. Pleasants,
Randolph, and Tyler, during this period, also held seats
in the Senate, Tazewell and Tyler at that tirae being the
representatives of Virginia in that body. In the House of
Representatives, Mercer, yvho in our own House of Dele
gates had attained distinction, and in the estabUshraent of
the Literary Fund had reared an imperishable memorial of
his wisdom and benevolence, yvas to make his appearance.
Alexander, Philip P. 5arbour, Jobn S. Barbour, McCoy,
Pleasants, PoweU, Randolph, Roane, Smith, and Tyler,
were also at various times members of the House. A
more briUiant delegation was rarely, if ever, contributed
by a single state to the federal councils. Of the Uving I
may "not speak at length, and I regret that in this hurried
sketch I ara compeUed to pass over so raany of the dead.
^JSandolph, who had resumed his seat in the House at the

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 51
next Congress after his defeat, appeared henceforth in a
more auspicjous light. The policy yvhich had separated
him from his early friends for the past ten years was at an
end. Now it was his good fortune to reraain, as he said
on another occasion, rectus in curia, and his ancient friends
of the dominant party, who were to expunge some of
their own principles from their creed, were to bend before
hira. A new scene in political affairs presented itself.
The public debt was enhanced many millions. Taxes
must be levied to pay the interest and to create a sinking
fund for the ultimate redemption of the principal. Manu
facturers, which grew up during the restrictive policy and
the war, now appealed to the friends of those measures in
their behalf. All the expedients of finance were soon
found to be necessary, and a bill to incorporate a bank of
the United States was brought in by those who had nobly
sustained the honor of the country through the perilous
period which had just closed, but who had hitherto con
tested the constitutionality of such a raeasure. Randolph,
for the first time in the past ten years, stood in the broad
sunlight of his ancient faith. Free from the responsibility
of providing for the results of a policy which he had stea
dily opposed, he had no inducement to depart from his
principles and embark in a new crusade. He thought that,
if a bank was unconstitutional when Jefferson delivered
his written opinion on the subject in the cabinet of Wash
ington, and when Madison made his great speech against
it in the House of Representatives and prepared a veto
for Washington in the event of his deciding to return a
bill incoporating such an institution to Congress, it yvas
unconstitutional then. And if it was unconstitutional as
late as 1811, when the old bank sought a renewal of its
charter, and was denounced by the dominant party, it was
unconstitutional then. And on the score of expediency.

52 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
if it were inexpedient when the federal government was
just stepping from its cradle under the guidance of Wash
ington, when our foreign and domestic debts were un
provided for — yvhen the very price of Uberty was unpaid, —
when our population, then sraall in numbers, had but re
cently exchanged the camp for the counting-house and the
syvord for the plough ; — it was not less so, at a tirae when
our country reached, not from Maine to Georgia, but from
the Passamoquoddy lo the Gulf of Mexico, — when our
numbers had more than tripled ; — when our commercial
marine had borne our flag in every sea, and brought to our
shores the treasures of every clime, and surpassed the
tonnage of every nation except England under the sun.
But he was lo stand almost alone. Did IMadison blush as
he signed that bill .' Did Marshall, when from that serene
throne on which he had been silling for sixteen years, and
who, in a few years, was lo record for distant ages his
greal decision in its favor, look over the ayes and noes on
the passage of the bill with a smile of triumph or a sneer?
Did Monroe, who had received on his person some of the
sturdiest blows of the opposite party yvhen Washington was
its nominal head, and yvho was deemed a martyr in the re
pubUcan cause — did Monroe, in the State Department or
at the Council board, shed a soUtary tear over the departed
dogma .' Did Randolph, on the passage of that biU, grieve
more for the constitution which he believed to be violated
in the house of its friends, than he rejoiced as he saw his
ancient friends, who had read him out of the republican
church, involved in the meshes of a policy from which his
intuitive sagacity foresaw that they could nol extricate
themselves for a generation to come ? There they are —
Madison, Marshall, Monroe, Randolph,— gathered for the
first tirae together under the same roof and in the same
hall — they can speak for themselves.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 53
Of all the members of the Convention Mr. Randolph
excited the greatest curiosity. Not a word that fell frora
his Ups escaped the pubUc ear, not a moveraent the public
eye. When he rose to speak, the erapty gaUeries began
to fill, and when he ended, and the spell was dissolved,
the throng passed away. It was on the 14th of Novem
bei- he raade his first speech. Mr. Stanard had just con
cluded his speech, and tbe qiiestion on the amendment of
Judge Green to the resolution of the Legislative committee
basing the representation in the House of Delegates on
white population exclusively was about to be taken, when
he rose to address the chair. The word passed through'
the city in an instant that Raadolph was speaking, and
soon the house, the lobby, and the gallery, were crowded
almost to suffocation. He was evidently ill at ease when
he began his speech, but soon recovered himself when he
saw the telUng effect of every sentence that he uttered.
He spoke nearly two hours, and throughout that time every
e}'e was fixed upon him, and among the most attentive of
his hearers were Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, who had
not heard him before since his rupture with the adminis
tration of their predecessor in the Presidency. Frora that
day he addressed the body with perfect self-possession, and
although he did not at any subsequent tirae speak at length,
he frequently raingled with marked abiUty in debate ; and
it was easy to tell frora the first sentence that fell from his
lips when he was in fine tune and temper, and on such
occasions the thrilling music of his speech fell upon the
ear of that excited asserably like the voice of a bird singing
in the pause of the storm. It is difficult to explain
the influence which he exerted in that body. He inspired
terror to a degree that even at this distance of time seems
inexplicable. He was feared alike by East and West, by
friend and foe. The arrows from his quiver, ifnot dipped
5*

54 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
in poison, were pointed and barbed, rarely missed the mark,
and as seldom failed to make a rankUng wound. He seem
ed to paralyse alike the mind and body of his victira.
What made his attack more vexatious, every sarcasm took
effect amid the plaudits of his audience. He called hira
self on one occasion a tomahawker and a scalper, and,
true to the race frora which he sprung, he never explained
ayvay or took back any thing; and, as he knew the private
as yvell as the public hislory of every prominent meraber,
il yvas impossible for his opponents to foresee from what
quarter and on whora his attacks would fall. He also had
political accounts of long standing to settle with sundry
individuals, and none could tell when the day of reckon
ing would arrive. And when it did come, it was a stern
and fearful one. What unnerved his opponents was a con
viction of his invulnerability apparent or real ; for, uncon
nected as he yvas by any social relation, and ready to fall
back on a colossal fortune, he was not on equal terms with
men who were struggling to acquire a corapetency, and
whose hearts were bound by all the endearing ties of do
mestic love. Moreover, it was irapossible to answer a
sneer or a sarcasm with an argument. To attempt any
thing of the kind was to raise a laugh at one's expense.
Hence the strong and the weak in a contest wilh him were
upon the sarae level.
fn eariy youth the face of I\Ir. Randolph yvas beautiful,
and its lineaments are in some degree preserved in his
portrait by Stuart ; but, as he advanced in life, it lost its
freshness, and began to assume that aspect which the poet
Moore described in his diary as a young-old face, and which
is so faithfully pourtrayed by H-arding. His voice, which
was one of the great sources of his power, ranged from
tenor to treble. Il had no base notes. Its volurae wasfuU
at times; but, Ihough heard distincUv in the haU and the

THB VIRGINIA HISTO-RICAL REPORTER.

ss

galleries, it had doubtless lost much of the sweetness and
roundness of earlier years. Its sarcastic tones were on a
high key. He was, too, though he had the art to conceal
his art frora common observers, a consummate actor. In
the phUosophy of voice and gesture, and in the use of the
pause, he was as pe-rfect an adept as over trod the boards
of Covent Garden or Drury Lane. When he described
Chapman Johnson as stretching his arm to intercept and
clutch tbe sceptre as it was passing over Rockfish Gapi
or when he rallied him for speaking not "fifteen minutes as
he promised, but two hours, not by Shrewsbury clock, but
by as good a watch as can be made- in the city of London,"
and, opening the case of his hunting watch, held it up to
the view of the chairman ; or, when seeking to deride the
length of Johnson's speech, he said : " The gentleman said
yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that,"
Garrick or Kean would have cl-oyvned his acting with ap
plause. No weight of character, no grade of intellect,
afforded a shield irapenetrable by his shafts. Probably the
comraittee to which yvas referred near its close all the re
solutions of the Convention with a view of having them
drawn in the- farm of a constitution, was the most venera
ble in years, in genius, in all the accomplishments of the
human raind, and in length and value of public service,
that ever sat on this side of the Atlantic. Madison, Mar
shall, Tazewell, Doddridge, Watkins Leigh, Johnson, and
Cooke were the seven members who composed it. Yet
Mr. Randolph, almost wiihout an effort, raised a laugh at
their expense. It appears, if I am not mistaken, that some
qualification of the right of suffrage, yvhich was embraced
in the resolutions, was not to be found in the reported
draft, and to this oraission Mr. Randolph called the atten
tion of the house. Mr. Leigh observed that, if Mr. Ran
dolph's views were carried oul, it would virtuaUy leave

56 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
the entire regulation of the right of suffrage to the General
Asserably. Randolph rephed with alibis peculiar empha
sis and gesture: " Sir, I would as soon trust the house of
burgesses of the coraraonwealth of Virginia as the com
mittee of seven." I followed his finger, and amid the roar
of laughter which burst forth, I saw Mr. Madison and Mr.
Leigh suddenly and unconsciously bow their heads. He
idolised Shakspear, and cherished a taste for the draraa ;
and in this departraent of literature as yvell as in that of
the older English classics from Elizabeth to Anne, and in
deed, in all that was erabraced by the curiosity and taste of
a scholar, his library was rich. He spoke and wrote the
English language in aU its purity and elegance, and his
opponents had at least the gratification of knowing that
they were abused in good English. Indeed Madison could
not vie with him in a full and ready control over the vo
cabulary or the harmony of the English tongue. His later
speeches exemplify this reraark in a more striking manner
than his earlier ones. In his speech on Retrenchment de
livered in the House of Representatives in 1828, one
meets with sentences of great beauty, and it may be ob
served, that toward the close of that speech is one of the
few pathetic touches to be found in his productions. Yet
it may weU be doubted whether his speeches wiU hold a
high place in after times. His sayings yvill be quoted in
the South, and some of his speeches yviU undoubtedly be
read; but they wiU hardly emerge beyond Mason and
Dixon's Une, and never reach even yvilhin that lirait the
dignity of models. What Sir garaes Mcintosh observed
to an American respecting one of his speeches yyiU proba
bly convey, when oral tradition grows faint, the irapres
sion which they make on impartial minds,— that there yvas
a striving after effect— a disposition to say smart or hard
things beyond the ability. On the score of argument they

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 57
were beneath criticism. It is but just, however, to say
that Mr. Randolph protested against the authenticity of
most of the speeches attributed to him. Those in the pub
lished debates of the Convention are undoubtedly authen
tic, and must have received his revisal. But of his elo
quence thus much may fairly be said, that it fulfilled its
office in its day and generation ; for it is unquestionably
his praise that above all his contemporaries he was suc
cessful in fixing the attention of his audience of every
class and degree throughout his longest speeches. The
late Timothy Pitkin, a competent judge, who had known
Randolph many years in Congress, observed, at a time
when it was fashionable to compare Tristram Burgess with
him, that you may as well compare the broadsword of a
mosstrooper with the scymitar of Saladin. When it is
remembered that Mr. Randolph, at all times infirm, was
sometimes during the winter of the Convention in his own
opinion at the point of death, it is a fact of great import,
that at no other period of his career did he speak with
more judgment and acuteness, nor on any olher occasion
did he so entirely gain the regards of the people of IJas-
tern Virginia, or his genius excite greater admiration than
by his exhibition in that body.
As we began this division of our subject wilh the name
of Madison, we may not unfitly close it wilh a name which
has been intimately associated with his for half a century,
and which, though it has been prominently put forth al
ready, calls for, at least so far as the Convention is con
cerned, a few passing remarks. The name of James
Monroe has yet to receive the exalted appreciation which
it deserves, and which posterity will surely award. He
Uved so near our own time ; — his administration gave birth
to so many important questions about which parties have
formed and ralUed, that it is only from the pen of the his-

58 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
torian, who from the vantage ground of the distant future
shaU look back upon the past, that his character wiU re
ceive a full and candid illustration. AUusion has been
made to his service in the field during the Revolution, to
his course in the Virginia federal convention, his mission
to France, his election to the Senate of the United Slates,
his mission to Great Britain, his noraination to the war and
to the state department, and his elevation to the Presidency
as the successor of the iUustrious man whom he followed
step by step throughout a long and glorious Ufe. If to
these appointments be added his election to the House of
Delegates, especially in 1810, when he made a speech re
markable rather by the iUustrations drawn from the histoiy
of the French Republic which he had personaUy observed,
and the sound practical views with which it abounded,
than by rhetorical skill, and his election to the office of
Governor of tbis Commonwealth, the Ust of the offices
held by him will be nearly coraplete. Of aUthe men who
had filled the office of President of the United States to
the period of his election to that high station, with the ex
ception of Washington, his person was the most generally
known by the people. He had mingled so freely with his
fellow-men abroad and at home ; — he had so frequently
come in personal contact with the generation in which he
lived, that hundreds of people who had never seen a raore
iraportant personage than a captain in the army or navy, a
member of Congress, or at raost the head of a department,
had not only seen him but shaken hands yvith him, and
heard frora his honest lips words of kindness and regard.
He was borne into the presidential chair of the Union with
out a contest. His election and re-election seemed a mat
ter of course. Strangely as it may sound in our ears,
there was a prestige of mUitary glory about him, which
bound hira to the hearts of the people. He was the first

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 59
incumbent ofthe chair since Washington filled it, who had
seen the flash of a hostile gun, and had drawn his sword
in defence of his country. As has been said, the time is
not come, when an impartial history of his administration
can be written ; but we raay be allowed to say that the
most brilliant and honorable career that was ever present
ed to an American president was then before him. Wash
ington, Adaras, Jefferson, and Madison, were beset w,ith
difficulties foreign and domestic, which consumed their
entire terms of office. When Monroe came into power,
the perplexities in our foreign affairs, which in one shape
or other from the peace of Paris to near the close of Madi
son's terra had worried every administration, and which,
if they did not create, kept alive the party organizations of
the day, were at an end. If we except a solitary question
which had been settled for a term of years, a carte blanche
of our foreign and domestic policy was within the grasp of
his hand. In the selection of his cabinet, so far as the
talents and the patriotism of its members were concerned,
he was mosl fortunate. If we exclude the first adminis
tration of Washington, the country had not seen so able a
cabinet. But, wilh the single remark that, whatever may
be the opinions entertained of its policy, there was but one
opinion of the honesty and unblemished purity of its head,
we drop a veil over this portion of his history.
When Mr. Madison nominated Mr. Monroe for the chair
of the Convention, he was aware of his physical inability
to perform any laborious service ; but he might have re
membered that Pendleton, who presided in the Virginia
federal convention, was in appearance more of an invalid
than Monroe, and had performed the duties of the office
•with the recorded approbation of the body. But the na
ture of the two bodies was wholly dissimilar, In the fed
eral convention, the main object of which was to consider

60 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTER.
a constitution ready made, and which must be accepted or
rejected as a whole, the discussions were conducted inthe
committee of the whole altogether, and the president was
only called upon to occupy the chair for a few moments
at the beginning and at the close of the daily session. Of
the twenty seven days during which the convention held
its sittings, Pendleton probably did not preside three entire
days. The ayes and noes were called but three times du
ring the session. The Convention of 1829-30 presented a
very different scene. Here was no constitution ready
made and to be ratified or rejected as a whole, but a con
stitution was to be raade under circurastances of extraordi
nary delicacy. There was hardly a prominent meraber
"who had not a plan o*' ^i= own on paper or in his brain,
or, if his scheme did not embrace an entire sj'stem, it fas
tened on one of the great departments. Others came
charged with a reformation of the County Courts, the abo
lition of the Council, and the regulation of the right of
suffrage. The members on the most important question of
the day had made up their minds, and one great division
of the state yvas arrayed against the olher. To preside in
such a body required not only a critical knowledge of the
law of parUaments, and the utmost readiness in its appli
cation, bul a capacity of physical endurance yvhich is not
often possessed hymen who have passed the prime of life.
It is true that much was done in committee of the whole ;
but the final battle on every question must be fought in
the house. For such a station, which required such a rare
abiUty of mind and body, il is not uncourteous to say that
Mr. Monroe, who was never much conversant yvilh pubUc
assemblies, and was more infirm than eilher Madison or
MarshaU, was wholly unfit. Fortunately, before the day
of severe trial came, he withdrew from the house, and left
the toil and the honor of his responsible position to another.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 61
Yet, while he remained a raeraber, he engaged more than
once in discussion ; and, though, at that period of intense
excitement, his speech on the basis was listened to more
as a means of knowing on which side of a question which
"was ultimately decided in a house of ninety six members
by two votes his vote would be cast, rather than frora any
regard of its matter or its manner of delivery, he spoke
more readily, and with greater self-possession, than might
have been anticipated from one so advanced in life and so
long retired frora popular bodies. His animated de
scription of the murder of a member in the midst of the
French National Convention by a mob which march
ed among the raembers with the severed head of their vic
tim stuck upon a pole ; a murder which was perpetated in
his presence while he was the minister near the Republic,
and which, though he had described it in his speech in the
House of Delegates twenty years before, was heard by
most of the members for the first time, made a strong ira
pression. The resignation of the chair and of his seat
was received with the deepest respect, and there was a
shade of sorrow on every face when it was officially stated
that his venerable form would be seen in that hall no more,
and that so great and so good a name would no longer
•adorn the records of the house.
I have thus far dwelt on that aspect of the Convention
which presented the greatest attraction to persons from
abroad ; it is now my purpose to regard it more in the Ught
in which it appeared amongourselves. The merabers who
had served in the federal councils deserved all the con
sideration which they enjoyed ; but those who had not
then appeared beyond our limits possessed abilities of the
highest order, and had won a dislinguished reputation at
home. And it was soon seen that upon thera mainly de
volved the most important labors of the body. Doddridge,

62 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
Upshur, Morris, Baldwin, Scott, Cooke, Joynes, BroadnaJr,
Summers, Fitzhugh, Johnson, Leigh, and others, busily
engaged in the pursuits of private life, had not passed be
yond the limits of Virginia, but had long been engaged ia
her service, and excited the greatest interest among the
people. There was also a brilliant coterie of a younger
date, who had already been prominent in the Asserably,
and were destined to rise to stiU greater disfincCion abroad;
and let me say to you, sir, that nothingso rauch irapresses
upon ray mind the rapidity witb which we are passing
away, as the reflection that nearly three score years have
roUed over the heads of Mason of Southampton, Mason
of Frederick, Goode, Morgan, Gordon, Loyall, Logan,
Moore, Thompson, and others of that gallant groupe ; and
I am sure you will join with me in paying the passing tri
bute of a tear to the meraory of one — not the least briUi
ant of thera all — the lamented Dromgoole. But to our
task. It yvill be remembered that the first great speech on the
basis question was pronounced by Judge Abel Parker Up
shur of Northampton. He had spent his youth at Prince
ton, and early devoted himself to the study of tbe law.
He entered the House of Delegates in 1819, and was a
member at intervals until his elevation to the bench of the
General Court, of which he was then a member. He was
in the full vigor of manhood, having just attained his forti
eth year. He was called unexpectedly to the floor, buthe
more tban fulfilled the public expectation. His command
ing person, his graceful and animated action, the unequalled
strenglh and beauty of his argument, the accidental yet
fortunate position he occupied on the floor, yvhich enabled
him to see and be seen by the hundreds who thronged that
hall, produced a fascinating effect. Persons from abroad,
who had corae to Usten to the eloquence of the eminent

the VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 6"
men whose names had become the household words of the
country, heard his speech during the two days of its de
livery with astonisiiment raingled with delight. The East
could not have opened the carapaign under more favorable
auspices. Nor was the effect of the speech on the body
itself less remarkable. It was as conclusive on the branch
of the subject which it discussed as ever speech could be,
and herraetically sealed a fountain which had been gush
ing copiously for years. Few speakers possessed in the
sarae degree with him the faculty of subtle disquisition,
and in the House of Delegates he had frequently displayed
great skiU in debate. There are those now present, per
haps, who remember his contest in that body with the late
Gen. Blackburn, who, hiraself the hero of a hundred fights^
-confessed Ms power. Nor Was his eloquence exhibited id
pubUc discussion only. He was as great with his pen as
with his tongue. His address before the Historical Soci-
ety, written on a topic of vital interest to the South, has
not yet received full credit for the cogency of its logic and
ihe beauty of its style. He was a native of the Eastern
Shore ; — a sl^p of country, which, however rich in its soil,
^s still richer jn the genius and patriotism of its sons, and
which then eontributed an able delegation to the body. It
^s mournful to think that such a man, when he was called
^p a sphere comraeljsurate with his fine abilities, was so
. ,suddenly taken away,
Witb all "(yho are conversant with the legislative bistory
oi the state fte narae of Philip Doddridge has long been
fjifliliar. Perhaps, to foim raore than to any other man
living, disconnected fronj the public press, the Convention
theij sittjag pw.ed its existence. As earlyas 1816, with
Smythe and Meregr, he had fought the battle in tlje House
of Delegates with success, but his favorite measure was
defeased in the Senate. Then, and not tiU then, did he

64 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTER.
approve the passage of the bill re-arranging the Senatorial
districts on the basis of white population. Although he
never entirely forgave the East because the districts were
re-arranged on the census of 1810, and for the loss of a
fraction of population which he thought was due to the
West, he was candid and generous in his appreciation of
the talents displayed by his opponents on that occasion, and
often in private, and raore than once in debate, spoke of
the argument of Tazewell in reply to Gen. Smythe on the
convention-bill of that session as by far the ablest he had
ever heard in a deUberative assembly. A meraber of the
House of Delegates at intervals through a long tract of
time, he was in that body during the session of 1828-9,
when the bill calling the existing convention became a law,
and sustained it with a masterly speech. It may not be
unjust to the living or the dead to affirm that ef aU the
distinguished representatives from beyond the Ridge, he
held the first place in the estimation of the West. There
his early history was known ; there his fine talents brought
forth their first fruits; and there was the theatre in which
his greatest forensic efforts were made. There was sorae
thing, too, in the fortunes of a friendless youlh, with no aid
but from his own untiring spirit, yvinning his yyay to the
highest distinction yet retaining to the last the siraple
manners of early years, yvhich appeals to the best feelings
of the human heart every yvhere. The people of the West
knew and loved the man, but they had known and loved
the boy. The interview of the young Doddridge, chubby,
sunburnt, ungainly, and in his boatman's garb, yvith the
haughty governor of the Spanish territory on the Missis
sippi—neither understanding the native language of the
other, but conversing in bastard Latin yvhich the youth had
picked up while his feUows yvere pinking squirrels out of
the tree-tops of the yet unbroken forests of the West,

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 65
¦W-ould forra a suggestive picture, which, I hope, the brush
of some Western son of genius will commit to canvas for
the admiration of future limes. WeU and worthily did he
requite the affection of the West. Not only in his great
speech on the basis question, when the hope of triumph
was bright before him, but afterward, when his plans were
thwarted, did he strive to secure the great object of his
mission. As a speaker, he had many great qualities —
readiness, fluency, and an unlimited command of all the
logic, and, what was of great importance in that body, of
all the statistics of bis case. Irascible even, and prompt
to take offence where offence was intended, he was distin
guished for great courtesy in debate; — a trait so distinctly
marked as to call forth the pointed acknoyvledgment of
Randolph. Whether he prepared himself expressly for
the occasion I cannot say — for the whole subject had been
the study of years — but in the great debate on the basis,
and in the innumerable ones which would suddenly spring
up, he was a gushing fountain of facts and figures. He
had none of the ordinary graces of a speaker about him.
His voice seemed lo come from his throat and had no free
dom of play. He was low and broad in stature ; his fea
tures were heavy, though to a close observer they might
bespeak a great mind in repose ; and in his dress he yvas a
very sloven. Indeed his form and dress, even his position
in the Convention as well as the poyvers of his great mind,
are foreshadowed by Horace in his third satire as faithfuUy
as if the Tiber and the Yohogany were sister streams :
Iracundior est paulo; minus aptus acutis
Naribus horum hominum; videri possit, eo quod,
Rusticius tonso toga defluit, et male laxus
In pede calceus haeret. At est bonus, ut melior vir
Non alius quisquam ; at tibi amicus; at ingenium ingens
Inculto latet hoc sub corpore ;
6*

66 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL EEPORTEK.
I have spoken of the readiness ©f Doddridge in debate.
He was occasionally very happy in retort. When he was
replying in the legislative coramittee, which held its ses
sions in the Senate chamber of tbat day, to an argument
which TazeweU had just delivered, he remarked, aUuding
to the Convention biU of 1816, that he had heard that ar
gument before. Tazewell observed audibly : Ergo it is
unsound. Doddridge instantly retorted : Ergo it has been
answered before. Though a resident of that region which
has not inaptly been termed the pan handle of the state,
and in his daily offices mingling more yvith the people of
other states than wilh our own, he was as true a Virginian
as ever trod our soil, and yvas among the last of our emi
nent statesmen yvho spoke with something of the acerbity
of personal feeling of the craft wilh yvhich the Pennsylva
nia commissioners, at the head of yvhom was the celebra
ted Rittenhouse, are reputed to hay^e beguiled our own out
of thousands of acres of our most fertile territorv. On
his return hom.e he yvas elected to Congress, and, whUe
engaged in reducing lo a code the local laws of the Dis
trict of Columbia, — an office for yvhich he was peculiarly
filled, he yvas, like his colleagues Upshur and Barbour, sud
denly cut off.
Another of those remarkable men yvho had not appeared
in the federal councUs, ¦yvhose mind yvas formed to grapple
yvilh the most complicated topics in law and politics, and
who took a prominent part in the proceedings of the Con
vention, was Robert Stanard. It was the singular honor
of Richmond that the names of four such men as Mar
shall, Leigh, Johnson, and Stanard, yvere enrolled araong
its residents. But Stanard held his seat as the representa
tive of another district. The ground he stood upon inthe
Convention was an elevated one. His appointment came
frora a district iu which he had spent his eai-ly Ufe, and

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 67
¦which he had represented in the Asserably, but frora which
he had been separated for years. When Mr. Stanard rose
to deliver his speech on the basis, Mr. Johnson had just
concluded his great speech on that subject, which may
well be supposed to have made a deep irapression on his
audience. Still the body was jaded and fagged, and the
Western members, who anticipated a triumph, were anx
ious for the question. On the side of the East, which
might gain but could not lose by delay, although the mem
bers were worn in some degree by the protracted discus
sion, — for it was as late as the fourteenth of November
•when Mr. Stanard began his speech, there was a strong
desire not only that the speech of Johnson should be ex
amined, but that certain epithets, such as aristocrat and
the like, should be repelled, and the misrepresentations of
some of the arguments of Judge Upshur on the principles
of government should be corrected. What rendered such
a coerrction necessary, was the fact that the East not only
received no support from the press of Richmond, but found
in its editors tbe most influential opponents of its favorite
basis. And this leads me to say that there were silting at
the clerk's table, busily engaged in taking notes of the pro
ceedings, two men, not members of the body, fiUing no
civil office, who then wielded a greater influence over the
people than any other two men in tbe State, and had long
favored, though wilh very different ulterior views, a change
in the fundamental law. The elder of these for a quarter
of a century had edited a journal, which was the leading
organ of the dominant parly in the State, with a zeal and
abUify hilherto unknown in our annals, and yvith corres
ponding success. He had taught the people to think his
own thoughts, to speak his own yvords, to weep when he
yvept, to wreathe their faces with his smiles, and, over and
above all, to vote as he voted. A sovereignty so comple+

68 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
over the public mind was not likely to pass uncontested-'
Boys, who had just laid aside their satchels; statesmen
who had lost office or sought it under a new system ; yvri-
ters of every degree, dipping their pens in ink not unmix
ed with gall, sought to impair it, and sought in vain. Po
pularity, running through a long lapse of years, and ques
tioned al every slep of its progress, is rarely an. accident ,-
and il is certain there was an abiding conviction that such
influence yvasyvielded by its possessor in a good cause, and
that he was as honest as he was able. In person he was
tall and lean ; his profile so distinctly marked as not, if
once seen, to be easily forgotten; quick in all his move
ments, and in his gait he leaned slightly forward. Nor did
he spurn the duties of the toUel. In this respect at least
he had no mark of the professional devU about hira. In
the relations of life he yvas eminently courteous and social,
and withal was the mosl laborious man of his age. The
editor of a daily commercial paper and a semi-weeklv po
litical one must be a busy man. For many vears he drew
largely on the small hours ofthe morning. I have spoken
of bis lact as a parly manager. He never lost his temper.
He may have acted unwisely, bul never rashly or foolishly.
If he was sometimes seen to trip or fall, it was onlv to rise
again, like Antjeus, yvilh redoubled strenglh. AU parties
have their family troubles. Il yvould happen al limes that
a politician, who was persuaded by his friends that he did
nol enjoy that consideration in the parly to yvhich he yvas
entitled, would run restive ; and it was amusing to see the
skiU yvith which our editor would reeve a cord throu<rh
his nose and lead hira cosily about. But il yvas mainly
when a poUtician abjured his allegiance and joined the op
posite party, that his fuU force yvas felt. The abuse of his
quondara Palinurus was the burden of the rebel's song, and
if the abuse of enemies constituted moral yvealth in the

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 69
eyes of friends, he yvould have been the richest man inthe
country. Nor did this abuse affect his equanimity ; for in
his busy life it became a matter of course, and he may be
said never to have been at peace but in a state of war —
never out of trouble but when in it. But, as Thomas
Ritchie still Uves, it is beyond our present purpose to say
farther than that all the influence of such a character yvas
thrown on the convention question into the scale of the
West. The other person then sitting near him yvas much youn
ger in years, small in stature, careless in his apparel, his
face bearing a weight of premature care — a prophetic face,
which was redeemed by a brilliant eye. His intellectual
endowments were of a high order. In wil, sarcasm, scorn —
in a ready command of the choicest words and phrases —
in a knowledge of men and things passing before him, and
in those qualifications which make up a dashing editorial,
he had no superior — hardly an equal. His writings made
a new era in our newspaper literature. Some of his finer
touches were beyond the reach of Fonblanque. He
made enemies, as all men, who in exciting times bring
positive qualities to bear on exciting topics, are prone to
make : yet there were few of his political opponents who
did not occasionally relish his raillery even when it played
upon their own party. He sometiraes fell inlo amusing
mistakes : for he had read history rather by dwelling on
favorite eras, within the range of which he deUghted to
linger, than at large, and he was apt, in the hurry of the
moraent, to gather his knowledge at second hand ; and the
lightnings of his genius often scorched too severely the
objects on which they fell. Nor did he possess — perhaps
he scorned it — that exquisite tact which is required in a
public leader in a country like ours, and which was tbe
prominent characteristic of his great opponent ; for, with

70 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
the single exception of the convention question, Thomas
Ritchie and John Hampden Pleasants held no political
topic in unison ; but on that common ground they pUed
their constant task. Hence, as the East had no represen
tative through the press, nothing could have been more
opportune than the speech of Mr. Stanard, He opened
magnificently on the " war of epithets," as he termed it,
and analysed the arguments of Johnson with wonderful
skiU, carrying out his concessions to results which were as
unexpected to Johnson as to his audience at large. When
he had brushed away aU the false guises which he thought
had concealed the true question at issue, he proceeded to
discuss it, dwelUng incidentally on the arguments of the
members who had preceded him in debate, and subjecting
them to the test of the severest logic. He recalled to the
attention of the house an argument of Mr. Leigh -on the
results Ukely to flow from a rejection of the federal basia
by a Southern State, showed that it had been evaded, or
pot met at all, and urged it with such force as to make a
deep impression on the body. From his habits of thorough
analysis and his high mathematical attainments he was
well qualified to examine the doctrine which had been ur
ged in debate of the applicability of the exact sciences to
politics, and he performed the office with great ability.
He spoke from the conclusion of Mr. Johnson's speech to
the adjournment, and for the larger part of the next day,
and was listened to with untiring interest by members on
both sides of the house ; for not among the least interest--
ing parts of his address were the interlocutory discussions
that arose on the part of those ¦whose arguments were sub»
jected to his searching examination. His speech is reports
ed with considerable fullness, and it is to this speech that
a raajority of readers, not famiUai- yvith the law rep.orts,
ci.ust look in forming their opinions of hJs abjlity as a pub»

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 71
lie speaker and the qualities of his intellect. With the
' proper qualifications with which one should read such a
speech, taken down by a stenographer, and corrected, if
at all, by the speaker when the glow of the moraent
is gone, it will be found to sustain the burden of a large
and vigorous reputation. He dallied not in flowery meads
or by the banks of flowing strearas ; he left Shakspear and
Milton — the drama and the epic — to the other members of
the coraraittee to use or abuse as they pleased ; but every
¦word that he uttered — every sentence that fell from his
lips — ^was a step in the progress of his argument, — was a
link in that chain wilh which he bound his opponents.
Epithets applied fo persons had no place in his vocabulary;
yet his speech was as personal as it well could be ; and
the different explanations that were elicited during its de
livery were as painful and more vexatious to the parties
concerned, than if he had written the most opprobrious
names on their foreheads. He was especially successful
in annoying his opponents by collating their respective ar
guments and comparing them with each other — a tender
office, which in his hands was apt to breed trouble in poli
tical families. His speech and that of Upshur, though
differing as widely as possible from each other, may be re
garded among the finest models of parUamentary discus
sion to which the Convention gave birth. The speech of
Joynes, incomparable in its way, was mainly limited tothe
financial view of his subject, and was not designed to em
brace a full examination of the multiform principles which
lie at the foundation of the social compact. With all our
state affairs Stanard was intimately acquainted, having
served his apprenticeship in the House of Delegates of
¦which he had been the presiding officer, and it is worthy
of remark that the discussions of the Convention were
mainly conducted by men who had spent a term of service

T2 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
in that school ; and, perhaps, it may be said, that, if to
any one source more than another the exceUence of our
pubUc speakers may be attributed, it wiU be found in their
early and habitual service in the General Assembly. If
Mr. Stanard were able in debate, there were others who
possessed in a far higher degree the perfections of an
orator. He had a hesitancy in his speech, or the defect
may have arisen from the habit of recaUing his sentences
in order to put them in another form, and his diction,
though correct and at times caustic, did not abound in the
graces which rarely pertain to those who refuse to pay
their court at the shrine of the Muses. He was a strenu
ous advocate of the independence of the judiciary, and
not approving of the provisions of the new constitution on
the tenure of the judicial office, voted against its final
adoption. He again entered the House of Delegates, and
made a speech in opposition to the Expunging Resolutions,
which was one of the most elaborate, most subtle, and
most eloquent speeches ever pronounced within its waUs.
He was afterwards elected to the Court of Appeals, and
at the time of his death held that station which he emi
nently adorned.
It would be amiss even in this hurried sketch of the emi
nent raembers of the Convention who had nol appeared in
the federal councils, to omit the name of Gen. Robert Bar-
RAUD Tatlor of Norfolk. He was educated at 'William and
Mary, yvhere he held a prominent position among the young
men jvho then attended that institution. Rarely does it
happen that a greater number of distinguished pupils yvere
ever present at a single seminarj'^ at the same tirae than
were then gathered in those classic halls. There was John
Thompson, the author of the Letiers of Curtius addressed
to Gen. MarshaU, — one who I have heard his surviving class
mate declare was the most extraordinary young man he

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 73
evei' knew, and over whose early death Virginia well might
mourn ; James Barbour, whose honorable career in our
public councils as a member of the House of Delegates
and of the Senate of the United States, Governor, Secre
tary at War, and Minister to the Court of St. James, is a
part of our history; William Henry Cabell, who, hav
ing received tjie highest civil and judicial honors of his
native State, and displaying in the society ofthe metropo
Us in which he moved for half a century an urbanity and
grace peculiarly his own, died recently al an advanced age ;
John Randolph, who, brilliant as he was, was in the midst
of his equals ; and Littleton Waller Tazewell, who
then di-splayed those qualities which were to add new glory
to a name already distinguished in our annals, and who, on
the banks of the Elizabeth, in the raidst of a lovely faraily,
-and in full possession of his great faculties, still survives.
Strictly speaking, they were not classraates. Randolph
and Tazewell studied Cordery together, and were class
mates at the grammar school in WiUiamsburg for several
years, but were nol in college at the same time, Randolph
having gone abroad and not returning lo WilUara and Mary
until Tazewell had taken bis degree. Thompson and Taze
well were classraates, but when Tazewell was in the senior
class, Barbour, Cabell, and Taylor were iu the junior, which
Randolph did not join until it became senior.
Ths physique of these young men was as remarkable as
tbeir mo-rale. Barbour, Cabell, and Tazewell were six feet
high and upward ; Taylor did not quite reach that standard
of height, but was one of the raost imposing and elegant
men of the age. Thompson was about the height of Tay
lor, his features peculiar and far from handsorae, wilh a
grey lustrous eye. Randolph in early youth surpassed
them all in beauiy. A friend, who saw hira with his moth
er in New York in 1786, spoke of him as a beauliful and

74 the VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
fascinating boy, and I have heard one of his schoolfello'B'S
describe him as the mosl lovely youth he ever beheld, his
face exquisitely formed, his complexion brilliant, and his
eyes blacker, if possible, than in manhood. These were
the associates of Taylor in his college years, and with them
he pursued the study of the law. In the politics of early
life Gen. Taylor differed from his colleagues, and, while
they sustained the doctrines of the republican party, he
erabraced those of the opposite school. All these young
men except Thompson almost immediately entered public
life. Cabell became a member of the House of Delegates
as early as 1795, where he remained, wilh an interruption
of three years, until 1805, yvhen he was elected Governor,
and, on the expiration of his term, a judge of the General
Court, and aflerward a judge of the Court of Appeals,
crowning his public life yvilh the highest judicial honor
which Virginia could bestow. Barbour, Cabell, and Taze
weU yvere members of the House of Delegates in 1798-99,
and supported John Taylor's resolutions ; and in 1799 —
1800, Barbour, Tazewell, and Taylor were members of that
body, the two first sustaining the report of Mr. Madison,
and the last opposing il. In 17£9 Randolph took his seat
in the House of Representatives, in yvhich body and in the
Senate, he spent nearly the whole period of his life. At
a later date there was a change in the political relations of
these young politicians. In 1806 Thompson was no more ;
but from that time until 1816, Randolph in the House of
Representatives, and Taylor and TazeweU iu private life,
opposed the administrations of Jefferson and Madison,
while Barbour and Cabell, both of yvhom filled the office of
Governor during this interval, sustained them. It was in
1809 that Gen, Taylor became a candidate for Congress in
the Norfolk district in opposition lo Col. .Vewton the dem
ocratic nominee, and was defeated. SUU, such was the

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 75
rank which Taylor held in his profession, having been en
gaged for nearly the third of a century on one side or other
of every important case in the Norfolk circuit, and so great
was his zeal in its pursuit, he had no time for studies not
bearing directly upon the business of life. Hence politics,
as a science, may be said hardly to bave engaged his at
tention ; and so slightly acquainted was he wilh the slate
of parties and opinions in the commonwealth, that in a
'speech before the people during the canvass, he proposed
as his favorite basis of representation the striking of one
member from each county, — a result highly acceptable to
his constituents, as it left the balance of power just as it
was, — and defended this scheme at length on the ground
of economy and expediency. It was not until the raeet
ing of the body that the white basis was presented to his
view, when he embraced it with that zeal which raarked
his character ; and instantly arriving at the conclusion that
no other basis was consistent with a republican system,
and knowing that nineteen-twentieths of his constituents
were opposed to his views, he resigned his seat. His let
ter of resignation is fitly inscribed on the journal of the
Convention, and, elegant in point of composition, will re
flect on future tiraes the chivalry of his character and his
unspotted purity of purpose. When the Loudoun delega
tion elected him the successor of Mr. Monroe, he sent in
a graceful but prorapt declination.
It has been stated tbat Gen. Taylor was opposed fo the
policy of Mr. Madison ; yet, when war was declared, unlike
his friend Randolph who refused to vote appropriations for
fihe pubUc defence in flagrant war, he Was among the first to
rally around the standard of his country. He was appointed
the comraanding general of the forces at Norfolk, and, al
though no opportunity occurred of meeting the enemy, it
was well known that, jn the event of an engagement, he

76 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTER.
vwuld have achieved all that undaunted valor could have
won. On his retirement from service, Mr. Madison ten
dered him the appointment of a general officer in the reg
ular army, but he declined the honor. With the exception
of a seat in the House of Delegates in 1826-7, when he
opposed with all his ability the Tariff resolutions of Mr.
GUes, he held no civil office from the commencement of
the century to the year 1830, when he was appointed judge
of the Norfolk district under the new constitution — an of
fice which he held but three years when his country was
called upon to laraent the death of one of the most devo
ted patriots and most accompUshed men.
It was on tbe conclusion of Judge Barbour's speech that
Gen. Briscoe G. Baldwin rose to address the house. He
had long been a favorite son of the West. Some years
previously he had been a member of the House of Dele
gates, and, associated with Sheffey, the Roger Sherraan of
the West, had exerted himself to effect the removal of the
seat of governraent frora Richmond to Staunton. In the
discussions on that question he sustained himself with
marked ability, and, if he did not succeed in his object,
gained an increase of reputation. He was one of the finest
looking men in the Convention, was six feet in height, and
of commanding proportions ; and he was raost cordial in
his address. Tbe leading trait of his speech on the basis
was its generous humanity. This is no common praise.
At a time of high excitement such as then prevailed, it
required no small degree of moral courage to talk of peace.
He scorned a war among brethren, and made an eloquent
appeal to the body in favor of extinguishing the pasSion,"
of the moraent at the allar of one common count^J^ His
¦ manly forra is fresh before me as he spoke that day. It
may be said, that his speech, apart from the chivalric spirit
which it breathed and inspired, though able, was not re-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

77

garded by his friends as a fair exponent of his powers, nor
did it quite come up to the full expectation of the coun
try. He was elected to fill a vacancy in the Court of Ap
peals established by the constitution which he aided in
fraraing, and remained on the bench tiU his court was su
perseded by the present constitution. And, on the eve of
the recent election of the judges of the Court of Appeals
by the people, when his name was again brought forth
under the most favorable auspices, quite unexpectedly to
all, he suddenly deceased.
If I omitted a more formal notice of Alfred Harrison
Powell in anoiher place, it was because he more properly
belonged here ; as he spoke at length on the basis ques
tion, and succeeded Gen. Baldwin on the floor. He had
established a reputation in the House of Representatives,
and was known in the commonwealth not only as a politi
cian, but as a gentleman of pure character and of a high
sense of honor. Although he belonged to the East, he
ringed amder the banners of the West ; and, however
strong, as the West undoubtedly was, in the number and
prowess of her champions, there were many who regarded
PoweU as likely to render service in the common cause as
great as any which would be rendered by his colleagues who
stood more prominently than he did befbre the people. He
-had been a member of the House of Delegates as well as of
the House of Representatives, and was, perhaps, the most
thoroughly skilled of his political associates in the practice
of deliberative bodies. A knowledge of parliamentary
tacUcs is at all liraes an element of power, and, as in the
Convention skill was arrayed against nurabers, was of the
first moment to the interests of the West. He had a good
person ; his address was at once frank and refined ; and it
is probable that, if the honor of the presiding office of the
body had been awarded by the West to any of her advo-
7*

78 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
cates on the score of individual fitness, PoweU would have
borne away the palm. Nor was the East insensible to his
raerit. He was raore frequently called to the chairin com
mittee than any olher member; and his speech on the basis
was looked for and listened to with corresponding interest.
It was altogether a speech worthy of his reputation, and
will show the caste of his raind as well as his style of de
bate ; but, as he was indisposed when he spoke, it was not
as effective in its deUvery as it would otherwise have been ;
and a higher irapression of his powers was received from
his subsequent efforts. Few men appeared to have a
stronger hold on life than his ; but he survived the adjourn
ment a few years only.
It was early in the debate on the basis that Richard
Morris of Hanover made his speech. Not above tbe mid
dle size, though not much beyond the prime of raanhood
nearly bald, with a face, if not handsorae, animated and
expressive, he advanced to the contest like a preux che
valier, who, having thrown aside for the moment his breast
plate, and his sword, and his plumed helm, had descended
to the arena of the council to advise those measures which
he was ready to execute in the field. He had been trained
in the House of Delegates, and was at horae upon all State
topics ; and displayed at once that self-possession and vi
vacity in debate, which several speakers, his equals in in
tellect, failed to evince. His reputation as an orator and
a debater raay safely rest on the speech which he raade in
favor of the raixed basis. In his poUtical sentiraents he
leaned iu early life to the federal party, and was usually
connecled with that small but dislinguished clique known
as the tertium quids ; and, as from his near residence to
Richraond his influence vvas sensibly felt here, he raay be
classed with those politicians yvho succeeded in neutrali
zing the influence of Mr. Jefferson in the metropolis of his

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 79
native State. It was on the conclusion of his"able and elo
quent speech on the basis that Randolph made the play
ful remark which moved the mirth of the West as well as
the East: " I see that the wise men still come from the
East." He did not engage in any subsequent discussion
that I now reraember, and in less than three years after the
adjournment of the body of which he was one of the ablest
and most distinguished raerabers, at an age hardly exceed
ing fifty-five, he died at his seat in Hanover.
The meraber who followed Morris in the debate on the
basis and whose election to a seat in that body was a topic
of remark at the time, from his unique position requires,
though still living, a short notice. In Virginia, before
and since the Revolution, a prejudice has existed in
the public mind on the subject of an union of religious
and political functions in the same person. In England
the clerical character is indelible, and in this State no cler
gyraan had appeared either in the State or Federal con
vention ; and he was directly excluded from the General
Asserably. It is true that Witherspoon was one of the
most efficient raembers of the Continental Congress, and
exerted a wholesome influence in settling in the articles of
Confederation — the identical basis for which the East was
then contending; and in our own State president Sraith
of Hampden Sidney, in the discussions of the day on the
expediency of adopting the Federal constitution, had op
posed Patrick Henry, who, in answer to Smith's pointed
enquiry why, instead of abusing the constitution, he had
not repaired to Philadelphia and aided the Convention with
his advice when it raight have been of sorae avail, replied
with a significant look and gesture : " Sir, / smelt a rai."
And not long before the meeting of the convention, Ed
ward Everett, who had filled the churches of Boston with
crowds anxious to catch every syllable from his eloquent

80 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
lips, had thrown aside the gown, and had recently made
his maiden speech in the House of Representatives. Still
there was a strong distrust of theologians in Virginia, and
it was feared that by the presence of a popular divine in
the Convention the element of religion might be mixed up
with topics sufficiently exciting in themselves. But the
course of Alexander Campbell soon dispelled all such
fears. _ He indeed belonged to a sect the most numerous
in the Union — a sect, however, most devoted to religious
freedora in its largest sense ; — but, if it had been other
wise, of this powerful sect Campbell was a schismatic.
There yvas no danger to religious freedora from hira. He
needed it raore tban any body else. With the doctrines of
his church and wilh the constitution of the State he -nas
equally at war. In his personal appearance, in his dress
and raanners, in his style of speaking, he was a man of
the world ; and it would not have been suspected that he
was olher than a layman, if in his speech on the basis he
had not drawn his Ulustralions at length from the Jewish
system, and sought to strike oul George Mason's constitu
tion with a view of inserting the book of Deuteronoray in
its stead. He had a great fund of humor, and, observing
the zeal wilh which the East pressed the antiquit}' of the
constitution, he proved easily enough the superior age of
his own system, and urged that the Easton its own princi
ple might wiihout self-abasement lay George Mason atthe
feet of Moses. He was a fine scholar, and, witb the vouno-er
members of the body who relished his arausing- thrusts, his
pleasant address and social feelings rendered him very ac
ceptable. As a controvertisl he had some greal qualities;
he was bold, subtle, indefatigable, and as insensible to at
tack as if he were sheathed in the hide of a rhinoceros.
He made a successful rejoinder to Randolph, who had quo
ted in English the raaxim of Lord Bacon : Tirae is a o-reat

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 81
innovator ; to which Campbell replied by quoting the en
tire maxim correctly in the original: Maximus innovator
tempus ; adding quidni igitur tempus imitemur ? He was a
native of Scotland, and, as he landed on our shores, he
happened to take up a paper containing a recent message
of Mr. Madison, which, he said, gave him the first impres
sion of American genius. With tbe exception of Col.
Bierne, he was, I think, the only foreign-born citizen in the
body. He was followed in tbe discussion by John Scott,
whose speech on the basis was an able and well-limed
effort in favor of tbe East. It had not been his wont, to
use his own expression, to sing hosannahs to the constitu
tion ; and his capital defence of the raixed basis came with
redoubled power frora one, who, while, Uke Joynes and Up
shur, he favored important changes, was willing sooner to
renounce thera all than yield one tittle of his ground on that
question. Without the slightest pretension to any grace
of manner or style, with a voice harsh and forbidding, he
was an animated and most impressive speaker. He was
about the middle height. His face had none of that bright
ness which irradiated the countenance of Morris, who pre
ceded him on the side of the East in the discussion, but
seemed worn with disease, under the severe pressure of
which he made a renunciation of all public office forever ; —
a renunciation, which his subsequent election to a judge
ship, the duties of which he discharged for ten or fifteen
years until the time of his death with acknowledged abUity,
compelled him to revoke. He was a member of the fed
eral party, and in the debate on tbe judicial tenure he
spoke with great force in opposition to Mr. Giles, between
whom and himself there was a sharp personal collision.
Although in the contests of the Co/ivention the Unes of
division were strictly drawn between the friends and op-

S2 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
ponents of the old constitution, — now that those strifes are
past, and most of the active spirits of that exciting time
are no more, il may notbe inappropriate to class two names
together, yvhich, though never on the same side on the per
petually recurring caU of the roU, were bound by tbe chords
of Christian affecUon, and yvere united in the support of
all the religious and humane schemes which honored the
age in which they Uved — James Mercer Garnett and
William Harrison Fitzhugh. Garnett was by many
years the elder of the two, and may be said to have closed
his political life twenty years before the asserabling of the
Convention, and before that of Fitzhugh had begun. He
had been a member of the House of Delegates and was a
member of the House of Representatives during the entire
second term of Mr. Jefferson's adrainistration ; and, though
rarely engaged in prolonged debate, was an efficient coad
jutor of the party at the head of which was Mr. Randdlph,
which opposed the policy ofthat statesman. Thenceforth
he almost renounced public life, and devoted his time to
agriculture, education and religion, — three great interests
which then required all his fostering care. He was not far
from sixty, but retained in his gait the elasticity and erect-
ness of a young man. He did not make a formal speech
during the session, but watched the progress of events
wilh the strictest attention ; and some one present raay re
meraber how distinctly his sonorous voice yvas heard above
all olhers at the call of the ayes and noes, and recognised
at once. He yvas full of life, and delighted in society, of
which his polished manners, his humor deepening at tiraes
into a caustic yvit, and his large historical recollections, raade
hira a briUiant ornament. If John Randolph excited the
mirth of the Convention al the expense of Mr. Jefibrson's
" mouldboards of the least possible resistance," Garnett
brought forth roars of laughler in private circles at Mr.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 83
Madison's scheme of hitching the bison to a plough. It
was in the social gatherings that the artiUery of his poUti
cal party was brought to bear with the most decided suc
cess ; and many a young politician, who would have taken
the alarm at an allusion lo the embargo or the war, sunk
under the raillery played against the philosopher and the
farmer. His writings on agriculture and education have
been long before the country, and, if they do not exhibit
great attainraents in any department of knowledge, reflect
that homebred sense clothed in the simplest Anglo-Saxon
garb, and that abiding love of his species, which were the
Conspicuous trails of his character.
The mind of Fitzhugh had probably received an earlier'
training, and was, perhaps, of a higher order. Even be
fore he entered WiUiam and Mary he had studied the art
of public speaking, and one of bis surviving classmates yet
speaks wilh rapture of his briUiant speech on the first ocr
casion of his attending a society of that institution. He
had long devoted himself to the cause of education and
religion, and had gained honorable distinction a year or
two before by his speech in the House of Delegates on a
proposition to remodel the distribution of the interest of
the Literary Fund on large and liberal principles. He was
an early and steadfast friend of the Colonization society,
and his controversy with a writer supposed lo be Mr. Giles
under the signature of Opimius in defence of that associ
ation attracted much attention at the time ; and it is in his
letters written on that occasion that some of the rich fruits
of his genius may be found. His speech on the basis ex
hibited respectable powers, and was marked rather by that
sound sense and truthfulness, guided by firmness of pur
pose, which constituted his character, and by his persua
sive elocution, than by that subtle logic which was the order
of the day. He was in the prime of life, of winning man-

84 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
ners, and was the pride and joy of every circle in which
he moved. He probably never made an enemy. In Vir
ginia, where few of our erainent men have been conspicu
ous in the offices of religion, a prejudice, perbaps a rem
nant of chivalry, still sticking to the skirts of the poUtician,
who may sil al the card table or over the bottle without
derogation frora self respect or inteUectual rank, leads him
to connect weakness of intellect with a tender huraanity
and a high sense of religious duty. Fitzhugh, who, by the
way, had nothing of the Norman about him but his fine
proportions and the name, stood on fhe same platform on
the score of intellectual accomplishments and wealth with
the proudest of his feUows, and had a merit of his own.
He superadded the glory of a Christian Statesraan. In
politics he embraced the doctrines of the federal school,
and dearly did he love to sit at the feet of its living Gama
liel. Of the strictest temperance in all things, and in the
full enjoyment of those blessings which erabellish life and
make it useful, a long and honored career seeraed to ex
pand before hira ; but, in the inscrutable will of Provi
dence, he was destined to an early grave.
The name of' yet another of the distinguished raen who
had not been abroad in any public capacitv, but yvhose long
and useful career al bome, especially in the Senate of Vir
ginia, was familiar to his countrymen, demands a grateful
comraemoration. Such was the raassive streno-th of his
O
intellect, so intimately were commingled in his character
all the finest elements of beauty, moral yvorth, and a lofty
patriotism ; — so connecled and endeared was he in the ten
derest relations of life with so many persons bn either side
of that mighty Ridge which has too long reared its icy bar- v
rler between hearts which otherwise would have been, and
ought ever lo be, united in the bonds of the strongest af
fection,— that I tremble as I approach the narae of Chap-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 85
Man Johnson. In a forraer sketch allusion was made to
a brilliant galaxy of genius which adorned the college of
William and Mary at a particular era. The name of John
son suggests the recollection of a youthful triumvirate who
were likewise associates in that venerable institution, who
also chose the bar as a field of fame, and who, having at
tained almost all the highest honors which their country
could bestow, cherished in age the cordiality of earlier
years. I need hardly add that I speak of Philip Pendle
ton Barbour, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, and Chapman John
son.'^ At the date of the Convention Barbour alone had
been abroad, but all three had been bred in that school of
the prophets, the House of Delegates under the old Con
stitution. Johnson was born in Louisa, and was, I believe,
a son of the person of that name who has come down to
us in an amusing caricature by the Marquis of ChasteUux.
When therefore he returned from Augusta to reside per
manently in Richmond, it was a reclamation to which the
East had an equitable title, andwhich itwasproud tomake.
His position in the Convention was delicate and peculiar ;
for, like Stanard, he had received his appointment from
the generous confidence of the friends of his early man
hood. While he remained in the Senate as the represent
ative of the Augusta district, so great was the general con
fidence in his integrity, he was- regarded essentially an
eastern man; and, although during the session of 1816 he
had strenuously upheld the Convention bill, which was
lost in the body of which he was a meraber -by two votes
only, yet he forthwith embraced the bill re-arranging the
senatorial districts, and in a spirit of peace, and in opposi-
" I have leamed since the delivery of this discourse that Robert Stanard
waa at William and Mary during a part of the college course with the per
sons whose names are mentioned in the text. Why does not William and
Mary publish a triennial catalogue ?

86 THE VIRGINIA HIStORlCAL REPORTER.
tion to some of his colleagues of the West, secured its pas--
sao'e. Believing the representation of the West in the
House of Delegates substantially fair, he was resolved, as
the Senate had been reconstructed, to oppose any future
efforts in favor of a Convention. Hence from that time
he ranged on that question with a great majority of the
people of Eastern Virginia, and gallantly sustained the
celebrated Substitute which his friend Leigh proposed at a
meeting of the citizens of Richmond instead of the report
and resolutions in favor of a convention which had been
offered and which were finally adopted. Wilh these facts
fresh in the public mind, and with the beUef that, though
elected by the people of Augusta, he was left free to pur
sue the dictates of his judgraent, it is not at all a raatter of
surprize that the Eastern people generaUy expected him,
if not to sustain their peculiar views, at least to occupy
some middle ground on which both of the great parties
might fairly stand. But his course in the legislative com
mittee soon dispeUed these expectations; and when it was
known that he sustained the extreme raeasure of the West,
there was much disappointment, and the suspicions yvhich
Mr. Randolph used wilh such effect, 'were, at a time of
high excitement, freely expressed. But the subject ad-
mils of an easy and satisfactory explanation. It has been
stated that he voted for the Convention bill of IS 16, when
his main reason for so doing yvas the inequality of the rep
resenlation. When, however, he had succeeded in secu
ring the passage of the biU re-arranging the senatorial dis
tricts on the basis of yvhite population, he obtained aU that
he then desired. With the olher parts of the constitution
he was not disposed to quarrel. But the re-arrangement
of 1816 yvas altogether a temporary measure; for, as the
country had outgrown the previous -arrangements, so it
might be expected to outgrow that of the biU of 1816,

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 87
"whicli, as it was based on the census of 1810, may be said
to have borne on its shoulders the burden of .six years as
soon as it was born ; but, beUeving that in 1829 that period
had not yet arrived, he opposed a call for a Convention.
Thus far consistency required him to go, but no farther.
But when the question arose, not concerning a temporary
re-arrangement of the Senate, but the establishment of a
permanent basis of representation in the House of Dele
gates as well as in the Senate, — if consistency were called
in, it would have sustained him in upholding the white
basis in both houses, which was more than he contended
for, as he was williag ta concede a mixed basis for the Se
nate. Moreover, as no raan is ready to sacrifice his honor
without an equivalent, what had the West to bestow upon
him > A seat in the General Assembly, a seat m the Coun
cil, the office of Governor or Judge, or even a seat in the
Senate of the United States .' Not one of these honors
would he have accepted, had if been offered by the West,
or the East, or both united. The reasons which brought
him to Richmond would have kept him there. With all
who knew the integrity of the man, such injurious suspi
cions weighed not a feather in the scale. Sir, if he were
not guided in his conduct by a conviction of duty, then
magnanimity and an exalted sense of honor are the mere
bye-words of a vain philosophy. If we yvere permitted to
look into the recesses of his great mind, it may be that the
glorious vision of pouring oil upon that troubled sea, and of
winning the reputation of a raediator among warring breth
ren, may have flitted before him. Of all the members of
the body he was best qualified by position, experience, and
weight of character, to perform such an office. He had
frequently performed it in the Senate, and he might have
hoped to perform it on a more solemn occasion. And, if
the resolution .pffered by TazeweU, which j;egarded the ex-

58 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
isting constitution as a bill open to amendment, had been
adopted, the scene might have presented itself. The adop
tion of that resolution would have been soothing to the
feelings of the East. It would have shown that our breth
ren of the West believed that there was something in our
institutions, which had borne the irapress of two centuries,
worth preserving. And, even if the basis of qualified vo
ters, which Mr. Johnson was ready to propose, had been
adopted, it is possible that a senate of fifty members on the
federal basis, with a concurrent instead of a joint vote in
all elections by the Assembly, would have satisfied a ma
jority of Eastern men, yvho yvould have gained more real
advantage by accepting such a scheme which, as it con
tained within itself the means of a future re-adjustment of
the basis of representation, would have settled the pubUc
mind for half a century to come, than by adopting the ar
bitrary arrangement of 1830, which contained in its birth
the seeds of its dissolution at no distant da}'. But no such
poUcy prevailed. Every thing was to be torn from its
foundations. And a state of feeling soon arose that bade
defiance to aU attempts at pacification.
His speech on the basis question, yvhich consumed nearly
three days in the deUvery, which is reported yvilh some
degree of accuracy in the pubUshed debates, and which is
one of the few speeches of his which are accessible bvthe
general reader, was, as might well be expected, something
more than an ordinary production. None but a person in
timately conversant yvith the domestic poUcy of the State
from the eariiest period could have made it. While it
presents an interesting view of our past legislation in iUus
tration of his main topic, it preserves the prominent cha
racteristics of his eloquence. Great courtesy, respect for
the feeUngs of his opponents, and an unfeigned humiUty,
which sot off in bolder relief his great qualities, marked

TH-E VIRGINIA KISTOMGAL REPORTER. S9
aU his efforts. In the course of his general argument he
was sometimes led to dwell too long on incidental topics, ¦
and apply to the weaker that time and strenglh yvhich
would have been more wisely expended on the leading
parts of his subject. Hence, although it must be distinctly
admitted that a minor topic sometimes assumed from in
cidental circumstances a dignity which it might not nov/
seem to deserve, and required an enlarged iUustration, yet
his speech on thjs occasion, though at times he was very
great, as well as his speeches at the bar, lacked that strength
and compression which were the forte of his compatriot
Stanard, as they lacked that briUiancy yvhich flashed upon
you in Ihe speeches of Leigh. His mode of speaking was
unique. He began in a tone almost inaudible, and gradu
ally rose, sometimes in the course of a single sentence, to
the highest pitch of his voice. To those who listened with
delight to the flowing tones of Morris, the lively elocution
of Upshur, the musicar fulness of Leigh, and the rich
soprano of Randolph, the management of his voice was
often something less than pleasing; and to strangers who
heard him for the first time, it was almost startling ; but
to those who were familiar with his manner, this peculiari
ty was almost overlooked, and his real exceUence yvas ap
parent. He was more disposed to be grave than witty or
sarcastic ; yet he once made a happy retort on Mr. Ran
dolph who replied to some remark of his wilh wanton se
verity; " Sir," turning to Mr. Randolph whose shrivelled
face and shrunken form gave point to his retort, " Sir, it
needs no ghost to tell me that." It is singular that his
face, with the peculiar turn of his head when he was speak
ing, resembled that of the bust of Demosthenes so nearly
as to arrest intent attention. When he addressed a friend,
. a benign smile, which Ughted up his features, told the
lovely character of the man. He rarely took an active
8*

00 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
part in federal politics, and I am not aware that, with the
exception of the Adams Convention which was held in
this city in 1827, the address of which to the people of
Virginia was from his pen, and of the meeting yvhich was
also held in this city in 1834 on the subject of the remo
val of the deposites from the Bank of the United States,
tbat he meddled with them at all in his latter years. He
never filled any office abroad, but retained to the last the
confidence of the General Assembly, which honored itself
by committing to his hands the preparation of the propo
sed new code. It was a fortunate opportunity for such a
raan, whose fame was so purely Virginian, to follow the
example of his " noble friend from Chesterfield," and in
terweave his own name indissolubly with the jurisprudence
of his country ; but, after repeated efforts, he was com
pelled by indisposition to decUne the office ; and, before
the new code appeared from the younger and more vigo
rous hands to which it was committed, his gentle spirit had
passed away. When the life and services of this exceUent
man shall be weighed in the balance of history, — come
that day when it will — ^posterity will pronounce his repu
tation one of the purest and most precious gems in the
moral diadem of his native commonwealth.
With the name of Johnson was associated in the public
mind that of one not the least distinguished of the eloquent
triumvirate heretofore mentioned, yvho was not only his
classmate in college, his colleague in the General Assem
bly, his rival in tbe contests of the forum, and his compa
triot in the political struggles of a long Ufe, but the friend
of his bosom : — Benjamin Watkins Leigh. There was
such a community of feUowship, of genius, and of exalted
worth between these eminent men, that the name of the
one instantly brought to the lips the name of the other.
UntU the Convention assembled, they had always acted ia

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 91
unison with each other ; but now they were not only to
differ on the most exciting topic of the tiraes, but to lead
the columns of their respeative forces. It was in the close
quarters of the legislative commiitee, and not in the house,
that the severest collisions occurred between them ; but
the flame of early friendship, to the honor of human na
ture be it said, though it seeraed, as may presently appear,
during a season of excitement unparalleled in our history,
at times to flicker, burned with undiminished warrath to
the end of their honored lives.
As wilh Johnson, so itwas with Leigh, — he was return
ed from a district which he had served in early life, butin
which he did not reside. His brilliant career in tbe As
sembly and at the bar, his honorable mission to Kentucky,
the skill and tafete, and withal the scrupulous fidelity with
which he had prepared the code of 1819, and his burning
patriotism on several memorable occasions, had added no
common lustre to his name. But it was in the Convention
of 1829-30 that his genius shone with more than its meri
dian splendor, Virginia had long cherished him as one of
her sons most distinguished for the sirength of his reason
ing powers, the fervor of his eloquence, and the unsullied
purity of his patriotism, and it was hardly anticipated that
he would do more Ln his new sphere than sustain his great
reputation. She was mistaken, and not Virginia alone.
His extraordinary displays not only dazzled the eyes of
his fellow-citizens, but created wonder and admiration
throughout the Union. A learned professor of a Northern
University observed to the person now addressing the
chair, that an able jurist, himself illustrious for bis talents
and for the grace with which he wore the highest honors
of his native state, and who had mingled with the most
eminent Virginians in Congress, declared to him that, great
as were the men Virginia had sent to the federal councils.

92 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTEk.
she had retained at home, as if incapable of choosing
yvisely, a statesman v/ho far surpassed them aU. However
equivocal in one respect this compliraent may appear, it
was the opinion of a competent and an impartial judge,
and showed the irapression which Leigh had made upon
superior minds abroad.
It will be reraembered that the initiative was given to
the business of the Convention by the appointment of four
grand committees to which all the members of the body
were assigned ; lo one of these, the legislative, of which
Mr. Madison was chairman, Mr. Leigh was appointed. Of
this committee, the merabers of which were selected through
the courtesy of the President by their colleagues of the
Senatorial district as best qualified to maintain their inter
ests on the greatest question likely to engage the deUbera
tions of the body, it yvould be proper, if time allowed, to
speak at length. Il held its sessions in the Senate Cham
ber of that day, to which all flocked, although there were
then sitting in the Capitol three other committees over
which presided Judge MarshaU, Governor Giles, and Mr.
Taylor of Chesterfield. At the head of a long table, look
ing northward, sat Mr. Madison, while the other merabers,
in seats originaUy taken by chance, but retained through
out the session, yvere ranged about it, with the exception
of one raember, who, as if to avoid even the appearance
of aiding in the dissection of a friend in yvhora Ufe yvas not
extinct, and whom he stUl indulged the hope of rescuing
from the hands which were dabbling in its blood, sat apart
in the northwest corner of the chamber, his eyes alraost
constantly flxed on a map of Virginia suspended near him,
and seeraing seldom to stray frora its eastern portion. I
need not say to the thousands who day after day watched
his slightest motion, that I aUude to the orator of Roa
noke, who, long the marvel of his countrymen, had never

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 93
before filled an office in the commonwealth, and was hith
erto seen in the metropolis in passing only. Rarely was
so great a number of eminent men to be seen in so small
a compass. Besides the venerable Madison, who, as was
justly said, yvas not only at the head of that coraraittee but
of the Convention, and was the patriarch of the Union,
and Mr. Randolph, there was Tazewell, whose noble head
and flowing locks a Powers or a Gait would have selected
as his choicest model of Milton's human face divine, and
whose overshadowing reputation was then at its zenith ;
Johnson, of whom I have just spoken; Mercer, a veteran in
public life, long known in the Assembly and in the House
of Representatives, in both of which bodies he held the
front rank ; reputed to be a foeman worthy of the steel of
Leigh with whom ere this he had grappled full often, and
directly in front of whora he now sat ; his mild expression
and graceful appearance typyfying, in some measure, his
chaste and fascinating eloquence ; Doddridge, the particu
lar champion of the West, of whom I have already spoken,
watching with intense interest every movement of the
master-spirits of the East who were clustering about him ;
Tyler, already honored with the highest offices yvhich the
state could bestow, and whose elevation to the Presidency
of the United States has made his person and mind fami
liar to all ; Mason of Southampton, then in the perfection
of manly beauty ; one of the rising statesmen of the day,
and, his career in the state councils yet unfinished, des
tined not only to [a seat in Congress and on the federal
bench, but to preside at a glorious epoch over one of the
most important departraents of the federal government,
and whose recent appointment to the French Mission has
met with universal acceptance ; Green, the successor of
Roane on the bench of the Court of Appeals, yvhose name
will go down to posterity in connexion with one of the

94 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
most memorable debates on record, but whose modest ap
pearance gave no indication of the high judicial merit gen
erally accorded hira ; Cooke, thin in stature, the full ex
pression of a good face neutralized by green glasses ; un
known in federal poUtics, and as yet instate, except asthe
author of a violent pamphlet in favor of the West which was
distributed among the members of the Assembly at its last
session ; his mind thoroughly imbued with the logic of the
schools, and feeding on abstractions as its daily bread;
versed in the minute history of the state, and famous for the
provoking pertinacity with which he worried an opponent,
a dog-eared Hening in his hand ; Joynes, large and grave,
in goggles of portentous size, unkno^wn in pubUc life, but
fitted for the highest civil employments, and as famUiar
with our finances as if they were the playthings of his
chUdhood ; whose figures of arithmetic were the sworn
foes of all figures of speech; Summers, a judge of the
General Court, marked by great amenity of manners ; who
was supposed to hold divided empire wilh Doddridge over
the affections of the extrerae West; Roane, next to Madi
son, venerable in years ; whose public life dated back to
the days of Washington ; Bierne, the muscles of whose
honest face were anon convulsively twitched to sharpen a
defective sense of hearing, which, however, did not pre
vent an active career in the Assembly and in Congress ;
whose long and successful devotion to the pursuits of a
merchant and a planter never obliterated a taste for the
classic studies which beguiled his earlier years ; Broadnax,
whose tall and graceful person, draped in black, was con
spicuous even in a sitting posture ; more prominent at the
bar than in public Ufe ; Pleasants, yvho had been a member
of the House of Delegates in '98-'99, and '99-1,800, and
subsequently its Clerk, a raeraber of the House of Repre
sentatives and of the Senate, and Governor of th"? State,

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 95"
and in every sphere, by the blandness of his manners, his
unsulUed integrity, and his attractive eloquence, had won
the esteem of his countrymen ; Pendleton, who bore not
only the name but the raajestic fornf of that illustrious raan,
who presided in the convention of 1788, whose impress is
seen over our whole history, and who in extreme age had
closed his still active career almost within the shadow of
the building in which his namesake was now sitting ; and
others whom I pass over in this hurried sketch, but who
were entitled, if it were for their position on that commit
tee only, to high consideration.
In such a body, the elite, I had almost said, of the Con^
vention, the Virginian who was acquainted with the history
of the state, and who loved eloquence, intuitively singled
out Watkins Leigh ; for his countenance, which must have
been handsome in youth, still retained much of its fresh
ness, and but that, with the exception of the glossy black
hair that covered his temples, he was bald, he would have
readily passed for a much younger man than he really was.
He had a good forehead ; and his dark eyes, when he was
excited, seem to sparkle. His voice was sweet, and its
volume ample enough for his style of address. His ges
tures were few and graceful, and raainly, as if in the act of
demonstrating a proposition, with his right hand, which
was small enough to have won tbe favor of Lord Byron or
his friend Ali Pacha, and which, with his general form
and especially his baldness, he inherited frora the mater
nal side of his house. Like Byron, he was lame, from an
accident however, but, such was the elegance of his man
ners, the defect, if it did not heighten, did not impair the
dignity of his deraeanor. It is remarkable that his col
leagues Giles and Jones were also lame ; — a fact that gave
birth to a jest among the younger members in strong con
trast in one sense with the true state of the case, that the

96 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTER.
Chesterfield district had sent the lamest delegation to tbe
body. The ball in comraittee was barely in motion, when Mr.
Leigh took the lead araong the eastern members, and gal
lantly did he keep it until the final adjournment. Some
of the finest specimens of his eloquence might have been
selected from his unpreraeditated outbursts around that
council board ; but I regret to add, tbat, unless in the slight
memoranda made at the time by the person addressing the
chair, they are lost forever. He ran over the gamut of
parliamentary debate ; and argument, wil, sarcasm, pathos,
were perpetually at his service. He never missed his
mark ; and once when he assailed with irresistible humor a
position of Johnson's, that gentleman sharply observed
that he had appealed to the wisdom, not the wit of the
committee. There was one occasion in committee, when
the various qualities of Mr. Leigh's eloquence were exhi
bited with great brilliancy and effect. Judge Green had
offered a proposition in favor of the mixed basis, and Leigh
had sustained it with an animated speech, which was re
pUed to by Mercer and Johnson. To these Judge Green
repUed but in a tone so low as not to be distinctly heard.
Mr. Cooke also opposed the proposition in a very able
speech in which he detailed for the first time his elaborate
abstractions on the subjectof government. The array was
very formidable to any speaker, but never did Mr. Leigh
acquit hiraself wilh greater eclat. He began by saying
that the gentleman from Loudoun (Mercer) had misappre
hended or misrepresented him. He did not say that rep
resentation yvas apportioned to taxation under the articles
of confederation. He said that yvhen the questiou arose
in framing those articles the North contended that the capi
tation tax should bear equally upon black and white, bond
and free, which the South objected to; and that the ques-

¥HE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER,

97

tion was settled at last in 1781 on the three-fifths' princi
ple. He then stated that this W8ls an argument urged for
engrafting the principle in the present federal constitution,
and by the writers of the Federalist for its adoption by the
people. To prove his statement he referred to the 54th
number of the Federalist (written by Mr. Madison, as that
gentleman afterwards avowed.) He then proceeded to ar
gue that no government was safe that did not protect pro
perty ; that the definition of property was that the sub
stance of the possessor was kis to retain or dispose of as
he thought proper, and deraonstrated that this could not be
the case in a governraent in which the majority had not an
araount of property equal to that possessed by the rainority.
To show his distrust of such a government he drew an
iUustration from the case of his brother. I have, he said,
a brother whom I dearly love, and in whose integrity I re
pose unlimited faith. But do you imagine that I Would
deliver even into his hands while I had life in my body,
and while my wife and children look up to rae for support,
all my estate, or, what is tantamount, assent to giVe him
the power of leaving me penniless in the world ? No, sir,
I would not do it. None but a simpleton wotild do it. I
mean no personal allusion ; but I say none but a simpleton
Would assent to sUch a governraent ; none but simpletons
ever assented to such ; and the law that acted on this prin
ciple acted only on sirapletons, natural idiots, rautes, and
the whole generation of reow-cowzpos people. (Here a loud
and convulsive laug'h burst from the coramittee and from
the crowd in the lobby. Mr. Madison elongated his upper
lip, and assumed a serious air that was irresistibly comic.
Randolph, who in the isolated position I have described
appeared wholly inattentive to what was passing, but was
in fact the closest observer in the room, seemed for the
first time since the body met evidently amused, while the

98 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
opponents of Mr. Leigh showed that they felt the force of
his logic and the play of his wit.) He continued : The
genUeman from Frederic (Cooke) exhorted us to disregard
sectional interests and act like statesmen; thatis, we must
disregard local interests. Sir, I assure that gentleman that
I, for one, wUl not disregard the interests of my constitu
ents in Chesterfield. I yvill never consent — never — while
they pay one hundred cents andhls constituents fifty seven
only, to deliver them over to his tender mercies. I choose
rather (looking closely at Cooke) to foUow the exaraple of
the gentleman than his precept. (A laugh) As to the re
fined abstractions of that gentleman, he would not banter
them with him now. The gentleman from Loudoun (Mer
cer) has proposed guarantees for our protection. I have
no confidence in guarantees-^ — none whatever; and least of
all do I believe they would be observed by gentlemen who
construed the plainest, simplest words in the world oppo
site to their plain and palpable meaning. (An aUusion to
Mr. Mercer's federal politics. Another laugh from the
coraraittee and from the lobby.) The gentleman from Au
gusta (Johnson) flatters us yvith the belief, that, if we are
sofl enough to adopt the white basis, the East would still
preponderate in tbelegi'slalnre from the superior education
of her sons. I deny it altogether ;- I deny that any man
has been half-educated in Virginia since the Revolution,
(a laugh), and, as to his guarantees, I have no confidence
in tbem yvhere property is concerned, any more than I have
(to use a phrase not " of strict rhetorical propriety") in
that high obligation higher than the constitution itself
which has recently been the theme of public explanation.
(An allusion to Mr. Johnson's defence in the address of the
Anti-Jackson Convention of a faraous expression of Mr.
Adams.) Far be it from me to intimate that I have made a toler-

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 99
able sketch of the speech itself; but I ara disposed to think
that it raay to a certain extent support the opinion that
there was a finer field for the display of briUiant powers
of debate in the close quarters of the legislative commit
tee than in the Convention itself, where from the exces
sive length of a speech which occupied several days, the
scene becarae rather a contest of dissertations, especially
on the basis question, than a field of legitiraate debate.
What forcibly struck the observer of Mr. Leigh's course
in coraraittee was his readiness in discussion. He was
never taken by surprise ; and when sorae unexpected
moveraent, as yvas frequently the case, changed the aspect
of affairs, he displayed, what great experience and ability
often fail to do, that self-possession, that two-o'clock-in-
the-morning courage, which Napoleon ascribed to Masse
na. The writers on the theory of governraent he had
studied in early life, and retained his knowledge ; and when
Mercer spoke of Locke's reply, instead of Sidney's, to
Sir Robert Filmer, a glance of Leigh's eve told that the
speaker had missed his mark. Eut il is time the commit
tee should rise. As I recall those scenes, I seem to see
their living forms fresh before me. The tones of their
eloquent voices yet linger on my ear, and I can almost feel
the stifled breath of the crowd that thronged the lobby and
encroached on the floor ; and in another moment I appear
to move arr ong the graves of the departed. When I remem
ber the social converse of those erainent men, yvhich il yvas
my privilege to enjoy, and reflect that it seems but yester
day I saw them about that council-board or heard the voice
of wisdora from their lips, I shrink from the havoc which
death has made in their ranks. Out of that single coramit
tee Madison, Randolph, Doddridge, Broadnax, Bierne,
Pleasants, Roane, Suramers, Green, Chapman, TaUaferro,
and CampbeU of Bedford, have finished their course on

100 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
earth, and the grave has but lately closed over the gallant
forms of Johnson and Leigh.
It was, however, on the floor of the Convention itself.
that Mr. Leigh made those displays which attracted so
much of the public attention toward him. The debates in
the legislative comraittee, pungent as they were, were but
the skirraishes that preceded the general engageraent, and
that engagement was the longest and most animated that
was then known in our history. It has been stated, that,
as soon as the resolution of the comraittee basing repre
sentation in the House of Delegates on white population
exclusively was called up. Judge Green moved to amend
it in favor of the raixed basis ; — Upshur, as before obser
ved, opened the debate in splendid style, and was foUowed
by speakers frora East and West successively, who dis
played a thorough knowledge of the subject and great pow
ers of eloquence. But it was left for Mr. Leigh to pro
nounce a speech which was a map of the whole subject,
which discussed principles, and refuted objections to the
existing constitution unanswerably at least in the opinions
of its friends, and which impressed the large audience that
eagerly crowded to the hall during the two days of its de
livery wilh a degree of admiration rarely excited by foren
sic efforts. Nor was this his only great speech ; for he
was the warder on the yvalch-toyver of the East ; and no
topic, great or small, urged against the constitution or the
East, but was met by him and almost invariably with tri
umphant success. His knowledge of tho past histoiy of
'the state, even of a local or temporary kind, yvas yvonder-
ful and he was equaUy at horae in discussing the aUedged
misconduct of the Council in alloyving a few pounds of
damaged gunpowder to be used for a salute on some public
occasion, and what he supposed to be the true nature of
Bacon's rebellion. His style of speaking was impressive.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 101
His voice, as before observed, was music itself, and his
eloquence seemed at times to gush from his lips alraost
without articulation, and to corae directly from the heart ;
for, what added much to his weight of character, he was
serious in his purposes, and he believed himself struggUng
in defence of all that in his opinion rendered Virginia dear
in the estimation of olhers and in his own. He said to a
friend that in early life he studied Burke, but that in his
latter years he adopted Swift as his model ; and the union
of the styles of these two writers may give some notion of
his own ; for, Ihough his severe logic never would have
allowed him to indulge in the diffusive eloquence of Burke,
fais imagination ever burned brightly, and he was especi
ally fond of Anglo-Saxon words, as he was, indeed, of the
Ahglo-Saxons themselves. The substitute offered at the
Richmond raeeting heretofore alluded to, is a fair specimen
of his writing on apolitical subject, and is a noble com
mentary upon the old constitution, while his Christopher
Quandary affords a graceful exhibition of his mode of wri
ting on lighter subjects. While Mercer tripped in his allu
sion to Sidney, and was unfortunate in his quotation from
Ovid, Leigh, though he quoted frequently, and sometiraes
at length, never went astray. The debates published by
Mr. Ritchie will afford posterity a fair irapression of his
mode of argument and his topics; but much was in his
manner and in the occasion, which, however impressive at
the time, can never be recaUed. I have spoken of his
prominent position as the great leader of the East; but it
ought to be said, that his authority extended to the rainu
test detaUs of forms, I remember when the President,
the late Judge Barbour, himself thoroughly versed in the
logic of parUaraents and in aU their forras, was about to
sign the enrolled bill of the new constitution, which was
placed on the Clerk's table before hira, some doubts arising
9*

103 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
in his mind about the proper mode of signing it, which those
standing near him were anxious to remove, he observed:
No, genUemen ; let us wait tiU Leigh comes ; he knows
raore about these things than any of us.
To trace the course of Mr. Leigh through a session of
three months and a half would require a volurae ; but,
such yvere his extraordinary powers, that he retained his
influence undirainished to the last. This is, indeed, no
coramon praise. It is true that the dislinguished talents of
the East never shone with greater lustre than in the vari
ous discussions that arose in constructing the fundamental
law ; yet the toil and the responsibility mainly devolved
on him. No project, no scheme, and they came in legions
from East and West, but yvhat was critically analysed by
him, and he was as remarkable for his diligence in exam
ining the details of the most complicated propositions as
he was for the closeness of his reasoning and the elegance
of his declamation. To attain and preserve such an as;
cendancy in such a body was a glorious achievement. Long
were the eyes of the commonyvealth fixed steadily upon
him, and he well knew that nol a word fell frora his lips
unyvatched or unheeded. Had his life closed wilh the ad
journment of the Convention, his apotheosis yvould have
been without a parallel in our history. The East would
have clothed herself in mourning, and been bathed in tears.
Eloquence and poesy yvould have blended their chaplets on
his insensate broyv. The statue, radiant as the living ori
ginal, would have leapt from the rock lo meraorialise the
gratitude of his country, and lo present lo distant times
the outward type of its benefactor. But he lived — lived
to render yet farther and most valuable service to the
whole people, and alas ! to see a change corae over them,
.and, I fear, lo feel it keenly.
Jt was from the peculiar caste of his character that any

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 103
faltering of tbe public regard toward him would be sensi
bly felt. As a patriot bf enlarged views, perhaps, rather
than as a politician, he had always enjoyed the confidence
ofthe General Asserably, and itwas a singular coincidence
in his life that the only missions dispatched by Virginia
since the adoption of the federal constitution to her sister
states — the one to Kentucky, the other, at a long subse
quent date, to South Carolina, — were unaniraously confer
red upon him, and that it was his good fortune to discharge_
them both with unqualified applause. He loved Virginia
wilh a passion as pure and fervent as was ever cherished
in a human bosom, and regarded her as the impersonation
of all that was good and beautiful. Wilh many men pa
triotism is a profession, at most a principle ; but with him
it was a passion ; and such was its intensity, that I verily
believe he loved the vices as well as the virtues of his
idol, and would have fought as readily in defence of her
prejudices as of her principles. There was no alloy in his
love of country. I may add, what gave additional eleva
tion to the platform on which he stood in the Convention
was, not only the purity of his private life, his dislinguish
ed services, and his professional reputation, but the gene
ral belief that he would not descend frora his position to
assume office however exalted, or to curry favor for future
honors. None saw more clearly than he did the future
predominance of the "backwoods vote," as the Western
vole was ominously termed by Mr. Johnson, and he knew
the effect proximate and reraote of every word that he ut
tered ; but his mettle was such that the danger of any duty
was a propeUing motive to its execution. He was quick
in temper, and his chivalry prompted him to meet an oppo
nent with the weapon of his choice, but he was not inexo
rable. When he had stricken his foe, his noble nature
would have recoiled from the use of the tomahawk and the

104 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
scalping knife. Like all truly great men, he was easy of
approach, and, although it was irapossible not to feel in
such a presence, it was plain he sought no adventitious
means of heightening respect or inspiring awe, for he was,
as much as any man Uving, above all the tricks which
little men use to bolster a reputation ready to perish with
the passing year. He well knew that his reputation, if it
were worth having, would take care of itself. His heart
was sensible to all the gentle emotions ; he dearly loved
his friends, and he avowed in debate yvith a candor that
softened the rancor of the sentiment, that he was too apt
to hale his enemies.
He may be said to have leaned to a past age more than
became so great a mind. Not that he did not bring his
fine faculties to bear wisely and promplly on current topics ;
bul his heart seemed to be with by-gone times. Like those
speakers in the British Parliament, who, overlooking the
present, perpetually recur lo a period when their constitu
tion so called existed in all its purity — a period the wit of
man has never yet ascertained — Mr. Leigh dwelt on the
glory of Virginia before the Revolution, and seeraed to
cherish the prejudices of the old cavalier as warraly as if
he had lived in past tiraes and had just landed on our
shores a fugitive frora Marston Moor or the fatal field of
Worcester with a CrorawelUan flea in his ear. It would
have been a choice inteUectual treat, could one have heard
hira under the fuU exciteraent of debate overhaul Carlyle's
book on CromweU, and discourse on the modern mode of
making new saints out of old sinners. He was no fervid
beUever in human progress, and one would infer from the
remark heretofore quoted about education, and which re
flected his prejudices, that the country had rather retro
graded than otherwise in knowledge since the Revolution,
whUe the opposite opinion is unquestionably true. The

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 105
colonists must have been educated, if at all, abroad or at
home. If abroad, where were those wholly educated men
in the Revolution ? Who was Washington, Henry, Ma
son, Wythe, Pendleton, Jefferson, Madison ? men who
were the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night through
that perilous struggle ? Men who had never left their na
tive land. And Richard Henry Lee was more indebted to
his own appUcation in the colony for the development of
his powers than to a short residence at a provincial school
in Yorkshire. And if the Colonists were educated at home,
what other public institution did they possess than William
and Mary } and wherein was that superior to the same
Williara and Mary under Madison, Erapie, or Dew, Wash
ington CoUege under Graham, Baxter, Marshall, or RufF-
ner, Hampden Sidney under the Smiths, Alexander, Hoge,
Cushing, or Maxwell, Randolph Macon under Olin, Dog-
gett or Sraith, or the University from its establishment to
the present day? Where are the evidences of tbis high
intellectual culture? Where are the books, tracts, speeches,
poems, of the ante-revolutionary epoch ? It is remarkable
that Mr. Jefferson, who sought to furnish a list of the lite
rary works of the colony, yvhen he had enuraerated Bever
ly and Stith, overlooking, by the way, that pearl of our
early literature, the translation of Ovid by Sandys, could
only produce a paraphlet by Col. Bland ; and it is proba
ble that the colony of Liberia has published more newspa
pers since its establishment than were published in Virginia
from the setllement at Jamestown to the passage of the
resolutions against the stamp act. While it is improper toi
assent to the unmingled praises of the past, it would also ;
be unwise to overlook the idiosyncrasy of those who in- '
dulge the mood. Such opinions are in some degree con- !
servative of what is valuable as well as what is worthless,
and exercise an influence on affairs not to be despised ;

106 THE VIRGINIA HISTORifCAL REPORTER.
yet it is questionable whether they flourish most in minds
of the highest order. Wo unto phUosophy, aLd progress,
and the welfare of the human race, if it were otherwise;
and honored, forever honored be the naraes of Bacoo, Locke,
and Jefferson.
When allusion was made to the mortification Mr. Leigh
might have felt by the action of the General Assembly, to
pass over federal politics, I referred tothe loss of his elec
tion as a judge of the Court of Appeals. The East raight
have conferred that appointraent as a crowning honor on
the man who had proved himself her boldest defender in
her darkest hour, and was confessedly the first lawyer in
her realm, but she virtually gave it to another. The tirae
may nol be distant when the great battle may be renewed
once more ; and, when the clouds of the coming tempest
are closing round her, she will reraember to whora she
owed so much on a simUar occasion, and will bitterly re
gret her ingratitude ; and then she wiU shed the grateful
but unavaUing tear on the grave of Leigh. And if, here
after, the Court of Appeals, like the French Academy,
shall gather fhe busts of tbe distinguished jurists who have
sat upon its bench to adorn its haU, and should the image
of Leigh appear within those precincts where his living
presence ought to have been felt, the proudest judge that
ever sat on that bench ipay yvell inscribe on the lifeless
marble what Saurin wrote on the bust of MoUere : Nothin" O
¦was yvanting to his glory, he was wanting to ours,
Il is time that I draw to a close. And, although I have
not spoken, unless incidentally, of the Uving, I must pass
over the names of Bayly and Henderson, Coalter and Mc
Coy, Jones and Wilson, Nicholas and Naylor, Pleasants
and Summers, Trezvant, Venable, and olhers yvho partici
pated in the debates, and whose lips are now sealed in
death. Nor have these alone faUen. Twenty-four years

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 107
form no inconsiderable proportion of the whole term of
human life. In that interval I have m,ore than dosbled
my own years. Those raembers, then in the first flower
of manhood, whose brows have since borne or bear your
greenest laurels, are noyv treading the brink of old age.
Of the ninety six members whose names were reported to
the house from the committee of elections thirty seven
only survive. Dade and Read did not live to take their
seats in the body, nor did Watson ever appear. Mennis
was tbe first of the qualified members who met the King
of Terrors. He grew ill, resigned his seat, and went home
to die. Macrae died imraediately afler the adjournment,
and before the close of the year Giles was no more. Mon
roe survived the adjournraent a year and a half, and died
at the residence of his son-in-law in the city of New York
on the raost raemorable day in our annals. Marshall, who
had endured an excruciating disease at intervals for sorae
years, died five years after in the city of Philadelphia,
whither he had gone for medical assistance, but was for
tunately spared the agony of learning the death of his son
Thoraas, also a raeraber of the Convention, wbo was struck
by a falling chiraney as he was passing through the city of
Baltiraore to visit his dying father, and instantly killed.
Randolph survived three years, and in the city of Phila
delphia, where his poUtical career had begun thirty four
years before, far from those patrimonial trees which now
cast their shadows over his grave, breathed his last. Madi
son outlived his two distinguished compeers, and died six
years after the adjournment in his classic home. There
was no watcher by the bed side of the laraented Barbour.
He had retired in his usual but always delicate health the
night before his death to his room in a boarding-house in
Washington, and when he did not appear at the breakfa.st
table in the morning, his associate judges, who were then

108 fME VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
holding their court in that city, and who lodged inflie same
house, hastened to his chamber to behold the mortal re
mains only of their beloved colleague. Doddridge died
also in Washington. Upshur perished by the terrible ex
plosion of the Princeton, when Virginia wept the fate of
more than one of her distinguished sons. Trezvant died
on the banks of the distant Mississippi. The ashes of the
gaUant Taylor of Norfolk repose not far frora the spot
where the reraains of his brave soldiers, who fell by the
hand of disease, were deposited, and beneath the turf over
which he had marshalled the batallions of his countryraen
at the most trying period of the last war with Great Bri
tain. Venable, the fragrance of whose memory will ever
be fresh on the banks of his beloved Appomattox, died in
stantly as he was walking through his fields.- Leigh and
Johnson died within a year of each other in this city.
Stanard fell, as it wfere, on the field of his fame. He had
heard the argument of an important case in the Court of
Appeals, and retired to his study to prepare his opinion,
which, drawn with all his eminent skUl, he had nearly con
cluded, when, as he drew toward its close, the letters seem
ed to be indistinctly formed, the words were sUghtly con
fused, and presently the pen is seen to stray from its course
in the unfinished line, as the angel of death suddenly sum
moned him to that higher court before which the glories of
earth are as the shadows that pass away.** And within
the past year, Sarauel Taylor died frora a fall at the Dan
ville depot in this city, and TaUaferro has also departed at
an advanced age. Of these, Madison, MarshaU, Monroe,
Venable, and Taliaferro, alone attained the three score
years and ten of the Psalmist.

* The case was Yerby and wife vs. Lynch, 3rd Gtratton, 517, where the
opinion of Judge Stanard as far as completed may be found.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 109
In regarding the mortality of the members, it would seem
at first sight to exceed that of the federal convention of
1788 in a remarkable degree. The federal convention, as
gathered from the vote on the ratification of the constitu
tion, consisted of one hundred and sixty eight members,
and in 1829, when our Convention assembled, a space of
forty one years, there were five survivors : Mr. Madison,
Mr. Marshall, Mr. Monroe, Judge Stuart of Augusta, and
James Johnson of Isle of Wight. This would give an an
nual average of about four deaths in forty one years. The
Convention of 1829 consisted of ninety six members ori
ginally elected to the body, and approached nearer one-half
than two-thirds of the members of the former body. Yet
in twenty-four years, out of that number fifty nine have
died, or considerably over one-half, at a rate exceeding two
each year since the adjournment; and when the relative
numbers of both bodies are regarded, the mortality of the
convention of 1829-30 would seem nearly double that of
the Convention of 1788. On the other hand, if the life of
tbe Convention of 1788 is to be measured by the life of
the latest survivor, a different result will follow. James
Johnson, the last survivor, died at his residence in Isle of
Wight in 1845 at the age of ninety nine years ; and thus
a period of fifty seven years passed before the entire ex
tinction of the members of that body ; — which would make
an annual average of two deaths only. If the last test,
which seeras to be the true one, be adopted, it will be many
years, I trust, before the relative mortality of the two bo
dies can be determined. The Convention of 1776, that
framed the constitution which our convention yvas called to
revise, consisted of about one hundred and fifty members,
and became extinct in the death of Mr. Madison in 1836 ;
a period of sixty years, which would give an annual aver-

110 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
age of two and a half per cent, of deaths in that interval.*
It must be admitted, however, that the data necessary to
form a correct conclusion on such subjects are so compre
hensive and difficult to ascertain, that all inferences drawn
from them are apt to be more curious than just.
It was on the fifteenth day of January, 1830, that the
convention, which then held its sessions in the Baptist
church below the Monumental, met for the last time. The
enrolled bill of the constitution was signed by the presi
dent, yvhen, after the transaction of some business strictly
official, Mr. Randolph rose to offer a resolution in honor of
the president (yvho had called Mr. Stanard to the chair)
and spoke wilh a pathos in delightful unison wilh the occa
sion ; and when the president resumed the chair, and, be
fore pronouncing the final adjournment, addressed the body
wilh a glow and grace that seemed beyond the reach of
his peculiar powers, many a tear yvas seen to fall from eyes
unused to the melting mood. The tide of party ran strong
and full during a session of more than three months, and
every one in and out of the convention felt more or less
the intensity of the excitement. But the time was come,
when old and young, friends and enemies, were about to
part to meet no more. No eye could have discovered tbe
cloud of death that hung black above them ; for none
thought of the young and vigorous so soon to fall ; but
every eye was fi.xed on a few old men of exalted worth
who would soon leave us forever ; and yvhen the body ad-
* In the jounml oCllhc Cunvention of 177G the list of members given ia
altogether incomplete ; and, .illhough the complement of the body may be
ascei-tuiued olsewheio, it eniinot be known from the journal, as the ayes
and noes were not culled during the session, lu the convention of 1788,
the aye.-; and noe.s were calUd three times only ; while in the convention of
l.Siil-liO, they weic called so frequenily after the committees had reported,
that it is impossible to open the journal without secios them, and they pro
bably make up trJlf ut its bulk.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER, 111
journed, all pressed to shake by the hand for the last time
these venerable men of the past age. When the president
concluded his address, he declared the final adjournment,
and the convention of 1829-30 became among the things
that were. And, although the structure of their hands has
been re-modeled by those for whom it was reared, and most
of those master-builders in the science of constitutional
architecture, as they were termed by the president, have
passed away, I trust that the office of pronouncing their
names on the ear of the busy world — an office which a
sincerely wish had been consigned to more competent
hands — may not be wiihout its use in stiraulating the youth
of Virginia to cherish the memory of their wisdom and
worth, and emulate the glory which they have ba.iueathed
thera.

APPENDIX.

•A list of tke Members of tke Virginia Convention of 1839-
30, reported October 9, by the Committee of Privileges
and Elections.
Frora the district composed of the counties of Amelia, Ches
terfield, Cumberland, Nottoway, Powhatan, and the Town of
Petersburg. John W. Jones,* Samuel Taylor,*
Benjamin W. Leigh,* Williara B. Giles,*
From the district composed of the counties of Brunswick,
Dinwiddle, Luueuburg, and Mecklenburg.
. William H. Broadnax,* , Mark Alexander,
G-eorge C. Dromgoole,* William O. Goode.
From the district composed of the counties of Charles City,
Elizabelh City, James City, Henrico, New Kent, Warwick-
York, and the cities of Richmond and Williamsburg.
John Marshall,* Philip N. Nicholas,*
John Tyler, Johu B. Clopton,
From the district composed of the counties of Shenandoah
aud Rockingham.
, William Anderson, Peachy Harrison,*
Samuel Coffmau, Jacob D. Williamson.
From the district composed of the couuties of Augusta, Rock
bridge, and Pendleton.
> Briscoe G.'Baldwin,* William McCoy,*
Chapman Johnson,* Samuel McD. Moore.
From the district composed of the counties of Monroe, Green
brier, Bath,^Boietourt, Alleghany, Pocahontas aud Nicholas.
. Andrew Beirne,* Fleming B. MiUer,
William' Smith, .John Baxter.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 113
From the district composed ofthe counties of Sussex, Surry,
Southampton, Isle of Wight, Prince George and Greensville.
John y. Mason, ^ Augustine Claiborne,*
James Trezvant,* John Urquhart.*
From the district composed of the counties of Charlotte,
Halifax, and Prince Edward.
John Randolph,* Richard Logan,
WilPiam Leigh, Richard N. Venable*-
From the district composed of the couuties of Spotsylvania,
Louisa, Orange and Madison.
James Madison,* David Watson,*
/ Philip P. Barbour,* Robert Stanard.*
From the district composed of the counties of Loudoun and
Fairfax. James Monroe,* William H. Fitzhugh,*
Charles F, Mercer, Richard H. Henderson.*
From the district composed of the counties of Frederic and
Jefferson. 1 John R. Cooke, Hierome L. Opie,*
Alfred H. PoweU,* Thomas Griggs, Jr.
From the district composed of the counties of Hampshire,
Hardy, Berkeley, and Morgan.
William Naylor,* Elisha Boyd,*
WilUam Donaldson,* Philip C. Pendleton.
From the district composed of the counties of Washington,
Lee, Scott, Russell, and Tazewell.
John B. George, • Edward Campbell,*
Andrew McMillan,* Williara Byars.
From the district composed of the counties of King Williara,
King aod Queen, Essex, Caroline, and Hanover.
John Roane,* Richard Morris,*
William P. Taylor, James M. Garnett.*
" Dead-.

114 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
From the district coraposed of the Counties of Wythe, Mont
gomery, Grayson, and Giles.
.. Gordon Cloyd,* John P. Mathews,*
, Henley Chapman,* William Oglesby.''
From the district composed of the counties of Kanawha,
Mason, Cabell, Randolph, Harrison, Lewis, Wood, and Logan.
Edwin S. Duncan, Lewis Summers,*
John Laidley, Adam See.*
From the district composed of the counties of Ohio, Tyler,
Brooke, Monongalia and Preston.
Charles S. Morgan, » Alexander Campbell,
Philip Doddridge,* Eugenius M. Wilson.*
From the district composed of the counties of Fauquier and
Culpeper. V John S, Barbour, John Macrae,*
John Scott,* John W. Green.*
From the district composed of the counties of Norfolk, Prin
cess Anne, Nansemond, and the borough of Norfolk.
Littleton W. Tazewell, Robert B. Taylor,*
Joseph_^Prentis,* George LoyaU.
From the district composed of the couuties of Campbell, Buck
ingham, and Bedford.
» William Campbell,* Callohill Mennis,*
I Samuel Claytor,* James Saunders.
From the district composed of the counties of Franklin, Pat
rick, Henry, and Pittsylvania.
George Townes, Joseph Martin,*
Benj. W. S. CabeU, Archibald Stuart.
From the district composed of the counties of Albemarle,
Amherst, Nelson, Fluvanna, and Goochland.
James Pleasants,* Lucas P. Thompson,
William F. Gordon, Thomas Massie, Jr.

' Dead.

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

115

From the district composed of the counties of King George,
Westmoreland, Lancaster, Northumberland. Richmond, Staf
ford aud Prince William.
W. A. G. Daile,* John Taliaferro,*
B Ellyson Currie,* Fleming- Bates.*
From the district composed of the counties of Mathews, Mid
dlesex, Accomac, Northampton, and Gloucester.
Thomas R. Joynes, Calvin H. Read,*
Thomas M. Bayly,* Abel P. Upahur.* s
A List of the Members who Voted on the Final Adoption of
ihe Constitution.
The names of the gentlemen who voted in the aflSrmative, are:
Messrs. P.P. Barbour,* Pres't. Messrs. James M. Garnett,*

Johu W. Jones,*
B. W. Leigh,*
Samuel Taylor,*
William B. Giles,*
William H. Broadnax,*
George C. Dromgoole,*
Mark Alexander,
Williara O. Goode,
John Marshall,*
John Tyler,
Philip N. Nicholas,*
John B. Clopton,
Johu Y. Mason,
James Trezvant,*
Augustine Claiborne,*
John Urquhart,*
John Randolph,*
William Leigh,
Richard Logan,
Richard N. Venable,*
James Madison,*
Waller Holladay,'-'

John S. Barbour,
John Scott,*
John W. Green,*
Thomas Marshall,*
Littleton W. Tazewell,
George Loyall,
Joseph Prentis,*
Hugh B. Grigsby,
William Campbell,*
Samuel Branch,*
George Townes,
Benj. W. S. Cabell,
Joseph Martin.*
Archibald Stuart, Jr.,
James Pleasants,*
William F. Gordon,
Lucas P. Thompson,
Thomas Massie, Jr.,
Fleming Bates,* -
Augustine Neale,
Alex. F. Rose.*
John Coalter,*

' Dead.

116

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

Thomas R. Joynes,
Thomas M. Bayly,*
Abel P. Upshur,*
William K. Perrin, — S5.

Richard H. Henderson,*
John R. Cooke,
John Roane,*
William P. Taylor,
Richard Morris,*
And the names of the gentlemen who voted in the negative,
are: Messrs. S. BPD. Moore,
Andrew Beirne,*

Messrs. William Anderson,
Samuel Coffmau,

Peachy Harrison,*
Jacob D. Williamson,
Briscoe G. Baldwin,*
Chapman Johnson,*
AVilliam McCoy,*
William H. Fitzhugh,*
Josliua Osborne,
Alfred H. Powell,*
Thomas Griggs, Jr.,
James M. Mason,
William Naylor,*
William Donaldson,*
Elisha Boyd,*
Philip C. Pendleton,
John B. George,
Andrew McMillan,*
Edward Campbell,*
William Byars,

William Smith,
Fleming B. Miller,
John Baxter,
Robert Stanard,*
Charles F. Mercer,
Gordon Cloyd,*
Henley Chapman,*
John P. Mathews.*
William Ogleshy,*
Edwin S. Duncan,
John Laidley,
Lewis Summers,*
Adam See,*
Charles S. Morgan,
Alexander Campbell,
Eugenius M. AVilson,*
Samuel Claytor,*
James Saunders. — 10.

Mr. Doddridge was absent at the call of the ayes and noes.

*Dead.

/dT^staya-i.^ (3^^^^^.^C

THE

flRGlNlA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

CONDUCTED BY THE

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

OF THE

VIRGINIA HISTOEICAL SOCIETY.

VOLUME I— PAET II.

EICHMOND:
PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE,
BY CLEMMITT k PORE,
1854.

THE
VIRGINIA HISTOEICAL UEPOHTER.
THE VIEGINIA HISTOEICAL SOCIETY:
THE EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING.
The Eighth Annual Meeting of the Virginia Historical
Society ¦was held in the Hall of the Athenseum, on
Thursday evening, Deceraber 14th, 1854, and ¦was ¦well
attended. Gustavus A. Myers, Esq., senior raeraber of the Exe
cutive Comraittee, (in the absence of the President and
Vice Presidents,) presided.
The Chairraan of the Executive Committee, Conway
Robinson, Esq., read the Report of the Coraraittee, show
ing the progress of the Society during the past year.
After these proceedings, Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, of the
U. S. Senate, read an able and interesting Discourse on
the Utility of History and Historical Societies, ¦with
Observations on the History of Virginia; ¦which 'was
apparently well received by all present.
The following resolutions were then unaniitiously
adopted :
On motion of Francis N. Watkins, Esq., of Prince
Edw^ard :
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be, and they
are hereby presented to the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter for
his able and interesting discourse delivered this evening;

4 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
and that he be requested to furnish a copy of it fo the
Executive Comraittee for preservation in the archives,
and for publication in such manner as they shall order
and direct.
On motion of Thos. T. Giles, Esq., of Richmond :
Resolved, That the. thanks of the Society be, and they
are' hereby presented lo Charles Wykeham Martin, Esq.,
of Leeds Castle, England, for his handsorae donation of
a portrait of Lord Culpeper, soraetirae Governor of Vir
ginia; and lo Wm. .Twopenny, Esq., of London, for his
agreeable presenl of a frame of British oak, for that
portrait ; and also another similar one, for the portrait of
Captain George Percy, sometime President of the Coun
cil of Virginia.
The following gentlemen were elected officers of the
Society for the ensuing year :
Hon. Wm. C. Rives, President.
Hon. James M. Mason, ^
Wm. H. Macfarland, Esq. \ Vice Presidents.
Hon. John Y. Mason, 3
Wm. Maxwell, Cor. Secretai-y and Librarian.
Andrew Johnston, Recording Secretary.
George N. Johnson, Treasurer.
The following gentleraen were elected Honorary Mem
bers of the Society :
Hon. Judge John Robertson, of Richmond.
Henry E. Watkins, Esq., of Prince Edward.
Chas. Wykeham Martin, Esq., of Leeds Castle, En
gland.
Hon. Judge Wm. Leigh, of Halifax.
Hon. John Tyler, of Charles City.
Hon. Wm. S. Archer, of Amelia.
We report here the papers already referred to, as they
were submitted :

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
Report made to tke Virginia Historical Society, by its
Executive Committee, at ihe Annual Meeting in Decem
ber, 1855:
It will be remembered that the Society, at its last an-
niial raeeting, adopted a resolution directing the Executive
Committee to cause to be prepared and presented to the
General Assembly of Virginia, a memorial in the name of
the Society, respectfully asking an appropriation to the
Society of one thousand dollars a year, for such term of
years as the General Assembly might deera advisable, to
enable the Society to procure from England copies of
manuscripts relating to the early history of this State, and
to prosecute its pubhcation of the early voyages to Arae
rica and the annals of Virginia. No tirae was lost in
complying wilh this resolution. A sub-coraraittee; con
sisting of Messrs. Randolph, Giles and Ellis, prepared
the raeraorial, had it presented, and sustained before a
comraittee of the Senate the propriety of the action that
¦was sought. A bill was accordingly reported to the
Senate, and the sentiment in that body, we learn, was
highly favorable lo the appropriation; yet the session
terminated without its being raade.
When we reflect on the nature of the raanuscripts in
England — deeply interesting to all Virginians who reall}'
care for the land of their birth, yet depending, many of
thera, on the frail duration of perishable paper — and
when it is remerabered that the Chairraan had, during
his visit to England, made arrangeraents for procuring
copies in case of the requisite appropriation — it must be
adraitted to be a subject of just regret that that apprbpri-
ation was not made. Within the whole Hmits ofthe Com
monwealth we have no account of what was done by the

b THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
first General Assembly held in the colony that convened
at Jaraes City the SOth of July, 1619. It is now ascer
tained that there is at London, in tbe State paper office, a
full report, containing the naraes of the burgesses, their
manner of proceeding, their resolutions and acts, or
ordinances. And yet the Assembly has failed to take
the proper steps to procure a copy of that report ; and
copies of other manuscripts, bearing on the history of the
State. It would be a lasting shame upon Virginia, now
tbat she has unquestioned evidence of the existence of
such manuscripts, to let thera pass inlo destruction with
out taking measures to have them copied and preserved.
Until those measures are taken, the Society, we think,
should not forbear any effiirts which raay be in its power
to attain the object.
Since the last annual report, copies have been received
of the portraits of Capt. George Percy, who had charge
of the colony of Virginia in 1611, and of Lord Culpeper,
who was Governor of Virginia in 1680 ; the forraer pre
sented by the Chairraan, the latter by Charles Wykeham
Martin, Esq., of Leeds Castle. Our Secretary having
expressed the wish that the frames of these portraits
should be of English oak, this was esteemed a compli
ment by WilUara Twopenny, Esq., an Enghsh barrister,
who had kindly agreed to have the copies made, and he
requested the Society to do hira the favor to accept the
frames as a present frora him, with an expression at the
sarae tirae, of his sincere wishes for its prosperity.
Nor is our Society without farther evidence of good
will towards it, at home. Our townsman, Mr. Robt. M.
Sully, whose liberality had been manifested in other
instances, has given to the Society a portrait of Pocahon
tas, fit to be placed by the side of the fine picture given
by his uncle. And the largest pecuniary contributions
yet made to the Society by any one person, has been

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER: I
made the past year by a citizen of another Virginia
city — a man whose name, though we raay not mention
it, one cannot think of now in his venerable age, without
taking pleasure in reraerabering the greatness of his
intellect, his strong Virginia feeling, and his faithful
discharge of pubhc duty, whether in the councils of the
State or of the nation.
By means of a donation of $200, from the source just
alluded to, in aid of donations from others, and what has
been received frora forty-four life members, the Society's
investment in certificates of debt of the State of Virginia,
bearing interest, now amounts to three thousand one
hundred dollars, ($3,100). This is its permanent fund,
of which only the interest is used. Out of such interest,
and the income from payraents of annual raembers, Mr.
Maxwell has defrayed the expense of publishing the
adrairable discourse delivered by Mr. Grigsby before
the Society, at its last annual meeting, and the other
matter contained in the work, edited by our Secretary,
and called the Virginia Historical Reporter.
To the Society's library, valuable additions are yearly
made, by means of the $150 a year, appropriated by the
council of Richmond. Araong the late importations is
a fine copy of the edition, published in 1854, of the
great work upon the Natural History of our Southern
country, published by the English Naturalist, Catesby,
who was in Virginia in 1712.
Thus, so far as it is in our power, we are collecting
and preserving manuscripts and printed volumes, bearing
upon the history of the State ; publishing matter, the
publication whereof is important for its preservation, or
to diffuse a knowledge of our history, and decorating the
walls of our Library room with portraits of those who
have been entrusted with the government of Virginia, or
distinguished in her annals.

8 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
DONATIONS.
List of Books and Paintings presented to the Society
during the past year.
Congressional Globe, 2 vols. 4to. ; Owen's Report of a
Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota,
&c., 1 vol. 4to. ; by Hon. R. M. T. Hunter.
Washington Astronomical Observations, 1847, 1 vol.
4to. ; by the National Observatory.
A collection of such Public Acts of Asserably and Ordi
nances of the Conventions of Virginia, passed since 1768,
as are now in force ; published by a resolution of Gen
eral Asserably, the 16th day of June, 1783, 1 vol. folio;
by Thoraas H. Wynne, of Richmond.
A Picture of Jamestown, taken from Nature, by Robt.
M. Sully, Esq., of Richmond; presented by John M. Gor
don, Esq., of Baltimore.
A Portrait of Captain George Percy, sometime Presi
dent of the Council of Virginia; presented by Conway
Robinson, Esq., of Richmond.
A Portrait of Lord Culpeper, sometime Governor of
Virginia; presented by Charles Wykeham Martin, Esq.,
of Leeds Castle, England.
Two Frames of English oak, for the abovementloned
Portraits; presented by William Twopenny, Esq., of
London.

#ktrhlioits on i\t gistorg oi Virginia;
A DISCOURSE

DELIVERED BEFOKE THE

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETT,

AT THEIR

EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING,

DECEMBER 14, 1854.

BY HON. R. M. T. HUNTER.

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.

EICHMOND:
CLEMMITT & FOKB, PBINTBES,
1855.

DISCOURSE.

Mr. President and Gentlemen
of tke Virginia Historical Society :
When I received the invitation to deliver your annual
discourse, I was so well aware that I could not bring to
the task that fullness of knowledge which is essential to
do justice to the subject, that ray first impulse was to
decline the honor, highly as I esteeraed it. But, upon
subsequent reflection, it struck me thai I might perhaps
render useful aid to your Society, by calling public at
tention, in sorae degree, to the great iraportance of the
objects of your pursuit, and the high value of such labors
not only to ourselves, but to others. I cannot be accused
of error in bearing such testiraony to the great objects of
your pursuit, by those who reflect upon their nature and
tendencies. For surely one of the highest offices that
man can render to his race, is to store up the experience
and the ideas of the present generation for the uses of
those which are to succeed it, and to render such trea
sures of the past accessible to his cotemporaries. Next
in importance to hira who first conceives the great
thought, or originates the high example, stands the man
who preserves the example and perpetuates the thought
for the everlasting use and possession of the generations
which are to succeed him. It is through man's capacity
to use the experience and the thoughts of his fellows.

4 DISCOURSE.
and to store up and accumulate such treasures by adding
the present stock lo that of the past, that he raainly
secures the raeans of the progress and growth which so
distinguish bira frora all other aniraals. To ascertain the
extent of the developraent which the human race raay
attain by fhe use of such means, we have only to cora
pare the Anglo-Saxon, the Celt or the Teuton of to-day,
with his rude ancestors, who roaraed through the forests
of Gaul, or of Germany, as described to us by Caesar and
Tacitus. (I will not take the more striking coraparison
between the Bushman or Fetish worshiper of Africa with
his civilized cotemporary, because that might be ascribed
raore to a difference of race than of cultivation, to which
alone I refer al present. Tbe first presents a case quite
strong enough for the purposes of illustration, as there is
almost as much difference between the former and pre
sent condition of the races, as between the first and last
stale of the statue man, imagined by the French philoso
pher to awaken, sense by sense, into existence, until he
stood completely clothed in all the altributes of huraanity.)
Take, then, the savage ancestor and the civilized de
scendant and corapare Ihem, sense wilh sense, and facultv
with faculty, and how vast is the difference I The vision
of the first was bounded by the limits of the sensible
horizon ; a few railes upon earth, and some of the larger
objects in the heavens alone were visible to him, whilst
he was entirely unconscious of the myriads of beings,
hving and moving within and around him. The vision
of the last penetrates into the very depths of space, and
discovers worlds and systems of worlds, all unknown to
his rude progenitor; he weighs their substance, measures
their dimensions, and calculates their motions, with an
accuracy which the other hardly attained wilh rcard lo
the objects of his imraediate contact; or, turning his
magic glass, he explores a raicrocosm in the almost infin-

DISCOURSE. O
itesimal atom, and becomes sensible of myriads of beings,
who people it and give it hfe. How many more times,
then, is the last a man, as compared wilh the first, if
tested by the sense of .sight alone I Tried by the facul
ties of physical strength and motion, the difference is
still as great in his favor. He directs and controls the
most subtle and powerful physical agencies, and imprisons
captives far mightier than Samson, who grind blindlj- at
his mill. Siill more wonderful is his superiority in the
means of communicating with his fellow. His thoughts
are exchanged in seconds over distances through which
formerly they could not have been coraraunicated in
months ; and he himself flies along the earth with a
speed greater than the horse, and perhaps equaling Ihat
of the bird. In this vast increase of the raeans for accu
mulating strength and for association amongst men, how
rauch greater is the amount of power which falls to the
share of the civihzed individual than that to which the
savage ancestor could by possibility have aspired I
Doubtless the wild man of the woods could distinguish
between sounds, as pleasant or unpleasant, as gi-ave or
gay, but what sense had he of the hidden harmonies
which floated in the air around him ? Did he dream that
the very air which he breathed could be modulated into
sounds which subdue the senses by their tones, and stir
the soul to its inraost depths, speaking in the only univer
sal language known to man, with an unerring concord,
and a certainty of expression which the original curse of
Babel has never reached lo 'confuse or destroy? So, too,
he must have had some idea of the beautiful, in the forras
of things ; bul it was as transitory as the lights and sha
dows which flitted by hira. To flx the idea ere it fled,
and reproduce it in forms more eloquent than words ; to
make sentient the cold impassive stone, and to embalm
emotions and sentiments in lights borrowed from heaven.

DISCOURSE.

would have been indeed to hira an "art and a faculty
divine," so far did it transcend his power of execution.
Nor is the superiority of the last over the forraer genera
tion of the men of whom I have been speaking, less
striking in a moral, than in a physical point of view.
Conceptions over which a Newton, or a Leibnitz, or
Bernouilli, or Euler, toiled in his study, are now the
daily exercises of boys at college; and the higher and
subtler analysis of La Grange, or La Place, is probably
destined to be mastered with equal facility hereafter.
Ideas whose origination cost so rauch to a Plato, or an
Aristotle, a Bacon, a Des Cartes, or a Kant, are now the
comraon property of the world, and thousands understand
thoughts which probably not one of them could have
discovered In times of peace, and since the invention of printing,
it raay alraost be said that each generation starts frora the
point that the last had attained; and if in coraparing the
present with the past, we find so vast a difference in
favor of the existing generation of men, with what proud
hopes may we not be justly inspired for the future pro
gress of our race ! If the difference between the two
generations whora I have corapared be such as would
seera to a superficial observer to indicate a superior na
ture in the last, what may we not rightfully expect of
future improvement, when we think of the greater oppor
tunities for progress which each succeeding generation
will enjoy? A proud thought this, but not too proud, if
we reraeraber, with becoming gratitude and humility, to
whose power it is that we owe these faculties and oppor
tunities, and endeavor to fulfill the conditions upon which
alone such a proraise could have been given. One of
these conditions undoubtedly is, that we should preserve
the experience and the ideas of the past and the present,
for the use of the future. Without this faculty of one

DISCOURSE. 7
man to use and possess hiraself of the exaraple and ideas
of another. Our race could never have reached the point
to which it has already attained ; and without the means
of preserving these examples and these ideas, that faculty
conld not be exercised. To preserve these is the histo
rian's function, yours, Sir, and that of the Society over
which you preside,
I have already said that I rate the historian next only
in point of importance to him from whom first emanates
the great exaraple, or high conception, and who, by orig
inal discovery, extends the boundaries of huraan thought;
and to this extent I think experience will fully bear me
oul. The historian is the treasurer who stores away and
preserves the raoral wealth of the human race, and hoards
up the ideas and conceptions which are as essential to its
spiritual growth and elevation, as material raeans are to
its physical existence. But there is one great and never
to be forgotten difierence between the two species of
wealth, raoral and material, which leaves no doubt as to
the superior value of the former. In the first, each may
enjoy all, and yet leave no smaller individual share to
another; it is not consuraed by its use, and suflTers no
loss by division ; in the last, when one takes a part, less
is left for his neighbor. In the first, the broadest social
ism is practicable, the property is improved from its pos
session by many, and such is the law of its increase and
growth ; in the latter, individual and exclusive possession
of a part seems to be the law of the growth of the wholis,
and hence arise manifold difficulties, to which I may per
haps allude, but cannot -in this place develop. In a few
words, the difl'erence between the two, is all the differ
ence between the finite and the infinite.
I have dwelt somewhat upon this topic, even at the
risk of seeming metaphysical, because I felt that I -was
touching upon a subject which is hstrdly enough consid-

DISCOURSE.

ered at this day, by statesmen and philosophers, and all
those, in short, who seek to lead the march of huraan
thouo-ht. In the development of material wealth and
power, there never has been such a period as the present
in the history of the human race. Can we say the same
of the care bestowed upon its moral resources ? That
the moral progress of our race has been great, I have
already adraitted; but is there not danger, that in the
eager pursuit of raaterial wealth, and physical iraprove
ment, we raay not sufficiently consider the culture of
those moral resources, whose development is so impor
tant to a high national character ?
If the uses of human histoiy be such as approximate
to those I have described, how can we over-estimate their
importance, or that of the faithful historian ? When I
speak of the historian, I do not mean hira only vrjio nar
rates events in letters and sentences. He who preserves
a record of thoughts and sentiraents, is as much to be
valued as a historian, as he who chronicles human ac
tions and passions ; and he who preserves a great con
ception for the uses of posterity, performs the dutj- of a
historian, no matier what the shape in which it may be
perpetuated as a possession to mankind. Thucydides was
no more a historian of the time of Pericles, than Phidias ;
from the one we learn the march of its events, from the
other the state of the arts ; and realize a conception of
the beautiful, so preserved as to be food for the thought
of after ages. The Elgin raarbles are as valuable to us
in an historical point of view, as the most splendid pas
sages of Thucydides, and the friezes of the Paithenon
are so many pictured pages, which speak of the past both
to the mind and eye of the beholder, and almost ¦with the
force of a living witness. Whatever preserves an idea
or the meraory of a fact for the benefit of man, is histori
cal in its uses ; and all the various forms in which this

DISCOURSE. »
object is attained, deserve our study and consideration.
The great historians who are dislinguished alike for pow
ers of narration, sagacious criticism, and faithful delinea
tions of the characters of nations, or individuals, are
truly of rare occurrence, "homines cenienarii." It is not
for every era, or every people, to produce even one of
them. The Thucydides, or Tacitus, or even the Herodo
tus, or Livy, of the English .language, has not yet ap
peared. But in all civilized countries, the raeans and
the raen exist for collecting raonuraents and traditions,
from which their history may be understood, or written;
lo collect, and if possible to arrange them, is the great
duly of an association such as yours, a duty which it may
be said, that every people, so far as their own annals are
concerned, owe lo their ancestors, to themselves, and to
humanity. Many of the civilized nations of the earth, seera ta be
acting under a sense of their obligations in this regard,
and a most extraordinary success has rewarded their la
bors. Wilh the expedition of Napoleon into Egypt, com
menced a series of researches inlo the monumental hi.s
tory of the earth, whose results have been at once start
ling and gratifying. Thanks to modern discovery, the
Rosetta tablet now ranks with the ArundeUan marbles in
point of historical iraportance, and the pictured pages on
the boofe of stone of monumental Egypt, which for so
raany ages bave defied his scrutiny, are now found to
yield up their secrets to the inquisition of man. The
boundaries of authentic history have been set back for
several ages in the past, raonuraents of more than five
thousand years of age have been identified, and a period
of many centuries has been recovered frora the realms of
night and chaos inlo which it had fallen.*
* Bunsen's "Egypt's Place in Universal History," vol. I, page 28 of Introduc
tion, and pages 83 and 99,
2

10 DISCOURSE.
Almost everywhere enterprises have been set on foot
by governraent, by associations, and even bj- individuals,
to explore the raonumental records of our race, and to
wrest frora the cold, irapassive face of the silent stone,
some portion al least of the story of humanity. The land
of "Eld," the immutable and immemorial East, is every
where searched for its traditionary treasures of human
lore, and whole cities of the dead have been uncovered
to the astonished gaze of civilized man. Heroes whose
very existence had seeraed fabulous, now take their
appropriate niche in the Temple of Fame, and eras whose
traditions had been hid in the "awful hoar" of innumer
able ages, once more assume their place in the page of
authentic history. Still, as we tread these silent chara
bers of the long-forgotten dead, we start at the unm.is-
takable signs of their fellowship with ourselves in all the
passions of the huraan race. Araidst the mazes of
winged bulls, and sculptured lions, we see pictured on the
everlasting stone, the same dark story of human suffer
ing, and huraan wrong. The conqueror, returning from
afar, rode then as afterwards, triuraphant in his chariot,
and dejected files of the captives of his bow and spear,
in sad procession followed in his train. Then, as now,
raan sought to perpetuate the story of his power and
prowess, by raonuraents so lasting as to defy the ravages
of lime. As the wayfarer on a distant shore leaves
sorae sign by which he seeks to perpetuate a sense of his
presence to those who maj' succeed him, so we find that
huraanity has set its raarks in these reraote and newly-
discovered regions of the Past. Light begins to stream
in many a dark crypt through fissures made by the inves
tigating hand of man, and night slowly lifts its curtain
from events upon which its shadow had reposed until they
had become forgotten, and unknown. It would be sur
prising indeed, if such things as these had not served to

DISCOURSE, 11
awaken expectation, and excite inquiry. In the midst of
so stirring a scene, and in view of the honorable rivalry
amongst civilized nations for precedence in the path of
historical inquiry, shall apathy be found only here, in
the "ancient Dorainion, " as Virginia styled herself by
her own House of Burgesses so far back as 1699? Sball
we suffer the very records of our own history to be lost
irrevocably, when they might be preserved with so little
trouble ? Surely there never started an argosy more richly
freighted wilh huraan destiny, than the little fleet of three
vessels which, on the 19th of Deceraber, 1606, left the
shores of England in sesrch of Virginia ; for it Avas the
venture which first planted successfully the germ of Anglo-
Saxon civilization upon the continent of Araerica. Had
this enterprise been the favorite subject of an imagination
as lively as that of the Greeks, who made so much ofthe
voyage of the Argonauts, and their first exploring ex
pedition into the Euxine, it would long since have been
celebrated as a chosen therae in history and in song.
Each had its fabled dangers to encounter, and each gave
a rich promise of real results. If the Symplegades
threatened to inclose the ship of the one in their deadly
embrace, the "still vexed Berraoothes, " or "Isle of
Devils," as the early adventurers called it,* laj- in the
way of the other. The fleece of gold ¦was the charm
which attracted both.
In the whole history of human adventure, perhaps
none ever beheld a scene more wild and strange than
that which stretched before the eyes of the first settlers
of Virginia, as they laid upon the quiet bosom of the
Jaraes, whose silent waters rolled from they knew not
where, and whose silver line made the only break in the
vast and dark expanse around them. The painted Indian,
'3 Bening, p. 181.

12 DISCOURSE.
in his wild array of skins and feathers, stood like sorae
pictured figure in the silent scene of which- he formed a
part. Pathless forests stretched far away in boundless
and unknown space, whose silence was disturbed only by
the strange cries of aniraals as yet unseen, and whose
eternal shadows seeraed to rest upon mysteries as deep
as tbe solitude in which they were hidden. Secrets of
human destiny were there, and a future whose vast and
manifold scroll was as yet unsolved even to the eye of
imagination itself. Upon this vast field, the human race
was to take a fresh departure, and they themselves were
to plant the gerra of a new civilization, whose growth
was to be at least as rich as the lately discovered world
around them. Had some one arisen, as of old, more pre
scient than the rest, to foretell the destiny which awaited
them, like the Hebrew mother, they would have srailed
with incredulity at the magnitude of the promise, and
turned a faithless ear to the prophet and his prophecy.
In all that crowd, perhaps there was one whose iraagi
nation raight bave been filled with such a conception, I
raean Capt. John Sraith, the true founder of the colony,
and the first historian of Virginia, whose strangely che
quered life had been such as to teach hira a distinction
between the unknown and the irapossible ; and who, with
all the faith of genius was capable of aspiring to great
things. With the country itself, he seems to have been
corapletely fascinated, for he declared that "heaven and
earth seemed never to have agreed better to frame a
place for man's coraraodious and delightful habitation." *
And Beverly too, writing about a century after, says,
"the country is in a very happy situation between the
extremes of heat and cold, but inclining rather to the
first. Certainly it must be a happy climate since it is
' Smith's History of Virginiu, p. ill.

DISCOURSE. 13
very near the same latitude with that of the Land of
Promise. Besides, the Land of Proraise was full of
rivers, and branches of rivers, so is Virginia; as that
was seated on a great bay and sea, whereon were all the
conveniences of shipping, so is Virginia. Had that fer
tility of soil? so has Virginia, equal to any land in the
known world." * Again he says, in regard to it, " The
clearness and brightness of the sky add new vigor to
their spirits, and perfectly reraove all splenetic and sul
len thoughts. Here they enjoy all the benefits of a warm
sun, and by their shady trees are protected from its in
convenience. Here all their senses are entertained with
an endless succession of natural pleasures : their eyes
are ravished with the beauties of naked nature; their
ears are serenaded with the perpetual murraur of brooks,
and the thorough-bass which the wind plays when it
wanders through the trees ; the merry birds too, join
their pleasing notes to this rural concert, especially the
mock birds, who love society so well that often, when
they see mankind, they will perch upon a twig and sing
the sweetest airs in the world." t So wrote, a hundred
and thirty years ago, a Virginian, enamored of his native
land. His picture may be extravagant; but who does
not admire the spirit in which it is drawn I
It is not ray purpose to atterapt to trace the history of
Virginia frora its first painful beginnings, through all the
stages of its growth, up to its present state and condition.
If the proper limits of this address did not forbid it, I
should be prevented by ray want of qualifications for the
task. But the history of every people has a raoral which
it may be profitable to study, and not only teaches the
mode in which its national character has been moulded
for good, or ill, but also the raeans by which it may be
'Beverly's Hist, of Va. p. 256. flbid, p. 258.

14 DISCOURSE.
strengthened and elevated. To this extent the history of
each people becomes a matter of general interest to all.
The title a State may have to the respect of mankind
must depend upon facts, and to preserve the historical
evidences upon which they rest, ought to be a labor of
love to its sons. To cast a passing glance at each of
these views of our hislory, perhaps, may not be inappro
priate on the present occasion.
To stimulate individual energy, and to extend individ
ual liberty, seeras to have been the great object of the
Virginia colonists. Social strength was sought as the
means for securing the opportunities for such a systera of
culture, rather than as the end to be attained bj* the de
velopraent of individual freedom and energy. Accord
ingly, the largest liberty of individual action was sought,
which in that day was deemed compatible with social
order, and the due protection of persons and properly.
A knowledge of this Iheir great desire, and of the cir
cumstances under which it was modified and exercised,
will afford the key to the colonial history of Virginia.
" Existence without government, (says Bancroft, quoting
from Jefferson,) seemed to promise to the general mass a
greater degree of happiness than the tyranny of the Eu
ropean governments." * The establishment of an ordi
nance for common property, and the regulations of the
horae government, threatened to disappoint the Virginia
colonists of their destiny ; but the instinct of national
character, and circurastances favorable to its develop
ment, by which they were surrounded, were too strong
for artificial restraints. Says Bancroft, " They were An
glo-Saxons in the woods again, with the inherited culture
and intelligence of the seventeenth century. The Anglo-
Saxon mind, in its severest nationahty, neither distracted
• Baiicran, vol. ri, p. ai8.

DISCOURSE. 15
by fanaticism nor wounded by persecution, nor excited
by new ideas ; but fondly cherishing the active instinct
for personal freedom, secure possession, and legislative
power, such as belonged to it before the reforraation, and
existed independent of the reforraation, had raade its
dwelling place in the erapire of Powhatan." *
It was this spirit which enabled them not only to
surmount the difficulties which so embarrassed them at
first, but in the end to convert them into auxiliaries of
their growth and progress. The Indian power which
was so near annihilating the colony in 1622, after it was
placed under proper restraints, often served as a useful
barrier to the too rapid dispersion of the white popula
tion in the wilderness. When we survey all the diffi
culties encountered bj' the early settlers, it is surprising
that they survived the perils which surrounded them.
Sometiraes it ¦was domestic dissension that disturbed
them, then Famine stared them in the face, and to crown
the whole, on one day they were nearly all annihila
ted by a general Indian insurrection and massacre, with
all the cruel accompaniments of savage warfare "sparing
neither age nor sex, but destroying man, woraan and
child, according to their cruel way of leaving none be
hind to bear resentment." t In 1609, they were reduced
by a faraine of uncoraraon horrors from five hundred, to
three-score men, when Sir Thoraas Gates, Sir George
Somers and Captain Newport arrived with their two Httle
cedar vessels, the "Patience," and "Deliverance," built
by themselves in Bermuda, where they had been ship
wrecked, and oflfered either to stay with them and divide
their provision, or to take thera away, aad put to sea
again. This, and the opportune arrival of Lord Delaware,.
saved the colony upon that occasion, but the "starving
?Bancroft, vol. II, p. 454. • f Beverly, p. 39.

16 DISCOURSE.
time," as it was called, was long reraembered in their
annals.* Still raore startling was the raassacre in March,
1622, when, according to Beverly, "of Christians their
were raurdered three hundred and forty-seven, raost
of them faihng by their own instruments and working
tools." t
In grateful recollection of the preservation of the
colony under so raany difficulties more than one statute is
to be found by which the " old planters " were exempted
from a portion of the public burthens, and the 22nd of
March, the day of the raassacre, was by law set apart as
a holy day, to coraraeraorate their providential deliver
ance from utter destruction at that tirae. Of the feehngs
awakened by such events amongst a handful of settlers,
environed as they were by so many perils, we can now
forra no adequate conception ; but the colonial statutes of
that period, and a little after, present sorae striking evi
dences of the condition of the people. A general war
was declared against the Indians ; certain periods of the
year were fixed upon by law for hunting the savages, and
falling upon their towns ; persons were forbidden to work
in the fields unless they were armed, and at least four of
them together, and they were strictly enjoined to carry
arras to church, t
The trade between tbe whites and the Indians, and the
terras of their intercourse to a certain extent, were resu-
lated bylaw. The colonial government, of course, exerted
to the utraost their feeble powers for the protection of the
citizen, but after all, the raain dependence was upon
individual energy and resources. And upon that idea,
the whole policy of the government was based. With
such means, and entirely by their o>vn exertions, they
¦were able to work out their deliverance so far as to enable
•Beverly, pp, 91, 29, •i'l. jlhid, p, .19. |1 Hening, 171, .117. 41R, a\9.

DISCOURSE. 17
Sir Williara Berkeley to say in his answer to the Lords
Coraraissioners of Foreign plantations, in 1671, "the In
dians, our neighbors, are absolutely subjected, so there
is no fear of them." * Of course this refers only to the
settled parts, as history shows a very different state of
things on the frontiers then, and long afterwards. Itwas,
perhaps, well for the colony that it was forced to depend
upon itself fpr protection against the dangers which as
sailed it, for it was this necessity which led to a social
organization and domestic policy, upon which were foun
ded the ultiraate happiness and prosperity of the State.
In 1619, the first colonial asserably that ever raet in
Virginia, was convened by Sir George Yeardleyt and in
July 1621, a written constitution was first given by the
London Corapany. The legislative power becarae thus
vested in the Governor, Council and Burgesses of Assera
bly, elected by the people, the Council, after 1680, sitting
apart as an upper house in legislative matters, and also
advising the Governor as to his executive duties. The
acts of this assembly, when assented to by the Governor,
became laws, unless negatived by the Crown. The Coun
cil, although appointed by the Crown, or in case of
vacancy by the Governor, held by a tenure which was
in fact, though not in theory, independent, and for the
raost part, like the burgesses, sided with the people, with
whom they had comraon interests, t The right of repre
sentative governraent being once granted, a domestic
organization and policy were soon moulded so as lo meet
substantially the wants of the people. In 1623, monthly
courts were established, and likewise commanders of
plantations were instituted to be of the quorum, and also
to exercise a railitary control over the plantation for which
they were appointed. The general court was coraposed
•Hening, vol. II, p. 511. flWd vol. I, p. 118.
Jl Beverly, pp. 203, 4, 5, 6, 7.

18 DISCOURSE.
of the Governor and Council, and appeals lay to the
General Asserably. * The gerras of the general and
local govemraents of the colony were thus planted, and
without going into the history of the various grants, and
restrictions upon the power of the General Assembly, it
may be said that the history of its legislation proves, that
practically this body controlled the domestic affairs of the
State, the Governor and Council, in most instances, con
curring, or else being overruled by public opinion, except
in some of those cases in which the king interfered for
purposes of his own. Indeed, the Virginia agents who
were sent to London to obtain a new charter from the
king, in 1675, asked for a confirmation of the authority
of the " grand assembly," consisting of Governor, Couns
ell, and Burgesses, and said " this is in effect, only to ask
that the lav, s made in Virginia may be of force and value,
since the legislative power has ever resided in an assem
bly, so qualified, and by fifty years' experience had been
found a government more easj- to the people and advan
tageous to the Crown ; for in all that time, there had not
been one law which had been complained of as burthen
some to the one, or prejudical to the prerogative of the
other." t
In an address raade by the Governor and Council in
their legislative capacity, and by the House of Burgesses
to the King in 1752, it is stated, " that as we conceive,
according to tbe ancient constitution and usages of this
colony, all laws enacted here for the public peace, wel
fare, and good governraent thereof, and not repugnant to
the laws and statutes of Great Britain, have always been
taken and held to be in full force until your majesty's
disallowance thereof is notified here, and that the same
may be revised, altered, and amended, from tirae to time,
* Sir William Berkeley's statement, in 1671, (Hening, vol. II, p. 512.)
t Hening, vol. II, p. 527.

DISCOURSE. 19
as our exigencies may require. ' But that ' when a law
once enacted here, hath once received your raajesty's
approbation, and both been confirmed, finally enacted and
ratified, the same cannot by the legislature here be revi
sed, altered or amended, without a clause therein to
suspend the execution thereof, till your raajesty's pleas
ure shall be known therein, although our necessities for
an iramediate revisal, alteration, or araendraent be ever
so pressing," * and accordingly they complain of the
king's signing some of their own laws because thej'' were
thus placed beyond their reach, without the tedious
process which they describe. From which it is to be
inferred that their doraestic legislation was for the most
part fraraed by theraselves, with but little interference
frora abroad. Such interference rarely took place except
in raatters relating to foreign commerce and imperial
interests, or the raore selfish and personal schemes of the
king, or his favorites, for purposes of individual plunder.
The judiciary, too, was eminently popular; justices of
the county courts practically filled their own vacancies,
or the appointraents were made by the Governor and
Council, upon recommendations given by themselves.
Appeals lay not onlj' to the general court, but, as Sir
Williara Berkeley declares, to the General Asserably it
self; this, with the trial by jury, which was virtually
given by the ordinance of the corapany in 1621, and
secured by legislative enactment in 1642, t constituted a
system which was satisfactory to the people at that tirae.
But these county courbs, which forraed so iraportant an
eleraent in the governraent of Virginia, and so powerful
an agent in raoulding the character of her people, and in
proraoting her prosperity, were not confined to judicial
functions alone ; they had many of the powers of a local
'Hening Sth, p. 436. tlbi<i-

20 DISCOURSE.
government, laying taxes, making roads, and sometiraes
even waging Indian wars, by the assent of the State first
given, under their own management and with their own
money. In. 1645, * the counties of Isle of Wight and
Upper and Lower Norfolk, were directed to raake war
upon the "Nansiraon Indians." In the sarae year, cer
tain other counties were associated to carry on war against
the Indians,t under county lieutenants. In 1644, it was
enacted, that those raairaed and hurt should be relieved
by the counties in which they resided. At first, the bur
gesses theraselves were organized to be paid by the coun
ties which they represented. In 1662, it was enacted
that " whereas oftentiraes small inconveniences happen
in the respective counties and parishes, which cannot
well be concluded in a general law ; the respective coun
ties, and several parishes in these counties, shall have
liberty to make laws for themselves, and those that are so
constituted by the raajor part of the said counties, or
parishes, to be binding upon them as fully as any others, t
In 1379, this system was further regulated || by associa
ting delegates from the parishes with the justices. The
first road over Rock-fish Gap was made by the county
court of Augusta, under the authority of a law of the
Assembly. Nay, so far did the early Colonial Assem
blies go in this division of power and duties, that in 1645
they entered into a contract witl^ Capt. Henry Fleet for
ending the war with Opechancanough, for a consideration
to be given hira, and directed the counties north of James
river to raise certain troops to be placed at the disposal of
Lieut Fra, Poythers, and himself. § The General Assem
bly thus acting, through and upon a sort of confederation
of local goverraments, and stimulating, as I shall pre
sently show, individual energy to the highest possible
* Hening 5th, p. 315. t Hening ist, p. 292. (Ibid 2, p. 171. || Ibid 2, p. 441.
^Ibid Ist, p. 318.

DISCOURSE. 21
activity, accomplished results which were wonderful for
its means. By dividing the powers and duties of govern
ment amongst these local tribunals, and by apportioning
to each in this way the expenses and burthens of public
operations,, in proportion to the share of benefit received
by its constituents, they obtained the largest coraraand of
the resources and revenues of their people, which, per
haps, any government ever enjoyed. But this was not all,
for they thus trained up the whole body of the people to
the early consideration and manageraent of public affairs,
and secured a class — the magistrates of the county — who
were alwaj's ready and willing to maintain order and
justice at horae, and to organize for defence in war. A
class which constituted for the State its ornaraent in
peace, and its defence in tirae of war. A more honorable
and useful place in human society could not well be de
vised, than that which was held by the old Virginia mag
istrate. Comraanding the entire respect of the people of
whora he was one, and bound to thera by the ties of a
comraon interest and mutual association, he could not
fail to enjoy their confidence. Wielding as one of the
court the power of the state, and interpreting its laws by
judicial decision within the liraits of his county, or else
sitting, like the Druid, under his oak to adrainister justice
between man and man, in cases upon which he might act
alone, he learned to understand the relations of law to
public and private right.
In such keeping, the rights of himself and his neigh
bors were safe, and thus were trained up a class of men
to whora the great body of the people raight refer for
counsel and assistance, in times of difficulty and eraer
gency. Thus too, each county was provided with a
local governraent, which provided the greatest possible
security to persons and property to the extent of its
jurisdiction. Under the existing circurastances of the

22 DISCOURSE.
colony, a more admirable institution for political and
judicial purposes could not have been devised. But this
was not the only local subdivision of importance to the
economy of the province ; the counties were subdivided
into parishes, in each of which was a vestry, who took
charge of the temporal interests of the established church.
But this vestry, originally selected by the people of the
parish, filled vacancies in their own body and chose their
own ministers, who held their livings at their pleasure, so
that the same spirit for popular government, which was
visible elsewhere in the institutions of Virginia, mani
fested itself here also.* A governraent thus constituted
over a people sparsely scattered in different settleraents,
or plantations, was forced to rely upon individual energy
and action, to an extent perhaps never known before in
the affairs of a regularly organized society. The first
thing was to settle upon a land systera, which was finally
moulded by the Assembly to suit for the most part the
wants of the colony, although various obstacles were in
terposed by the selfish and unwise interposition of the
crown. By the original charter, a " right" to fifty acres of land
to a person for removing to, and settling in, Virginia, and
as much for his wife, and each of his children, was given
and secured.f What constituted "seating,'' or settling,
within the meaning of thai, and subsequent laws, was the
subject of legislative interpretation, as appears by raany
statutes to be found in Hening. So highly did the colo
nists value this raode of inviting immigration and settle
ment, that in the capitulation of the colony to the Com
missioners of Parhament in 1651, this settlement right
was specially reserved,^ and in 1675, the agents sent out
by Virginia, prayed "that the usual allowance of fifly
* Beverley, p. 227-8. flbid, p. 241. t Hen. 1st, p. 364.

DISCOURSE. 23
acres of land for each person imported, which experience
had proved to be so beneficial, may be continued."* In
deed, this grant of land upon the condition of settlement
sometimes with, and sometimes without, a small price,
becarae a favorite instruraent in the hands of the General
Asserably for extending the population into the wilder
ness, and for defending the new plantations. Forts were
built at the he,ads of the riversi upon grants of land to the
iivdividuals building and settling around them, and arraed
occupation acts were early known to the Virginia land
policy. When a new settleraent was to be made, it was
invite,^ by an act of the Legislature, which generally
exempted the settlers frora public burthens, and taxes for
a liraited time, who, by an old and standing law, were
enlitled to a certain quantity of land for iraproving and
" seating" it.t In 1776, t four hundred acres of land were
given to each faraily settling vacant lands on the waters
of the Mississippi, and to farailies who, for greater safety,
had settled together, and worked the land in coramon, a
town site of six hundred and forty acres was given, and a
further grant of four hundred acres, contiguous to the
town, was raade to every family upon considerations of
suck settlement."
In sorae cases $2 25 per one hundred acres, or a cent
and a quarter per acre were to be paid .by those clairaing
the settleraent provisions. In fact, the settleraent of Vir
ginia beyond the Blue Ridge, at least, seems to have been
made by the grant of lands upon the condition of occupy
ing, iraproving, and defending thera,. Of course in tiraes
great difficulty, and to the extent of; her raeans, the State
contributed to that defence, but the great reliance, after
•Hen. 2, p. 524.
f Hening 1st, p. 253, for not permitting settlements on north side Rappahannock
river. In regard to settlement on the Roanoke, see Hen. 5th, pp. 37-58. In re
gard to settlements on the waters of the Mississippi, Hen. 6th, 258.
J'Hening 9th, p. 356, and Marshall's History of Kentucky, vol. I, pp. 85, 6, 7, 8.

24 DISCOURSE.
all, was upon individual resources. How far that reli
ance was just, raay be found in the adventures of Boone,
Logan, Hawood, Kenton and Clarke, and many others,
whose heroic achieveraents upon "the dark and bloody
ground," (as Kentucky was called,) might figure in
roraance, if in their case the reahty were not even
stranger, and wilder than fiction itself. In the experience
of such men, war or peace might depend upon the acci
dent of an hour, and if time were given to warn his
neighbor of the approaching assault, or to dispatch a run
ner to tbe nearest settleraent, he would have as much op
portunity for preparation as he could reasonably expect.
The lives and fortunes of his family must mainly depend
upon his own courage and address. The difficulties, dan
gers, and sufferings of forest hfe, and Indian warfare, were
all farailiar to him, and he could use the hoe, the axe, or
the rifle, with equal skill to defend himself against them.
Take Marshall's account of the shifts to which early set
tlers in Fincastle, or Kentucky, as at different times the
present State of Kentucky ¦was variously called, and you
will find that the contrivances of Robinson Crusoe were
scarcely more primitive and simple. They encountered
all this for what ? To be free ; free beyond all that was
known in the experience of man ; free to act and to feel,
and to draw frora the boundless stores of nature without
let or hindrance from the competition of his fellow, and
with no huraan opposition, except frora the Indian, whose
wild warfare seeraed to diversify the adventures, in whose
excitement he loved to live.
In thus pointing out the extent to which the freedora
and energy of individual action was developed and en
couraged by our colonial policy, it is but justice to our
ancestors to show that it was not don* without sorae
regard also to the rights and welfare of the Indian, who,
in the general, seems to have been treated kindly, except

DISCOURSE. 25
in the exigencies of actual war, or under the provocation
of sorae late raassacre. Ih Hening's statutes for 1661,*
raay be seen a digest of laws previously passed, in which
are to be found raany of the gerras of the federal policy
in regard to Indian intercourse. The boundaries between
the Indian territory and that opened to the settlements of
the whites, were to be marked out ; if the whites intruded
upon them within their settlements, their houses were tobe
pulled down, and theraselves expelled. Their persons and
property were secured by law, and none but licensed tra
ders were allowed to trade with thera, and, to prevent col
lisions, no Indians were perraitted to corae within the set
tleraents, except such as had badges. Subsequently, it
was prohibited by law to sell thera liquor or arras, and
various provisions were made for their e'ducation and civ
ilization, t After this review of the fundamental institu
tions of our colonial government, and of its policy in
regard to the lands and the Indians, the two subjects of
greatest inierest to it, and which were so closely con
nected with the moral state and the necessities of the
physical existence of the people, I think it will be ad
mitted that our early organization, , so far as it was of
doraestic origin, gave great efficiency to a society, whose
merabers were so few and scattered. To settle the wilder
ness, and rear up a great people, were the raain objects of
their pursuit, and the chief ends of their mission. What
progress was early made in this career, their history will
attest. I have already shown how they laid the foundation of
our. subsequent Indian policy with most of the conserva
tive checks upon the cupidity of the white man, which
have been introduced into federal legislation in favor of
the aborigines. I might have shown, too, that they intro-
•Hening, vol. II, p. 138. fStith's Hist, of Virginia, p. 217, and Beverley, p. 232.
4

26 DISCOURSE.
duced the essential elements which have characterized
our federal land policy, its pre-emptions,* its discrimina
tions in favor of the actual settlers, and not its systera, but
a systera of surveys and records. The provision for the
record of the sales of lands, is said by Sir Williara Berke
ley, t to have been at that daj' (1671) the only innovation
upon the laws of England. In 1671, Sir Williara Berke
ley says, he does not rauch raiscount in rating the popu-
l.ition of Virginia at above 40,000 persons, of which 8,000
were Christian servants for a short tirae, and 2,000 were
b'.ack slaves.l In 1688, Bancroft estimates the population
at raore than 50,000. || Such was fhe people of whom it
was asserted in 1671, that " both the acquisition and
defence of Virginia have been al the charge of the inhab
itants, and that " the people at that time were at the
expense of supporting nol only the government, but the
governor, wh'.ch occasioned their taxes lo be very high,§
and that these taxes must continue high for the mainte
nance and support of the government, execution of law
and justice, and defence and ornament of the country,
erecting and endowing of churches, maintenance of min
isters of English ordination, doctrine and liturgy, building
and furniture efforts, bridges, ships-of-war, towns, "*i &c.
In the same document il is asserted, by the Virginia
agents, that their goods yielded to the king in his customs
about 100,000 pounds.
This, too, was the "handful of people who had cora
menced a contest for an enlargement of their liberties
when their first assembly met, which they were still con
ducting at that tirae. In the very first assembly they
declared that " the governor shall nol lay any taxes, or
impositions upon the colony, their lands or commodities,
• Marshall's History Kentucky, vol. I, p, 87. f Hening, vol. II, p, 512.
t Ibid, vol. II, p, 515, II Bancroft, vol, II, p. 452. ^ Hening, vol. II, p. S25.
IT Bening, vol. II, p. 326.

DISCOURSE. 27
Otherwise than by the authority of the general assembly,
to be levied and employed as the said assembly shall
appoint," * and in 1631, il was enacted that " for encour
agement of raen lo plant store of corn, the price shall not
be stinted, but it shall be free for every raan to sell it as
dear as he can."t
In 1652, during the English Protectorate, they asserted
that "the right of electing all officers of this colonj',
.should appertain to the burgesses," t which right they
exercised during that period. Bancroft says : " Virginia
established upon her soil tbe supreraacy of the popular
branch, the freedom of trade, the independence of reli
gious societies, the security from foreign taxation, and the
universal elective franchise;" || already she preferred her
own sons for places of authority ; the country felt itself
honored by those who were 'Virginians born,' and emi
grants never again desired to live in England." § If a
're-action to some extent took place after the restoration of
monarchy in England, "itwas not without an earnest
struggle upon her part." The agents sent by her to En
gland to obtain a new charter, essayed by arguraent to
show that they were entitled to the privileges of English
men, IT and said, that "they hurably conceived itto be
the right of Virginians, as well as all other Englishraen,
not to be taxed, but by their consent, expressed through
their representatives." * * Especially did they wish that
the people of Virginia "should not be cantonized by
grants given to particular persons," meaning the large and
improvident grants to Arlington, Culpeper and others.
It was during the delay of redress for these grievances,
that Bacon's rebellion broke out in Virginia, caused partly
by these large grants, which embarrassed the land titles
* Hening, vol. I, p. 122. f Ihid, vol. J, p. 173. { Ibid, vol. I, p. 372.
llBancroft, vol. I,p. 231. §Ibid, p. 232. ITHening, vol. II, pp. 525-6.
** Hening, vol. II, p. 535.

28 DISCOURSE.
of the colony, and still more by the delay of the governor
to punish the Indian outrages upon the whites.*
Whatever may have been the origin of this movement,
it is plain from the action of Bacon's legislature, that their
views extended beyond their first subject of coraplaint.
They declared against plurality of offices, and for rota
tion in certain offices, disqualified all persons from holding
offices except natives, or those who had resided in the
country for three years, restored universal suffrage, re
quired vestrymen to be elected every three years by the
people of the parish, and prescribed that in each county
representatives should be chosen by the people equal in
nuraber to the justices, to act with them in laying county
levies, and making by-laws, t This raovement, which
was suppressed, caused much blood to flow, and great suf
fering in the colony. The author of the Northumberland
tract says, it was whispered to have been said by the
king, "that old fool. Sir William Berkeley, had hanged"
more men in that naked country, than he had done for the
murder of his father." Il was raade an excuse, too, for
denying the charter, and curtailing the privileges of the
Colonial Asserably. Still, for all practical purposes, they
continued to exercise more and raore power over their
doraestic interests. The statute book proves it. They
coined raoney, they laid duties for forts and light-houses,
they raade and managed Indian wars, authorized explor
ing expeditions, rewarded discoverers wilh a raonopoly of
the use of their inventions for a limited time, and raain
tained their right to appoint and control their own treas
urer, and to appropriate by law the raoney raised by
taxes. If a new territory was to be explored upon the
Roanoke, or beyond the Blue Ridge, they offered an
•Account OfT. M. of Northumberland ; alsoBurwell's MS,, and Force, 1st vol.
Hist, Tracts. f Hening, 2. Boon's Laws.

DISCOURSE. 29
exemption from taxes for a liraited period, and gave set
tlement rights and pre-emptions to the adventurers. If a
new road was to be opened, as that over Rock-fish gap,
the county was empowered to lay the necessary taxes,
and execute the work. If the Mattapony was to be
opened by private subscription, trustees were appointed,
and their duties prescribed.
It was a Colonial Legislature which first projected the
improveraent of the waters of the Jaraes above the falls,
and of the Potoraac up to Fort Cumberland ; and in these
instances, for the first time, by way of compensation to
the private subscribers, they were authorized to take tolls
afler completing their work. The first direct appropria
tion for a road, which I have found, was for one to con
nect the east and the west, for which the arrears of cer
tain taxes, due to the State, in Greenbrier and other coun
ties, through which it was to pass, were appropriated.
Forts were built, and manned, at the heads of the rivers,
at their own expense, and a large military force, corapared
with their raeans and population, was kept on foot through
nearly the whole period of their colonial existence. They
maintained and endowed an established church at public
expense, and sustained the whole burthen of doraestic
governraent, and defence, in the raost difficult times. It
has been charged, upon the authoritj' of some statutes,
probably never very strictly enforced, that they were
intolerant of religious dissent, and Sir Williara Berkeley's
letter has been used as evidence of their neglect of pub
lic education. In regard to the first charge, Beverly says,
" Yet liberty of conscience is given to all other congrega
tions pretending to Christianity, on condition they submit
to the parish dues." And of Quaker communities, he
says : " 'Tis observed by letting them alone, they decrease
daily." * In regard to the other allegation, it is said by
• Beverly, p. 226.

30 DISCOURSE.
Beverly, " There are large tracts of land, houses, and other
things, gianted to free schools for the education of children
in many parts of fhe countrj-, and some of these are so
large, that of themselves, they are a handsome mainte
nance to a master. These schools have been founded by
the legacies of well inclined gentlemen. In all other
places, where such endowments have not been already
made, the people join and build schools for their children,
where they may learn upon very easy terras." *
"But Spotswood," says Bancroft, "a royalist, a high
churchraan, a traveller, reverenced the virtues ofthe peo
ple." " I will do justice," he writes to the Bishop of Lon
don, " to this .coun try. I have observed here less swearing
and profaneness, less drunkenness and debauchery, less
uncharitable feuds and aniraosities, and less knaveries and
villainies, than in any part of the world where my lot has
been." t When we come to consider the heavy burthens
imposed upon the foreign commerce of Virginia by the
British government, and its small population and re
sources at horae, it is surprising to see how much was
accomplished. Her settlements were constantly extend
ing under the fire of the Indian rifle.
Spotswood, the most far-sighted of onr colonial govern
ors, early turned the attention of Virginia to the country
beyond the Ohio, and exploring the passes of the Blue
Ridge mountains, and penetrating into the valley, is said
to have extended his views to Kaskaskia itself, at that
time a French fort, separated from the nearest Virginia
settlement by almost a thousand miles of wilderness, t
He but anticipated the day; the hint which he then gave
was afterwards remerabered. The progress of expansion
went on until, perhaps, there was not a river or stream
navigable to a canoe, from the James to Point Pleasant ia
• Beverly, p. 240. f Bsneroft, vol. II, p. 455. t Ibid, vol. 3, p. 345.

DISCOURSE. 31
Kanawha, which had not been the scene of bloody strife
between the Virginian and the Indian. To raake good
her title within her chartered liraits against not only the
Indians, but the French, Virginia spared none of her
resources, either in raen or money. In 1746,* she con
tributed £4,000 to the expedition against Canada, and in
1754, she began to make provision in men and money for
the French and Indian wars.f Ten thousand pounds
were directed to be raised by loan by this act. In 1756,
£25,000 were raised, t and for the first tirae treasury
notes, bul notes bearing- interest, were used.
In process of tirae, as raore and raore money was
raised, these notes were issued wiihout interest, and made
a legal tender, but, in all instances, specific taxes were
laid for their redemption. That this sound policy was
pursued is evidenced by the fact, that in 1768, the taxes
laid to secure their paj'ment were repealed, because, as
alleged, a sum had been raised equal to the whole erais
sion of treasury notes frora 1754 to 1762 inclusive. ||
Bancroft was right in saying, "it was an age when
nations rushed into debt, when stock-jobbers and bankers
corapeted wilh land-holders for political power; and Vir
ginia paid its taxes in tobacco, and alone, of all the colonies,
alone of all civilized states, resisting the universal ten
dency of the age, had no debt, no banks, no bills of credit,
no paper money. § Until the French and Indian war, bills
of credit had been unknown in Virginia. To sustain it,
she spared none of her resources. The first raoveraent ia
regard to the French occupation of Fort Du Quesne, was
frora Gov. Dinwiddle of Virginia, who dispatched Wash
ington to ascertain their intentions. The first engagement,
which opened the seven j"ears' war, was between Wash
ington and Jumonville, at the Great Meado-ws, At Bradr
* Hening, vol. V, p. 400. f Ibid, VI, 417. ( Ibid VII, 9. 1| Ibid, VIII, 297,
} Bancroft, vol. Ill,, p. 396.

32 DISCOURSE.
dock's defeat, " The Virginia companies (says Bancroft)
showed the greatest valor, and were nearly all massacred.
Of these companies, scarcely thirty men were left alive." *
When Grant made his ill-advised march upon Fort Du
Quesne with eight hundred Highlanders and the Virginia
corapany, "the behavior of the Virginians was pubhcly
extolled by Forbes." Afterwards Washington was placed
in comraand of the advance, which nurabered araongst its
forces 1,900 raen raised by Virginia, and after the place
had fallen, two regiraents of Virginians were left to guard
it."t No sooner was this expedition over, tban we find
Virginia, after being foiled in her attempts to preserve the
peace by compensating the whites for spoliation made on
their property by the friendly Indians during their march
homeward, passing acts to raise raen, and borrow £32.000
to relieve Fort Loudon, built at her expense, t in the
Cherokee nation, which had been invested by these
Indians. Of all the raoney thus expended by Virginia, not only
frora her annual revenue, but from the loans which she
made, I do not find any mention of more than £30,000
which were returned to her by the crown. To have sus
tained these burthens, and to have borne so great a share
of this war, as she did, with her sparse population, shows
a command of the resources of the country, and an en
ergy on the part of the people, not often witnessed in
history. She must have owed this to her institutions and
internal organization, but more to the spirit of her people.
In referring to her institutions and policy, it must not be
forgotten, that one of these institutions was that of Afri
can slavery, and that a cardinal feature in her policy was
taxation in kind. That the existence of African slavery
•contributed much to the early settleraent of this country,
• Bancroft, vol. IV, 190. f Ibid, IV, 311, 12, 13,
J Hening, VII, fi2. Ibid, VII, 334, 359.

DISCOURSE. 38
there can be but little dpiibt. Whilst the master was ab
sent exploring the country, or defending the settlemenfs
against the Indians, the slave cultivated' fhe land at horae,
and opened and iraproved what the white raan had con
quered. We find the slave following his raaster into the
raost distant and dangerous settlements, and many in
stances are to be found of his defence of his master's
faraily against the assaults of the Indians. The effect
which this institution must have had upon the national
character of the whites, I must say nothing of here ; that
it made the spirit of independence and freedora still
prouder, and higher, ^tban before, we have the testimony
of Edraund Burke hiraself, and it is obvious enough that
such a result would be the natural effect of such a cause.
That the fear of danger frora the slave at home re
strained the mailer in his enterprises abroad, there seeras
to be no sufficient evidence in our history; that such
fears atone time existed in relation to the white servant,
we have proofs not to be disputed. Sir (William Berkeley
in 1671,* states the number of white servants to be 8^000,
while of slaves he then counted but 2,000, and it appears!
that the foriher plotted ah insurrection in 1663, which
gave so . greal an alarra to the colonj', that the general
court ma;de an order that no raore "jail-birds," as they
were called, should be brought into Virginia, and requir
ing a Mr. Neveft to send out the "Newgate birds" withih
two raonths, according to a former order of the court.
Beverly says, in speaking of this movement, that they
were led by i'Oliverian soldiers." I But the slave who
provided food for the faraily at home, seemed rather to
have added to the master's sense of security abroad.
Whilst this institution probably increased the number of
fighting men, which the colony could send to war, tbe
* Henijig, II, 510. flMd. t Beverly, pp. 5-8.
5

34 DISCOURSE.
taxation in kind added greatly to the means of supporting
them abroad, and of maintaining the government at home.
The people were thus enabled to bear the burthen of a
taxation, which would have been intolerable if laid in
njoney, under the existing state of coraraerce, and the
circumstances which surrounded them. It is at once
curious and instructive to see how they converted tobacco,
their only great staple, into the raediura for taxation, and
a currency for domestic uses besides. I will venture to
say, that a raore curious and interesting study could not
well be offered to the political economist, than the his
tory of Virginia legislation upon this subject. Not only
were the taxes laid in tobacco, but it was made a legal
tender, between man and raan.
At first, if a dispute arose as to the value of tobacco,
when thus tendered, it was deterrained by the arbitration
of neighbors, and afterwards by the county court. In
process of tirae, it was found more convenient to estab
lish warehouses, lyhere all the tobacco to be exported was
deposited, and inspectors were appointed to ascertain its
quality. For this a receipt, or tobacco note, was given,
specifying the quantity and quality, and at a price fixed,
I think, annually by the county court of the county in
which it was situated.
These notes becarae a currency, and were made a ten
der. But the price might vary from one year to another,
and, accordingly, it was provided, that it should be a legal
tender only for one year, at tbe price first fixed; its value
frora year to year being deterrained according to the fluc
tuations in the price allowed by the county court itself.
There was also another difficulty ; a note given for tobacco
deliverable at one public warehouse, would not be so val
uable as one issued frora another more accessible to the
foreign markets ; a difficulty sirailar in its nature to that
of keeping up the par value of the paper of different

DISCOURSE. 35
branch banks. This was remedied, as far as a remedy
was practicable at all, by another contrivance. Centres
of trade for the different counties were fixed, and the
tobacco notes of certain warehouses were a legal tender
only in certain contiguous counties which were designated
by law. But in fixing these values of the tobacco, the
county courts might err, not probabl j' frora interest, but
possibly by mistake. To meet this, a debtor might sorae
times pay his debt in money instead of tobacco, if it
pleased him, and in special contracts at home, the farraers
might fix the prices of tobacco for themselves. Having
,but one article of foreign export, the colonists made the
most of that; they constituted a currency of it, and by a
system of contrivances raade its value fluctuate with the
foreign price of tobacco, and virtually with the state of
foreign exchanges theraselves. The quantity could not
be well increased, without a corresponding increase ofthe
production of actual values in the shape of tobacco, nor
could it be dirainished without a like falling off in the sup
ply of the article, on which it was based.
As corapared with the atterapts of the other colonies to
issue paper based upon credit, or, indeed, with sorae raore
raodern and scientific atterapts to create a paper raoney,
how infinitely superior is this earfy contrivance of the old
Virginians ! Upon this subject, the testiraony of Bancroft
is not less eloquent than true. *
Vanban, the celebrated engineer, who was a financier
also, is said to have addressed a memoir to Louis XIV, to
* Bancroft, vol. Ill, p. 39. For a series of acts on the subject of tobacco as a
currency, see 1st Heninj, 152, 190, 204, 209 to 213, establishing warehouses, 216,
206. Ibid, V, p. 168, allowing persons not raising tobacco to pay in money. Hen
ing, VI, 159, 225, no crop notes of older date than eighteen months, a legal tender.
568, to allow tobacco debts to be paid in money for that year. 7th Hening, 240,
debtors paying in money or tobacco at their option, for that year. Such acts seem
to have been frequently passed, but for a limited time only. 1st Hening, 210, 211 ,
allowing parties to fix prices by contract by domestic trade.

36 DISCOURSE.
recoraraend that a portion of the taxes should be laid in
kind, because the people could bear rauch greater burthens
in that way, than in any other, and if the object was to
extort as much as possible frora the people for the use of
governraent, he was probably right. The early history of
Virginia would seera to prove it, for no people of tbe sarae
nuraber and raeans have probably ever, contributed so
much to ffovernraent with so httle inconvenience to thera-
selves. As I have said before, the whole policy of Vir
ginia was mainly founded on a reliance on individual
energies, which were fostered by more than an usual
share of individual liberty. It is an old subject of com-_
plaint with those who have written upon Virginia affairs,
that the Virginians devoted themselves too exclusively
to agriculture and individual enterprises. Beverly re
proaches Ihem wilh their want of " cohabitation" and
towns; if such was their want, it was no fault of theirs,
for their general asserably raade all the attempts to foster
trade and industry, which were suggested by the views
of political economy prevalent at that tirae.
In 1642, they declared " freedom of trade to be the
blood and life of a comraonwealth."* The history of our
colonial legislation is replete with acts to encourage the
establishraent of towns. As early as 1657, the legisla
ture offered premiums for the production of silk, flax and
staple coraraodities. t "Adventurers in iron works" were
stiraulated by exeraption frora taxation, and other pri
vileges. I Acts were passed at various times to en
courage the production of wine and silk. The State itself
sometiraes erabarked in these undertakings, as in the
raanufacture of salt in 1776. || Soraetimes individuals
raised money by subscription, and the State appointed
trustees to receive and distribute the money in premiums
• 1 Hening, p, 233. t Ihid, I, 469, } Ibid, IV, 328, || Ibid, IX, 193.

DISCOURSE.^ 37
for the production of certain commodities. * And yet the
various forms of social industry did not thrive in Vir
ginia. The genius and raission of the people were for
other objects. In the north-eastern British colonies, they
looked raore to the forras of association for the means of
development. Settled originally as a church, and so gov
erned, society was invested with large powers over indi
vidual action; social strength and privileges were the
great objects of their culture, and social industry, in its
various forms, received a large and early developrnent.
But natural taste, and the circumstances in which she was
placed, gave to Virginia enterprise another direction.
She became the pioneer colony amongst all the British
provinces. "Like Massachusetts, Virginia was the
raother of a cluster of States." t She sent exploring par
ties into Carolina, with a proraise of a fourteen years'
monopoly of the profits; and such expeditions she con
tinued to send both to the south and to the west, but
raainly to the west. Upon the reraotest confines of the
white settleraent westward, the smoke of the Virginian's
cabin ascended, and in the farthest fastness of the forest,
or wildest gorge of the raountains, the crack of his rifle
was heard. Upon the hunting grounds of the Six Nations
and the Cherokees, he was known and feared as "the
long knife ;'' with the axe and the rifle, he raade good his
advance into the wilderness. Felling the forest, and driv
ing the Indians before hira in the course of his progress,
he made the settlemlhts upon which new states were
afterward to be founded. Never turning her regards frora
the Mississippi, after they had been once directed to that
quarter by her governor, Spotswood, Virginia pursued the
dreara of western empire with a determination which
nothing could shake.
* 1 Hening, p. 288 and 563. f Bancroft, vol. II, p. 133.

38 DISCOURSE.
As I said before, when the French made their appear
ance before Fort Du Quesne, it was Virginia who first
demanded the cause of their coming. It was she who, at
the Great Meadows, opened the first fire in the French
and Indian war, and who, with all her aversion to paper
money, for the first tirae conquered it upon that occasion,
and strained her credit to the utraost to raise funds for the
prosecution of that war. One of the first roads to which
she ever contributed raoney directly, a small sum it is
true, was to connect the north branch of the Potomac with
the Ohio at Fort Pitt, and the prearable of the act de
clares this to be done both for railitary and commercial
purposes. * And all the perils of the great revolutionary
struggle, in which she bore a part as conspicuous and dif
ficult as any, she was still faithful to the great aspirations
which so long had guided her. The early history of Ken
tucky, which is our history, shows that the people of that
country, then a part of Virginia, with such aid as the
State could afford, without assistance from any other quar
ter whatever, made good our possession of the country
upon the Ohio, in a series of heroic struggles, whose in
terest was so deep, and often so tragic, that they seem to
wear the air more of fiction than of fact. The Six Na
tions were the most warlike of all the Indian tribes, and
Kentucky their favorite hunting ground, they contested
with more than their wonted energy. And yet on this
"'dark and bloody ground," did Virginia extend her set
tlements, in the fiercest period of'the revolutionary con
flict, and engage in one long struggle, not only for free
dom, but for empire, from the shores of the Atlantic to
the, waters of the Ohio and the Mississippi itself.
In 1711, when Spotswood, the ablest of Virginia gov
ernors, proposed to strike at the French settlement of
* 8th Hening, p. 252.

DISCOURSE. 39
Kaskaskia,* by the incorporation of a Virginia trading
company, he was ahead of his time. The western boun
dary, of Virginia settlement was then about the Blue
Ridge, and hundreds of miles of wilderness formed an
obstacle too great to be surraounted by such a power as
she could wield. She could, and did, bide her time. In
1744, she acquired by treaty the Indian title over the
basin of Ohio, t and by 1778, she was seated on that
river. George Rogers Clark, one of her greatest sons,
and who for native military genius must rank amongst the
distinguished raen of the world, renewed the idea of gov
ernor Spotswood. Then Kaskaskia, as before Fort Du
Quesne, was the centre frora which Indian incursions
were directed upon the Virginia settleraents. His com
prehensive and active mind, enabled him not only to ap
preciate the military value of the post, but to suggest the
means by ¦R'hich it was to be conquered. The general
asserably of Virginia lent hira a ready and willing ear,
and in 1778, a regiraent of State troops for the service of
the western frontier, was raised, and placed under the
coramand of Clark. In all the annals of successful mili
tary enterprises, none are more surprising than this ; with
two or three hundred raen he prepared to attack the town
of Kaskaskia, separated by a vast wildemess from the
nearest Virginia settleraent, and containing as many
houses as he had men, and garrisoned by British troops,
who could command the support of warlike and populous
Indian tribes. The .only hope of success depended upon
surprising the enemy, and, in the face of ever}- difficulty,
he managed to do it. Breaking through forests, and
wading through ponds, he marched two days after his
provisions were exhausted, and appeared before the town
* Bancroft, III, 345. t Ibid, III, 4SS.

40 DISCOURSE.
at night. " Not a scattering Indian had espied his march,
not a roving hunter had seen his trail."*
So complete was the surprise, that the town fell without
a struggle. The British were still so superior in point of
forces, that Harailton, who commanded at Vincennes,
upon the Wabash, took his time for organizing a scherae
for not only driving him from Kaskaskia, but for cutting _
off the settleraents on the Ohio up to Fort' Pitt. So
secure was he in the consciousness of his superior strength,
that he dispatched his Indian auxiharies to harass the
frontiers of Kentucky, whilst he reraained in garrison with
his regulars, to coraraence operations upon an extensive
scale, after the close of the approaching winter. But in
the very depth of winter, Clark, at the head of cfne hun
dred and thirty raen, emerged from the swamps, through
which he had marched for five daysj and for the last five
miles wilh the water up to their hearts," t surprised the
fort, and captured it wilh the garrison and stores, Mar
shall well says : " These expeditions of Col. Clarke were
highly important, and beneficial in their consequences.
They broke and deranged the plan of operations intended
to pour destruction upon the whole population west of the
Alleghany mountains; they detached from the British
interest several of the Indian tribes south of the Great
Lakes ; their influence in Kentucky was imraediate,
extensive and salutary. And in all probability, they con
tributed essentially to fix the liraits of the United States
ultimately by the Mississippi ; as those of Virginia were
extended to that river immediately after one of these
conquests." t That Virginia herself estim ated her western
possessions at their proper value, is proved by the exer
tions she raade to preserve thera, Mr. Jefferson, in a let
ter to General Washington, tells hira that "Virginia is
•Marshall's Hist. Kentucky, vol. I, p. 68. fSee letter G. R. Clarke, vol. I, p. 451.
tMarshall's Hist. Kentucky, vol. 1, p. 71.

Discourse. 41
obliged to keep on duty from five to six hundred men in
the defence of the western settlements at a great and
perpetual expense;"* and in another letter, to the same
person in 1781, he says that " she is obliged to embody
between two and three thousand raen in that quarter." t
This, too, was at the time when the British, under Arnold,
had invaded the State, and when the larger portion of her
forces were with the southern army.
Nor did Virginia forget the interests of the territory,
thus painfully preserved from the British grasp after the
treaty of peace. Evidences of the zeal and energy with
which she struggled to maintain her right to the naviga
tion of the Mississippi, are- to be found in Mr. Madison's
correspondence, as published in his works, and Marshall's
History of Kentucky. And yet, again, by an act as mag-
naniraous as can be found in the history of any people, she
ceded away to the United States fhis immense territory,
almost without any consideration, olher than that of the
benefit to be derived hj the people who were to settle in it,
and the general welfare of the Confederacy. Nor would
the act have been unwise, if it had not been for the fatal
provision, which excluded her own sons from an equal
participation in the advantages of settling that country.
In the course of this narrative of her relations to the
western country, I have said but little of the part she
bore in the Revolutionary War. This was so conspicuous
as to be farailiar to all. My object has been to trace the
social system of Virginia to its elements, to show its ori
gin, and point out the circumstances under which it grew
and prospered. The great principle of a division of honor
amongst connected jurisdictions, so as to secure the re
sponsibility of interests for the just action of each, has
nowhere been presented so surely and so fully ?s in this
» 1st .lefl: 185, tibidvol, I, 222,

42 DISCOURSE,
State, and nowhere else has the action of government
itself, at so early a period, been so proudly based upon
individual liberty and energy as in Virginia. This is the
key which will explain the nature of the part she bore in
the revolution, and also the early preferences she dis
played for the principle of confederation over that of
consolidation. So well had Virginia been trained in this
system of government, that the dissolution of the old
form, and the disappearance of the governor in 1775,
scarcely made a breach in her proceedings. To the raa
chinery of commiltees of safety the convention of Vir
ginia gave at once a distinct organization. "A general
committee of safety, was appointed by the convention,
which was invested with the supreme executive powers
of government. County committees were elected by the
free-holders of the several counties and corporations, from
which district coraraittees were deputed. On these com
raittees devolved the appointraent of the captains and
subaltern officers of the regulars and minute-men, and the
general superintendence of the recruiting service."*
The origination of coraraittees of correspondence be
tween the legislatures of the different States, which par
tially led to the first Continental Congress, belongs, as Mr.
Jefferson inforras us, to Virginia.! By her delegates, too,
was the resolution for the declaration of independence
first moved in the Continental Congress in 1776, t and by
her own distinguished son was that immortal document
drawn. Of her raay be said, what, perhaps, can be said
of none of the other States, that there was no important
theatre of mihtary operations, and after Bunker HiU, no
important battle, in which her blood did not freely flow.
From the heights of Abram and Boston, in the north, to
Charleston and Augusta, in the south, and frora German-
• 9lh Henins, I'rel^nce, f-'eff, vol, I. pp. 4 and 91. j Ibid vol. I, p, 94.

DISCOURSE. 43
town and Yorktown, in the east, to Vincennes and Kas
kaskia, in the west, her sons were everywhere in the
field. In 1780, Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to Gen. Wash
ington, says: "The number ordered from this State into
the northern service are about seven thousand. I trust
we may count that fifty-five hundred will actually pro
ceed."* In a report, made at the first session of the
twenty-eighth congress by the Hon. E. W. Hubard of our
own State, it is proved that Virginia furnished sixteen
continental regiraents, besides Lee's light armed corps,
and Bland's regiment of cavalry, and also seven State
regiments, and a State navy numbering 1.500 men. t Mr.
Jefferson, in an application to Gen. Washington for a loan
of sorae supplies from Fort Pitt for an expedition which
Virginia meditated against Detroit, says : " We think the
like friendly office performed by us to the Slates, when
ever desired, and alraost ^o the absolute exhaustion of our
own magazines, give well founded hopes that we raay be
accommodated on this occasion. The supplies of mili
tary stores which have been furnished by us to Fort Pitt
itself, to the northern array, and mosl of all to the south
ern, are not altogether unknown to you."|
Again, in speaking of the unarmed condition of the
railitia, he says : "Yet if they (Congress) would repay us
the arms we have lent them, we should give the enemy-
trouble, though 'abandoned to ourselves." || In the whole
of this great and difficult contest, I believe there is no
taint of selfishness, or illiberality, to be found in the con
duct of Virginia. Her escutcheon was borne by her sons
through that fiery ordeal unstained by aught save the
blood of the battle-field, or the smoke of the fight. Hers,
too, was that son, of whora it was so justly said, after the
scenes of his life were closed, that he had been " first in
•Jeft'. vol. I, p. 184, tllcp. p. 94. {Jefl, vol, I, p, 1U9, || Ibid, p. 210.

44 DISCOURSE.
war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country
raen." Is it just to such raen that so rauch of their story
should be lost to raankind? These men undoubtedly had
a proper regard to fame. Were they not entitled to it?
Shall it be lost, from the want of pious care on the part of
their descendants to preserve the evidences, and set up
the monuraents of their title to the love and respect of
their race? And how rauch have we not already lost?
The whole story of our State navy is now gone ; it is not
known even to tradition. And yet, I rayself, once heard
Coraraodore Barron, who was a midshipman in that ser
vice, relate sorae incidents in its career so stirring, and
give so raany reasons for deploring the loss of its history,
as must make me ever regret that my countrymen should
have been so insensible to the value of their own story,
as neither to have written it themselves, nor even pre
served the materials for another to do it for them. The
tombs of our revolutionary fathers lie thick around us,
but the faithful chisel, or the pious care, is wanting to
renew the inscriptions, or remove the rank grass, which
hides them from the eyes of man, for which alone it was
intended. The fame of good and great deeds, even
though it be inherited, is of no small value ; it opens for
us a readier access to the confidence of others, and cre
ates within ourselves a new incitement to virtue. How is
such an inheritance to be preserved without the aid of
history ?
I know that this is the age of material development;
never has man dealt so largely or so intimately with mat
ter as now ; never has he exerted such powers to control
it ; never have his physical comforts or material resources
been so great. But is there no danger that, in our aspira
tions after material wealth and power, we shall forget
what is raore priceless still, moral elevation and grandeur ?
It is much to improve the country, but more to improve

DISCOURSE. 45
the people. To afford new incitements to honor and vir
tue by wise and eloquent precept, or by what is still more
persuasive, high example ; to win as a people the trophies
of fame ; to store up in the national repositories of thought
ideas which can serve to instruct and dehght mankind;
these, after all, are the achievements which tell most
upon the page of history, and these constitute the only
imperishable wealth of a nation. But if we have no his
tory, what can its pages tell of us, or for us ? We must
learn by the hght of others, and live by the examples
which they raay give us. Without a history of our own,
we can expect neither unity nor consistency of national
character, we may hope for no system of culture prop
erly our own, we cannot maintain even a just self-respect,
nor have we a right to expect from our sons a high am
bition or noble aspirations. They raay spring up autoch
thones in the soil, but they raust grow as they spring,
unaided by our hand, for we refuse even a raeraorial to
the raan who raay fall in our service. As I understand
it, Mr. President, it is to prevent such a want of history,
as would, indeed, be a reproach to our people, that
your society has been organized, and is laboring; and
I now appear before you to caU public attention, as far
as I am able, to the great value and importance of your
pursuits. Let it not be said, that while the whole world
is alive to matters of historical interest, we alone should
be dead to the importance of our own storj-, and insensi
ble to the duty we owe to those who have preceded us,
and those who will succeed us, to guard and preserve its
materials at least. But throwing out of view all con
sideration of duty, is there nothing attractive in the study
of Virginia history itself? Is there nothing in the strange
scenes of warfare and adventure, through which the set
tlements extended from the shores of the Chesapeake to
those of the Ohio and Mississippi, to stir the blood, or

46 DISCOURSE.
kindle the glow of sympathetic feeling? Is there no in
terest in the wild raarch of the pioneer, who led the
advance of this hne of settleraent, finding a friend and a
horae wherever he might have companionship with na
ture ; whose a.spects were as familiar to him in her deep
est solitudes, or least accessible retreats, as when she
srailed most pleasantly upon the usual abodes of man ?
Who would not recall, if he could, the lost traditions of
that bold spirit, who willingly staked existence itself upon
any venture, no matter how desperate or wild, if it prom
ised to gratify his peculiar tastes, and casting all fear
behind hira, penetrated the very depths of the wilder
ness, where he could only hold his life upon the double
condition of pursuing his garae, and eluding the savage by
a woodcraft, and a courage superior to his own ? Un
doubtedly the day wiU come, when the little that is left of
this history, will be sought after with the most eager curi
osity, and become a favorite object of antiquarian research.
To collect its stray sybilline leaves wLU yet be a labor of
love. Even now, I think, I shall find many to agree with
rae in the opinion that the institutions and civil deeds of
the old fathers of our State, well deserve the study and
commemoration of her sons.
These were, indeed, such men as had no need to ask
for more than to be fairly known, and who might truly
say : " After my death I wish no otlier herald,
No other speaker of my living actions.
To keep mine honor from corruption.
But such an honest chromcler as Griffith."
You may have observed, Mr. President, that in the
course of my brief review of a portion of Virginia his
tory, I have said nothing of the period since the adoption
of the present federal constitution. To have done so

DISCOURSE, 47
would have extended this address beyond its proper lim
its, and involved topics whose discussion raight disturb
the party feelings of the day. My object has been to
develop the moral, and unity of our history, and to present
it in such a point of view as should be above and beyond
party considerations and influences. For that purpose, I
have shown how our ancestors, through succeeding gene
rations, labored for the great end of so adjusting the so
cial and particular interests of man, as to give the largest
amount of individual Uberty and power, which might be
consistent with the necessary protection of a regularly
organized society. Indeed, with sorae, it has been a mat
ter of reproach to Virginia, that in the pursuit of this end,
she sacrificed too many of the elements of social strength
and wealth. But the fruits of this systera are to be found
in the individual exceUence which it developed, and the
nuraber of great men that it produced, during the period
of which I have been treating, and through which the
State adhered to it most exclusively. I think, too, I have
shown, that during this time, her social achievements
were such as would have done honor to any people of the
same number and means, in any era, or part of the world.
If Lord Bacon was right in saying that the "plantations
of new countries are araongst the priraitive and raost he
roic works of raan," then surely Virginia is entitled to a
high place in the order of huraan achieveraent. Until the
tirae of the Araerican experiraent in governraent, the
efforts of statesraen, and the refineraents of their skill,
seera to have been wholly directed to the ends of social
strength and progress. With that experiment commenced
the first great forward movement in favor of individual
liberty, and the raost successful forra of political organiza
tion for raaking that developraent corapatible with social
strength and order. Araongst the leaders in this move
ment, if not at its head, Virginia is entitled to be ranked.

48 DISCOURSE.
and when she takes her appropriate place in the greaf
Pantheon of History, there shall ascend frora her altars,
not the sraoke from tbe blood of her victims, but the
grateful incense of the noblest of human aspirations,
those of the soul, after a larger liberty of self-develop
ment, and a ¦wider range in the boundless domain of
thought. In the grent Epos of Humanity we see nation
after nation seizing the torch of civilization as it passes
to the head of the column to lead the advance in the
mighty march of our race. In the struggle for masterj-,
some faint and some fall by the wayside. Nationalities de
cay, and the forms of their institutions pass away, but each,
ere it leaves the scene, bequeaths its great and character
istic thought as an everlasting possession to man. Beneath
the very ashes of their decay lives a fire whose light is as
imperishable as truth itself, and which is capable of trans
mission from generation to generation, so long as the human
mind exists to afford the subject to feed the sacred flarae.
Sorae leave a new light, and others inspire a higher hope
to guide or to animate the march of humanity. When
we look thus to the achievements of others, and reckon
up the legacies of immortal thought bequeathed by the
past to the present, is it extravagant to hope that Virginia,
too, may contribute her idea whose type may be found
hereafter in sorae new stage of huraan progress. It is a
pious work, and for one I dare to indulge it.

THE

HRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER,

CONDUCTED BY THB

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

OF THE

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

VOLUME I— PART III.

EICHMOND :
PRINTED FOB THE COMMITTEE,
BT WILLIAM H. CLEMMITT.
1856.

THE
VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.

THE VIRaiNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY:
THE NINTH ANNUAL MEETING.
The Ninth A'nnual Meeting of the Virginia Historical
Society was held in the Hall of the Athenaeum, on
Thursday evening, January 17lh, and was very well
attended. The President of the Society, the Hon. Wm. C.
Rives, took the chair and presided on the occasion.
Andrew Johnston, Esq., Recording Secretary, in the
absence of Conway Robinson, Esq., Chairman of the
Executive Committee, read the Report of the Executive
Commiftee, which was well received.
After these proceedings, James P. Holcorabe, Esq., of
the University of Virginia, read an eloquent and in
teresting discourse, containing Sketches of the Political
Issues and Controversies of the Revolution, which gave
greal satisfaction to all presenl.
On motion of Wm. H. Macfarland, Esq., the following
resolution was adopted :
Resolved, Thai the thanks of the Society be, and they
are hereby pre.sented fo James P. Holcombe, Esq., for
his eloquent and interesting discourse delivered this
evening; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of
il lo tbe Executive Committee, for preservation in the

4 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
archives, and for pubUcation in sucb manner as they shall
order and direct.
Tbe following gentlemen were elected officers of the
Society for the ensuing year:
Hon. Wm. C. Rives, President.
Hon. James M. Mason, i
Wm. H. Macfarland, Esq. > Vice Presidents.
Hon. John Y. Mason, )
Wm. Maxwell, Cor. Secretary and Librarian.
Andrew Johnston, Recording Secretary.
Jaquelin p. Taylor, Treasurer.
The following gentlemen were elected Honorary Mem
bers of the Society :
Professor Richard Henry Lee, Washington CoUetfe,
Pensylvania,
Lieut. Mathew T. Maury, Washington City.
The following gentlemen were appointed the Executive
Coraraittee for the ensuing year:
Conway Robinson, Chairman, Charles Carter Lee,
Gustavus A. Myers, Arthur A. Morsox,
Thomas T. Giles, Thomas H. Ellis,
George W. Randolph.
The Officers of the Society are, ex-officio, raembers of
the Executive Committee.

the VIRGINIA HISIORICAL REPORTER. O
THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
Report made to the Virginia Historical Society by its
Executive Com.mittee, at ike Annual meeting in January,
18,56,
We are pleased to have it in our power to inform the
Society, that the sub-coraraittee [consisting of Messrs.
Randolph, Giles and ElUs,] have made so manifest the
propriety of the action asked of the General Assembly,
under the resolution adopted by the Society at its meeting
in December, 1854 — that the Senate has during the pre
sent winter, passed a bill making an appropriation to the
Society of $1,000 a year, for five years, lo enable it to
procure from England copies of manuscripts relating to
the early history of this State, and to prosecute its publi
cation of the early voyages to America, and the annals of
Virginia. If this bill shall become a law, our arrange
ments are such, that wiihout incurring the expense of
sending an agent to England we shall be enabled to obtain
and make use of interesting manuscripts now ascertained
to be at London, in the Stale paper office. We should
pubUsh in one year from the passage of the act, an
account of the voyages to the Atlantic coast of North
America, from 1573 to 1606, including in this period
several letiers fo Sir Francis Walsingham, written by
Ralph Lane, in August and September, 1685, from what
was then caUed Virginia ; and wilhin two years frora the
passage of the act, we should publish the first volurae of
Annals of Virginia, coming down to 1619 and giving a
full report of the proceedings in that year of the first
General Assembly on this continent. Of the particulars
that passed at this asserably, nothing is to be found in
Mr, Hening's collection of the statutes, nor in the volume

6 ^ THE VIRGINU^ HISTORICAL REPORTER.
of Stith, or of any one who has yet undertaken to write
the history of Virginia. We can show how that assem
bly was organized, and what il did — its resolutions and
acts or ordinances — and give the names of the two bur
gesses for each incorporation and plantation. The author
of the Declaration of Independence would have been
pleased to know that one of the burgesses in 1619 for
Flowerdiu Hundred bore the name of Jefferson. Letters
written from Virginia in 1622, by George Harrison, will
be interesting lo olhers, as well as the Harrisons of
Brandon and of Berkeley. Yet they have hilherto been
ignorant of the existence of such letters, as the sage of
MontpeUer was of the fact that Capt. haac Madison and
Mrs. Mary Madison were in the colony in 1623. Many
there rnay be who will be interested in the naraes of
those living in Virginia in Februaiy, 1623, and the list of
the dead ; and the complete muster or census of the
inhabitants in 1624 — a paper erabracing 103 pages. No
Virginian should be willing to let such documents as these
bearing essentially on the bistory of his State, continue
to depend on the frail duration of a :?ingle piece of paper,
and that in a foreign land. We desire to ^obtain them,
and, by publication, to preserve thera, and in our publica
tions, to introduce matter obtained from the proceedings
of the old A'irginia company, and from the records of our
State, and other sources hitherto imperfectly explored.
Time and labor are necessary to do what we contem
plate ; but these we shall freely give, without any other
reward than such as may arise frora doing that which the
good name and credit of the State forbid should be left
undone. Let it not be supposed, however, that our thoughts are
confined to the old colonial times : they are no less given
to the early days of the Republic. The great men of

THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 7
those days are entitled to a lasting remembrance. If one
of Virginia's sons has written the life of George Wash
ington, and another the life of Thomas Jefferson, none
has yet written the life of James Madison. Considering
this a work lofty enough for any man, and especially
suitable for the President of this Society, the committee,
in June last, resolved that the President be earnestly re
quested to undertake this work and to devote to it as large
a portion of his lime as may be practicable ; the commit
tee being well satisfied that its accomplishments will alike
conduce to his honor and redound lo the credit of our Stafe
and country. We are gratified that we are enabled to in
form the Society of the response made by the President
to this resolution. Appreciating the exalted merits of the
great character, whose serene wisdom, embodied in the
noblest structure of government which the genius of man
ever devised, will long continue, il is devoutly hoped, to
shed blessings and lustre on his native State, as well as
the whole Union, the President declares that no exertions
of his shall be wanting, according lo the leisure and
opportunities he may have, to collect and preserve suita
ble memorials of his life, services, talents and virtues,
which, as his own rare and exemplary modesty, never
permitted hira to trumpet, it is the more incumbent
on a just and grateful posterity to honor and commemo
rate. Others also, besides Mr. Madison, are worthy of com
raemoration in connection with the early Virginia Con
ventions. The Convention of 1776 was the subject of a
discourse delivered in July last by Hugh Blair Grigsby,
Esq., before the Virginia Alpha of the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, in the chapel of Williara and Mary college.
Between that period and the Convention of 1829-'30,
upon which, also, Mr. Grigsby has furnished a valuable

8 the VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
discourse, there was another important Convention in this
State, — that of 1788, called to deliberate upon the change
of government then proposed by the Federal Conven
tion, — which seemed to the Committee every way fit to
engage Mr. Grigsby's thoughts and time. A resolution
has therefore been adopted, requesting him to devote as
much of his time as may be convenient, to the prepara
tion of a discourse upon this Convention, and to dehver
the same before the Society at a future meeting. This
task, we are glad to say, Mr. Grigsby has undertaken to
perform. Our collection of paintings has had a valuable addition
during the past year in the presentation, by Jaquelin P.
Taylor, Esq., of a portrait of Edraund Pendleton, the
first President of the Court of Appeals of Virginia,
painted by Thomas Sully of Philadelphia, frora a minia
ture which Judge Pendleton had taken of himself and
gave fo Mr. Taylor's mother. We have reason to antici
pate, that befoi-e another year shall have passed away,
five copies of the portraits of Washington, JefiersoD,
Madison, Monroe and Marshall^ will adorn onr room.
Valuable as the portraits of such raen are in our day, they
¦will be far more valued in a future ase.
In the joornal of our proceedings for the past year, is
recorded the fact that Gteorge N. Johnson, Esq., the
Treasurer of tbis Society, died suddenly on the night of
the 29th of March last. This event spread a gloom over
our whole city. Our departed friend was beloved for his
many virtues ; our sentiments for bim while he Hved,
were those of the strongest esteem and regard, and, now
that death has taken him from us, we cannot but feel the
highest respect for his memory. In conclusion, it only re
mains to say, that the duty being devolved on the commit
tee of proceeding to fill the vacancy thus caused in the

the VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. i)
office of Treasurer, Jaquelin P. Taylor, Esq., was
unanimously appointed to the office, and has accepted
the appointment and acted ex-officio as a raeraber of the
committee.

DONATIONS.
List of Books and Paintings presented to the Society
during ihe past year.
Smithsonian Contributions to Human Knowledge during
the current year, 2 vols, quarto; by the Institution.
Lord Mahon's Hislory of England, 2 vols, octavo,
Appleton's edition; by Wra. H. Macfarland, Esq., of
Richraond. The U. S. Naval Astronomical Expedition to fhe
Southern Hemisphere; by Lieut. J. M Gillies, U. S. N.
A Discourse on the Convention of 1776, delivered
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of William and Mary
College, by Hugh Blair Grigsby, Esq. ; by the author.
A Portrait of Edmund Pendleton ; presented by Jaquelin
P. Taylor, Esq., of Richmond.

10 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTEK.,
CONSTITUTION OF THE
VIRGINIA HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY.

1. The principal object of the Society shall be fo col
lect and preserve whatever relates to the History of
Virginia in particular, and of the United States in
general. 2. The Society shall consist of Resident, Corresponding
and Honorary Members. Resident Members shall be
persons residing in the cily of Ilichmond, or elsewhere in
the State. Corresponding and Honorary ]Members may
be persons residing any where, either in or oul of the
State ; and not more than len Honorary Merabers shall
be elected in any one year.
3. The officers of tbe Society, fo be elected annually
and by ballot, shall be a President, a first Vice President,
a second Vice President, a third A'ice President, a Cot-
responding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasu
rer, and a Librarian. The offices of the two Secretaries
and Librarian may be conferred upon the same person
whenever it shall be deemed expedient to unite them.
These officers, together with seven other members to be
appointed by such of tbem as shall be in Richmond at
the annual election, or by a majority of them, shall con
stituto a committee to be called the Executive Con.mit-
tee, who shall nppoint their own chairman, and have
powcr to fill any vacancy that m;iy occur in their own
bodv.

TME VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER. 11
'4. The officers of the Society and other members of
the Executive Committee shall continue in office until
their successors shall be elected and appointed.
5, The duties of the several officers shall be those
which are usually exercised by such officers respectively,
and may be more particularly defined in the By-laws es
tablished by the Executive Committee.
6. The Executive Comraittee shall have full power to
appoint or Call meetings of fhe Society; to ordain and es>-
tabUsh such By-laws as they shall deem necessary and
proper; and in general to do all things which they shall
j'udge expedient to secure the objects of the Society, and
promote its general welfare in all respects. They shall
have power also to appoint corresponding members of the
Society. Any five members of the Committee shall
constitute a, quorum.
7, Resident members shall pay five dollars on their
admission, and five dollars every subsequent year; or,
in lieu thereof, fifty dollars as a commutation for all the
regular fees and dues for life. And every member who
shall have regularly paid the annual fees and dues for
fifteen years, shall thereafter be a life member. But af
any resident member, other than a life inember, shall fail
to pay the said annual fees and dues for two years, or at
any lime sball refuse to pay the same, he shall forfeit all
the rights and privileges of membership, and the Execu
tive Committee shall cause his narae to be erased from
the list of merabers.
8. The annual meeting of the Society, for the eleclion
of sfficers and other purposes, shall be held on the second
Thursday in December, in the Hall of the House of
Delegates, (with the consent of the House,) or at such
other time and place as the Executive Committee shall
order and direct ; and at the said annual meeting there

12 THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REPORTER.
shall be a suitable address by the President, and an ora
tion or discourse by some other member, to be appointed
by tbe Executive Committee to perform that office on
the occasion.
9. Resident and Honorary Merabers shall be elected
as follows : they shall be proposed to the Executive
Coramittee, recommended by that Comraittee, and elected
by the Society by ballot. The votes of three-fourths of
the members present, in favor of any person, shall be
necessary to elect him.
10. The Constitution may be amended as follows: the
expediency of every proposed amendraent, shall be con
sidered by the Executive Coraraittee, and reported upon
by that Comraittee ; the vote of three-fourths of the mem
bers present at any meeting of the Society, in favor of
any amendment, shall be necessary to its adoption.
11. At all meetings of the society, ten merabers shall
constitute a quorum.

SKETCHES

or THE

political |ssius aitb Caittrohrsifs
OE THE revolution:
A DISCOURSE
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
flRGINlA HISTORICAL SOCIETT,
AT THEIR
NINTH ANNUAL MEETING,
JANUARY 17, 1836.
B Y J a¥e1 J^ToLmI B^
PUBLISHED BYTHE SOCIETY.

EICHMOND:
WILLIAM II. CLEMMITT, PRINTER.
18 5 6.

DISCOURSE

Mr. President and Genilemen
of tke Virginia Historical Society :
In looking around me for a subject appropriate to your
anniversary, and not grown stale by infinite repetition, I
thought that I could discover a vintage whose fruit was
not all gathered, ia what may be termed the Political
Literature of the revolutionary era. Every form of intel
lectual communication, whether hislory or novel, song or
oration, has been exhausted in making familiar lo the
popular mind the stirring incidents by flood and field of
that great struggle ; but the speeches, the essays, the
state papers which produced, expressed and vindicated
the previous revolution in public sentiment and feeling,
have been consigned to relative obscurity. The heroes
who fought the battles of independence are not more
worthy of the perpetual benedictions of freemen, than
the statesmen who first convinced the people of the dan
ger to their liberty, and roused a spirit equal to its de
fence. "The times that tried men's souls" were not
those only in which our broken army was fleeing before
the enemy in disorderly fragments, and the patriots of
America were reposing on the great qualities of Wash
ington as their most solid pillar of hope. There was an
(Atecedent period when clouds, shadows and darkness
rested on the path of duly, and in which the finest genius

4 DISCOURSE.
and learning of the colonies, disdaining the arts of menace
and seduction used fo corrupt them, consecrated the re
sources of reason, and ridicule, and eloquence to an un-
trembUng defence of colonial rights. Indeed, tbe lofty
courage which guided our noble army of martyrs to
bloody beds of glory, was lighted from altar-fires of pa
triotism, kindled by the great flames of Henry, and Otis,
and Rutledge. The conquests of arms are only enduring
when they establish the conquests of reason and justice.
The trophies from which we would ordinarily' turn with
averted gaze, as frora raonuraents of death, then awaken
in our bosoras the purest emotions of public virtue.
When we pause before those historical paintings which
adorn the great hall of our national capitol, it is well that
the eye can take in at a glance the surrender al York-
town, and the Declaration of Independence ; fpr that
crowning Iriumph'of American valor, around which ex
ultant patriotism will ever love to linger, derives all iis
lustre frora the earlier and grander victory of peace. In
the course of some sketches of the political issues and
controversies of this period, I propose to pay a passing
tribute of grateful commemoration lo the orators, the es
sayists, and the statesmen, who, for the ten j-ears which
preceded the appeal to arms, marched in the van of the
revolution; and who fought its battles of opinion with such
signal success, that thirteen colonies divided from each
olher by industrial pursuits, social habits, religious preju
dices, and historical traditions were brought into a sym
pathy and conjunction, as intimate as that in which the
clustered children of Niobe offered one bosom to the
vengeful arrows of their comraon foe.
Il is essential lo tbe unity and elevation of our national
character, that from time to lirae we should review thi^e
epochs which constitute as it were the grand climacterics

DISCOURSE. 5
of our history, and passing judgment upon the passions
and principles they have in turns developed, incorporate
with our moral and intellectual life, all of imperishable
trulh and sentiment to which they have given birth.
Successive triumphs of Uberal principles have marked our
brief record with cheering and instructive points of con
templation. The discussions on public law, growing out
of our last war with Great Britain, constitute the mosl
valuable accessions which that science has received since
the days of Grotius. The formation of our constitutions,
state and federal, at an earlier dale called forth a display
of more learning, wisdom and practical experience in the
administration of government, than ever before shed light
on the vexed problems of statesmanship. But the period
which challenges our consideration by the strongest
claims, as first in time, in inierest, and in importance, is
that which began with the attempt to tax the colonies
and closed with the Declaration of Independence, for it
raised the question of slavery or freedom, and the origin
.and extent of those rights witbout whose recognition gov
ernment might cease to be a blessing. I invite you to
revisit with me this great moral height of our hislory, and
to drink from the pure fountains, and breathe the re
freshing airs of our ancient liberty.
It is obvious that a theme so extended as to occupy
three volumes of the truly American History of Bancroft,
could not be fully discussed in the limits of a single dis
course. My own inclinations, according wilh what
seemed the proprieties of the occasion, have therefore
impelled me to select such of its bearings only, as in
volve the character and fame of Virginia, with a view
of bringing out in the full relief of trulh the extent of her
participation in the public transactions of this memorable
era. I have given this direction to my inquiries the

b DISCOURSE.
more readilj'^, from having observed a disposition raani
fested of late, in certain quarters, to alter the historical
perspective of the revolution, and to group and corabine
anew its leading events and prominent actors. I trust,
sir, that I have no desire to magnify the merits and ser
vices of Virginia at the expense of justice to our sister
states. The more thoroughly we investigate this deeply
interesting period, the more apparent it becoraes that the
sons of liberty "pervaded by one equal impulse of heroic
hearts," everywhere, "crowded in generous emulation, the
narrow straits of honor." That no criticism which shall
escape my lips, may receive an invidious construction, I
would especially acknowledge that Massachusetts, point
ing to the courage and fortitude wilh which she breasted
the first shock of British power, may well divide with
Virginia the honor of leading in this great struggle, and
say to her, in the language of the dying York to his ex
piring brother in arms,
" In this glorious and well foughten field,
We kept together in our chivalry.^'
Whilst it is my object to show that there is no line in the
revolutionary history of Virginia which any of her sons
should wish to blot, and whilst I shall maintain that she
did more than any other colony to rouse a spirit of re
sistance to British aggression, to mark oul the true line
of principle upon ¦w'bich our rights were to be defended,
and to terminate our poUtical relations with the mother
country when the measure of oppression was full, I
shall only claim for her the happy fortune of having en
joyed pecuUar opportunities of patriotism, and the imraor
tal praise of having nobly improved them.
When the policy of raising a revenue from the colonies
was first distinctly avowed in 1764, by the British minis-

DISCOURSE. 7
try, the nation had reached a most critical period of its
history. The government was oscillating between the
maxims of liberty and tbe rules of arbitrary power. The
vast increase of royal revenue and patronage had pro
vided the executive wilh a fund of corruption, more dan
gerous to the freedom of the comstitulion than the stand
ing arraies of the Stuarts. The discussions which soon
afterwards occurred concerning the validity of seizures
under general warrants, the power of Parliaraent over elec
tions, the doctrine of constructive treason, and the func
tions of juries on crirainal trials for libel, show how
undefined were the boundary lines between liberty and
prerogative. The House of Commons which formerly
reflected an image of popular sentiment, had ceased to
represent the liberal element of the constitution. Men
familiar with the lessons of history, "who knew that
Tiberius had accompUshed with his Senate, what Nero
was afraid to attempt with his guards," expressed appre
hensions lest the transition of tbe government inlo an
absolute monarchy, predicted by Hume, should lake
place in their generation, and despotism be speedily en
throned in halls long consecrated to liberty. That Eng
land was preserved from a revolution, is lo be mainly
referred to two circumstances — the wonderful power de
veloped by the press in this crisis of the constitution,
and the retro-active effect of American resistance to the
stamp act.
In America, owing to that combination of influences
pointed out with such graphic fidelity by Burke, to
descent, reUgion, laws, manners and institutions, espe
cially that of slavery, the spirit of independence was at
its height. The colonists had not "rent themselves in
recollection from the stock of the parent state." The
sentiments and traditions of its most glorious ages which

8 DISCOURSE.
had lost moch of their original power at horae, broke
forth in the new world, an Arethusan stream, pure and
fresh as when Ihey gushed from revolutionary fountains.
There was no court to drug into corrupt insensibility
the watchful instincts of freedom, or to counteract by its
talismanic spells the inspiration of a generous literature.
The colonists derived their love of liberty as much from
the spirit of English letters, as of English law. Their
speculative opinions on the great questions of politics were
formed in the school of Milton, and Sydney, and especi
ally Locke. Although the germs of democratic sentiment
thus deposited, were greatly developed and expanded by
the circumstances of a society in which labor was rela
tively independent of capital, it is nevertheless easy to
trace the moral and intellectual lineage of Otis, and
Adams, and Jefferson, by the filial resemblance which
their writings disclose to these early patriarchs of British
liberty. That form of literature, it is also to be observed,
which more than any other moulds the public sentiraent
of a people, viz, the poetical, had in England, since the
days of Millon, been warmed and quickened by the
pulses of reviving freedom. The poets of the existing
and preceding generation, Addison whose Cato supplied
almost every American speaker and essayist with a text
or an illustration, Thomson, Goldsmith, SraoUet, from
whom Barre borrowed that noble phrase, "the sons of
liberty," even Johnson, whose genius emancipated by the
muse lifted up in poetry its native front of independence,
were widely circulated amongst the colonists, and brought
horae to every cottage, grand swelling sentiments of
liberty. There were local causes operating with great force at
Ibis juncture, and exciting the public mind to a jealous
scrutiny of parUamentary legislation. In New England

DISCOURSE. 9
the apprehension of an Episcopate lent a keener edge lo
the sense of oppression induced by the burthens and re
strictions ofthe manufacturing; and navig-ation acts. The
argument of Otis on writs of assistance in Massachusetts,
of Smith and Livingston, in behalf of an independent
colonial judiciary in New York, of Patrick Henry in the
parsons' case in Virginia, of Rutledge, on the right ofthe
House of Commons lo judga of the qualifications of its
inembers, in South Carolina, had stirred the popular
heart to its depths, and awakened that spirit which af
terwards flamed so high against the injustice of the
mother country. '
When the news reached the colonies of the alarming
pretensions set up by the British ministry, in disregard of
an unbroken usage of centuries, il drew forth remon
strance and petition from a number of the Assemblies.
And here I must pause and do justice to the sland which
was taken al this time by Virginia. Hildreth, the his
torian refers, to the papers which emanated from her
House of Burgesses, as " claiming the privilege of self-
taxation : bul as very moderate in tone. Instead of re-
Ij'ing on the matter of right, they dwell at length on the
embarrassm.ents and poverty ofthe province, encumbered
by the lale war wilh a heavy debt."* The author of an
elaborate article in the North American Review, for July,
1852, on Lord Mahon's History of England, either igno
rant ofthe existence of these documents, or inferring their
character from the description in Hildreth, attributes the
impression produced by the Virginia Stamp Act resolu
tions of the succeeding year, to their expressing "the
much desired -adhesion of Virginia to the northern doc
trine. Massachusetts, then the great northern colony
* Hildrelli's History of U. Stales, Vol. 2, 1st Ser. 524,

10 DISCOURSE.
was safe for it long ago. The great southern colony,
Virginia, now adopted il." * Now, sir, il is unlikely that
Virginia, where popular representation was first estab
lished on this continent, should have forgotten its objects
and principles ; or that the great right of exclusive taxa
tion, for whose security she had exacted treaty stipulations
in 1652, with arms in her hands, should have been less
precious in 1764 ; or that the statesmen of a coraraunity
in which there prevailed an opinion that the colonies were
independent stales, connected wilh England only by a
common king,t shotild have "faintly protested" against
this sweeping assuraption of authority by tbe British
Parliament. Nor would the patriots of Virginia, had they
been at a loss for the principles to guide thera in this
emergency, have found it necessary to refer to Massachu
setts for the doctrines of liberty. In the discussions be
tween their own agent, and those of the crown, on an
application for a charter in 1676, Ihey would have dis
covered the earliest and most impressive assertion of colo
nial rights that is contained in the colonial records.! In the
language of the historian, " Virginia was always a land of
liberty." II Butthe description of these papers by Hildreth is
calculated to produce a false impression of their character.
The Burgesses of Virginia were clear, explicit, and unani
mous on this greal question of constitutional right. The
petition lo the king, and the address lo the House of
Lords were written by Richard Henrj- Lee, who six
months before the meeting of the asserably had de
nounced the scheme in the boldest language, and by a
happy presentiment of patriotism, had declared that "this
* See page 137.
j Burnahy's Travels in Virginia in 1759, published in Virg. Historical Register,
Vol. 3, p. 89.
X BurkcV History of Virginia, 3d Vol, 2S;l.
II liancroft's History of U. S. Vi)l, 2, p. aSJ.

DtSCOURSlE. 11
step, though ilitended to oppress and keep us low, might
be subversive of that end, and might produce a fatal re
sentraent of parental care being converted into tyranni
cal usurpation." The reraonstrance to the House of
Coraraons was drawn by George Wythe, and although
" smoothed down from its original aspect of treason"* to
suit the tone of raoderate raerabers, and secure unaniraity,
is still marked by the spirit and principles of that ardent
patriot. In the petiiion to the king, there is no allusion
whatever to the embarrassment of the colony; in the ad
dress to the House of Lords, only a brief passing refer
ence, in the remonstrance to the House of Comraons, al
though this topic occupies a larger space, yet even there
the prominent, as in the former the exclusive theme,
is the "rights which would be infringed" by the
contemplated procedure, and "whose cession might be
inferred from silence at so important a crisis," We
learn from Mr. Adams, through the essays of Novang
lus, that in the petition to the king, sent this year frora
Massachusetts, " the two houses were induced to wave
the word rights, and an express denial of the right of
Parliaraent to tax us, to the great grief and distress of
the friends of liberty in both."t But all the papers
which were sent frora Virginia vary, and reiterate the
claira of right, in every form of language; "their an
cient and inestima'ole right" — "a right which, as raen
and descendants of Britons, they have ever quietly
possessed" "this invaluable birthright," "their just
and undoubted rights as Britons," "their sacred birth
right and invaluable inheritance. " " Your meraorial-
ists" runs the address to the House of Lords," conceive
it to be a fundamental principle of the Brilish constitu-
* Mr. JetFerson.
t Adams' Works, Vol. 4, p. 48, Essays of Novanglus.

12 DISCOtTRSE.
tion, 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 wbo are le
gally appointed to represent them ; property must becorae
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 tbe easiest
mode of raising them ; and who are not under that re
straint- which must be the greatest security against a
burthensome taxation, when the representatives them
selves must be affected by every tax imposed on the
people. Your memorialists are therefore led into an
humble confidence, that your lordships will not think
any reason sufficient to support such a power in the
British Parliament, where the colonies cannot be repre
sented, a power never before constitutionally assumed,
and which if they have a right to exercise on any occa
sion, must necessarily establish tbis melancholy truth,
that the inhabitants of the colonies are the slaves of
Britons from whom Ihey are descended, and frora whom
they might expect every indulgence that the obhgations
of inierest and affection can entitle them to." Althouffh
tbese papers are marked by that profoundly respectful-
style in which the colonists were accustomed to make
known their wants lo the mother country, yet in their
cle.w and empaalic claim of right, and their grave and
earnest remonstrance, no prophet's ear was needed to
catch those notes of liberty, whose unmuffled tones su'o-
sequently gave to the chorus of independence its grand
and swelling base.
These demonstrations of public sentiment were insuffi
cient to shake the purpose of the ministry. The greal
majorities by which the Stamp Act was passed into a law.
imparled to it under the cirrumstances the aspect of final

DISCOURSE.

13

and irrevocable deterraination. When this intelligence
reached Araerica, it distinctly presented the question of
liberty or slavery. If colonial subraission had not ter
rainated in an utter subversion of the British constitution,
it would at least have reproduced in the most extensive
erapire of the raodern world an image of the old Roman
polity, liberty in the centre, and slavery at the extreraities.
The colony which, nol contenting itself wilh a barren asser
tion of right, should proclaira to its people, that they were
under no obUgalions to obey or respect this law, made up
an issue with the mother country, which could only be de
termined by the retreat of the one or the other party from
its position, or an appeal to arms. This was the turning
point ofthe revolution. Never since Calliraachusgave the
casting vote to meet the Per-sian on the plains of Mara
thon, had there occurred a period so fraught with the
destinies of after-centuries. I do not say that silence or
submission at this time would have prevented the revo
lution ; nothing could have perpetuated the condition of
colonial vassalage; but I do say that il might have been
much longer deferred, that its achievement raight have
been protracted through wearier years of blood and suf
fering, and that when finally' closed in triumph, some of
those morning stars which sang together over the birth
of our Union, raight have disappeared from the firraa
raent of freedora.
That Being whose invisible hand gathers up the sepa
rate threads of individual life and fortune, and in the rays
terious loom of his providence, weaves them into the
mighty web and woof of national history ; who, in all the
past stages of human progress has brought together in
unlooked for conjunction, the man and the hour, had
arranged a fitting stage and provided becoraing actors for
this opening scene in the draraa of liberty. The Bur-
2

14 DISCOURSE.
gesses of Virginia were in session. So few and faint
were the signs of resistance, that royal governors were
flattering theraselves that the law would be peacefully
executed, and even approved patriots were looking around
for sources of consolation under submission, Virginia
was a loyal province. Her people provoked to resent
ment by no spur of practical oppression, cherished loy
alty with generous and ennobling pride. But far below
this surface feeling of the iraagination, in their "heart of
hearts," burned bright and inextinguishable, the raaster
passion of fheir character, a love of their ancient British
rights and privileges.
Araongst the raembers of this assembly, one had been
specially returned from an impression that his abilities
and his teraper were equal to the magnitude of the crisis.
Nothing probably will or ought to weigh raore with pos
terity in forming a judgment of Patrick Henry, than the
opinion of his wise and eminent contemporary, George
Mason. Mason thus writes concerning him in 1774.*
" He is by far the most powerful public speaker I ever
heard. Every word he says, not only engages but com
raands attention; and your passions are no longer your
own when he addresses them. But his eloquence is the
smallest part of his merit. He is, in my opinion, the
first raan upon this continent, as well in abilities as public
virtue; andhad he livedin Rome about the time of the
first Punic war, when the Roman people had arrived at
their raeridian glory, and their virtue was not tarnished,
Mr. Henry's talents raust have put him at the head of
that glorious commonwealth,"
The fragments of Mr. Henry's speeches which have
been preserved, although sufiicient to attest the lofty
* Letter to Cockburn, Virginia Historical Register, Vol. 2, p. 27.

DISCOURSE, 15
stature of his raoral and intellectual character, are too
meagre to enable us fully to gauge and measure the pro
portions of his eloquence. Cicero thought that it was the
last and highest achieveraent of the orator, to control the
judgments and passions of a popular assembly. It is the
peculiar fame of Mr, Henry, not only to have trod with
equal distinction every theatre of public display, the mass-
meeting of the people, the bar with its double arena of
court and jury, and the legislative hall, but tohave passed
frora one stage to the other, with an elasticity of genius
which did not require the discipline of tirae and practice
to accoraraodate the style forraed in one forura to the
spirit and requireraents of another. Certainly he could
lay no claim to that pomp and prodigality of interrain
gled fancy and learning, wilh which Burke erabellished
the splendid araplifications of cultivated reason ; nor pro
bably to that pregnant brevity and striking antithesis in
which the impassioned logic of Grattan at once kindled
the feelings and flashed conviction upon the understand
ings of his hearers. His power seems rather to have
sprung from that profound depth of emotion, which more
than any faculty or culture of mind enables its possessor,
as in the case of Chatham, to vitalize the most inanimate
hearts with his own living breath of passion. The auda
cious and happy conception is not alwaj's the inspiration
of genius. There are occasions when the reason may
well take lessons from the feelings ; a truth to which
Shakespeare points, when he places the greatest number
of profound political and moral maxims in the mouths of
men under the excitement of deep emotion.* We can
not say that Mr. Henry, even if he had enjoyed the
same advantages of early culture, and of extended in
tercourse with the raost accoraplished raen of the age, as
* See Coleridge's Statesman's Manual.

16 DISCOURSE.
Lord Chatham, would have rivalled that splendid ora
tory, which Grattan borrowing frora Shakespeare has
described as now the thunder, and now the music of the
spheres ; but we may say that there is no reason to be
lieve that Lord Chatham in Mr, Henry's position, and
with his opportunities, could have touched more skill
fully the great primal sensibilities of our nature, or
"ruled with more unbounded authority the wildness of
free rainds."
Henry introduced and carried through tbe assembly
five resolutions, the last and raost decisive by a single
vote, which gave his own heart of hope to the colonies,
and struck " one of those blows in the world, which will
always resound through its history." Never was the
power of the right word, spoken at the right season, so
strikingly exhibited. The suppressed discontent of the
other colonies, encouraged by the voice and example of
Virginia, found expression, until its echoes from legisla
tive and popular bodies before they reached England,
seemed, said Burke, "Uke the sound of a mighty tem
pest." The enthusiasm which was awakened by these
resolutions in the syrapathetic bosoras of the sons of Ub
erty, and the rapidity of their transralssion frora colony
to colony, may recall that famous passage of ^schylus,
which describes tbe progress of the beacon fires that an
nounced the fall of Troy —
" From watch to watch, it leaped that light.
As a rider rode the flame."
I cannot leave tbis great transaction without an effort
to vindicate it from those glosses of unfair criticism, by
which its right to the prominent place that has been
heretofore assigned to it in history, has been disputed.
The Virginia resolutions, it has been urged, could not

DISCOURSE.

17

have produced the impression attributed to them, because
it is said, they contained no new principle, nor any stron
ger enunciation of old principles than those previously
adopted in other colonies ; and if any such effect resulted
frora their publication as has been described, it is to be
referred, not to the five resolutions which were sanc
tioned by the House of Burgesses, but to two olhers of a
more inflararaatory character, which, although never of
fered to the asserably, were printed and circulated by its
raerabers, and found their way in sorae instances into the
northern newspapers. Supposing for a moraent, that
there was nothing on the face of these resolutions to dis
tinguish them from the petitions and address of the pre
ceding year, the vast difference in the circumstances un
der which they were expressed, might well explain their
effect on public feeling. The contemporary generation
could not have fallen into the error of overlooking this
distinction. All forraer resolutions had been addressed
to the Brilish Parliaraent, and were designed to dissuade
it from legislation. They had failed to accompUsh their
object; or to arrest the raeditated injustice. These res
olutions were addressed to the people of the colonies,
and intended to excite them to resistance. The one was
remonstrance — the other was defiance. The two reso
lutions which eraanated frora Virginia, although not
adopted by the House of Burgesses, affirmed no new
principle, but merely pointed out and expressed the logi
cal consequences of the fifth resolution introduced by
Henry; a fact which explains the "bloody opposition"
to that resolution, as well as its erasure from the journal
after Henry left Williamsburg, Considering the manner
in which this resolution was resisted, and the transmis
sion of the mutilated record to England, it is difficult to
beUeve that the additional resolutions could have been

18 DISCOURSE.
circulated to any extent as authentic; and no adequate
evidence has been adduced to support such a conjecture.
The fifth resolution declares that the General Assembly
of the colony, hath the sole right and power, to lay taxes
and impositions upon the inhabitants of the colony, and
that every atterapt to vest such power m any person
or persons whatsoever, other than the General Asserably,
has a manifest tendency to destroy British as weU as
Araerican freedom. This resolution was so fraraed as
to meet and repudiate all the distinctions upon which the
claira of parliaraentary supremacy had been defended.
It not only denies tbe legislative authority of the Parlia
ment, but charges all persons who attempt to establish it,
with seeking the subversion of British as well as Ameri
can freedom : in other words, with treason. " To extend
the governor's right to command, and the subject's duty
to obey, beyond the laws of one's country," said Lord
Somers, "is treason against the constitution, and treach
ery to the society whereof we are merabers."* When
Virginia committed herself to this principle, the morn of
the revolution had kindled on the horizon. That any
act of the character thus described might be disregarded,
and that all persons seeking to give effect to it, raight be
considered as eneraies to their country, were necessary
conclusions. This interpretation was given to the reso
lution in Virginia ; a fact which is established not only by
the additional resolutions which emanated frora the ardent
patriots of the sarae asserably, and were circulated in
and out of the colony, but by the letter of governor Fau
quier, who in five weeks wrote to England that "the go
vernment was set at defiance, not having strength enough
in its hands to enforce obedience to the law," It is the
• See Sharp's Rights of tite People, S8 — in notes.

DISCOURSE. 19
statement of royalist historians and essayists,* and it is
confirmed by the political tracts of' Otis and Dulany, that
a distinction had been taken even amongst approved pa
triots, between the right and the power or authority
of Parliament to impose faxes, which after the passage
of the Virginia resolutions was generally abandoned.
We might not be willing to credit Hutchinson when he
informs us, that Jaraes Otis publicly declared the Vir
ginia resolutions to be treasonable, t did not the contem
porary writings of Otis furnish evidence of the same sen
timent. Pursuing the shadowy distinction which has
been adverted to, be thus repels the imputation that the
colonies were about to becorae insurgent: " It is- the duty
of all humbly and silently to acquiesce in all the deci
sions of the supreme legislature. Nine hundred and
ninety-nine in a thousand of the colonists, will never onca
entertain a thought but of subraission to our sovereign,
and to tbe authority of Parliament in all possible con
tingencies. They bave undoubtedly the right to levy
internal taxes in the colonies. "J Let us accord to the
meraory of Jaraes Otis, an overflovfing raeasure of honor
and gratitude, for tbe eminent services rendered by him
to the cause o.f liberty, frora 1760 to 1770. If he de
clared in reference to the Stamp Act, that " tears relieved
him for a raoraent," they were
^' Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws."
An invidious comparison instituted between Henry and
Otis by the elder Adams, has compelled rae to touch upon
those inconsistencies of the latter which induced Roger
Sherraan to declare that he had surrendered the right of
* Hutchinson's History — Essays of Masachusettensis.
t Hutchinson's History, Vol. 3, p. 119.
t See Bancroft's History of U. States, Vol. 5, p. 271.

20 DISCOURSE.
the colonies, and to show that at this period, even the
spirit of Massachusetts patriotism, might have drawn
inspiration from that bold oratory, interrupted but not
suppressed bythe cry of Ireason, in which Henry invoked
the memories of violated freedom to ring their warning
defiance in the ears of tyranny.
The publication of Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry, in
which tbe credit was claimed for him of having given the
first impulse to the ball of tbe revolution, araongst other
criticisms more or less harsh, elicited a leiter from John
Adams to the biographer, from which the following
extract is taken : " The resistance to tbe British system
for subjugating the colonies began in 1760 and in 1761,
in the month of February, when James Otis electrified
the town of Boston, the province of Massachusetts Bay,
and the whole continent, more than Patrick Henry ever
did in the whole course of his life. If we must have pan
egyric and hyperbole, I raust say that, if Mr. Henry was
Deraosthenes, and R. H. Lee Cicero, Mr. Otis was Isaiah
and Ezekiel combined. I hope, sir, that sorae young
gentleraan of the family, the ancient and honorable
faraily of the 'Searchers,' will hereafter do irapartial jus
tice fo Virginia and Massachusetts. "* In a letter to
another friend : " Is il not an affront," says he, " lo com
mon sense, an insult lo truth, virtue and patriotism, to
represent Patrick Henry, though he was my friend as
much as Otis, as the father of tbe American revolution,
and tbe founder of American independence. The gen
tleraan who has done this, sincerely believed what he
wrote, I doubt not • but he ought to be raade sensible
that he is of yesterday, and knows nothing of the real ori
gin of the Araerican re volution. "t That the argument of
Otis, on the occasion referred to by Mr. Adaras, was a
* Kennedy's Life of Wirt, vol. -1. p. 45. f Ibid, p. 54.

DISCOURSE.

21

noble and raasterly display of eloquence and patriotism,
is the tribute alike of justice and gratitude. If it had
done nothing more than inflame with new ardor that love
of liberty which already glowed in the bosora of the
youthful Adams, it would have rendered a service to the
American cause of inappreciable value. But there is no
reason to beUeve tbat any knowledge of it, beyond that
furnished by the most passing newspaper notice, existed
out of New England ; so slight was the intercourse be
tween the colohies. The only sketch of it ever printed,
was published raany years afterwards, from notes taken
by Mr. Adams. It is probable that Henry's argument in
the Parsons' case, upon which public attention was fixed
by the exciting and protracted discussion of the general
question between the best writers in the colony, and which
proceeded upon the broadest principles of natural justice
and liberty, attained as wide celebrity and produced as
powerful impressions. It is then, an injustice, which is
only equalled by its absurdity, to institute a comparison
between the effect on Afnerican independence of Patrick
Henry's Stamp Act resolutions, and Jas. Otis' argument
on writs of assistance. All the conteraporary accounts
transraitted to England, attributed the general resistance
of the act by the people, to the influence of the Virginia
resolutions. Letters from Boston, N, York, Philadelphia,
and North Carolina, alike attest the fact, and declare that
the Virginia leaders " were applauded as the protectors
and assertors of Araerican Uberty."* "The Virginians,"
says Gordon, the historian, " are Episcopalians, and if
there is either blame or merit in exciting that fixed and
spirited opposition to the Stamp Act which followed upon
their resolves, let them be credited for the sarae ; lo thera
* Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates, vol, 16, p. 123 ; Bancroft's History of U. S.,
vol. 5, p. 278; Gordon's History, vol I, 137.

22 DISCOURSE.
belongs the honor or disgrace ; and solely to particular
colonies, the disgrace ofthe several enormities comraitted
in thera." But, sir, I sball appeal to yet higher authority.
I shall call a witness better qualified to speak on this
question than any other contemporary actor — one who
might almost say of the earlier stages of the revolution
what jEneas did of the Trojan war, " Qumum pars magna
fui," — a witness whose testimony was given before age
had irapaired his reeoUection, or any disturbing force of
prejudice had destroyed the balance of his judgment. I
shall cite three comprehensive lines written in June,
1776, whilst the heart of their author was nigh bursting
with those expanding thoughts of liberty, which soon
found utterance in an immortal argument for indepen
dence on the floor of Congress. They run thus : "The
author of the first Virginia resolutions against the Stamp
Act will have the glory with posterity of beginning and
concluding this great revolution ;"* brief but memorable
sentence, which Virginia should have inscribed upon the
statue of Patrick Henry, on the ahthoritj' of John Adams.
Great revolutions, says Southey, bave been generally
brought about by fhe zeal of active minorities. It was
not so with the American revolution. The whole atmos
phere was charged with the electricity of freedora. In
every province, the cause of colonial rights was espoused
by large and overruling majorities. In some there ex
isted a unanimity like that which, in tbe case of the
Spanish Netherlands, was regarded by Sir Philip Sydney
as a proof of Divine presence, and a pledge of ultiraate
success. The danger to their liberties produced a union
amongst the colonists, which no apprehension of French
or Indian invasion had been able to accomplish. A
• Adams' Works, vol. 9, p. 386, will be found the letter of Adams to P. Henry
f|orp which the sentence is extracted.

DISCOURSE. 23
recommendation of Massachusetts, sustained at a critical
juncture by the noble and spirited conduct of South Car
olina, resulted in the meeting of a general Congress, at
New York, in 1765. -The deepest interest must ever be
associated with this earUestxonference of patriotism. All
the colonies maintained a regular intercourse with the
mother country, but few of thera with each other. So
liraited were the facilities of coraraunication, that it
required twenty days for an express to travel frora Boston
to Charleston. The interchange of sentiment and opin
ion between Otis and Gadsden, Dickerson and Rutledge,
the master spirits of this illustrious body, now for the first
time brought together, must have dispelled the prejudices,
enlarged the conceptions, and warmed and invigorated
the patriotic resolution of each, whilst the success and
harmony of the Congress must have impressed upon all
the great facility, and the yet greater advantages of
union. It is a cause of regret, but not of reproach, that
Virginia did not participate in these deliberations — the
adjournment of her assembly before tbe suggestion of a
Congress was raade, preventing the appointment of dele
gates. She was not, however, forgotten by her sister
colonies, as we find in an account of the expenses of the
Congress, an item for sending a copy of their proceed
ings by express to the speaker of the House of Burgesses
of Virginia.
A change in the Brilish ministry led to a repeal of the
Stamp Act early in 1766. The repealing statute, not
withstanding a declaratory preamble, affirming the power
of Parliament to bind the colonies, by legislation in all
cases whatever, which rauch abated its healing efficaCj ,
was hailed throughout America with the liveliest demon
strations of joy, as a pledge of returning justice. It is
unnecessary for me to remind you how fleeting was this

24 DISCOURSE.
morning dream of conciliation and peace, how soon the
offensive principle of the Stamp Act was revived in the
act concerning glass, lead, paper, and tea, how a series
of revolting and oppressive meaa,ures was pursued, to
enforce tbis odious tyranny ; how legislatures were sus
pended, charters vacated, right of trial by jury in crimi
nal cases invaded, soldiers quartered upon the people,
whole coraraunities visited with the offences of individuals :
proceedings but faintly defended at the time upon con
stitutional grounds, and according to the high authority
of Burke, without parallel in history, save in the bloody
and arbitrary course of Philip the Second of Spain to his
revolted provinces of the Netherlands. Divide et impera,
was no doubt the maxim of ministerial policy ; — but why
Massachusetts was selected as a subject of experiment
and vengeance instead of Virginia, has never been cer
tainly ascertained, and occasioned inquiry and comment
at the time in the Brilish Parliamenl. Whether it was
owing lo the fact that the Virginia resolutions had been
transmitted to England only in their mutilated form;
whether the great division of sentiment in Massachusetts,
"where the raost able and active of their partizans were
stationed, and the main body of their forces concen
trated,"* gave the best prospect of a successful issue ;
whether it may be attributed to the different character of
their respective royal governors, those circumstances,
which were likely to widen the breach between the two
counlries being softened in every report from Virginia,
whilst they were aggravated in similar comraunications
frora Massachusetts ; whether the destruction of private
property in Massachusetts afforded a pretext which was
wanting in Virginia ; from whatever cause it proceeded,
it was owing to no manifestation by Virginia of a dis-
* Tudor's Life of Otis.

DISCOURSE. 25
position to recede from tbat bold deterraination to main
tain her ancient liberties, which without concert with
her sister colonies, and in advance of any demonstra
tion of public sentiment, she had so fearlessly pro
claimed. Without commenting upon the historical incidents
which fill up the interval between 1766 and 1774, and
in which the post of honor, because the post of danger,
was so nobly guarded by Massachusetts, let us glance
briefly at those oral and written discussions by which the
respective parties to this great issue, sought to sustain
their pretensions at the bar of reason and justice, and to
secure the approving verdict of history. What explana
tion can be offered of the strange and humiUating fact, that
" a nation led to greatness," as John Jay finely expressed
it, in the opening sentence of his famous address to the
people of Great Britain, " by the hand of liberty, should
have descended to ihe ungrateful task of forging chains
for her friends and children!" Some of its causes lie
upon the surface. Besides " the malign influence of
the Georgium Sidus," of the whole weight of the minis
terial connection and of "the mercenary Swiss of State,"
the highest legal authorities in the kingdom, Charles
Yorke, the admirable Crichton of the bar, in the House
of Commons, and Lord Mansfield in the House of Lords,
had declared the supreme power of Parliament to legis
late on all subjects for all parts of the erapire, and the
obligation of colonial dependence and obedience in re
turn for the protection of the mother country. An al
most incredible ignorance of the character, condition and
history of the colonists, not only amongst the raass of the
people, but the great body of their rulers, as well as a
difficulty in discovering any satisfactory distinction upon
which the power of Parliament to legislate for the colo-
3

26 DISCOURSE.
nies in one class of cases could be acknowledged, and its
power to legislate for them in another, denied — induced
an easy reception of this theory of the constitution. The
selfish principle which saw in an American revenue
the relief of the landed interest of England, and that
blunted sensibility to the jast claims of others, which is
so apt to result from a sense of absolute power, contrib
uted to the prevailing delusion, untU, as Dr. Franklin
said, " almost every man in England fancied himself a
piece of a sovereign over Araerica." Out of ParUaraent,
as well as in it, these views were industriously main
tained by a host of pamphleteers, embracing many of the
most erainent names of the age : Soame Jenyns, and
his old opponent in theological controversy, the man who
more than any olher writer, of that tirae, had the ear of
the English people, Samuel Johnson, Tucker, (not as Hil
dreth supposes, the celebrated author of the Light of Na
ture, but the Dean of Gloucester,) John Wesley, and the
scarcely less famous and pious Fletcher, Vicar of Madely.
Although all these writers were imbued with more or
less of the prevailing temper, none of them displayed it
in so arrogant and offensive a manner as Dr. Johnson, in
his "Taxation no Tyranny," One or two passages wiU give
an impression of the intolerant character of this tract.
Alluding to a description of the growing strength of the
colonies, he says, "Men accustomed to consider them
selves masters, do not Uke to be threatened." Again,
" It might be hoped that no Englishman could be fonnd
on whom the raenaces of our colonists just rescued from
the French, would not move to an indignation like that
of the Scythians who returning from war, found them
selves excluded frora their houses by their own slaves."
Referring to the Boston Post Bill, he says, "If Boston is
condemned unheard, it is because there is no need of

DISilOURSE. 27
trial; all trial is an investigation of soraething doubtful."
Well raight Burke declare, that " in order to prove that
the Araericans have no right to their liberties, we are
every day endeavoring to subvert the maxims of our
own." The cause of the colonies was, however, maintained
both in and out of Parliament, with a spirit and ability
which should ever be borne in grateful remerabrance by
the American people. Never had the British Parliament
been adorned with more wisdom and eloquence, than
during this period. In gazing at the rising lights of
Burke and Fox, raen almost forgot the setting flaraes of
Mansfield and Chatham. Many of the discussions on
American questions were never reported ; others only ia
a most imperfect .manner. All are famiUar with that
grand and terrible invective pronounced by Chatham on
the employment of Indians in the war. It is not so
generally known tbat Burke delivered a speech on the
same subject, of which no trace has been preserved,
but which was esteeraed by those who heard it, as the
greatest triumph of eloquence in that generation ; and of
which governor Johnstone declared on the floor of the
House of Commons, that it was fortunate, spectators had
been excluded from the debate, for if any had beea. pres
ent, they would have excited the people to tear Lords
North and Gerraaine to pieces, on their way horae. Of
all the lost fragments of ancient taste and genius, there
is none probablj', which, if recovered, an American
scholar would not be willing to exchange for this missing
oration of Burke.
iVmoijgs^ the Peers, Lords Camden acd Chatham were
most vehement and .eloquent in denouncing the scherae
of the ministry. Lord Caraden declared that "the con-
oe;iion betiveen taxation and representation was not only

28 DISCOUH!SE.
founded in a law of nature, but was in itself an eternal
law of naiure ; that whatever was a man's own was
absolutely bis own, and that no other had the right
to lake il from him without his consent given ex
pressly, or by representation ; that whoever attempted to
do it, committed an injustice, whoever did it, com
mitted a robbery;" language which the minister de
clared was a libel on Parliament, that no printer ought to
be allowed to publish wiihout punishment. In entire
harmony with these views, Lord Chatham maintained,
that upon the principles of the constitution, the right of
imposing taxes stood apart from the ordinary mass of
legislative powers ; a tax being regarded as a gift of
money from those to whom it belonged, rather than a
law ; a distinction which explained the peculiar form of
a money bill, and its exclusive origination in the House
of Commons. Whatever we may think of the solidity
of tbis distinction, it sprang from a liberal and manly de
sire to reconcile the claim of parliamentary supremacy,
wilh that "generous plan" of power delivered down in
the British constitution. But our obligations fo Lord
Chatham, are not lo be measured b}' the value of his
constitutional arguments. We enjoyed, when we most
needed such countenance, the'benefit of his great name:
and this influence, although not equal lo what it had been,
¦was still alraost an estate in the realm : we felt across
that ocean, so much wider then than now, the inspiration
of his great heart. His answering burst of sjmpathy
with our resistance to the Stamp Act, electrified both
continents. His lofty and generous sentiments, uttered
on the very verge of civil war, proclaiming our cause to
be the comraon cause of Whigs, in England and Amer
ica, " Liberty to Hberlj' engaged," if they failed to touch
the hardened hearts of our ancient rulers, animated and

DISCOURSE. 29
exalted our fathers' courage. Those statues which were
voted lo him by grateful assemblies of the colonies, de
serve lo stand forever amid the groups, in which sculp
ture commemorates the fathers and founders of Amer
ican independence.
There was a speech intsnded to have been spoken on
the Bill for altering the Charters of the colony of Massa
chusetts Bay, and which, although nol delivered by its au
thor, (in consequence probably of his age and infirmities,)
was publi-sbed, and eUcited from the colonists the warm
est tributes of gratitude and applause. Never since the
generous imagination of Berkley had dictated those glow
ing and familiar lines which pictured the future glories
of America, had the character and fortunes of its people
been described with so sympathetic a spirit — never were
the high functions and duties which are imposed upon
the English church by reason of its connexion with the
stale, more worthily discharged by her representatives,
than on this occasion, by Shipley, the Bishop of St.
Asaph. The language does not contain a discourse of
the same length, which establishes with more eloquence
the entire harmony between the lessons of political wis
dom, and the sentiments of Christian piely, than the
speech lo which I refer. Most touchingly, does he urge
a kind and liberal policy towards the colonies: "Let us
cherish them as the immortal monumenls of our public
justice, and wisdom, as the beirs of our belter days, of
our old arts and manners, and our expiring national vir
tues ; spare the only great nursery of freemen now left
upon earth; if no impropriety is seen in it, let the plun
derer and oppressor still go free, but be content with the
spoils and destruction of the East, and do not think the
love of liberty the only crime worthy of punishment."
Sentiments so wise and noble, commended by all the

30 DISCOURSE.
authority of venerable age and sacred profession, might
have inspired those lines of the poet —
" Truth shows a glorious face,
Wheu on that isthmus which commands
The counsels of both worlds, she stands."
In the House of Comraons, Edraund Burke was the
leader and representative of a class of English statesmen,
who without subscribing to the constitutional doctrines
of Lords Chathara and Caraden, were equally earnest in
their opposition, on general grounds of justice and ex
pediency. No raan since the days of Bacon, had com
bined s'uch an assemblage of rare and diversified inteUec
tual qualities. It has been truly said, that if placed be
tween Plato and Aristotle, each of those great but differ
ent masters would have listened to his conversation with
equal delight. He fully comprehended the profound
maxim of Coleridge, that in every principle there lies
the germ of a prophecy, and its wise application has im
pressed upon his writings a character of almost oracular
prescience. The speech he delivered on Conciliation
with America, was pronounced by Sir James iNIcIntosh
the most coraplete and finished work of his genius. In
connection wilh his earlier speech on taxing the colonies,
it presents the most comprehensive sumraary of the raer
its of the controversy, that has been ever taken from an
English stand-point of observation. It is not the sar
casra, iraagery, learning, political or moral speculation
which swell with tributary homage their imperial rhetoric,
which leave us yet lost in admiring wonder over these
extraordinary speeches ; it is the picture they present of
the character and temper of a remote people, amongst
whom he afterwards said that he could not recall a per
sonal acquaintance, and which, faithful as a moral da
guerreotype, portrays even the minute shades of varia-

DISCOURSE. 31
tion from their coramon type of civiUzation. If the for
tunes of our revolution had been as adverse as they were
glorious, the eloquence of Burke would have forever em
balmed it amid memories of liberty and patijotisra.
The English press was prolific of essays in defence of
the rights of the colonies. Araongst these may be men
tioned, as probably the ablest, those of Burgh, the author
of the PoUtical Disquisitions, Robinson, Granville Sharp,
and Dr. Price. The tract of Dr, Price on Civil Liberty
ran through four editions, before 1776, with a sale of one
hundred thousand copies; it was reprinted, and widely
circulated in the colonies, and exerted a very powerful
influence upon the leading minds amongst the patriots.
Dr. Price was the most eminent araongst those " Lockian
heroes," as they were derisively termed by Dean Tucker,
who, whilst glancing at the legal aspects of the question
and maintaining the claims of the colonists, on the
strength of charters, prescriptions, and the theory of the
constitution, laid the stress, of the argument on the prin
ciples of natural right and justice. "Give rae," said
Fletcher of Madely, "the political principles of Dr.
Price, and I will move all kings oul of their thrones, and
all subjection out of the world."
In Araerica, the discussion assuraed the widest range.
I shall not atterapt to take you through that controversy
as to the connection between taxation and representation^
which Burke described as "a Serbonian bog, where ar
mies whole had sunk;" but as the controversy was one,
which, according to Dr. Johnson, " must convict the one
party of robbery, or the other of rebellion," a just regard
to the farae of our ancestors, requires us to be famiUar
with the leading grounds of their justification. The
claim of obedience in return for protection was repudi
ated, not only as inconsistent wilh the truth of history.

32

DISCOURSE.

in reference lo the settlement and growth of the colonies,
but as utterly incompatible with the rights of freemen;
and such must have been the opinion of some of its ad
vocates, for one of them declared in Parliaraent that
"there was no Bill of Rights for America." A supre
macy of this character, without check or limitation, was
thought to be descriptive of a despotisra ; possibly a pa
ternal and enlightened one, such as England claims fo
exercise over, her subject raillions in Asia, but certainly
a relation from which all those features of Uberty were
obliterated, for which the American charters were crowd
ed with stipulations.
Although the raore dispassionate of the coloni.^ts might
not have been prepared lo receive the bold assertion
of Lord Camden, that there never was a period of En
gUsh history in which a single blade of grass in the re
motest corner of the kingdom was unrepresented, there
could be no doubt that security of property frora arbi-
ti-ary molestation, had been the invariable rallying point
of Brilish liberty in its long battle wilh prerogative, and
that taxation wiihout representation was nothing less than
"plunder authorized by law." In the extension of rep
resentation at different periods, to Wales, Chesier, Dur
ham, Berwick and Calais, this principle had been suc
cessively recognized. If the spirit of the constitution
demanded an allowance of representation to communi
ties whose interests were so closely interwoven with
those of England, how extravagant and inconsistent was
the claim lo tax the colonies without their consent, when
there subsisted between them and the mother country
such an antagonism of interest, that representation itself
would have furnished no protection against oppression —
the heavier the American tax, the lighter the EngUsh
burthen, the closer the American monopoly, the larger

DISCOURSE.

33

the gains of the Brilish manufacturer. The contest ap
peared to be substantially a renewal of the old struggle
for British liberty. A Parliamenl standing to the colo
nies in relations more remote than those of the crown to
the British people, claimed all those arbitrary privileges
from which the latter had emancipated themselves,
through generations of hard-fought conflict. The colo
nists placed a construction upon their charters, which
converted them into guarantees of the righls and privi
leges of British subjects. The technical interpretation
which confined the operation of their provisions to a resi
dence in England, was manifestly inconsistent with the
spirit and subversive of the objects of those instruments ;
and would nol onl}^ have deprived the colonists of that
great privilege of self-taxation, whicii like the key-stone,
shuts up and makes fast the arch of British liberty, but
would have excluded them from all olher share in the
constitution, than a participation of its burthens. If the
king, as was alledged, had transcended his prerogative in
granting the exemptions contained in the charters, it was
answered, that his authority was deemed sufficient al the
time of its exercise, and that if there was usurpation, it
had been sanctioned by the parliamentary acquiescence
of centuries.
The right claimed by the colonists was rendered sacred
in their eyes, by an uninterrupted possession of nearly
two hundred years. In no country had custom been
" so great a magistrate'' as in England ; was prescrip
tion to operate in favor of liberty only upon English
soil .' The argument on fhis point was well stated by
John Dickinson in his Farmer's Letters:* "The people
of Greal Britain in support of their privileges, boast much
of their antiquity. They are ancient, but it may well be
* Dickinson's Works, Vol. 1. p.n/^e 184,

34. DISCOURSE.
questioned whether there is a single privilege ofa Brilish
subject supported by longer, raore solemn or uninter
rupted testimony, than the exclusive right of taxation in
the colonies. The people of Great Britain consider that
kingdom the sovereign of tbe colonies, and would now
annex to that sovereignty, a prerogative never before
heard of. How would they bear this, was the case their •
own.' What would they think of a new prerogative
clairaed by the British crown? Let our liberties be treated
with the sarae tenderness, and it is all we desire."
Before the controversy was closed, public sentiraent
had settled down upon the principle, that Parliaraent pos
sessed no powers of legislation whatever over the colo
nies, and tbat the only poUtical relation between them
and the mother country, was the link of allegiance to a
coramon crown. An examination of the naiure of the
dependence which had been generally acknowledged to
exist, resulted in a conviction, that it was understood by
the first settlers and the most eminent lawyers of their
day, amongst whora might be mentioned Lord' Bacon,*
to raean nothing more than obedience and loyalty to the
king of England. The coraraon law neither contem
plated nor provided for the case of colonization ; it was
casus omissus. To claira supremacy, as over Ireland, on
the score of conquest, was simply ridiculous. The tenor
of charters, treaties, and ancient usage alike, established
tbe relation to be that of independent states. On this
principle, (which attracted little or no discussion in En
gland,) the revolution finally proceeded. We went to
^var, pot for a parliamentary preamble, but for a long
coptimied cpurse pf raisgovernraent qn the part of oyr
king, by which the bonds of our pohtical allpgiap^P
were dissolved.
'Essay on Legislative Authority of P.irlianicnt, Wjljon's Works, Vol. 3, p. 240,

biscoijRSE. 35
But the colonists, as Burke predicted, could not be ar
gued into slavery. If, said he, your "sovereignty and
their freedom cannot be reconciled, they will throw
your sovereignty in your face." From the beginning
to the end of the controversy, they appealed to
the great principles of natural right. They insisted on
• those historical muniments, which constitute the title
deeds of EngUsh liberty. They stood, as they con
tended, on the rock of the constitution. But they were
not willing to rest the arguraent even there. A people
instructed in the doctrines of freedom by such a school
raaster as the coraraon law, and trained to exercise its pri
vileges and responsibilities by a social discipline, extend
ing through centuries of enjoyment — a people, amongst
whom the ordinary administration of justice could be
suspended without any serious interruption of the order
of society, might claira the right of self-governraent by
a higher authority than that of charters or prescription.
Hence the comprehensive language of the Declaration of
Independence, hence the broad principles of the Virginia
Bill of Rights, hence on the great seal of the comraon
wealth, as Liberty stands encircled by an emblematic
group, representing the extent and perpetuity of her bless
ings, the noble sentiment in which piety and philosophy
blend their ascriptions, " Deus nobis, hsec otia fecit." This
great principle, that the right to liberty does not depend
upon the facts and traditions of bistory, that it is not to
be referred to raeasures of chronology, that it is not cir
curascribed by lines of latitude or longitude, but that it
springs from the very constitution of human nature, and
is to be restrained and guarded only by those social ne
cessities which are ordained in the same comprehensive
code, was triumphantly inaugurated araongst the moral
powers of the world, by the success of our revolution.

36 DISCOURSE.
I cannot pause to enumerate by descriptive catalogue,
much less to subject to critical analysis, the numerous es
says which were published in the colonies, in defence of
American rights. Although I could not hope to impart
to such sketches, that interest which always gathers
around the great scenes and actors of history, unless
marred by an unsympathizing relation, yet ihe light
which a study of this literature would reflect on the na
ture of the English constitution, and on the raeaning and
value of those principles which lie at the foundation of
good government, render it worthy of more general atten
tion. Therfe is a life and freshness in the instruction to
be derived from the contest and struggles of opinion, in
duced by actual events, ^^hich is not lo be found in the
cloistral speculations of philosophy. " Truths," says Cole
ridge, "are plucked as it were growing, and delivered to
you with the dew upon them." ^Ve cannot claira for any
of these papers those extraordinary merits of style, illus
tration, and argument, by which Pascal in the Provincial
Letters, Swift in the Drapier Letters, or Smith in the
Letiers of Peter Plimley bave conferred upon controver
sies more local and fleeting, an imperishable attraction.
The occasions and opportunities for those oral and writ
ten discussions, bywhich alone in the absence of a lit
erary class, a body of ready and practised writers can be
raised up, were very rare in the colonies. Nothing
therefore, more generally characterises the essays of this
period than a rustic simplicity of style, and the absence
of those rhetorical arts by which the raodern writer seeks
to produce or increase an impression. There were of
course, exceptions to this reraark. John Dickinson and
Richard Henry Lee, for example, had studied composi
tion as an art, and were masters of an elegant and flow
ing style. The general knowledge of law, evidenced by

DISCOURSE. 37
a sale in the colonies of almost as many copies of Black
stone's Comraentaries, as in England, and the farailiarity
induced by their local institutions with the forms and
principles of free government, had prepared a class of
men in every province, capable of declaring and vindicat
ing those great rights which were universally understood
and appreciated ; and to whom we owe a body of state
papers, which in siraplicity of style, dignity of tone and
sentiraent, manly vigor of thought, and luminous and im
pressive stateraent, far surpassed any sirailar productions
that had as yet appeared in the language.
The political literature of the colonies was irapressed
with the features belonging to an age of transition.
"There are times," says Sir Jaraes Mackintosh, "when
there is a general tendency in speculation towards some
thing higher, and when no man has quite reached the
object, much less the auxiliary and subsequent power of
expression," The period in question, separated an age in
which raen were disposed to rely upon charters, con
ventions, and prescriptions in evidence of their rights,
from one in which they were deduced from the broad
principles of natural and social equity. Oppression forces
men to follow their preraises to logical conclusions.
Those poUtical truths which had been established by the
English revolutions of the seventeenth century, but from
whose entire acknowledgment, the boldest English
statesraen shrank back, even in the hour of their triuraph,
which are seen only in clouded majesty in the pages of
Locke, were now unveiUng their full significance. Hence,
as the controversy proceeded, we observe a growing
freedom and power of expression, a brightening percep
tion of principles, their analogies and results, a wider
range of illustration, and a loftier tone of sentiment.
Those doctrines which, at the time they were proclaimed
3

as DISCOURSE.
by Patrick Henry in the Parsons' case, seemed treasona
ble to men afterwards erainent as revolutionary Whigs,
coraraanded universal assent when erabodied in the De
claration of Independence.
The most conspicuous of the early essayists in defence
of the rights of the colonies, were Otis, Dulany, Dickin
son, and Bland ; to a later period belong the names of
Quincy, and Wilson, Hopkinson, Hamilton, Paine, Jef
ferson, and Drayton. John Adaras and Arthur Lee par
ticipated in every stage of the discussion, from its open
ing to its close. In 1765, John Adams published his
essay on the Canon and Feudal Law, which, although not
aimed directly at the Stamp Act, was a bold and timely
appeal in behalf of civil and religious liberty ; and the
comraenceraent of hostilities at Concord and Lexington
interrupted his elaborate and learned review of all the
questions at issue, in the articles of Novanglus. I know
of no author of whora it could be said with raore truth,
that the style is the man, than John Adams. His writ
ings exhibit the characteristic features of his moral and
intellectual character, as well as the Puritan influences
under which they were formed and colored. We every
where discover a jealousy of Episcopacy, sometimes
deepening into a stronger sentiment, that generous en
thusiasm for the diffusion of knowledge amongst the
masses, which has always distinguished the great body
of dissenters, a love of liberty constantly breaking forth
like an irrepressible flame, a learning more multifarious
than accurate, a generalization of history always bold
and striking, but frequently precipitate and erroneous,
a style compensating for its want of grace and finish by
its simplicity and nervous energy.
Although John Dickinson had been engaged in raiUtary
service, along the lines in New Jersey and New York, six

DISCOURSE. 39
months before the Declaration of Independence, yet his
strenuous opposition to that measure, proceeding wholly
upon convictions of its inexpediency, threw a shade over
the lustre of bis patriotism, which was not dispelled dur
ing his life-time. No man in the colonies, however, had
done more to render the parliamentary pretensions odi
ous, abroad as well as at home. He represented a large
class of American patriots, who " by ancient learning,
were warmed with love of ancient freedom," and his
numerous essays are replete wilh sentiments and illus
trations, drawn from tbe noblest examples and purest ages
of antiquity. His Farmer's Letters were not only pub
lished in England, but translated into French, and printed
at Paris. They are marked, as well by a high order of
literary merit, as by the extreme caution of his tem
per ; acknowledging the general supremacy of Parlia
ment, they stopped at what Mr. Jefferson called " the
half way house," and denied only its power to impose
internal taxes.
The efficient service rendered at a critical period, to
the cause of American liberty, by Thomas Paine, must
increase our regret that his subsequent career should
have exhibited such melancholy aberrations from truth
and viriue. He belonged to that race of political pam
phleteers, which, unknown at the time on the continent
of Europe, had played a most important part in the great
scenes of English history; a race of which Swift is
facile princeps, but after whom Paine has not been ex
ceeded in ability or effect. His Common Sense had an
iramense sale, and produced a deep and wide popular im
pression ; it confirmed the irresolute and turned the
doubtful in favor of independence^,as Gen. Lee said of
it, in homely but expressive metaphor, " il gave the coup
de grace to the British cause,"

40 DISCOURSE.
Virginia is entitled to the credit of having first pointed
out, in a masterly tract by one of her sons, the true rela
tion of the colonies to the mother country. I do not mean
that the views, presented in this essay, were entirely
novel, for they could scarcely, then, have been true. But
I mean, that we can find few traces of previous contera
porary recognition; and that what afterwards becarae the
general American doctrine, was fiTst explicitly stated,
fully explained, and elaborately vindicated, in an Inquiry
into the Rights of the Brilish Colonies, published in the
beginning of the year 1766, by Richard Bland. Bland
was the leader of those conservative patriots, who, al
though warmed into an equal ardor in the course of the
controversy, resisted so earnestly the inflammatory Stamp
Act resolutions of Patrick Henry. His participation in
the discussions with the clergy, which grew out of tho
reUef acts, as tbey were terraed, fixingthe price of tobacco,
had prepared him as it did Henry, for a manly advocacy
of the cause of liberty ; for whatever we may think of the
justice or the policy of those measures, they were defended
upon the great republican principle, that even the Royal
authority was subordinate to the great maxim of popular
right, salus populi suprema est lex. Bland in this essay,
maintained that the colony of Virginia was a distinct
state, independent as to its internal government, of tbe
original kingdom, but united wilh it, as to its external
polity, in closest league and amity — under allegiance to
the same crown, and enjoying the benefits of reciprocal
intercourse. The constitutional grounds thus assumed,
and supported bj' a reference to charters, treaties and
prescription, were substantially the same as those after
wards maintained on still broader principles, and pursued
to yet bolder conclusions, by Jefferson, and at a still later
period by John Adams, in his essays of Novanglus. The

DISCOURSE.

41

learning and ability displayed by Bland in this tract,
establish his claim to a high rank araongst the constitu
tional statesraen of that day, and render it certain that
nothing but his death at the very dawn of the revolution,
or bis extrerae age, could have deprived hira of a national
fame. No paper had yet appeared so bold in tone, or polished
in style, as the Summary View of the Rights of Brilish
America, printed by tbe "Virginia Assembly in 1774, and
claiming attention nol only by reason of its intrinsic merit,
but as the first published essay of Mr. Jefferson. When
a new truth enters the world, it rarely finds any one voice
adequate to its utterance. He wbo most completely ex
presses its spirit, becoraes the representative man of the
time. If, as has been soraetiraes suggested, the history
of humanity could be written in the biographies of its
representative men, a prominent place would be assigned
to Jefferson. He was the type of an age penetrated wilh
an ardent love of 'liberty, and a broad sentiment of natu
ral rights: his love of liberty was not like that, whose inspi
ration drawn from the depths of religious eraotion, animaied
the English and American Puritans, but which too frequent
ly found expression, as in Milton's Easy Way to estabUsh
a Coraraonwealth, in a moral and religious aristocracy ;
nor yet did it resemble that passionate sentiment which
imparled to the people of his native colony, their prevail
ing temper, and which, as in Fletcher of Saltoun,
" blended the pride of a feudal baron with the spirit of a
Roman republican." A generous conception of human
right, indicated by his raotto, " Ab eo libertas a quo spiri
tum ;" " a large arabitious wish to raake the people blest,"
wliose trophies coraraeraorated in his immortal epitaph,
are destined to (if I raay be permitted iti reference to the
last, to throw fhe language of hope into prophecy, ancf

42 DISCOURSE.
add) an ever-during and ever-widening renown : a fearless
" Faith in Time,
And that which shapes it to a perfect end;"
all disposed bira to syrapatbize largely with that prevail
ing French philosophy, whose beautiful visions had capti
vated even soberer imaginations than bis own. But before
experience had revealed the deceitful and illusory cha
racter of these bold speculations, their power over the
opinions of Jefferson was tempered and chastened by the
conservative influences of EngUsh culture, and especially
by his study of coramon law. During all the stages of
tbat greal moral, as well as social and political revolution,
his raind never lost its balance. The philosophical states
man of England, turning with horror from that burning
image of French freedom, which, instead of warming ther
nations wilh kindly ray, carried conflagration in its beams,
and marked its path of fire by the wasted spiings and
erapty urns of civilization, was hurried bj' heated sensi
bilities, into a denial of those great principles which had
been vindicated by the triuraphs of English liberty. -But
in the very height of the speculative delusions as to
natural rights, Jefferson, although inflaraed with the ut
most ardor in the cause of freedom, and buoyed up with
the highest hopes of its success, preserved a wise tempe
rance of opinion ; he was neither betiayed into syrapathy
with the excesses of the French republicans, nor shaken
in his devotion lo popular rights ; he earnestly dissuaded
their leading statesmen from the work of indiscriminate
destruction, and urged the policy of gradual and raoderate
reforra, commending to them the pious custom of antiqui
ty, which when a sacred edifice was overthrown by time
or war, required that the old stones alreadj' consecrated
by the divine presence should be used in the construction

discourse: 43
of the liew teraple. The essay to which we have re
ferred, is a characteristic production. It displays a power
of polished composition, which if it bad been more fre^
quently exercised, and directed to subjects of general
and permanent inierest, would have enriched his native!
literature, not with faint and adulterated transcripts of
foreign taste and genius, but with works on which the
American mind had stamped its own glowing image and
bold superscription. Il is marked by the independence
of authority, and the intrepid confidence wilh which, like
a mathematician pursuing his formulas, he followed the
logical consequences of his opinions to conclusions tbat
startled slower understandings. Having early satisfied
himself that the colonies were independent states, he
subjected to the standard of this principle not only the
acts of the British Parliament, but the conduct of the
king, and pointed out the oppression and misgovernment
to which we bad been subjected with so bold and free a
pencil, that the tract might have very well been deemed
a text book of rebellion, and have procured for its author
the honor of meditated attainder.
There are olher names belonging to this period, so pre
erainent, that it would be unpardonable to omit all refer
ence to them, even in the briefest sketch : men who by
correspondence, occasional articles in the newspapers, the
preparation of resolutions and addresses, rendered timely
and efficient aid to the common cause. Amongst these
may be mentioned Sarauel Adams, who at all times,
"erect and clear," did as much to prepare the people for
independence as any man in tbe colonies ; Arthur Lee,
who besides such elaborate contributions as the Monitor's
Letters, kept the most eminent patriots constantly advised
of what was transpiring in the great centres of London ;
FrankUn, whose energies unsubdued by the force of

44 DISCOURSE.
years, worked in the cause of freedom, with all the elas
ticity of youth ; Christopher Gadsden, whose immovable
devotion to liberty, impressed wilh the hardihood of
ancient virtue, rendered him worthy of the illustrious
appellation of the Southern Cato ; our own Richard Hen
ry Lee and George Mason, whose genius and services
with those of kindred spirits of " '76," have been re
cently portrayed by a distinguished meraber of the
Society, in a discourse so truthful in narrative, so graceful
in style, and so glowing with love of the excellence it
coraraeraorates, that I know not whether History, Elo
quence or Patriotisra, are raost deeply indebted to its
author.* As we approach the period, when the issues of
reason were to be substituted by the issues of blood, fugi
tive tracts, newspaper essays, popular and legislative
resolutions and addresses, so thicken upon us, that we may
apply to the colonies, Milton's description of England at
the tirae ofthe Reformaiion: "Lords and Commons of
England, behold now this vast city, the raansion house of
liberty, encompassed and guarded with her protection.
The shop of war hath not there more anvils and hararaers
waking lo fashion out tbe plates and instruments of armed
justice in defence of beleaguered truth, than there be
pens and heads there, sitting by their studious laraps,
searching, revolving new notions and ideas, wherewith to
present as with their homage and fealty the approaching
Reformation." Nor was it forgotten by the American
sages, that the nearest way to the popular heart Ues
through the simpler forms of national poetry. Men hke
Dickinson and Arthur Lee united to compose a patriotic
song, and Paine laid his earliest offering on the shrine of
Independence, in a patriotic ballad. Every colony was
vocal with these " all-cheering hymns of Uberty." Even
• Grigsby's Discourse on tlie Virginia Convention of 1776.

DISCOURSE. ^ 45
woraan, who by the alacrity with which she anticipated
sacrifice, and the cheerfulness with which she endured
privation, in the darkest period of the war, " turned forth
a silver lining on the sable cloud," lent the inspiration of
her voice to the friends of freedom in this day of prepara
tion ; and the narae of Warren has descended to us with
a double fragrance, hallowed aUke by hira who poured out
his blood, the first libation to Araerican liberty, and by
her, who rained sweet influence on the patriot firesides of
Plyraouth, During the interval which elapsed between the repeal
of the Starap Act, and tbe asserabling of the first Conti
nental Congress, in 1774, Virginia, in the language of
John Dickinson,* maintained the common cause with such
attention, spirit and temper, as gained her tbe highest
degree of reputation araongst the other colonies." I shall
not enter in this place into an examination of the vexed
question, whether Virginia or Massachusetts is entitled to
the honor of originating the Coraraittees of Correspon
dence, those winged Mercuries of freedom. I am content
to leave it, where it has been placed by Bancroft, and to
assign to tbe last colony, the credit of suggesting the
local, and to the first, that more important and efficient
agency, the Continental Committees. On no occasion
when dismayed or desponding patriotism could be cheered
by the voice of sympathy, was Virginia raute. Her peo
ple, with a unanimity greater than existed in any other
province, were fired with tbe ardor of their leaders ; and
neither the sophistry nor the blandishments of Royal
governors could suppress the utterance of their spirit.
Richard Henry Lee, who during this period stood upon the
walls of his native commonwealth, an unresting sentinel
of liberty, expressed the general sentiment when he de-
* Life of Richard Henry Lee, vol. I, p. 69.

46 DISCOURSE.
clared, " 1 cannot go with those who would derive our
security from our submission."* It is irapossible, without
an examination of the record to form an adequate con
ception of the confidence and affection which Virginia
had thus inspired throughout the colonies. We learn
from the newspapers and correspondence of the times,
that her House of Burgesses constituted a standing toast,
not only at the public festivals, but in the private circles of
patriotism. In 1769, John Dickinson writes from Penn
sylvania, that her ardor bad warraed even that mosl ten--
perale province, and as a just mark of respect lo her
asserably, their resolutions had been adopted verbatim.t
Samuel Adaras writes in a similar strain of generous
eulogy. I Quincy when in Charleston, South CaroUna,
declared in conversation, that " jMassachusetts almost
revered the Virginia leaders ;"§ and in 1773 the Massa
chusetts assembly, by a vote of 109 to 4, expressed its
gratitude to fhe Burgesses of Virginia, for their uniform
vigilance, firmness, and wisdom. || The Asserably of
Rhode Island, dislinguished frora the first for its ardor and
constancy, exclaims in one of its resolutions, in a burst
of enthusiasm, "that illustrious and patriotic body, the
House of Burgesses of Virs;inia."1I Like the tides of that
Pontic sea, "which ne'er feel retirinj ebb, but keep due
on," were the flowing currents of her patriotism.
Whilst the public authority has rescued frora oblivion
the raost insignificant statutes ever enacted in Virginia
respecting property, and perpetuated them in the pages
of Hening, il has done nothing to preserve in authentic
form, those more precious state papers which have been
* Life of Riohari H, Lee, vol. 1, p. 68.
t Ib. p. 78, vol. 1.
} Life of Arthur Lee, vol. 2, p. 199. Life of Richard H. Lee. vol. 2. p. 118,
5 Life of auinc.v, p. 103.
I] Bancroft's Histnr.r. vol. 6. p. 460. VIbid.

DISCOURSE, 47
spared by tirae, or that worse vandal, the public eneray.
How long, sir, shall we continue our prodigal waste of
this sacred patriraony ? How long shall we leave un
crowned the iraages, and unurned the ashes, of our heroic
age .? Unless we are content, that like the ancient foun
tain of Dodona, which extinguished a lighted and inflaraed
an unlighted torch,* American history should bury in
darkness the blazing glory of Virginia patriotism, and
kindle inlo unwonted and undeserved lustre, the obscu
rity of other regions, public munificence must provide
for the preservation of manuscripts and the collection of
books in great libraries, where the fame of the state can
be coraraitted to tbe keeping of her own sons. I trust
that the signs and portents which now darken the hori
zon, may admonish us to leave unimproved no eleraent
of security, raoral or raaterial, and may point with im
pressive force that important lesson, commended no less
by the instincts of the universal heart, than the testimony
of all experience, that the most impenetrable <Bgis with
which a people can be covered in the hour of peril, is
the shield on which history has emblazoned the virtues
and achievements of their forefathers.
It is unnecessary for me to dwell upon the character or
pliK)ceedings of the Congress of 1774, suggested alraost
siraultaneously by Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vir
ginia. The whole earth is full of its fame. Whilst the
bigoted toryisra of Johnson led him to describe its mem
bers as " zealots in anarchy," more discrirainating and
impartial posterity has approved the splendid panegyric,
pronounced upon their moderation and wisdom, by Lord
Chatham, and which we learn frora the diary of Quincy,
only echoed the Uberal sentiraent of England. The most
faraous of the public documents of this Congress, was
* See Landor's Pericles and Aspasia.

48 DISCOURSE.
the address to the people of Great Britain by John Jay— •
an address which it is impossible for an American to read,
even at this distance of time, wiihout being thrilled by ita
noble and fervid patriotism. Next to it in ability and
reputation were the Petition to the King by John Dick
inson, and the Address to the inhabitants of the British
Colonies by Richard Henry Lee. In assigning a subor
dinate rank to this coraposition of Mr. Lee, it is but just
to add, that the address which was prepared by him at
the next Congress, to the people of Great Britain, may
challenge coraparison, in its warra and pathetic eloquence,
glowing sentiraents of liberty, and clear and forcible pre
sentation of facts, with any state paper of the revolution.
If Virginia cannot claim the distinction of having given
to the Congress of "'74" its best writer, she carried off
from all competition the palm of oratory, in the per
sons of Lee and Henry. Hers were the " chiefs of elo
quence," " The kings
Whose hosts are thoughts, whose realm the human mind ;
Who, out of words, evoke the soul of things.
And shape the lofty drama of mankind."
Before the meeting of the Congress of 1775, " the
rescript to the Araerican petitions, written in blood" at
Concord and Lexington, had extinguished in the bosoms
of the more ardent and enlightened patriots alraost all
hope of a peaceful settleraent of the question. But even
amongst this nuraber, there were many who distrusted
our ability to achieve the position, or raaintain the attitude
of independent states. Nor had oppression yet consumed
in her fiery furnace, all those raoral ties which bound the
popular heart to the raother country. Congress, there
fore, to preserve unbroken the line of opposition, con
tented itself for a time with defensive preparations, and

DISCOURSE. 49
continued to hold out the olive branch of conciliation.
Besides the leading members of th'e old Congress, two
master spirits made their appearance in the new body;
Dr. Franklin, who had just returned from Europe, and
Mr. Jefferson, No man in the colonies had a wider rep
utation for patriotism and ability than Dr. Franklin. The
whole country cherished a grateful sense of his services,
and a becoming pride in his old-world fame. His exam
ination before the House of Commons, when the repeal
of the Stamp Act was under consideration, brought to
gether as large and distinguished an audience,^ as any or
ator in England could have assembled. Nor was Jeffer
son, although a very young man, wholly anknown. He
was preceded by a high reputation as a writer and
scholar, "Writings of his were handed about," says
John Adams, "remarkable for peculiar felicity of expres
sion." Besides the Summary View of the Rights of
British Araerica, he was the author of the answer of the
Virginia House of Burgesses to Lord North's Conciha
tory Bill ; of which so competent a critic as Lord Shel
burne declared, even after the subject had been discussed
in Parliaraent, and by Burke, " I was never in my Ufe,
more pleased with a state paper. It is masterly." It
was so highly approved by Congress, that he was selected
to prepare the response of that body to the same com
munication, and the second paper is regarded by his bi
ographer, as an abler and more finished composition than
the first. The most important document which ema
nated from this Congress, was the Declaration setting
forth the reasons for taking up arms. The report of the
original coraraittee to prepare this paper, being unsatis
factory, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Dickinson were added to it ;
an association which of itself shows the opinion enter
tained by Congress of his literary abilities. Mr. Jeffer-
5

50 DISCOURSE.
son drew up a second address, which being too bold for
his colleague, the latter was requested to alter it to suit
his own views. Mr. Dickinson, however, incorpo
rated in bis own address, which was adopted by Con
gress, the eloquent conclusion of Mr. Jefferson's paper;
and this portion is usually cited as a favorable speciraen
of Mr. Dickinson's style. I have recited Mr. Jefferson's
share in the composition of these papers, not only as due
to Virginia, but to throw light, if possible, upon a question
which as we shall subsequently see has been raised, con
cerning the causes of his selection to write the Declara
tion of Independence.
Every day was now rendering it apparent, that the
Americans could'purchase peace only at the price of lib
erty. The honor of the British nation was supposed to
be at stake. In vain did Chathara plead with lofty elo
quence, that "rectitude was dignity, oppression only
raeanness, and justice honor." The rainistry, apparently
resolved on Roman severity, were discussing expedients
of coercion, inconsistent with all usages of Christian war
fare. It was no longer possible for the colonies to defer the
question of independence. The allegiance of the heart
had long been gone. Should they sever the formal link
whicii connected them with Great Britain, and declare
themselves independent states? No effort was spared^
either in England or Araerica, to quell by intiraidation
the growing disposition to take this irrevocable step.
Tbe uncertainty of securing foreign aid, except on terms
loo degrading lo be endured by freeraen, the power and
wealth of the raother country, the poverty and destitution
of the colonies, all the fearful inequalities of the contest,
were painted in the strongest colors.* The Araericans
were pointed to those great water lines of river, bay, and
* See, especially. Sir John DalrjTnple's Address to tbe people of thc colonies.

DISCOURSE. 51
ocean, which everywhere exposed their country to inva
sion, to the absence of any walled town which could in
tercept the incursion of an enemy, to the want of any
disciplined regiment to confront that veteran army, which
had carried fhe conquests of England wherever they had
carried its color,s, or any ship of war to meet that famous
navy, which was riding iii triumph the seas of every con
tinent, to the cloud of Indian tribes ready to burst in des
olating storms of savage warfare upon the unprotected
settleraents of the frontiers, lo the alien race which might
emerge from the very bosom of security, and impart a
still more sanguinary hue to the tempestuous scenes of
civil strife. Notwithstanding circumstances like these,
which doubled the native horrors of war, the patriots of
America cast no eye of doubt, upon the path of liberty
and glory. Indeed, the accomplished Professor of His
tory in the English University of Cambridge, expresses
tbe opinion in his liberal and instructive lectures upon
tliis period, that the most serious charge -which can be
preferred against them, is that of rashness, in engaging
in a contest with means so disproportioned to its exigen
cies.* This, Mr. President, was a question which our
fathers thought was to be referred to tbe heart, rather
than to the head. It was with no " mistrustful courage,
grounded on despair,'^ nor yet in presumptuous reliance on
human resources, but with a serene confidence in His pro
tection to whom belong the shields ofthe earth, and with
minds transported above the ordinary level of thought by
the inspiration of a great principle, in a noble phrensy of
liberty, that Quincy, and Rutledge, and Lee, and Henry,
in different forms of language, but all alike "warm frora the
heart, and faithful to its fires," echoed the glorious senti-
» See Smythe's Lectures on Modern Historj.

52 DISCOtTRSE.
ment of Bolingbroke, rather to die the last of British
freemen, than live the first of British slaves.
Yirginia, which had sounded the awakening notes of
resistance to the Stamp Act, was tbe first, when the un
varying consistency of 'fnj'nstice had reached its height of
enormity, to move for independeuce. She did not sim
ply empower her delegates to consent to a declaration by
Congress ; nor did she form a constitaticm which admitted!
the possibility of reconciliation. She left open no road
for retreat; her instructions to her representatives in
Congress were peremptory ; the dissolution of her aUe
giance was absolute and irrevocable. It was uncertain
how many of her sister colonies would support her; and
although we are assnred by Elbridge Gerry that the de
termination to push the question of independency was
attended with the happiest effect, more than a month's
delay occurred after her delegates bad submitted a reso
lution in conforraity witb tbeir instructioos, before Coft-
gress, as tfoat^stem old Puritan btrt glorious patriot. Major
Hawley, expressed it, "like a Calvinistic Cbristian, going
on frora one degree of grace to another, reached perfec
tion."* A just appreciation of the grave responsibilities
of patriotisra, assumed by Virginia, obviously demanded
that the prominent place should be accorded to her, in the
composition of the committee appointed to prepare a de
claration of independence. Mr. Jefferson, who in the
absence of Mr. Lee, and the disqualification of Mr. Dick
inson, was unquestionably the best writer in Congress,
receiving the largest number of votes, became the chair
man, and upon him was devolved the duty of drawing
the instrument, which should announce to the ¦world the
birth ofthe new nation. No higher praise can be bestowed
upon the paper which he subraitted, than to affirm
• Life of Elbridge Gerry, Vol, 1, p. 185,

DISCOURSE. Oo
that its style is worthy of its sentiments, and that both
were equal to the magnitude of the occasion. Mr. Web
ster has declared, that it would be doins Mr. Jefferson
great injustice to say, that he performed his work well ;
that it would be halting and inadequate praise to say,
that he did it admirably well, excellently well ; that we
should rather say, that all Araericans may well rejoice
that the work of drawing tbe title deed of their Uberties
was coraraitted to hira. Modern fanaticisra has atterapted
to press this faraous document into its service, for the
purpose of sustaining its disorganizing doctrines of social
and civil equality. Although we raay concede an incau
tious generality in sorae of its terras, yet if we look to
the scope and context of the instrument, it is upon no
fair construction obnoxious to this charge. The purpose
of the paragraph tp which reference has been made' in
this connection, was to state the great principles upon
which the right of a community to alter or abolish its ex
isting form of government is founded, and to which the
colonists appealed in vindication of their conduct. The
objects and functions of government, are briefly described
to show the origin of the right which was about to be
exercised, but with no viewof defining the character and
extent of those Uraitations which may be imposed by
society, upon what, in the nomenclature of the day, were
termed the natural rights of its members. When, there
fore, it is said that life, liberty, and happiness are inalien
able rights, it can no more be supposed that the author
intended to deny to a comraunity, the rightful power of
restraining individual liberty to the extent demanded
by the great ends of social existence, than that he in
tended to deprive it of the power of prescribing death or
iraprisonraent as the punishraent of crirae. The only
consistent and rational interpretation of this clause is

54 DISCOURSE.
that which confines it to an affirmation in substance of
the principle, that no convention, prescription ,or theory of
kingly power can control tbe right of a people to change or
overthrow a governraent when its forms are abused to their
oppression. If those three words of barbarous Latin, in
magna charta, " J^ullus liber homo," are worth, as Lord
Chatham supposed, all the classics, how inexpressible the
value of this charter, not of the rights of EngUshraen,
but of the rights of man. It is well described in the
beautiful lines of tbe poet, " Truths of power
in words immortal, — not such wordfe as flasb
From the tierce demagogue's unthinking rage^
To madden for a moraent and expire, —
Nor sudi as the rapt orator imbues
Willi warmth of facile sjfmpathy, ami moulds
To mirrors radiant mth fair image?,
To grace the noble fervor of an hour ; —
But wortfe which bear the siarit of great deeds,.
Winged for tbe Future."
An explanation of this portion of our history has been
published by one of its most illustrious actors, which no
true son of Virginia can permit to pass unchallenged. In
1822, the elder Adams wrote a letter to Tiraothy Picker
ing, in answer to the question, why so young a raan as
Mr. Jefferson was selected to write the Declaration of
Independence, in which he ascribes tbis and otber honors
conferred upon Virginia, by the Colonial Congresses, not
to a generous recognition of her services, or the raerits of
her sons, but to a stroke of policy on thfi part of tbe Mas
sachusetts delegation, by which they sought to aniraate
and confirra the Middle and Southern States, in tbe cause
of liberty. He describes the journey of hiraself and
colleagues in a single coach, from Boston to Philadelphia,
and their being met at Frankfort, by certain active sons
of liberty from Philadelphia, who advised thera of the

DISCOURSE. 55
suspicion which was entertained of tbem personally, and
of their views, in fhe Middle and Southern States, and
urged them especially to keep in the back ground the
idea of Independence, and instead of aspiring to the lead
in decisive measures, to accord' it to Virginia. This ad
vice he says, made a deep impression on him and his col
leagues, and has given color and complexion to the whole
policy of the country from tbat day to this. "Without
it," he adds, "Mr. Waskington would never have com
manded our armies ; nor Mr. Jefferson have been tbe
author of the Declaration of Independence ; nor Mr.
Richard Henry Lee tbe mover of it , nor Mr. Chase the
mover of foreign connections. If I have ever had cause
to repent of any part of tkis policy, that repentance ever
has been and ever will be unavailing. You inquire why
so young a man as Mr. Jefferson was placed at the head
of the committee for preparing a Declaration of Indepen
dence ? I answer ; it was the Frankfort advice to place
Virginia at the head of everything."* The insinuations
of this letter are as offensive, as are its direct allega
tions. They amount in substance to a charge, that the
patriotic pulse of Massachusetts at one period beat higher
than, that of Virginia, and that her public spirit and con
duct would have entitled ber to precedence over Virginia
in a distribution of the honors of liberty, and patriotisra,
and that those distinctions which have covered the ^ons
of Virginia with lustre, were conferred as a means of
quickening their devotion to the common cause, and
should therefore, before the eye of posterity be shorn of their
most splendid beams. In no unkindly spirit to the memo
ry of the elder Adara.s, who during the lOng and storray
years of this controversy was a burning and shining Ught
of patriotism, and with every disposition to refer his
' See Works of John Adams, vol, 2, 518,

56 DISCOURSE,
lapses of raemory to causes not inconsistent with the
honor of a revolutionary statesman, I ara yet compelled
by a just sensibility to the farae of our native coramon
wealth, to pronounce these iraputations to be without any
foundation in fact, and at war with the truth of history,
Mr. Adaras' own writings furnish irresistible presumption,
that no conversation of the character he has described,
took place at his Frankfort interview. The date of thia
interview is not given in the letter, but his diary enables
us to fix the period with certainty. The delegation
which the letter mentions, was tbat to the Congress of
1774, the journey in the single coach is rainutely detailed
in the diary, as having occurred in 1774 — the actual
occurrence of an interview at Frankfort, with the Phila-
adelphia sons of liberty, is noted in 1774 — the conversa
tion itself assumes a rautual ignorance of each other on
the part of the Massachusetts, and the Middle and Southern
delegations, which could not have existed after this
period. Having thus ascertained the time, at which Mr.
Adaras informs us, he was so strongly impressed by the
advice to keep back the idea of independence, in consid
eration of the feeling of the Middle and Southern States
we may compare the stateraent with the sentiraents ex.
pressed by him six months afterwards in the articles of
Novanglus, pubUshed in the Boston papers. " That there
are any," says he, " who pant after independence,"
(meaning by this word a new plan of government over
all America, unconnected with the crown of England,
or meaning by it an exemption from the power of Parlia
ment to regulate the trade,) is as great a slander upon the
province as ever was comraitted to .writing. The patriots
of this province desire nothing new ; they wish only to
keep their old privileges."* Whilst this indignant dis-
• See John Adams' Works, vol. 4, p. 131.

DISCOURgfi. 67
clairaer of the objects and purposes pointed out in the
Frankfort conversation, must convince us that no such
friendly councils could ever have been listened to by Mr.
Adaras, in silent acknowledgraent of their propriety, his
diary discloses abundant evidence, that if any aspersion
bad ever been uttered in his presence on the teraper of
Virginia patriotism, it left no irapression of its truth. I
wiU cite only one of several passages of sirailar purport.
After describing a visit to the tavern, where be was intro
duced to the Virginia members, he says : " these gentlemen
• frora Virginia appear to be the most spirited and consistent
of any."* That Virginia raaintained this reputation with
Mr. Adaras up to the tirae of declaring independence, we
have also proof, under his own hand. In a letter written to
Patrick Henry, June Srd, 1776, he says, "your intiraa
tion that the session of your representative body would
be long, gave rae great pleasure, for we all look up to Vir
ginia for exaraples. "t Nor are we without the raeans of
knowing what was thought of Virginia at this period, by
the ardent sons of liberty in Philadelphia. One of thera, he
whose answer to a proffered bribe during the war, has
rendered iraraortal the name of Reed, has left this minute
of the prevailing irapression ; " We are so taken up with
the Congress that we hardly think of talking of anything
else. About fifty have corae to town, and more are ex
pected. There are some fine fellows come frora Virginia,
but they are very high. The Bostonians are raere milk
sops to them. We understand they are the capital men
of the colony, both in fortune and understanding."t
It is impossible to determine at this distance of tirae, in
which of the colonies, the idea of independence first be
came popular. There is no doubt that New England on
<• Vol. 2, Adams' Works, 362.
{ See Adams' Works, vol. 9, p. 387.
t Life and Correspondence of Presi4ent Reed, vol. 1, p 75.

58 DISCOURSE.
the one side, and Virginia and the tier of Southern colo
nies on the olher, were ready to lake tbis step, before the
Middle colonies. Beyond this, any comparison of public
sentiment. North and South, must be vague and conjectu
ral. We know that Massachusetts proclaimed herself a
loyal province in 1775, after blood had been shed at Con
cord and Lexington, that even after the battle of Bunker
Hill, she sought to reconcile allegiance with resistance, by
describing the struggle as " a ministerial war," that Con
gress in the Declaration setting forth the causes of taking
up arms, disclaimed any other purposes than those of
self-defence, and that the Burgesses of Virginia about the
same time used language of a similar purport. Whibl
more ardent patriots, such as the Adamses in Massachu
setts, Lee, Wythe, Henry, and others, in ^'irginia, anti
cipated public sentiraent on this subject, it would be an
impeachment of the raanliness and integrity of our fathers,
to charge any province with publicly avowing reconciUa
tion as its object, and covertly aiming at independence.
The evidence is plenary that in the transition of patriotic
sentiment, the people of Virginia were nol behind those
of any other colony; that in the language of George
Mason, "they outran tbeir leaders," and that fheir
Burgesses only declared independence after il was clamo
rously called for by their constituents. The correspon
dence of Elbridge Gerry who was a meraber of the Con
tinental Congress of 1776, furnishes conclusive proof that
the lead which was taken by Virginia in this decisive
measure did not result frora any wish or understanding
amongst the Massachusetts delegation, to put her fore
most. On the 26th March, 1776, he writes frora Phila
delphia lo the President of the Massachusetts Provincial
Congress, in these terms: "I sincerely wish you would
originate iiistnjctions, expressed with decency and firm-

DISCOURSE. 59
ness, your own style — and give your sentiments as a
court in favor of independency. I am certain it would turn
many doubtful rainds, and produce a reversal of the con
trary instructions adopted by sorae asserablies."* Writing
still later. May 1st, to the same gentleman, he expresses
pleasure that the proposal for instructions was approved,
and referring fo indications of public sentiment in various
directions, adds : " Virginia is always to be depended
upon ; and so fine a .spirit prevails among Ihem, fhat unless
you send sorae of your cool patriots among them, they
raay be for declaring independency before Congress is
ready."! The apprehension expressed in this paragraph,
was, as we have seen, verified by the event. In a letter
of May 28th, he encloses papers containing the Virginia
and North Carolina instructions; "their conventions
have unanimously declared for independency, and have
in this respect exceeded tbeir sister colonies in a most
noble and decisive measure. I hope it will be forthwith
comraunicated to your honorable assembly, and hope to
see my native colony following this laudable example."!
Warren in reply, 12lh of June, acknowledges the receipt
of this letter, and the enclosed papers. " I have endeav
ored," he adds, " lo use to the best purpose, the intelli
gence you gave me, and to animate your native country
to follow the laudable example of the South. Their
spirit is in your taste. "II With this testimony, that the
policy of moving for independence was urged upon
Massachusetts, by members of her own Congressional
delegation before that step had been taken in any other
colony, — that she was assured Virginia was always to be
depended upon — tbat the resolutions of Virginia were
* Life of Gerry, vol. 1, p. 174. f It>- 178.
t Ib. 181. II Ib.

60 DISCOURSE.
forwarded to be used, and were used to animate her own
assembly, I trust that History in transferring to her in
delible tablets, the features of this meraorable transaction
will accept its outlines as they were sketched by contem
porary artists, and, according to Virginia the credit which
belongs to this " noble and decisive raeasure," exhibit
her, the central figure amid a group of sister states, hold
ing high-advanced, the standard of our common Indepen
dence. Mr. President, I am incapable of thinking or uttering
aught, derogatory to the well-earned revolutionary fame
of Massachusetts. It is, indeed, inseparably associated
with that of Virginia. No angry current can ever ruffle
those serene depths of history, in which they lie mirrored
together, or part that kindred lustre in which their ming
ling lights of glory have indissolubly blended. I love to
turn from Massachusetts, covered as she now is with
the reproach of infidelity to our sacrament of Union,
and conteraplate her, wrapt in those vindictive lightnings
which have forever consecrated the patriotisra they were
unable to consume, — to follow her through those days of
gloom and terror, when " rautual league, united counsels,
equal hopes and hazard,'' so bound her to Virginia, that
" their double bosoras seeraed to wear one heart ;" to gaze
at her as she stood before the aliar of liberty, all radiant
with the glow of its triumphs, and plighted to the meet
ing souls of her sister states the sacred troth of patriot
isra, to observe wilh thera through all generations, an in
violable covenant of union and freedora. The raonu
ments of her mighty dead burst into speech, and re
buke her degeneracy. The grand lessons of Bunker
Hill are but faintly appreciated by him, who stands be
neath the shadow of that starry-pointing pyramid which
has been raised to fix the gaze of future ages, and

DISCOURSE. 61
recalls only the memories of those heroes whose blood
crimsoned the underlying sods. It is an ever-living wit
ness, in whose voice the accents of departed patriotism
yet Unger, and which, in tones more eloquent than ever
fell frora human lips, proclaims the great revolutionary
principle that was canonized by the death of these pro-
to-raartyrs of liberty, that the only bond of unity which
can keep together an empire of freemen, is an equal par
ticipation between all its members of rights and privi
leges.* Let Massachusetts bury her now cankered heart
in the flowing memories of our ancient friendship, — let
her cherish a union resting on tbe generous sentiment
that "the strength each gains, is from the embrace it
gives," and as the twin constellations of Castor and Pol
lux filled the heart of the ancient mariner with hope and
joy, whenever they could be seen glittering together in
the heavens, so our unbroken fellowship and communion
of liberty and glory wiU cheer huraanity through all the
nights and terapests of coraing time, with a bright and
auspicious pledge of the perpetual duration upon earth,
of constitutional freedom.
I cannot pursue through its vicisitudee, that great Rev
olution, which in the dignity of its ends, the purity of its
means, and the sublimity of its results, stands alone on
the pages of civil history. I cannot even mark the equal
devotion with which our native commonwealth followed
the fortunes of liberty, whether "its star in bloody por
tent bearaed, or saffron hope." I cannot pause before those
thiclj-coming memories of heroes and statesmen, which
will forever elevate and brighten the crest of freedom.
I can but point with the silent homage of reverential fin
ger, to the overshadowing majesty of that great life and
character, which like a sacred altar-piece, now hallows
* See Burke'B Speech on Conciliation with America.
6

62 DISCOURSE.
the temples of liberty in all hearts and all lands. Genius,
it has been said, ever turns to that quarter of the heavens
where fame shines the brightest. Hence it is, that those
great achieveraents in the arts of war and peace, which
mark the public annals of our state, yet wake to noblest
raptures the heart of our youth. Nothing but a succes
sion of works of the highest merit in every department
of letters, can break the power of this mighty spell, so
as to let our young men sleep for the trophies of their
fathers. Virginia may not be able to claim as her own,
profound thinkers, who " Colurabus like, descry the
golden lands of new philosophies," or poets " who give
us nobler loves, and nobler cares," but so long as gener
ous ambition shall kindle before the imagfes of patriot
heroes and statesmen, it will be hers to give to history
"the ever-living raen of memory," whose names "fill
all men's mouths, and live in all raen's breath."
Less than three centuries ago, Spenser associated Vir
ginia on the first page of the Fairy Queen, with the old
and famous empires of England, Scotland, and France,
In this courtly compliment to Raleigh and Elizabeth, who
then lent to the name of the mother of states and states
men, all its distinction, it never entered the imagina
tion of the poet, that time's succeeding lustres would
brighten the obscure colony with glories, which should
outlast even " the eternity of their fame," The " mov
ing fires" yet burn in the heavens which lighted the chi
valric exploration of her forests and waters : but multi
plied children of freedom, rejoicing in its God-given
strength, have broken their silence and solitude, with
the gladness and beauty of human culture. Mountain
and ocean, eternal types and symbols of freedom, yet
chant " its chosen music," as when their inspiration
breathed into the soul of the listening savage his tame-

DISCOURSE. 63
less spirit ; but grander than this sublime chorus, the an
cestral voices of liberty, which breaking frora her merao
rial torabs of patriotism, gather in resounding echoes
along all the lines of future history. Fresh and fair the
various beauties of her natural landscape, as when it
blushed to greet the meeting day ; but brighter and fairer
still, those exalting and ennobling raeraories, which from
" worlds not quickened by the sun," pour over all her
borders, the light that " Consecrates
Whate'er it shines upon."

THE

Wix^im |ibt0rical Reporter:

CONDUCTED BT THB

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY;

VOL. II— PART I.

RICHMOND:
CHAS. H. WYNNE, PRINTER, 94 MAIN STREET.
1860.

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY— 1860.

Hon. WM. C. RIVES, President.
Hon. James M. Mason, \
Wm. H. Macfarland, i 'Vice Presidents.
Hon. John Robertson, j
Andrew Johnston, Recording Secretary.
Charles Gorham Barnet, Treasurer.
Dr. George W. Bagbt, Cor. Sec. and Librarian.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
CoNWAT Robinson, Chairman;
Gustavus A. Myers,
Thomas H. Ellis,
George W. Randolph,
Thomas T. Giles,
H. Coalter Cabell,
Arthur A. Morson.

PROCEEDINGS

TENTH ANNUAL MEETING— 1857.

The Tenth Annual Meeting of the Virginia Histori
cal and Philosophical Society was held in the Hall of
the Athenseum, on the evening of Thursday, Sth of
February, 1857.
In the absence of the President and the first Vice
President, Wm. H. Macfarland, Esq., the second
Vice President, took the Chair, and presided on the
occasion. The report of the Executive Committee was read to
the Society by Conway Robinson, Esq., Chairman of
the Committee: REPORT.
During tbe past year, we have had manifested a sense of
tbe value of our paintings, and a laudable desire to add to
the collection. Of tbe former, an evidence, forming in itself
matter of history, was furnished in a letter written at Chicago,
on the 15tb of August, 1856, by George P. A. Healy, stating
that he was to sail from New York, early in October, for
Paris, where he is to paint for Congress a large picture of
Franklin and the otber American Commissioners treating
witb Louis XVL, and asking to bave a good photograph

PROCEEDINQS.

taken from the portrait of Arthur Lee — that portrait having
been deposited in our Library Room by Mr. Charles Carter
Lee. It was, in compliance with this request, allowed to be
temporarily withdrawn, to bave the photograph taken, which
Mr. Healy desired. From the portraits of George Washing
ton and James Madison, taken by Charles Gilbert Stuart,
and now in possession of Edward Coles, Esq., of Philadel
phia, fine copies have, with his permission, been made by Mr.
Thomas Sully of tbat city, and been presented to the Society
.by two citizens of Richmond — Mr. William Barrett is the
donor of one, and Mr. Jaqueline P. Taylor of the other.
Of John Marshall we have two portraits, one of which
was presented by Tbomas H. Ellis, Esq., in the name of the
family of his father-in-law, the late Mr. Thomas Taylor, and
is said to have been taken for Mr. Taylor by Thompson. The
other is copied from a portrait in possession of Mr. Mar
shall's descendants, which was taken by Inman, and gives an
excellent likeness of tbe Chief Justice in his latter days.
Our copy is so well made, tbat, even with tbe two side by
side, some of the Committee had difficulty in telling which
was the original, and which the copy. The Society will be
pleased to know tbat this copy is a contribution from the
artist who made it; tbat be is a citizen of Richmond, and
that it was completed by him when he had just attained the
seventeenth year of his age. Our satisfaction at the admi
rable manner in wbicb tbe youthful artist (Mr. Williara B.
Myers) has done bis work, and our thankfulness to him and
the otber donorS whom we have named, will, we are sure, be
shared by you, when you look upon tbe portraits which to
night adorn the walls of the room in which you meet.
When you meet again, we expeqt to show you fine copies
of tbe portraits of Tbomas Jeff'erson and George Mason.
Tbe gentlemen wbo are to present tbem have arranged to
bave them made by distinguished artists.

PROCEEDINGS.

We indulge the hope, also, that at the next Annual Meet
ing, you will have tbe pleasure of bearing the discourse which
Mr. Grigsby is preparing upon the Convention of 1788 — a
discourse which, treating of the individuals wbo composed
tbe Convention, as well as of the body itself and its proceed
ings, may be expected to restore its history with something
of the freshness of life. Done, as Mr. Grigsby does bis work,
it will doubtless be arduous ; but he will have tbe satisfac
tion of accomplishing what we are sure will prove useful, as
well as interesting, not only to Virginians, but to otbers.
The members of the Society cannot fail to notice the ab
sence of one, who has been present at each meeting of the
Society since its organization in 1847. On the 6tb instant,
Mr. Maxwell wrote from Lombardy, in James City county,
saying that his health had not improved as be hoped it would
have done, and expressing his apprehension that be would not
recover soon, if ever, and bis opinion that he ought to retire
immediately from the service of tbe Society, and not hinder
tbe progress which he could no longer aid. Thereupon, bis
letter proceeded to state tbat he declined the contracts and
engagements which he had heretofore had with tbe Commit
tee; but in thus retiring from employments which be men
tioned be bad heretofore found so agreeable, he expressed tbe
hope tbat ihe Society would continue to flourish witb increas
ing prosperity, and to satisfy tbe reasonable expectations of
all its friends. This letter, it is believed, was tbe last signed
by Mr. Maxwell. When, on tbe evening of the 15th January,
the Chairman laid it before tbe Committee,«be, at the same
time, informed the Committee that he had that day seen a
letter from Mr. Littleton T. Waller, stating that Mr. Maxwell
died at Lombardy, the residence of Mr. Waller, on the night
of Friday, the 9th inst., about twelve o'ploek, in the seventy-
third year of bis age, and that his remains would, according

proceedings.

to his wish, be interred in Hollywood Cemetery : Thereupon,
the Committee unanimously adopted these resolutions —
1. Tbat the members of tbis Committee sincerely deplore
tbe continued illness which caused Mr. Maxwell to contem
plate retiring, and which bas terminated in withdrawing him
forever from a position whieh be bas held with so much ad
vantage to the Society and to tbe cause of our historical
literature, and will ever cherish the liveliest sense of the ser
vices which be has rendered to this institution.
2. That as a mark of respect for bis memory, tbe members
of tbe Committee would in a body attend the funeral of the
deceased; aud,
3. That to make known to the widow of the deceased our
sentiments in regard to ber respected husband, and our sym
pathy witb ber in her bereavement, the Recording Secretary
should transmit to ber a copy of these resolutions.
In addition, it may not be inappropriate to record the fact
tbat tbe body was brought to Richmond on tbe 17th; but,
owing to tbe unexampled snow storm of the 18th, and the
depth of tbe snow for several days after, tbe funeral and in
terment did not take place until tbe afternoon of tbe 21st.
Tben all of the Committee, wbo could, attended the funeral
obsequies. They listened witb interest to what w^s said of
tbe deceased by his pastor, aud joined in the procession
through tbe streets and fields of snow. It was a striking
scene — a solemn spectacle — and must make upon all wbo
were present a la'sting impression.
The Rev. Moses D. Hoge delivered the Annual Dis
course, which treated of the history, legislation and
policy of the Colony of Virginia, during the Protec
torate of Oliver Cromwell.

PROCEEDINGS.

On motion of Thom.4S H. Ellis, Esq., the following
resolution was unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That tbe Society hereby thank tbe Rev. Dr.
Hoge for his able and interesting discourse, and request a
copy of it for preservation in tbeir Archives, and for publica
tion along witb tbe proceedings of tbe meeting by the Execu
tive Committee.
On motion of Robert R. Howison, Esq., tbe follow
ing resolution was unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That tbe Society bave listened witb interest and
sorrow to the narrative, given in the Report of tbe Execu
tive Committee, of tbe last days, tbe death and burial of our
late esteemed Secretary and Librarian, William Maxwell,
Esq., and that we adopt the sentiments of the report, and
warmly approve the action of tbe Committee, in expressing
tbeir regard for tbe memory of one whose zeal and labor for
the Society will never be forgotten.
On motion of John R, Thompson, Esq., it was
unanimously «
Resolved, That tbe thanks of tbe Society be presented to
tbe respective donors of the Portraits of Washington, Madi
son and Marshall, for those valuable additions to tbe Gallery
of the Society.
Messrs. Thomas Samson, Robert J. Morrison and
Archibald Boiling, beiug recommended by the Execu
tive Committee, were unanimously elected, by the So-.
ciety, Resident Members.

8 PROCEEDINGS.

The following persons were unanimously elected
OflScers of the Society:

Hon. WM. C. RIVES, President.
Hon. James M. Mason, v
Wm. H. Maceaeland, > Vice Presidents.
Hon. John Y. Mason, j
Hugh Blair Grigsbt, Cor. Sec'ry and Librarian.
Andrew Johnston, Recording Secretary.
Jaqueline P. Tatlor, Treasurer.

And then the Society adjourned.
After the adjournment of the Society, the OflScers
elect held a meeting, and appointed the Executive Com
mittee, as follows :
Conway Robinson, Chairman;
Gustavus A. Myers, Thomas H. EUis,
Tbomas T. Giles, Geo. W. Randolph,
Arthur A. Morson, H. Coalter Cabell.

PROCEEDINGS.

ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING— 1858.

The Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Virginia His
torical and Philosophical Society was held on the even
ing of Tuesday, the 23d day of February, 1858, in the
Hall of the House of Delegates — the Lecture Room of
the Athenseum being otherwise occupied.
At this meeting, there was a suitable Address by the
President, and a Discourse by Hugh Blair Grigsby,
Esq., upon the Convention of 1778.
Mr, Grigsby, in the name and on the behalf of John
Henry, Esq., of Red Hill, the youngest son of Patrick
Henry, presented to the Society a fair copy of all the
letters and manuscripts in Mr. Henry's possession be
longing to his father.
The Society then adjourned — to meet the next morn
ing, at ten o'clock, in its Room at the Athen^um.
At wliich time, to wit, on Wednesday, the 24th day
of February, 1858, at ten o'clock, A. M., the Society
met accordingly ; and, the President and Vice Presi
dents being absent, Carles Carter Leb, Esq., was
appointed Chairman, pro tempore.
The report of the Executive Committee was read to
the Society by Conway Robinson, Esq., its Chairman :
REPORT.
During the past year, valuable additions have been made
to our Gallery of Portraits. Thomas T. Giles, Esq., bas pre
sented to the Society a portrait of George Mason, the author
of the Virginia Bill of Rights. This portrait was copied, at

10 PROCEEDINGS.

his request, by Mr. S. M. D. Guillaurae, from one in tbe
possession of James M. Mason, Esq., a grandson of George
Mason ; and that was copied by  Boudet, a French
artist, from an original, painted in 1780, by J. Hessiluis,
when George Mason was at the age of twenty-five. Our copy
is faithfully and accurately taken from tbat in Mr. Mason's
possession, which has been regarded by his family as an accu
rate likeness of their great ancestor.
Col. Tbomas Jeff'erson Randolph and his brother, George
W. Randolph, Esq., bave presented a copy by Mr. Guil
laume, of an original portrait of Thomas Jeff'erson by Gilbert
Stuart. The original, now in the possession of Mr. Jeffer
son's family, is considered by them as the best likeness of
him extant, and tbe painting presented to the Society is an
admirable copy.
Many otber donations and deposits are enumerated in the
Secretary's list. Conspicuous among the temporary deposits
is a full length portrait of Washington, taken by Mr. W. J.
Hubard from Houdon's statue. Tbis has contributed witb
otber works of Art to increase the attractiveness of the
Library Room. The Library itself bas been, materially in
creased by additions from several sources.
According to the desire of our late Secretary, as expressed
in a written memorandum, bis widow has presented to the
Society a considerable number of volumes.
Immediately after the last Annual Meeting, Hugh Blair
Grigsby, Esq., was informed of his unanimous appointment
to the office of Corresponding Secretary and Librarian. This
appointment being declined, the Committee, on tbe 2d of
March, 1857, filled tbe vacancy, by appointing Dr. Wm. P.
Palmer to the office. Certain bours have been fixed during
whioh the new Secretary is to be found in tbe Library Room,
and he has been arranging its contents so as to facilitate the
examination of tbem and raake them more attractive.

PROCEEDINGS. 11

The Corresponding Secretary and Librarian, Dr.
William P, Palmer, read the list of donations to the
Society during the past year.
On motion of Conway Robinson, Esq.,
Resolved, unanimously. That the thanks of the Society be
tendered to Hugh Blair Grigsby, Esq., for bis compliance
with tbe resolution of the Executive Committee, in regard to
the history of the Convention of 1788, and for the gratifica
tion derived from such portions of tbe work as he read to the
Society last evening.
Resolved, unanimously, Tbat it is the earnest desire of tbe
Society that the history of that Convention be committed to
tbe press immediately, under tbe auspices of its author.
Resolved, unanimously, That in tbe discourses of Mr.
Grigsby on the tbree great Conventions of Virginia, under
taken at tbe suggestion of the Officers of the Society, and for
tbe Society's benefit, he has performed an office of usefulness,
not only to the present generation, but to succeeding times,
and made a valuable addition to our bistorical literature.
On motion of Mr. Giles,
Resolved, unanimously. That tbe cordial thanks of the So
ciety be presented to John Henry, Esq., tbe youngest son of
Patrick Henry, for bis valuable present of a fair copy of all
the letters and manuscripts in his possession belonging to bis
illustrious father, and for tbe honorable example which he has
set, by conferring a great benefit upon tbe Society and the
public, while he places the ultimate preservation of tbe papers
beyond any future hazard.
Resolved, unanimously, That the Librarian be directed to
cause the papers to be bound in book form, and the name of
tbe donor lo be written therein.

12 PROCEEDINGS.

Resolved, unanimously. That a copy of tbe above resolution
be forwarded to John Henry, Esq.
The Hon. Wm. C. Rives, President of the Society,
appeared, and the Chair, being vacated by the Presi
dent pro tempore, was taken by the Preeident.
On motion of Mr. Myers,
Resolved, unanimously. That the thanks of the Society be
tendered to Col. Thomas Jeff'erson Randolph and George W.
Randolph, and Thomas T. Giles, Esqs., for the very valuable
portraits presented by tbem respectively to the Society.
Resolved, unanimously, Tbat the Society gratefully appre
ciates tbe donation of its late estimable Secretary, William
Maxwell, deceased, and presents its thanks to his Widow and
Executrix for the very valuable acquisition thereby made to
tbe Library of the Society.
Mr. Wm. B. Harrison, of Brandon ; Col. Robert W.
Carter, of Sabine Hall, Richmond county ; Col. John
H. Lee, of Orange county; Mr. Alex'r F. Taylor, of
Richmond, and Mr. Thos. L. Preston, of Smythe county,
being recommended by the Executive Committee, were
unanimously elected by the Society, Resident Members.
The following persons were unanimously elected
OflBcers of the Society :
Hon. WM. C. RIVES, President.
Hon. James M. Mason, -\
Wm. H. Macfarland, I Tice Presidents.
Hon. John Y. Mason, )
Dr. Wm. P. Palmer, Cor. Sec'ry and Librarian.
Andrew Johnston, Recording Secretary.
Jaqueline P. Taylor, Treasurer.
And then the Society adjourned.

PROCEEDINGS. 13

After the adjournment of the Society, tbe OflScers
elect held a meeting, and appointed the Executive Com
mittee, as follows :
Conway Robinson, Chairman;
Gustavus A. Myers, Thomas H. Ellis,
Thomas T. Giles, Geo. W. Randolph,
Arthur A. Morson, H. Coalter Cabell.

14 PROCEEDINGS.

TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING— 1859.

At the Annnal Meeting of the Virginia Historical
and Philosophical Society, held on Thursday, the 15th
day of December, 1859, in the building of the Virginia
Mechanics' Institute:
Wm. C. Rives, Esq., President of the Society, on
taking the Chair, made an appropriate address.
The report of the Executive Committee was read
to the Society by Conway Robinson, Esq., its Chair
man: REPORT.
In May, 1858, the attention of the Committee was called
to the probability that a sale might soon be made of the
Atbseneum building by the authorities of the City of Rich
mond, to whom it belonged, and to the necessity of providing
in that event fBr the removal of the Library, pictures, manu
scripts and other property of tbe Society. After conference
by a sub-committee appointed for the purpose, a contract was
entered into, under which tbis Society and tbe Richmond
Library Company have jointly the use of the large room in
the third story of tbis building, and each of them one of the
smaller rooms opening into that large room, and under which
also this Society bas the use of the Hall on the occasion of
its Annual Meetings. Until the Library Room could be fitted
up, tbe pictures were, by permission of tbe Secretary of the
Commonwealth, deposited in a room in the Capitol, aod the
books removed to tbis building remained in boxes.

PROCEEDINQS. 15

Dr. Wm. P. Palmer having declined to hold tbe office of
Corresponding Secretary and Librarian under tbe regulations
wbicb became necessary in consequence of tbe new arrange
ment, tbe Committee, on tbe 27th of October last, elected
Dr. George W. Bagby to tbat office. This officer has beeu
and is employed in arranging tbe books and manuscripts, and
putting them and tbe pictures in their appropriate places.
That valuable member of the Society, Hugh B. Grigsby,
Esq., is still engaged in his great work — The Virginia Con
vention of 1788. This work is expected to fill up a great
chasm in biography and history. The author thinks that it
will present a more accurate portraiture of tbe members of
tbe Convention tban could bave been known to the genera
tion in which they lived.
Members of the Society may, perbaps, have noticed La
fayette's prescription of exercise to Washington, and Wash
ington's reply, on tbe 19th March, 1791, tbat he should, on
the next Monday, enter on tbe practice of that friendly pre
scription, intending then to begin a journey to tbe southward.
They may have also seen his Jetter written from Mount Ver
non, on the 4th of April, 1791, to the Secretaries of the De
partments, informing them at what time be should be found
in any particular place : for example, stating that he should
be, on the 8th of April, at Fredericksburg ; on tbe lltb, at
Richmond; the 14th, at Petersburg, and so on. We are
pleased to inform you that Mr. James K. Marshall has placed
under the control of tbe Society the Diary of this tour of
Washington through the Southern States. It being, at the
time of Mr. Marshall's last communication on the subject, in
possession of Mr. C. B. Richardson, of New York, tbe pub
lisher of a periodical, known as tbe Historical Magazine, the
Committee authorized Mr. Richardson to print a limited edi
tion of tbis Diary, in conjunction with a diary which he had
to print of Washington's tour through New England. Of

16 PROCEEDINGS.

tbe volume containing the two diaries, copies are to be de
livered to our Librarian, and it is contemplated that one of
these diaries will be delivered to each member of tbe Society.
The Librarian stated that, owing to his recent con
nection with the Society, materials had not accumu
lated out of which a report proper conld be made. He
would mention, however, that during the past year,
his predecessor. Dr. Wm. P. Palmer, had received a
number of books, manuscripts and other donations, and
among them the first volume of the Life of Madison,
by Wm. C. Rives, Esq., President of the Society. He
alluded also to the portrait of Essex, presented by Mr.
Hughes. Professor George Frederick Holmes, of the Uni
versity of Virginia, delivered the Annual Discourse,
containing views as to the Causes and EflFects of Ameri
can Colonization.
Wm. H. Macfarland, Esq., introduced the follow
ing tribute to the memory of the lamented Hon. John
Y. Mason, by alluding to the esteem and respect in
which he was universally held, and to the wide-spread
sympathy excited by his decease :
Resolved, That entertaining for the late Hon. John Y.
Mason the highest admiration and esteem for his varied
public services and personal worth — cherishing for him, as
one of their Vice Presidents, the most fraternal attachment,
and profoundly lamenting his death, whilst engaged in repre
senting his country at the Court of France with signal suc
cess — tbis Society finds a mournful satisfaction in recording
this united expression' of grief for his decease and apprecia
tion of his public and private character.

proceedings. 17

The resolution was unanimously adopted.
On motion of Gustavus A. Myers, Esq., the follow
ing resolution was unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be, and they are
hereby, presented to George Frederick Holmes, Esq., for his
able and interesting discourse delivered this evening, and that
he be requested to furnish a copy of it to tbe Executive Com
mittee for preservation in tbe Archives, and for publication
in sucb manner as they may direct.
The following persons were unanimously elected
OflScers of the Society:
Hon. WM. C. RIVES, President.
Hon. James M. Mason, -x
Wm. H. Macfarland, >¦ Vice Presidents.
John Robertson, J
Dr. George W. Bagby, Cor. Sec'ry and Librarian.
Andrew Johnston, Recording Secretary.
Jaqueline P. Taylor, Treasurer.
And then the Society adjourned.
After the adjournment of the Society, the Ofiicers
held a meeting, and appointed the following persons as
members of the Executive Committee, to wit :
Conway Robinson, Chairman;
Gustavus A. Myers, Thomas H. Ellis,
Thomas T. Giles, Geo, W, Randolph,
Arthur A, Morson, H. Coalter CabeU.

OR THE eelation OP THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SETTLEMENTS
IN AMEEICA TO THE GENERAL HISTORY OP
THE CIVILIZED WOELD.

AN ADDRESS,
DEIIVEBED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
AT RICHMOND, DECEMBBR 15, 1850.
BY GEORGE P. HOLMES,
PROrESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.

ADDRESS,

Mr. President, AND Gentiemen of the Virginia Historical Society :
Without impropriety I may congratulate you on the re-union
of this evening. It must be gratifying to every liberal mind
to witness and assist in each successive repetition of tbese
annual celebrations, in which so much of tbe aspiring talent,
of the matured intelligence, of tbe active energy, and of the
acknowledged culture of tbe Ancient Dominion of Virginia,
is brought together by the attraction derived from tbe com
mon memories of the past, and is melted into harmony by the
animation springing from tbe common hopes of tbe future.
You meet for the purpose of retrieving or reviving tbe dim
and obliterated traditions of the earlier day ; of commemora
ting the achievements in Council and in battle-field, — in pub
lic service and in private enterprise, by wbicb, in the short
space of two centuries and a half, tbe little company, which
attended Newport, and Gosnold, and Smith to tbe shores of
the Chesapeake, has expanded into the great, tbe intelligent,
tbe wealthy, and the well-peopled State of Virginia; and has
been multiplied by continual accretions from witbout, and by
vigorous internal development, into a vast and powerful con
federation of free, sovereign and independent States, spread
ing across tbe wide continent from ocean to ocean, and from
the reign of Northern frost to tbe realm of tropical beat and
luxuriance. Of this great arch, Virginia is the key-stone: and your
3

22 ADDRESS.

Historical Society, in its annnal assemblages, resuscitates all
the ideas, and sentiments, and reminiscences, which are impli
cated and embodied in the life and destiny of the United
States. Thus, the design of your meeting — the objects of your
Societj — tbe constituents of your eminent body — the feehngs
and tbe reflections which accompany you here — the diversity
of tbe regions from which so many representatives of tbe
widely difi'nsed Virginian name have converged to this point,
and for tbis occasion ; — the remembrance of the distinguished
gentlemen, who bave illustrated previous celebrations by their
instructive or brilliant addresses; and, in an especial manner,
tbe recollection that, in addressing myself to you, Mr. Presi
dent, I necessarily recall to the minds of all who hear me the
eminent and successful labors by wbicb you bave adorned your
retirement, and bave added the graces of literature, and the
prizes of bistory and biography, to tbe eminent renown pre
viously won, by services rendered to your State and to your
whole country, at home and abroad; — all these various influ
ences operate in concert to add interest to tbese recurring
assemblages, and to provoke a spontaneous expression of rever
ential admiration for the lofty and generous aims implied in
tbese honorable anniversaries.
But, gentlemen, if I may appropriately felicitate you on
tbese auspicious and suggestive associations, I must the more
particularly, on tbis account, return my cordial thanks to you,
and especially to the Members of your Executive Committee,
for tbe honor of my appointment to deliver tbe customary
address tbis evening.
Your liberality and confidence are exemplified, but my embar
rassment is augmented, by the consideration that I have been
invited, notwithstanding my English origin, to address a Vir
ginia audience, and the Virginia Historical Society, on topics
necessarily connected with tbe History of Virginia. You will

ADDRESS. 23

pardon the affection wbicb I still entertain for tbe home of
my childhood, remembering tbat, in many instances, your
own lineage is drawn from tbe sarae abundant fountain of
modern freedom ; — and recollecting that the Old Dominion of
Virginia was tbe first scion transferred from tbat venerable
stock to tbe rich, prolific and virgin soil of tbe New World.
The tenacity of our adherence to early loves, and friendships,
and obligations, and to tbe friends of our fathers before us,
is the surest pledge of tbe stability and sincerity of our ma
turer attachments.
You would not ask me, thenj to dwell upon the praises
even of Virginia, when her splendor shines by the eclipse of
tbe more ancient glories of the Mother-land. There are pas
sages in English History, and in tbe narrative of England's
connection with ber Colonies, which her patriotic children, at
home and abroad, and tbe descendants of her children to tbe
latest generation, can regard only witb fruitless regret, and
mortifying condemnation. These faults demand considera
tion, but they may be more fitly exposed by others. Rather
permit me to select, from tbe copious array of topics before
me, one which may do honor to Virginia, as the eldest born
ofthe American sisterhood, witbout diminishing the fair fame
of Eno-land, or obscuring the servioes which, intentionally or
instructively, by delioerate policy, or by inevitable develop
ment of inherent tendencies in herself, and in ber offspring,
she bas rendered to human Hberty and progress. Witb this
aim, I sball attempt to combine tbe glories of England and of
Virginia in one view, and I may succeed in enlarging the
appreciation of both by tbe union.
It is a prevalent habit _with tbe American people to con
template Araerican History — American Society — American
Institutions — the past career, tbe present condition, and tbe
future destinies of tbe separate and of the aggregate States—
in ' too insular' a manner, as if tbey were entirely estranged

24 ADDRESS.

from tbe general order of human affairs. The Roman Poet
of tbe Augustan Age spoke of the contemporaneous inhabi
tants of tbe British Isles as a race dissevered from the whole
world — toto divisos orbe Britannos. We, on this side of tbe
Atlantic, have appropriated to ourselves in our habitual speech,
the sneer at our barbarous ancestors, uttered by their con
querors nearly twenty centuries ago. It is a narrow and mis
taken policy, though explained and excused by the hostile or
jealous relations in which this country has been placed during
critical times with regard to Great Britain and the political
systems of Continental Europe. But, by thus contracting
the field of view, we deliberately exclude the abundant illu
mination which* would otherwise stream in from antecedent
times, and from the surrounding world. Moreover, we are
thus constrained to disregard the innumerable cords which
unite into one grand harmony 'the Federation of the Nations;'
and to ignore the continual play of those currents of action
and re-action which bind together tbe complicated phenomena
of social change, producing that august but unstable equi
librium in tbe life of the world, which, like the great Ocean,
exhibits incessant moveraent and alternation, witbout ever
transcending the bounds that maintain its essential unity and
identity. By contemplating tbe phases of American exist
ence, as if it were sustained and animated by forces distinct
from the general impulses of humanity, we are precluded
from tbe full comprehension even of those events which seem
to appertain peculiarly and exclusively to this side of the
Atlantic. The mission of the United States will be better
understood, and more worthily appreciated, if regarded as
constituting a main link in the chain of human evolution — as
presenting one of tbe latest and grandest acts of the porten
tous tragedy of man's action in the world — tban if it be
treated as an anomaly — as an episode — or as a brilliant and

ADDRESS. 25

meteoiio digression from the regular destinies of the human
race. The time, too, seems to urge upon us a recourse to these
broader views. The bright morning of American greatness
is shrouded witb ominous gloom. The extended Union, which
has been tbe pride, tbe glory, the security and the power of
the American people is threatened witb violent disruption.
A world-wide fanaticism, of no limited or transient origin —
the creature of political ignorance, of religious bigotry, of sec
tional jealousy and of the frenzy of innovation — bas at length
broken out into acts of treasonable discord and fraternal blood
shed, after having long fostered local and party animosities.
The air is darkened around us witb spectral shapes of terror.
Before tbe storm bursts in its full fury, if burst it must — be
fore the ruin is achieved, if the mighty fabric must be shat
tered; — it is wise to inquire by what visible and invisible
agencies the vast structure bad been reared and cemented, and
to learn what were its relations to tbe general economy of the
nations in its origin, its growth, and its maturity ; — what were
the harmonies prevailing between its vibrations and tbe move
ments of tbe rest of mankind. It would be well to recognize
that secret of fate — tbat wrcanum imperii — which has im
pelled and cherished the progress of our country, but which,
like tbe water of crystallization, may be beyond tbe reach of
scientific analysis, until tbe brilliant gem which enclosed it
bas been crushed into fragments. It is also incumbent upon
us at this'time to ascertain the extent to wbicb the liberties,
the prosperity, and the independence of tbe separate States
are implicated with their combination ; — and how far in tbeir
prosperity and persistent connection are involved tbe mainte
nance of freedom in tbe world, tbe expansion of civilization,
and the diffusion of morals, intelligence and religion. Thus
may be discovered tbe immense and increasing services wbicb
the American polity was calculated to render, and tbe ultimate
4

26 ADDRESS.

tendencies of tbat brightening and broadening career which
lay invitingly before its path.
To minister to the formation of such ampler views, and, as
far as may be, to mingle instruction and gratification with the
occupations of the hour, I have ventured to approach a sub
ject too vast for my information, my abilities, my opportuni
ties, and my time. I invite you, then, to accompany me with
your indulgent favor while I discuss rapidly, and therefore, if
on no other account, imperfectly, tbe Virginia Colony, or the
relations of English Colonization in America to tbe contempo
raneous and antecedent History of tbe Civilized World.
It would scarcely have happened by tbe mere caprice of
fortune that most of tbe eminent names of tbe Elizabethan
era, still surviving during the first years of the reign of
James, should have been united in the Patents by which the
germ of the English Colonies in America was planted and
preserved at Jamestown. Still less could it have been an
accident tbat Lord Bacon, besides being a member of the
Corporation and of tbe Council of tbe London Company,
should bave impressed his views and policy upon tbe organi
zation of the infant settlement ; and should have written his
Essay on Plantations almost as a commentary upon the early
fortunes of Virginia. Nor will it satisfy an intelligent curi
osity to ascribe to chance tbe remarkable convergence to the
shores of North America, about tbat time, of the brilliant
hopes and adventurous emprise of the brightest and most
chivalrous spirits of tbe chivalric court of Elizabeth. There
must bave been some potent and pervasive enchantment
springing from tbe united, though impalpable, agencies of
tbe miraculous past, and of tbe teeming present, to concen
trate, coincidently or successively, in one common purpose
of hazard, difficulty and expense, so many shining spirits and
martial heroes, and sagacious or astute statesmen, as Sir
Philip Sydney, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh,

ADDRESS. 27

Sir Richard Grenville, Sir Francis Bacon, and his intriguing
cousin, tbe Earl of Salisbury, Capt. John Smith, Sir Tbomas
Smith, Percy, and Lord Delaware. An explanation is re
quired for this sudden convocation of gallant soldiers, and
grave councillors, and learned lawyers, and profound sages,
and prudent financiers, and calculating merchants, and cau
tious capitalists, by tbe cradle of tbe nascent and infant Vir
ginia. No otber community has ever been illustrated at its
birth by sucb a galaxy of resplendent names. Never did
dreaming astrologer venture to cast such a horoscope of con
junctive and auspicious stars for tbe nativity of potentate or
empire. Never did Royal Highness or Imperial Prince re
ceive tbe honor of such an array of noble and distinguished
sponsors. Not only did civil prudence, and military renown,
and reviving philosophy, and commercial adventure, send
notable representatives, but Literature, with all the return
ing Arts and Sciences, participated in the ceremonial of the
earliest English colonization ; and the Maiden Queen herself
hailed its budding promise by imposing upon it tbe name
which her fancy bad chosen to be her own. The Poet, San
dys, whose brotber bad been the pupil of tbe venerable and
judicious Hooker ; Coke, the greatest of Black-letter lawyers,
and tbe rudest, but one of the sturdiest champions of English
Liberty ; Harriott, tbe mathematician, and anticipator of Des
Cartes ; Hakluyt, the faithful conservator of commercial ex
plorations and geographical discoveries; Drake, the berald,
and, in great measure, tbe founder of Britain's "Empire of
the Seas;" tbese, and many others, of scarcely inferior re-
pule in their day and generation, shared in tbe various efforts
to establish an English Colony near the waters of the Chesa
peake. They seemed to promise, by tbeir arrival on tbe soil
of Virginia, or by their connection with its settlement, tbat
the various culture of England, her freedom, her society, and
her policy, should be transferred to a new land, and cherished

28 ADDRESS.

into more vigorous and unrestrained development by tbe more
favoring clime, tbe more fertile soil, and the wider domain of
the late-won Hesperides :
Certus enim promisit Apollo
Antiqaam tellure nova Salamina futuram.
The immediate results of tbis amazing conjunction of tal
ents and energies were trivial indeed. But, in tbe weakness
or failure of tbe first efforts, bright auguries and brilliant
memories were left behind, which revealed the extent and the
intensity of the bidden impulses tbat had simultaneously
directed the anxious hopes of the multitude to tbe land of
promise beyond tbe setting sun.
So far was the settlement of Virginia, or the concurrence
of so much hardihood and genius in its settlement, from being
accidental, that they may be most manifestly proved to have
been " tbe long result of time," and tbe natural maturity of
all tbe previous tendencies of European progress. " Time,
with his retinue of ages," hovered over the Capes of the
Chesapeake, asking in those years the heritage of the goodly
land for his English progeny. The subsequent battles, con
tentions, and revolutions of Europe, evince that the fulcrum
on wbicb plays tbe lever of tbe world thenceforward moved
by a gradual procession along the habitual line of Empire to
the AVestern Continent. The fortunes and the destinies of
tbe great monarchies were from tbat day bound np, more and
more intimately, witb tbe progress of the American Colonies.
Even tbe retardations and the obstructions to colonization —
the frustration of Raleigh's sagacious enterprises, and their
final abandonment by him — the unavenged sacrifice of White's
colony at Roanoke — were indissolubly connected with great
national transactions, with the long maritime warfare, un
heralded and unsparing, between England and Spain — be
tween freedom in politics, and religion, and action, and

ADDRESS. 29

thought, and despotism in all — and witb the arrogant menace
and ruinous overthrow of Philip's " Invincible Armada."
No perraanent foothold in America was secured by tbe Eng
lish until the 10th day of June, 1610. The discoveries of John
and Sebastian Cabot in the reign of Henry VII. — tbe explora
tions of the Dominus Vobiscum, the Trinity, and the Union,
in the reign of Henry VIII. — tbe arctic voyages of Frobisber
under Elizabeth — had only increased geographical knowledge,
encouraged tbe English fisheries at Newfoundland, and dis
played the inclination of England to disregard tbe Papal par
tition of the undiscovered lands of tbe Ocean between the
Crowns of Spain and Portugal. The intelligence and heroism
of Gilbert — the large sagacity, the untiring energy, and tbe
lavish expenditures of Raleigh — the chivalry of Grenville —
the gallantry and wisdom of Smith — had published the vir
tues of tbese several commanders, and proved how arduous is
the task of sowing and cultivating the seeds of society. But
all their labors, and daring, and outlays bad failed to secure
the establishment of the Colony for which the enthusiasm of
themselves and their countrymen bad been so deeply excited.
There had been changes, and enlargements, and assignments,
and forfeitures of Patents. Charters had been modified, and
expanded, and divided. Large companies of wealthy, power
ful, and illustrious men had combined to achieve a task too
onerous for tbe matchless energy and abilities of Raleigh.
Yet, after all these changes and renewed efforts, tbe English
tenure of Virgmia continued to be transitory or precarious.
Tbe uninterrupted and determined occupation of tbe Ame
rican soil dates only from Sunday, tbe 10th of June, 1610.
On that day was commenced, with solemn, but resolute feel
ings, tbe restoration of the solitary hamlet possessed by tbe
English in America, which bad been abandoned witb indigr
nant despair three days before, after a troubled occupation of
three tedious and eventful years.

30 ADDRESS.

Gaunt with famine; reduced in numbers by desertion, dis
ease, and death; worn down witb tbe long agony of hope
deferred and hopes disappointed, having experienced new
disasters witb almost every fresh effort; oppressed even by
tbe recent tardy and tempest-tost addition to their famishing
community, overwhelmed with despondency, and sick of their
hard exile, — the colonists resolved to cease their fruitless
exertions, and to renounce all that the unimagined destinies
reserved for their enterprise and tbeir race. Tbey fled from
the scene of their trials and their afilictions, trusting them
selves in crazy and rotten vessels to tbe mercy of those waves
from which most of tbem had so lately escaped. They
tempted tbe Ocean once more, witb provisions barely suffi
cient for a brief voyage, but with the dreary and fainting
expectation of obtaining the requisite supplies for their home
ward journey from the fishing vessels wbicb frequented the
banks of Newfoundland.
Sucb was the prospective issue of the Colony at James
town ! Sucb tbe result of tbe " The Starving Time in Vir
ginia ! " Tbe calamitous experience of the Spanish, Portu
guese, and French settlements, and of the failures of Sir
Walter Raleigh at Roanoke, was renewed. This abandon
ment of Jamestown probably suggested to Lord Bacon the
impressive remark : " It is the sinfullest thing in the world
to forsake or destitute a plantation once in forwardness ; for,
besides the dishonour, it is the guiltiness of. blood of many
commendable persons."
In the previous year, Capt. John Smith had been com
pelled by a frightful accident to return to England for medi
cal advice. Nearly five hundred persons received his farewell.
Only sixty remained when Newport, and Gates, and Somers
arrived from the Bermudas witb one hundred and fifty re
cruits. These three chiefs, preceding Lord Delaware, the

ADDRESS. 31

Governor appointed under the laat Charter, had been wrecked
in tbe same vessel, amid the
Breadths of tropic shade, and palms in cluster, knots of Paradise,
that adorn those Islands of Faerie, which received from one
of tbese adventurers the name of tbe Somer Isles, and fur
nished to Shakspeare the original of " the still-vexed Ber-
moothes," peopled witb tbe enchantments of Prospero, the
love and innocence of Miranda, and the ideal graces of Ariel.
Nearly a year after their departure from England, tbe ship
wrecked mariners arrived, with their commanders, at James
town, in two frail vessels of their own construction. Their
numbers threatened only to increase the distress wbicb their
scanty stores could not long alleviate. All agreed to forsake
the hapless country, as Lane's Colony bad deserted Roanoke
on the arrival of Drake, a quarter of a century before.
Heavy, indeed, must bave been the hearts of tbe settlers
during the painful months preceding and necessitating tbis
determination. Tbese may bave been occasioned or aggra
vated by improvidence, insubordination and vicious conduct;
but tbe misery was not tbe less real, and tbe crisis of fate
was not tbe less portentous, because they had provoked tbeir
own wretchedness.
A few hungry and half-clothed men, the relics of a large
emigration; in the midst of tbe wilderness; surrounded by
the forest and its savage occupants; without coherence among
themselves ; Wthout the solace of woman's presence, or tbe
charm of childish pranks and prattle; cut off from tbeir
country and their countrymen; removed by hundreds of
desert miles from tbe nearest European settlers, in whom
tbey would have recognized only enemies; with the wild
waste of waters between tbem and their native land ; witb
the unexplored immensity of 'the gloomy horror of the
woods' towards the setting sun; without longer dream of

32 ADDRESS.

advantage to themselves — without amusement — witbout ac
ceptable occupation for either mind or band — without social
order — without security — without bope of relief — without
prospect of happiness or even tolerable misery — without ade
quate sustenance, or any imaginable encouragement — witbout
health, or strength, or anticipation of continued life ; they
might well repudiate the interests of tbeir native land, not
yet comprehended by her sages; tbe demands of their
creed, still associated with intolerant hostilities; and ignore
everything else in tbe cpnseiousness of tbeir overpowering
calamities. Tbe seed of Empire bad been sown on the soil of Virginia
by English enterprise, and English bands. It had put forth
some struggling roots, but tbe plant had withered by neglect,
mismanagement, misconduct and misfortune. The work of
heroes and of sages was apparently destroyed. Tbe hopes of
England, and the promise of American liberty were once
more afioat, returning on the current of tbe PoVhatan, unful
filled, and to prevent or delay future fulfillment. It was the
critical hour of modern destinies. But tbe will of Providence
was more propitious than the deUberations of men. The
fugitives were arrested near tbe mouth of the river by Lord
Delaware, who bad at length arrived witb re-inforcements and
abundant supplies. Tbey returned to their recently aban
doned bome ; and, on tbe morrow, tbe 10th of June, tbey
resumed, witb prayer and thanksgiving, and earnest augury,
tbe solemn task of laying the small foundations of a mighty
Empire. " It is," said tbey, " tbe arm of tbe Lord of Hosts, who
would have bis people pass the Red Sea and the wilderness,
and then possess tbe land of Canaan."
" Doubt not," tbey proclaimed to the people of England,
" God will raise our State, and build bis Church in this
excellent clime."

ADDRESS. 33

Could any thaumaturgio art have enabled Lord Delaware,
or his fellow-workers, to look
into the Future, far as human eye could see ;
and have presented to bim, or to them.
The Vision of the World, and all the Woader that should be ;
what energy, what enthusiasm, what exultation, what sublime
resolution, and what lofty endeavor, would bave been inspired
by tbe magnificent revelation ! The prescience, so accorded,
might bave extended beyond the clouds which now darken
our horizon, and have reached to the contemplation of a vaster
and still more prosperous confederation than has yet been
imagined, beneath skies once more serene. The Royal Pro
cession of Banquo's unborn beirs, closed by the then reign
ing monarch, James I. with the two-fold balls, and treble
sceptre, borne by hira as King of England, Scotland and
Ireland, could not have afforded a more dazzling anticipation
of future glory, tban would have been seen issuing from tbe
settlement of the first English Colony in Amerioa, under the
auspices of tbe same King. Nor would tbe vision of Roman
triumphs and the Imperial dominion of Rome, unveiled to
the gaze of ^neas in tbe Elysian Fields, bave revealed a
scene of brighter proraise for the buman family, tban would
bave been displayed in the boundless perspective, had any
magic ointment? unsealed the eyes of Lord Delaware, or any
fond Anchises, or guiding Sibyl, pointed to Virginia, and her
direct or collateral posterity, saying,
hano adspioe gentem
Eomanosque tuos.
It was only the inauguration of tbe grand phantasmagoria
which was unrolled before the admiring view of Lord

34 ADDRESS.

Bathurst, and immortalized by the oratory of Burke, which
it inspired. If such provision was denied to the actors and contempo
raries of that significant, though obscure ceremonial, the
restoration of Jamestown, we may transport ourselves in
imagination to the scene, with all the knowledge that the
achievements of generations have furnished, with all tbe illus
tration from anterior events tbat the more diligent and com
prehensive study of history has supplied. Tbat point of
time and of space when despair was transmitted into per
sistent and successful endeavor, when English colonization
was first assured, affords an appropriate " specular mount,"
froin wbicb to discern the agencies in tbe foretime, which
received form, expression, and realization by that act and its
consequences; and to detect its results in the ensuing gen
erations, in tbe Continent on which it was enacted, and the
Continent whence tbe impulse and the actors were derived.
The occasion may be deemed too slight to be made the
symbol of such wide disturbance. The commencements of
great political mutations are almost invariably trivial in ap
pearance, often even contemptible. " Tbe cloud as of the
bigness of a man's hand" may be tbe berald of tempests
which will involve tbe Heavens in universal tumult, and deso
late extensive kingdoms. Consider tbe grain of mustard seed.
It is not the magnitude of tbe occurrence, but the amount of
antecedent preparation which it implies, and the character or
range of its effects, which constitutes the importance of any
historical transaction. The Virginia Colony was tbe summa
tion of anterior tendencies, tbe germination ofa new system —
of a new process of tbe ages, and as such cannot be over
rated. In the tombs of tbe pristine inhabitants of tbe American
Continent, a race extinct before this New World was disco
vered by Columbus, relios bave been found suggesting the

ADDRESS. 35

presence of the arts and knowledge, tbe culture and tbe
creeds, of all tbe more notable populations of antiquity.
Chinese and Hindoos, Egyptians and Phoenicians, Jews and
Etruscans, Greeks and Celts, Thibetans, Tartars, and otber
Mongolian races, are represented by tbe buried remains scat
tered over tbe land from tbe mediterranean seas of the North
to the broad waters of the La Plata' in the South. These
strange, and scarcely appreciated evidences of the almost in
comprehensible connection of tbe primitive occupants of Ame
rioa witb the various peoples of the elder world, present an
anticipation and prototype of what may be observed in ber
more recent history. All the civilized nations of the modern
world have contributed, in diverse modes, their blood, their
enterprise, tbeir treasure, tbeir learning, tbeir experience,
their invention, their manners, and their civility, to be fused
into a new and all-embracing harmony beneath tbe Western
skies. They have thus produced a universal amalgam, which,
if the concoction proceed to perfection, may be, like tbe cele
brated Corinthian brass, more precious tban the aggregate of
its constituent eleraents. All tbe currents of previous, and
especially of modern progress, ran together in tbe Virginia
Colony, and fiowed onward to her younger sister : and James
town, at tbe moment of its renovation, marks tbe point, in
space and time, where the grand confiux of the waters took
place. Isolated and anomalous as the phenomena of our political
and social organization appear in the popular conception of
them, no part of the continuous process of historical develop
ment is more rigidly and minutely the result of the silent
laws of human progress, or more certainly the product of
numerous antecedent catenations of inter-dependent causes.
Even the discovery of America, at tbe time of its occurrence,
was no fortuitous, ov unprepared event. In the days when

36 ADDRESS.

the successful daring of Columbus broke like a revelation
over Europe, his magnificent conquest from the unknown was
a natural birth of tbe time, as his bold emprise and previous
bold conviction were tbe offspring of preceding circumstances
and conjectures, as well as of bis own assiduous investigations
and patient inductions.
The whole life of Columbus, bis studies, bis aspirations,
his early career, bis perseverance and pertinacity, exhibited
tbe operation of the pervading influences of the Fifteenth
Century upon a mind of singular genius and resolution. He
lived in an age of amazing maritime adventure and intense
commercial expectation. To recognize how largely his en
terprise was due to prevalent tendencies, it is sufficient to
peruse tbe remarkable exposition by tbe son of the motives
which induced the father to attempt bis hazardous exploration
of the unmeasured Ocean. In tbat memorable statement no
thing is more remarkable tban tbe letter of the Florentine
astronomer, Paul Toscanelli, which is declared to bave been
one of the main causes of tbe undertaking. This epistle was
a repetition of a previous communication addressed by tbe
same scientific Italian to Fernandez Martinez, of Lisbon, wbo
was tben engaged in similar inquiries. In tbis letter occur
the geographical misapprehensions and miscalculations which
deceived the contemporaries of Columbus and bimself, but
which constituted, in consequence of that deception, import
ant elements of bis success. Here, too, are tbe customary
allusions to the distant explorations of Marco Polo, and of
otber travellers, wbo, during or after the Crusades, and actu
ated by impulses derived from tbem, bad penetrated into tbe
remote and hitherto unknown regions of Eastern Asia. This
letter was written at Florence, on the 25tb of June, 1474,
eighteen years before Columbus sailed from the port of Palos
to explore tbe bounds of the undefined 4-tlantic.

ADDRESS. 37

In a second letter, indeed, the date of wbicb I bave not
been able to determine, Toscanelli writes to his illustrious
correspondent :
"I am dfeligbted tbat you have fully comprehended my
demonstration, and that this voyage is no longer a mere pos
sibility, but is henceforward certain and real ; for its accom
plishment would be an incalculable benefit, and an immense
glory in tbe estimation of all Christendom."
Amongst other motives by which Columbus was stimulated
in his great undertaking, according to tbe same indisputable
authority, reference is made to tbe prophecy of Seneca, to the
conjectures of Aristotle, or tbe Pseudo-Aristotlej to Ptolemy,
Strabo, Pliny, Marinus, Averroes, Alfergani, Marco Polo, Sir
John Mandeville, Peter d'Ailly, and others wbo bad visited
strange regions, or bad speculated on tbe shape of tbe earth,
and on tbe distribution of its lands and waters.
All tbe nascent science, all tbe accumulated learning, the
recent and tbe earlier observation and experience of Europe,
in an age qf peculiar intellectual energy, and of singular
activity by sea and land, concentrated their illumination upon
this point. The transcendant merit of Columbus consisted in
his susceptibility to tbe spirit and tendencies of the period;
in his collection, collation and appreciation of the abundant
and luminous evidence; in bis firm conviction, and in the
unequalled sagacity and resolution which dared to act upon
that conviction in the face of sneers, indifference, neglect, of
unfathomable doubts and inconceivable dangers. The great
man is not he who places bimself at variance witb the spirit
of his age, but be who most thoroughly and intelligently
accepts it, and is thereby enabled to render himself its most
complete, and consequently its most potent and most novel
realization. In a more elaborate and detailed review of the concatena
tion of tbe great movements wbicb attained tbeir ultimate
5

38 ADDRESS.

accomplishment in the English settlements in America, it
would be interesting to show how the enthusiastic pursuit of
maritime discovery by the Portuguese, and the heroic, but
sanguinary daring of the Spanish Conquerors, gradually
sprung out of the Crusades ; — and how, from tbe Crusades,
concurrently with other causes which tbey encouraged or
modified, arose also the commercial changes, the commercial
necessities, and tbe commercial aspirations, which inflamed
tbe minds of men in tbe Mth, 15th and 16th centuries, and
produced tbe notable achievements of modern industry, litera
ture, science, philosophy and civilization. Tbe grand events
of buman history form parts of a single chain, though tbe
separate links sometimes seem so trivial that their importance
is overlooked till tbe whole series is regarded in its continuity.
Tbe midnight aspect of the starry heavens presents to tbe
uninstructed gaze only dazzling perplexity and inextricable
confusion. In the shining hieroglyphics traced by those
countless orbs, the purged eye of science discerns the rule
of eternal law, and order, immutable, though inexplicable,
throughout the fathomless abysses of tbe sky. The moral pro
cesses of humanity are even more intricate and mysterious,
but tbey, too, are obsequious to tbe same providential govern
ance, which conjoins them into one harmonious, but incom
prehensible scheme. What the poet declared in regard to
the plastic powers and processes which mould the individual
man, is equally applicable to the genesis and evolution of
historical change :
Dust as we are, the immortal spirit grows
Like harmony in music ; there is a dark
Inscrutable workmanship that reconciles
Discordant elements, makes them cling together
In one society.
The New World won from the Ocean — the late realization
of Plato's dream of Atlantis, and of the dim tradition of

ADDRESS. 39

Antilia — was to become the heritage of tbe nations. It was
first to be the prize of tbeir rivalries and contentions. Tbe
elements of European culture were to be developed here, free
from tbe antiquated restrictions transmitted frora tbe past.
The populations of Europe able to participate in the prospec
tive fusion were to be introduced into America, and to display
their capacity or incompetency to achieve tbe task prescribed
by destiny. Spain, and Portugal, and France made trial of
their skill : but the experiment failed in their hands. Tbe
winner of the race, the child of tbe world's promise and of
the world's hopes, was almost tbe last of the competitors to
enter upon the course. It was an accident, however, which
perhaps prevented tbe discovery of tbe New Continent under
the auspices of England.
The capture of Bartholomew Columbus by pirates, on his
mission to offer his brother's services to the English monarch ;
the opportune conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Grenada,
and tbe sagacity, arabition, piety, or cupidity of Queen Isa
bella, secured for Spain the honor of adding another Continent
to the habitable earth. But it is still necessary to explain the
long retardation of English adventure in tbe Western Hemis
phere, which is rendered stranger by tbe fact tbat the main
land of North America was actually visited by Cabot, sailing
under the flag of Henry VII. before it bad been seen by Co
lumbus. Tbis explanation will reveal much of tbe recondite
significance and opportunity of tbe Virginia Colony, and will
introduce us into the heart of the tangled policy, tbe great
antagonistic tendencies, and the social perturbations, out of
which arose the English settlements in America.
On tbe application of Don Henry of Portugal, Eugenius
IV., by a papal bull conceded* to tbat crown, ' an exclusive
right to all countries whioh tbe Portugese should discover
from Cape Non to tbe Continent of India.' In consequence
of the discoveries of Columbus, this grant was modified by the

40 A'DDRESS.

infamous Alexander VI. and tbe whole ofthe unknown world,
to the east and to the west of an imaginary line, was divided
unintelligently between Spain and Portugal. Both conces
sions were united in tbe Spanish Crown, when the Duke of
Alva, the executioner of tbe Netherlands, subjugated Portu
gal ; and when Philip II. added, in 1580, the crowns of Por
tugal and both tbe Indies to the almost universal empire of
Charles V. Tbe date is important ; for Queen Ehzabeth's
patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert was issued only two years
before, and tbe patent to Sir Walter Raleigh only four years
after this vast monopoly of the regions of colonial enterprise
had been effectuated.
France, indeed, while waging war on tbe Flemish frontier
and in Italy, had disregarded tbe pontificial donations in the
same spirit in wbicb she had sought and received the alliance
of tbe Turks. England bad also timidly manifested a dispo
sition on some occasions to secure a foothold in the New
World. But tbe obligatory force of the prohibition to all
strangers to interfere with the inheritance of tbe Spanish and
Portuguese sovereigns, was operative in England, and wag
effectually asserted in tbe reign of Edward IV. with regard to
the trade of the Guinea Coast. This proscription continued
to operate until tbe throne of Elizabeth was indissolubly con
nected with tbe political success of tbe Reformation, and a
war between England and Spain had become a prospective
certainty. Thus tbe chief event of modern centuries, tbe dis"
location of temporal and ecclesiastical authority, and tbe change
of political systems and religious creeds by the Reformation
of Luther, was an important and even necessary preliminary
to tbe establishment of an English Colony in A''irginia. The
nativity of our ancient metropolis was heralded and prepared
by meraorable events : and the mighty omens which preceded'
its foundation were fair auguries of tbe vast consequences to
humanity, in the near or the distant future, to be anticipated

ADDRESS. 41

from the first English settlement — tbe first offshoot of English
freedom in America.
The papal prohibition might have failed to produce such.
unaccustomed abstinence on tbe part of the English during;
tbe century of Portuguese and Spanish discovery, and tbe fol
lowing century of Portuguese, Spanish and French appropriai-
tion, if tbe political and social condition of England bad not
tended concurrently to the same result.
In tbe last year of tbe fourteenth century the throne of
England was usurped by Henry IV., and tbe crown transfer
red to ' tbe aspiring blood of ^Lancaster.' Thus tbe century
of maritime discovery was in England ushered in by the
commencement of the long discord which desolated the land,
destroyed its resources, despoiled its cities, and sacrificed its
people. Rachel, weeping for her children, could not exchange
her ravaged bome for distant wanderings. War with Scot
land — tbe persecution of the Lollards — tbe victory of Agin
court, — and tbe acquisition of the French Crown, occupied tbe
first quarter of the century. But the premature deatb of
Henry V. — the infancy and the idiocy of his ill-fated son —
the rivalries and tbe intrigues of tbe Royal Dukes and other
great nobles — precipitated tbe expulsion of tbe English from
France under tbe patriotic impulse communicated by the
heroic exaltation of Joan of Arc. Tbe ruinous wars of the
Roses ensued — tbe long contention between the houses of
York and Lancaster — not terminated by tbe Battle of Bos
worth, and scarcely concluded by the astute policy and cool
tyranny of Henry VII. and the princes of the Tudor line.
During such long continued agitations, industry and com
merce, and maritime adventure, could not experience tbe ge
nial gales which were speeding Portugal and Spain to their
glorious discoveries in tbe Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.
In England, tbe energies of the people and tbeir resources
had been wasted, the political constitution had been widely

42 ADDRESS. .

shaken, and the social fabric seemed to be shivered from the
crown to tbe base. Society and government demanded recon
struction and the animation of a new spirit, before the period
of English expansion and triumph could be inaugurated.
Tbis process of renovation was fortunately reserved for the
sixteenth century — the era of Spanish and Portuguese con
quest, occupation and colonization — though it was only inef
fectually and transitorily accomplished even tben. The con
quests of Cortez and Pizarro, and Albuquerque were achieved —
the mines of Mexico and Peru, and 'the wealth of Ormuz
and of Ind ' had been won — tbe Araucana of Ercilla y Zu-
niga, and tbe Lusiad of Camoens bad been written — before
England drearat of oceanic or trans-oceanic empire. The
accession of the youthful, splendid, accomplished and ambi.
tious monarch, Henry VIIL, might have promised an early
completion of tbe tendency to political and social reorganiza.
tion, and to external development. But, instead of wisely
prosecuting tbe silent offices of peace, he preferred to blaze
among the illustrious sovereigns of tbat memorable time; — to
outshine Francis of France on the Field ofthe Cloth of Gold;
and to rival Francis, and Charles V., and Leo X., and Soley-
man, the Magnificent, on tbe troubled arena of European pol
itics. His futile intervention in the controversies of the Con
tinent ; his endeavor to balance tbe scales between Francis
and Charles ; his adoption and assertion of the Reformation
on matrimonial grounds; bis dissolution of tbe monasteries,
and appropriation of tbeir revenues for financial and political
considerations; his fiuctuating and capricious regulation of
the creed of bis subjects by fire, gibbet and prison ; exacer
bated the social agitation, and diverted his attention, and the
enterprise of his people, from any effectual attempt to partici
pate in tbe new treasures of the Eastern and Western worlds.
The religious oscillations, witb the attendant persecutions of
the reigns of Edward VI. — the bloody Mary — and Elizabeth,

ADDRESS. 43

prolonged the retardation of England's commercial import
ance. It was further delayed by tbe solicitude with which
Henry VII. coveted a Spanish alliance for bis dubious line ;
by tbe marriage of Henry VIII. wilh tbe aunt of Charles V. ;
by tbe union of Philip IL, the son of Charles, with Queen
Mary, on whose death tbe Spanish potentate promptly ten
dered his hand to Queen Elizabeth, without experiencing an
equally prompt repulse.
Thus tbe domestic relations of tbe Tudor family to tbe sov
ereigns of Spain, — tbe aspirations of the founders of the line
for continental influence — and tbe internal condition of their
country, social, political and religious, — all concurred in clos
ing for more than a century the portals of America to Eng
Ush adventurers. But a wonderful change was gradually
introduced by tbe stirring incidents and novel interests of tbe
reign of Elizabeth. In heart, she remained of tbe old religion
of ber father, accepting tbe most controverted tenets of the
rejected creed, but regarding her own ecclesiastical supremacy
as the most important article of the true faith.
Tbe throne of Elizabeth was insecure. It was not con
firmed till the execution of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of
Scots, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada, thirty years
after her accession. The legitimacy of Elizabeth had been
solemnly denied by ber tyrannical father. This denial had
been corroborated by Act of Parliament — by tbe sign-manual
of her half-brother, Edward VI. — and by tbe formal legiti-
matization of ber elder half-sister, Queen Mary. This decis
ion would, perbaps, be sustained by tbe strict rules of law and
morals. Mary of Scotland was apparently the true lineal
inheritor of tbe English Crown ; and her claims, if they had
been sustained by her native kingdom, would bave been
pressed by ber ambitious kinsmen, the Guises, and might have
been maintained by the arms of France, as tbey were asserted
by the intrigues and the navies of Spain. Elizabeth was thus

44 ADDRESS.

compelled by her position to espouse the Protestant cause, to
identify herself with the Protestant movement, and to become
the champion of Protestantisra against that communion, which
repudiated ber title to the throne, and in concert with one or
other of the great Catholic- powers, endeavored by intrigue,
violence, and commination, to subvert ber authority, to
alienate her subjects, to provoke rebellion, to. invite ber assas
sination, or to crush her by open hostilities. Thus was she
thrown upon her people for support, and nobly did they
respond to her confidence. Thus was she obliged to con
ciliate tbeir good will, and to cherish their resources, by the
diligent cultivation df tbeir national sentiments and institu
tions, of their energies, tbeir capacities, their industry, and
tbeir commerce. Alltbis she did with unwavering firmness
and wonderful sagacity. Much of tbe success may have been
due to tbe political intelUgence of her prudent ministers, but
tbe spirit, the equability, and the grandeur of her rule, may
be safely ascribed to ber own regal mind and capacious intel
lect. Tbe necessities wbicb imposed upon her the task of
nursing at home the sources of present security and independ
ence, urged her to seek, foster, and create new elements of
power abroad. Hence, she encouraged the Protestant revolu
tion throughout Europe — fanning the fiame in Germany, and
sending her troops and commanders to uphold it by arms in
tbe distracted realm of Scotland, in the revolted provinces of
the Netherlands, and amongst tbe Huguenots in the wars of
tbe League in France. Hence, she appeared as the ally of
John Knox and tbe Regent Murray; of William of Orange
and his son, Maurice; of Cond6, Coligny, and Henry of
Navarre. Hence, too, she readily connived at, authorized, or
participated in, tbe semi-piratical enterprises of her courtiers
and captains against tbe marine and tbe possessions of the
overwhelming despotism of Spain.
In tbese military and naval schools were formed the daring

ADDRESS. 45

and versatile adventurers, who bumbled the pride of Philip,
and crippled the power of tbe Spanish Crown — who carried
the English flag into all seas, and introduced tbe seeds of
English freedom and polity into Virginia.
In defending ber throne, and asserting the independence
of her kingdora, the truly national policy of Elizabeth extin
guished forever tbe pretensions of tbe Austrian rulers of
Spain to universal empire. The same measures which
achieved tbis protection of tbe civil and religious liberties
of JSurope, simultaneously developed witb araazing rapidity
the intelligence, cultivation, and prosperity of the English.
We can scarcely appreciate tbe immensity and tbe variety of
the impulses then communicated to England, to free institu
tions' and to civilization, without patiently contemplating the
host of stars, of all degrees of brilliancy and of all magni
tudes, wbicb, in isolated and unapproacbed splendor, or clus
tered together in glittering constellations, illumined witb their
blended radiance tbe skies of tbe Elizabethan age. On tbe
muster roll of tbe Immortals were inscribed, during that half
century, English names, which still stir tbe blood like tbe
sound of a clarion, echoing with ever-augmented reverbera
tions over tbe earth, and marking tbe rise and fall of stales;
the revolutions of religion, polity, science, and philosophy;
tbe bloora of literature ; the conquests of commerce, and tbe
triumphs of the land and of tbe sea. This roll of glory is too
voluminous for present exhibition; but, long as it is, each
separate name is tbe symbol of achievements, which alone
merited the assiduous labors of an age.
The circumstances of tbe time co-operated witb tbe delibe
rate efforts of Elizabeth. The destruction of tbe old feudal
barons in the Wars of the Roses, (St. Alban's, and Towton,
and Barnet, and Tewkesbury,) and by the more fatal exac
tions of Henry Vll.^the perturbations of landed wealth
consequent on tbe dissolution of tbe monasteries — and the

46 ADDRESS.

gradual abrogation of serfdom, by no act of legislature or
monarch, but by the changes of private interest — these sweep
ing mutations bad entirely revolutionized tbe constitution of
society, and altered tbe character of all social arrangements.
A new nobility had sprung up. An industrious middle class
had arisen,, and been aided in the rapid accumulation of
wealth and influence by tbe long civil strife and commercial
disturbances in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Neth
erlands. The occupations of the people were altered. Lands
were enclosed for pasturage. Commerce and m.anufactures
started into life. Towns were enlarged and built. The re
sources of tbe nation were multiplied, and capital was contin
ually re-duplicated. But large bodies of tbe people were
reduced by tbe sudden revulsion to pauperism and rfendl-
cancy. Tbe ancient nobility and gentry, wbo had derived
their social and political preponderance from their territorial
possessions, found themselves outstripped in wealth and power
by those wbo fattened on tbe rising riches of industry, specu
lation, and trade. The sentiment put by Shakespeare in tbe
mouth of Hamlet, was familiar in that day to the experience
and regrets of " tbe good old gentlemen of England ; " and
is commemorated in sucb contemporaneous ballads as " Time's
Alteration, and " The Old and Young Courtier." " The age
is grown so picked, tbat the toe of tbe peasant comes so near
tbe heel of tbe courtier, he galls bis kibe."
A rapid social fermentation was tben in progress, changing
tbe pursuits of men, and throwing whole classes of tbe Eng
lish people but of tbe ancient routine of life and employment.
Tbese classes were peculiarly the laboring population, tbe
idlers by profession, and the gentry and nobility of reduced
or unsettled fortunes. Thus were simultaneously supplied
and animated the hands to execute, and the intelligence to
contrive and direct novel and arduous adventures. The diffi
culty and uncertainty of support at home actuated tbe rank

ADDRESS. 47

and file of tbese adventurers. The prospect of sudden gain
and erainent renown inspired tbeir leaders. Henoe, when
undeclared or proclaimed hostilities with Spain exposed tbe
Spanish galleons, and colonies, and coasts to the private or
public warfare of the English marine, and threw open to
English assault or occupation tbe colonial regions of the
world, united under one sceptre by Philip's acquisition of
Portugal, the moral and material instruments were already
prepared to take advantage of tbis conjuncture. In availing
themselves of the tempting opportunities of tbat great crisis,
the English rovers, tbe Drakes, and Hawkinses, and Fro-
bishers, and Raleigbs, and Grenvilles, and Lanes, easily be
guiled themselves in regard to the complicated motives by
which tbeir enterprises were impelled. Selfish aims were tbe
instruments by which tbe beneficent designs of Providence
were accomplished. The desire of private emolument was
combined with and dignified by higher and more generous
purposes. Every success obtained at tbe expense of the
grasping despotism of Spain was an effectual blow struck for
the security of tbe English throne — for tbe assertion and
propagation of tbe Protestant religion — for tbe defence and
enfranchisement of tbe nations — and for tbe privilege of un
trammelled thought and action, and of expanding intelligence.
Happy is tbe age when pergonal interests are thus identified
with the processes of national grandeur, and witb tbe advanc
ing destinies of humanity ! Fortunate, indeed, were tbe days
of " Good Queen Bess," when tbis union took place for the
exaltation of " Merrie England," and tbe diffusion of tbe
Anglo-Saxon race! With instinctive and prophetic felicity
did tbe maiden queen bestow ber own highly-prized appella
tion of Virginia on tbe favored land where tbe English first
obtained seizin of America ! At that moment of time, on
that distant spot, and by tbat act of occupation, marked for
ever by the restoration of Jamestown, all the lines of English

48 ADDRESS.

progress, all the currents of EngUsh freedom, all tbe promises
of English greatness, all the tendencies of augmenting civili
zation, were represented, concorporated, and assured.
In estimating tbe social agitation during tbe reigns of
Elizabeth and her successor, which has been indicated as one
of the maiij incentives to colonial adventure, and as one of
the chief agencies in commercial expansion, reference must
be made to tbe financial condition of those times. Influences,
apparently humble in their nature, and obscure in their ac
tion, but which are universal in their play, are more perma
nently and more potently operative than impulses of more
splendid aspect. It was during these years, tbe close of tbe
16th and tbe commencement of tbe 17tb century, that the
prices of all productions, and of tbe agents of production,
were rapidly rising in consequence of the augmentation of the
precious metals by the copious supplies from tbe American
mines. Nearly a century elapsed after tbe discovery of the
Western World, before the gold and silver of Mexico and
Peru occasioned any general derangement in values, or in the
relations of society. Towards the conclusion of that period
the financial disturbance generated large and rapid fortunes —
embarrassed monarchs and governments, altering tbeir rela
tions to their subjects — disorganized tbe public exchequer —
aggravated tbe necessities of tbe poor — heightened the cu
pidity of the rich — diminished the comparative ease of the
ancient gentry — increased tbe luxury and ostentation of
wealth — and infiamed the speculations of daring adventurers.
To this cause must in part be attributed tbe contemporaneous
celebrity of the Rosicrucians, the continued encouragement
given to the pursuits of alchemy, in which Sir Humphrey
Gilbert Suffered bimself to be involved — tbe impatient avidity
witb which gold was demanded from all newly-discovered
lands — the perseverance witb wbicb strange routes to the
East Indies were explored — by Archangel — by the North

ADDRESS. 49

West passage — through Muscovy, Persia, Egypt — along the
shores of North America — and in the interior of North Caro
lina and Virginia. To tbe same impulse we must also par
tially ascribe the restless activity with wbicb tbe English
endeavored to multiply alliances witb strange nations, and the
establishment of great mercantile associations — tbe Russia —
the Turkey — tbe East India — tbe Virginia — the London —
and tbe Plymouth Companies.
The religious dissensions in England bave not been enu
merated among tbe direct influences determining English
colonization in America. Tbe general movement communi
cated by the Reformation, and the spirit impressed by it on
the whole series of colonial transactions, are sufficiently evi
dent, and bave been frequently alluded to. These discords
tended to multiply tbe colonies after one bad been estab
lished ; tbey increased emigration from abroad, and aug
mented the colonial population; they determined tbe location
of different bodies of exiles ; and tbey exasperated into a
passionate enthusiasm the attachment of the colonists to civil
and religious liberty ; but they did not, in any considerable
degree, encourage the original fervor of colonization. The
chief influenoe of a religious character, which excited the
early English efforts, was derived from no sectarian quarrels
at bome, but from the pervading spirit of the Reformation, as
embodied in the national resistance to the spiritual and politi
cal domination of Spain. The main significance of tbe occu
pation of tbe North American shares by the English must,
therefore, be sought from the early Virginia colony, and not
from tbe sectional or sectarian import of tbe later Puritan set
tlements in New England, tbe Catholic province of Maryland,
the Huguenot emigrants in South Carolina, or tbe Quaker
establishments in Pennsylvania. Each of tbese Plantations,
and of tbe States which have issued from them, possesses its
6

50 ADDRESS.

own merits and its own distinctive claims to respectful con
sideration. Tbey have their own honor, as they had their
several missions, which I would rather enhance tban tarnish.
Each bas co-operated, in its own mode, and in its own good
time, in preparing, effectuating and evolving tbe system of the
American Confederation. But tbe inauguration of tbe mighty
drama was due, not to tbem, nor to tbe influences which dis
tinguished them from each other, but to the leader of the
forlorn bope of English colonization in America — tbe first
English settlement at Jamestown. The virtue of the plant is
in the seed. The circulation proceeds from the root to all the
umbrageous and fruit-bearing branches. The bistorical sig
nificance of tbe American Union must, consequently, be re
ferred to tbe Virginia colony. Tbis conclusion is corroborated
by observing bow tbe spirit and progress of the Old Dominion,
tbe character of the Revolution, and tbe genius of tbe United
States, have all been affected by tbe fact that A''irginia was
founded by the gallant gentlemen of England, and was re
plenished with ber best blood, instead of proceeding from
religious sectaries, and perpetuating in ber veins tbe venom
of theological discord and polemical rancor.
The large and solemn purport of tbe Virginia Colony, and
its efficacy in promoting the liberty, intelligence and civiliza
tion of humanity, arose from tbat very procrastination of
English maritime adventure, which, at first view, provokes
both surprise and regret. Had England engaged in colonial
conquests concurrently with Portugal, or Spain, or France,
she would bave transplanted to tbese Hesperian shores tbe
crumbling institutions of an expiring social system, the ascend
ancy of the Roman Catholic creed, and tbe despotic rule of
tbe Tudor line. In consequence of the delay, the first fruits
of the approaching regeneration of England were naturalized
here; while the superannuated trunk, from which the vigorous

ADDRESS. 51

offshoot had been taken, was left in its native soil to undergo
the painful process of decay and regeneration. The vanguard
of English intelligence and freedom erected the standard of
liberty and bope on tbe bays of Roanoke and tbe banks of the
Powhatan. Not merely were the learning, and science, and
literature, and practical wisdom, and active energy of the
brilliant age of Elizabeth domiciliated bere by tbe opportune
establishment of tbe Virginia Colony, but tbe glowing promise
of the future, in tbat glorious dawn of English splendor, so
soon to be involved in tumult and clouds at bome, was con
veyed witb loftier auspices, and ampler ulterior capabilities of
realization, to tbe infant offspring of England beyond tbe At
lantic flood. In that day. Pandora's box bad been delivered
into tbe bands of Albion. It bad been opened witb tbe im
patience characteristic of nations, as of individuals. The
liberated troop of evils .and discords flew abroad over tbe
land, and incited long and acrimonious dissension, and civil
war. The undying bope of humanity that remained behind,
floated over tbe waters with the adventurers of tbe Virginia
Company, rested on tbe foundation-stone of resurgent James
town, and may still cheer the ominous apprehensions of the
present generation.
The age of Elizabeth was gilded with the genial light of
the elder time. Tbe illumination of former days shed a softer
glory over the reign of the Maiden Queen than had belonged
to those feudal centuries whence tbe light bad been transmit
ted, or bad shone upon any former period since tbe dreamy
infancy of ancient Greece. The lingering sunset of chivalry
clothed tbe court and camp of Elizabeth witb a gentler efflu
ence tban attended its meridian; and, as it sunk in tbe distant
West, tbe long line of undulating glory, which stretched across
the Atlanlio from England to America, marked the pathway
of empire reaching westward to its resting-place. It was an

52 ADDRESS.

exhilarating omen that the colonization of Virginia was un
dertaken and achieved, while
Life's morning radiance had not left the hills.
Her dew was on the flowers.
The influences of childhood, unnoted as they may be, ac
company us through life, and unconsciously mould the charac
ter and shape the destiny. It must be, as it has been, a
cherished recollection of Virginians, and an active incentive
to patriotic achievement, tbat the colony whence they have
sprung was founded by a race of heroes, who united to their
martial prowess and practical prudence, tbe courtly graces of
knighthood, the noble sentiments of chivalry, and the early
bloom of literary and scientific culture. It is a proud reflec
tion, tbat Virginia might appropriately assume as her crest
tbe Red Crosse Knight of Spenser's Faerie Queene, to indi
cate the time, tbe mode, the circumstances, and tbe signifi
cance of ber original establishment. For the same reason,
she might herself be fitly blazoned under the symbol of Una
and her lamb :
The loVely ladie rode him faire beside.
These allusions to the most attractive portion of Spenser's
enchanting poem suggest a brief nolice of the special religious
function of the Enghsh Colonies of America in the general
history of the world. The First Book of the Faerie Queene,
to which reference is made, represents tbe machinations of
Duessa, or tbe Papacy against Fidessa, or the Reformed
Cburcb ; and illustrates tbe final triumph of Una, or Holi
ness. In England, and throughout Europe, tbe ideal antici
pations of Spenser were frustrated or impaired by long con
tinued religious discords, and by foreign and domestic wars

ADDRESS. 53.

' propagated by religion, or waged in its name. Tbe contem
plated issue has scarcely been attained even yet. If the for
tunes of religion, or tbe prospects of toleration, had been
abandoned entirely to tbe perils of this long and embittered
strife, they might still be endangered, or uncertain. Tbe
result was definitely and effectually attained, so far as it was
attained, only by the favoring necessities and accidents which
encompassed the English settlements in America. There
alone did Protestantism become dominant witbout a rival or
domestic adversary. Thence alone could proceed the com
plete and unembarrassed manifestation of Protestant tenden
cies in spiritual, political and social affairs. It was by their
example, and countenance, and aid, and provocation, tbat tbe
Catholic dominion of Spain and France on tbis Continent was
first restricted — tben diminished ; and, at last, nearly oblite
rated. Moreover, tbe English establishments in America,
with the commerce and wealth and naval superiority engen
dered by them, gave Che Protestant parly in Europe an equi-
ponderance wilh the Catholic, and ultimately a decided
political predominance. This balance of tbe two great forces
of modern history was not merely the generating cause of tbe
principal wars in Europe down to the French Revolution, but
it was tbe mainspring ofthe movements of tbe modern world,
and tbe chief impulse to tbe rapid development of the ener
gies and resources of modern civiUzation. Tbe principal
stages of tbis progress are marked in tbe historical geography
of America by tbe subjugation of Jamaica — tbe re-occupation
of Nova Scotia, and seizure of tbe adjacent islands — tbe con
quest of Canada — the reduction of the Northwest by Virginia;
tbe purchase of Louisiana — the acquisition of Florida, and tbe
independence of the Spanish Provinces in North and South
America. These territorial changes were nearly all concur
rent with, and consequent upon, tbe great wars in Europe.
But 'peace hath her victories as well as war.' These losses

54 ADDRESS.

of the Catholic powers represented larger acquisitions of wealth
and influence, gained at their expense by the Anglo-Saxon
race, in the aggrandisement of their commerce, manufactures,
industry, activity, prosperity and intelligence.
Tbis long struggle was atttended with universal benefit to
humanity. Had Catholicism ruled with supreme dominion
over tbe earth, coincidently with tbe universal empire of Spain,
or France, or Austria, intelUgence must bave become stagnant
or retrograde — enterprise must bave been arrested — progress
been paralyzed and freedom extinguished. Frora this fate the
world was preserved by the sturdy maintenance of Protestant
ism — by tbe sudden augmentation of English prestige and
power — by tbe various blows inflicted by England on Spain —
and by Marlborough's victories over tbe armies of Louis XIV.
Blenheim, and Ramilies, and Oudenarde, and Malplaquet se
cured the fortunes of Protestantism and liberal institutions
when tbey were still trembling in tbe balance. The energies,
and resources, and policy which triumphed on these splendid
battle-fields had been largely due to the maritime ascendancy
of England, created in the first instance, and expanded after
wards by its colonial possessions in America.
As the long series of dependent effects is involved in the
ultimate cause ; as both blossom and fruit are potentially, if
not actually, contained in tbe nascent gerra ; no injustice is
done to later co-agents, no exaggeration of the truth produced,
by regarding tbe Virginia Colony as the seminal principle
whence proceeded tbe renovated order of tbe ages, and the
new progeny commissioned by Heaven.
Magnus ab integro sseclorum nascitur ordo.
Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna ;
Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto.
When I regard the aspects and the evolutions of tbe Past;
the abundant achievement of tbe Present, embodied in this

APPENDIX. 65

great Confederacy; — when I contemplate tbe uncertain but
still exhilarating promises of tbe Future, I cannot deem my
self beguiled by tbe attractions of a most attractive subject
into any undue estimation of the significance of the first suc
cessful attempt at English colonization in America. I bave
only clothed with words tbe revelations of accomplished his
tory, while indulging, from tbe scene of Jamestown, these
Sweet meditations, the still overflow
Of present happiness, while future years
Lacked not anticipations, tender dreams,
No few of which have sinoe been realized ;
And some remain, hopes for our future life.
The definite estabUshment of tbe Virginia Colony furnished
the elevated point of view whence tbe eye swept round the
wide horizon of modern history. The longer and the more
diligently the progress of humanity is contemplated from tbis
lone watch-tower of time, the grander and tbe more impressive
appears tbe prospect, and tbe more crowded becomes tbe phan
tasmagoria with the portentous shapes of struggUng creeds,
embattled systems, warring monarchs, rising and declining
empires, while, in the far distance, continues to arise from tbe
dust, and din, and confusion of tbe spectral turmoil, like tbe
immortal spirit ascending from the grave, tbe enlarging and
glorified divinity of America.
Tbe rapid and inadequate survey of tbe antecedent and con
temporaneous events and tendencies which received their ful
fillment, immediate or prospective, in tbe American Colonies
of England, baa necessarily left tbe modes of operation unde
tailed, and numerous phenomena altogether unnoticed. Yet
all tbe Uving movements of Europe bave been seen to con
tribute, voluntarily or involuntarily, tbe choice rewards of
tbeir effort as gems to sparkle in the coronet of the infant
Virginia. The chart of modern civiUzation clearly reveals the
confluence of all the main channels of progress in tbe Vir-

56 APPENDIX.

ginia Colony. If the point of convergence appear trivial or
obscure, tbis can only be occasioned by tbe infirmity of the
human mind, which disables it from appreciating consequences
in tbeir inception — from anticipating results before 'the dust
groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together' — or
from interpreting those blind motions of the Spring
That show the year is turned.
If tbe prophetic "vision and the faculty divine" be wisely
denied to man, history furnishes the necromantic art which
can evoke from tbe shades the actors and the actions of the
past, and elicit from them oracles refused to tbe contempora
neous generations. There are certain vases which appear duU
and opaque in tbe ordinary light of day, but over whose sur
face spread images, grotesque, or beautiful, or suggestive,
when illuminated from within. Similar to these are the inci
dents, and forms, and fashions of past centuries. They pre
serve impressions wbicb are only rendered legible by the inner
light supplied by a later time. If

 the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears,
is it not reasonable to suppose tbat bistorical transactions, of
humble original pretensions, but growing within our know
ledge by a secret life into mighty forms, may bave possessed
from tbe beginning a fullness of meaning and predestined
vitality, unsuspected at tbo period of tbeir occurrence, and
not fathomable till the issues of time approximate to their
perfection ?
Did tbese views require further corroboration tban the seal
of reality, which is impressed upon them, that evidence would
be abundantly suppUed by tbe sequel to the inquiry which
has been hazarded. Every great mutation in tbe subsequent

ADDRESS. 57

phases of Europe has been connected, by a reciprocating
movement, with the fortunes of the American Colonies ; and
the reaction of America upon Europe has increased with the
years till tbe machinery of* the world is set in motion, and its
population employed and supported mainly by the products
of tbe Southern States. The investigation into tbe details of
tbis extensive change is wider even than tbat which has been
so imperfectly prosecuted. It demands other occasions and
other expositors. But, to justify tbe statement advanced, it
may be noted tbat tbe growth and population of Virginia and
her sister colonies were favored by tbe convulsions of Ger
many and the whole continent during the Thirty Years'
War — by tbe jealousies of Spain and France — and by tbe
domestic transmutation of the latter country uifder the guid
ance of Richelieu — tbat tbe English Navigation Acta, which
so powerfully affected tbe mercantile growth of England and
the internal development of the American Colonies, and which
invited and inaugurated the Araerican Revolution, were passed
during tbe ascendancy of Cromwell and under the Restoration
of Charles II. , in a spirit of hostility against the Dutch — tbat
tbe Great Rebellion in England, tbe discords under Charles II.
and James II. — tbe Revolution of 1688 — the Dutch wars,
and tbe vast schemes of Louis XIV. — the perils of tbe Han
overian succession, and the repeated menaces of Jacobite in
surrection^ — withdrew scrutiny from the English colonies, and
favored the uninterrupted development of the native energy
of self-government. During tbe great wars of the eighteenth
centvfry, American interests were continually involved, and
became the predominant consideration in tbe Seven Years'
War, so far as France and England were concerned. Tbe
treaties of Utrecht, Aix-la-Chapelle and Paris gave increasing
prominence to American affairs. By tbe terms of the last
peace, France was excluded from the AVestern continent.
Out of tbe war preceding this peace, grew the claim of Eng-

58 ADDRESS.

land to American revenue, or, at least, to tbe right of taxing
America. Both demands were repudiated by the Colonies.
From this resistance sprang the American Revolution and
American independence — kindled and sustained by tbe in
crease of population, energy, wealth, and territory, resulting
from tbe long European wars of tbe century. The contro
versies, which kindled and accompanied tbe war of American
Independence, were co-ordinate witb tbe memorable struggle
of tbe Rockingham party in England for tbe maintenance of
the English franchises. Burke, and his allies, avowed that
English freedom was staked on tbe event of the American
Revolution. " We are convinced," says Burke, in the bold
address to tbe king ; " we are convinced, beyond a doubt,
that a systefn of dependence, which leaves no security to
the people for any part of their freedom in their own bands,
cannot be established in any inferior member of tbe British
Empire, without consequentially destroying the freedom of
that very body, in favor of whose boundless pretensions
such a scheme is adopted." * * * « AVhat, gracious
sovereign, is tbe empire of America to us, or tbe empire of
the world, if we lose our own liberties? We deprecate this
last of evils. We deprecate tbe effect of the doctrines, which
must support and countenance the government over conquered
Englishmen." The remembrance of mortifying disasters, and of tbe recent
loss of tbeir vast American possessions, inflamed the jealousy
of tbe French, and stimulated equally tbe secret encourage
ment and tbe open assistance extended by France tb tbe
American patriots in tbeir revolt against English exaction.
The companions of La Fayette, and Rochambeau, and D'Es
taing, zealously conveyed to France the opinions and the
policy which tbey bad aided in rendering triumphant on tbis
side of the Atlantic. Tbeir new enthusiasm for liberty helped
to precipitate the French Revolution. Thus, even from this

ADDRESS. 59

hasty sketch, it appears that the progress of America bad a
direct effect on the fortunes of Europe, and that every stage
in tbe destinies of Europe was closely implicated witb the
growth, development, prosperity and influence of the English
colonies. To secure unity of view, all tbese great changes, antecedent
or subsequent to tbe first efforts of EngUsh colonization, bave
been regarded from tbe central position afforded by the resto.
ration of Jamestown. To this point converged aU previous
tendencies, and from it radiated those diverse potencies which
encouraged or absorbed the more recent currents of human
progress. Tbe Virginia Colony thus reflects the summation
or anticipation of modern advancement. It is tbe magio
mirror which revives tbe Past, explains the Present, and re
veals tbe hopes, if not tbe promises, of tbe Future.
But tbe end is not yet. Tbe movement originally commu
nicated to tbe heavenly bodies not only rolled tbem at tbe
first along their mighty orbits, but attended and attends tbem
throughout tbe millennial periods of their existence, deter
mining their habitual relations to each otber, and all tbe
modifications of the material universe. Complicated and in
calculable as raay be tbe varied consequences of tbe original
impulse, the dependence of tbe effects is evident and unmis
takable. Similarly, any movement impressed upon tbe social
masses of tbe world, which in tbeir oscillating revolutions
effectuate the historical progress of humanity, operates through
all time in regulating and generating the subsequent evolu
tions of the race. No mechanical power is inactive in the
cosmical system — no force ia squandered in the moral uni
verse. The magnitude of the influence to be expected from
any novel phenomenon in tbe poUtical progress of tbe world
may be estimated from the amount of previous preparation,
and will be evinced by the concentration of forces involved in

60 ADDRESS.

its production and accomplished developraent! From tbe uni
versality of tbis law it may be confidently proclaimed tbat
Virginia, and the later stars of tbe American constellation,
announced a nobler and loftier destiny tban was ever vouch
safed to any otber community.
All the main lines of earlier progress constitute tbe heralds
and tbe servitors of Virginia. Her nativity was tbe signal
for tbe multiplication of similar settlements on the coasts
secured to England by her establishment. The conjoined de
velopment and confederation of all of these — aided immensely
by the special and direct action and generosity of Virginia
herself — bave created a vast republic, transcending in re
sources and capabilities the universal empires of an earlier
time. Since the settlement of tbe First Colony, the influence
of these commonwealths on tbe ancient monarchies of Europe
has been immediate — powerful — and ever-expanding. In our
own days, Virginia and her progeny have assumed, in their
union and by tbeir union, tbe position of one of the chief
powers of tbe earth. This has been done in tbe infancy of
the nation. But larger tban all past accomplishment is the
promise of prospective and rapid grandeur. AVhile thus grow
ing in strength, and resources, and population, and power;
and, by tbe very process of increase, a bome bas been reared
in the West for the free ; an asylum offered for the oppressed
of all nations, climea, tongues, and creeds; and the wealth,
and invention, and intelligence, and culture of tbe whole
world bave been naturalized and multiplied here. "If they
do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the
dry?" By tbe long series of great eventa which has generated the
results around us — by tbe golden promise of the dawn — by
tbe dazzling performance of the early day — are we not invited
to indulge fair auguries of tbe meridian splendor ? In the

ADDRESS. 61

midst of the doubts and alarms, which for the time encircle
us witb almost impenetrable mists, are we not still compelled
to recognize "an increasing purpose;"
And through thick veils to apprehend
A labor working to an end.
The destiny of Rome seems to be renewed in tbe only other
republic tbat ever approximated to the power, enterprise, and
extent of tbe Roman dominion. It is apparently designed by
Providence tbat tbe United States should attract, absorb, in
corporate, and consubstantiate, as Rome did in antiquity, all
tbe improvable races of mankind — all the tendencies of bu
man progress — all tbe mature elements of modern civiliza
tion — and should sublimate the all-embracing concretion into
the fairest fruit of time. All tbis, though the task of centu
ries, and tbe conjoint achievement of the federated States, of
both European and American advancement, and of all terres
trial and celestial influences, will be regarded in long-distant
years, when present passions have expired and present sys
tems have vanished, as tbe abundant fruitage of tbe Virginia
Colony. But to realize these bright auguries, the scheme of destiny
must not be thwarted by tbe jealousies and reckless improvi
dence of men. Nations bave tbeir fates in their own bands,
as well as individuals, and they may make or mar their for
tunes. The tables of the Divine law may be dashed into
fragments, in consequence of the fury of a stiff-necked and
rebellious people, and a golden calf, tbe abomination of Egypt,
set up for worship in tbeir stead, by the very children of tbe
promise. The populations to whom tbe triuraphant career is
announced by tbe whole tenor of tbe past, may dissipate the
vision in the clouds by the tempests of civil discord, evoked
from the dark caverns of tbe buman heart, where tbey are
witb difficulty kept in subjection. But, if lofty destinies are
7

62 ADDRESS.

rejected, and nations are torn asunder, and populations are
extirpated, and societies are extinguished by foreign war, or
domestic dissension, or moral decay, the purpose of Provi
dence moves on to its sure accomplishment, waiting only for a
more propitious time, and seeking or creating more docile and
intelUgent instruments.
It is a mighty and unfathomable destiny which bas been
entrusted to tbe American people ; and wilh the solemnity,
and caution, and patience, and unfailing resolution, which
sucb a destiny demands, they should strive for its accompUsh
ment — discarding alike the dictates of anger, tbe suggestions
of prejudice, and tbe temptations of pecuniary interest. But
whatever issue impends — whether our sun at its appointed
meridian sball look down in splendor, through tbe unclouded
blue on a bappy and united continent, smiling in plenteous
ness, and crowned witb virtue; or shall conceal his face in
angry gloom from a divided, and shattered, and warring
people — the past is secured beyond the reach of casualty.
Tbe Virginia Colony furnished the exemplar and initiation of
the EngUsh colonial system — she led the procession of modern
freedom — she laid the foundation stone of tbe great edifice
into whioh were aggregated tbe numerous members of the
American republic — she opened tbe oceans to tbe commerce
of England, and to tbe mercantile enterprise of the world.
She inaugurated, too, the struggle which preserved tbe liber
ties of England and conquered those of America; and she
taught a lesson to the world, which future ages will yet
realize, even if the glory of completing what she so well
began, should be forfeited by her and her companions in trial
and in fame.
In closing tbis tribute to tbe services conferred by A'ir
ginia upon humanity, in consequence of tbe indissoluble con
nection of American with European history, may I be per
mitted to link onco more the distinctions of tbe daughter

ADDRESS. 63

with tbe honors of tbe molber-land, by returning again to
tbe heights which overlook tbe submerged site of Jamestown,
and by applying lo tbe Virginia Colony, in its infancy and in
its progress, in tbe present and prospective promise of tbe
Old Dominion, the eulogy and prayer pronounced over bis
native country by tbe laureate of England :
Of old sat Freedom on the heights.
The thunders breaking at her feet ;
Above her shook the starry lights —
She heard the torrents meet.
Within her place she did rejoice,
Self gathered in her prophet-mind;
But fragments of her mighty voice
Came rolling on tho wind.
Then stept she down through town and field
To mingle with the human race.
And part by part to men revealed
The fullness of her face —

Her open eyes desire the truth.
The wisdom of a thousand yeara
Is in them. May perpetual youth
Keep dry their light from tears;
That her fair form may stand and shine,
Make bright our days and light our dreams,'
Turning to scorn with lips divine
The falsehood of extremes !

t PaiTiagt of ^oa|oiitas.

ON THE
DATE OF POCAHONTAS' MARRIAGE, AND SOME OTHER
INCIDENTS OF HER LIFE,
BEAD BEFOEE TBE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
YIEGINIA HISTOEICAL SOCIETY,
BY
WYNDHAM ROBERTSON, Esq.

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.

The date of this event, tbough of little bistoric importance,
yet as a mere point of history, as well as fdr otber reasons, is
not wholly devoid of some curiosity and interest. Although tbe
most incontestible authorities exist whereby to fix it, it ia yet
singular, that an error in regard to it has been so often repro
duced, as to seem, now, almost imbedded in bistory. Almost
all authorities concur in referring it to April, 1613. Stith
says, " it was in the beginning of April, 1613," (p. 130 ;)
Beverley aays, " Pocahontas being thus married in the year
1613," (p. 28;) Howison bas "1613, early in April;" Sims,
(p. 335,) "Spring of 1613;" Hilliard, in Sparks' Biography,
"beginning of April, 1613," (vol. 2. p. 371;) and CampbeU,
so late as tbe present year, (I860,) says, "early in April,
1613," (p. 109.)
Yet it is demonstrable that it took place about the 5tli
April, 1614.
These writers, doubtless, reposed on the authority of Smith.
But I will shew hereafter that be was, probably, under no
mistake, and only seemed to have been, by the (probably acci
dental) misplacing of a marginal note.
About the time of- her capture there can be no room for
mistake. We bave tbe letter of Captain (Sir Samuel) Argall
bimself, its date June, 1613, in 4 Purchas, (p. 1764, et seq.)
It is there stated tbat be sailed from England "23d July,
1612;" arrived in Virginia " 17tb September;" visited
Smith's Island "beginning of November;" went to Pem-

68 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
brook river " Ist December ; " returned fo Jamestown " 1st
January," (necessarily 1613;) "arrived at Point Comfort
1st February;" returned to Pembrook river " 17th March,"
thence to Patowmeck ; captured "Pokahuntis" by treach
ery; departed with her "13th of April" for Jamestown, and
delivered her to Governor Gates; again departed in bis shal
lop, for discovery, "the 1st of May;" returned to his ship
"May 12th, 1613," (in margin,) and was then when he
wrote, " June, 1613," waiting for a " wind," to go on his
"fishing voyage." There is nothing known to me anywhere,
in conflict witb any statement of this letter, but it is entirely
in accord with every date and statement come down to us
from that period.
AVe have, then, the date of Pocahontas' capture fixed a
little before, and ber deUvery at Jamestown a little after, the
thirteenth April, 1613. Of course, her marriage to Rolfe
could not have occurred the "first," ihe "fifth," "the begin
ning," or "early" in April, 1613.
All agree that she was "long" a prisoner before her mar
riage. Let us, tben, follow the accounts of her, and learn hom
long. Tbe original authorities, (and there could be none
higher,) are Governor Dale and Ralph Hamor, Secretary of
the Colony, and the Rev'd Mr. Whitaker. Captain Smith
but compiles from them. Dale succeeded Gates as Governor,
in February or March, 1614, when tbe latter returned to
England, (4 Purchas, p. 1773; Stith, p. 132,) and in a letter,
under date of " 18lb June, 1614," sent to England by Cap
tain Argall, (in 4 Purchas, pp. 1768-90 says, " Sir Thomas
Gates having embarked himself for England. * * * J
pnt myself into Captain Argall's ship, * * and went into
Pamunkee river, where Powhatan bath his residence * *
witb me, I carried bis daughter, who had been long prisoner
with us." After sundry delays, " came one from Powhatan,

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 69
who told us * * * tbat his daughter should be my child
and can dwell with me," &c. He then proceeds :
" Powhatan's daughter, I (bad) caused to be carefully in
structed in tbe Christian Religion, wbo, after she had made
some good progress therein, was, as she desired, baptized, and
is since" (i. e. since ber baptism) "married to an English
Gentleman," &o.
The marriage, therefore, was, iy this authority, between,
March and June, 1614.
Accordant is Master Whitaker's letter, (the Minister at
Jamestown,) dated also " Virginia, 18tb July, 1614," (" True
Discourse," p. 59; 4 Purchas, p. 1768.) "Sir, The Colonie
is much better. Sir Thomas Dale, our * * Governour, * *
hath brought thera " (our enemies) " to seeke for Peace of
us, which is made. * * But that which is best, one Poca
hontas or Matoa, the daughter of Powhatan, is married to an
honest and discreete Bnglish gentleman. Master Rolfe, and
that after she bad openly renounced her country, idolatry,
professed tbe faith of Jesus Christ, and was baptized, which
thing Sir Thomas Dale had laboured a long time to ground in
her." Next and fullest is the authority of "Ralpbe Hamor, tbe
younger, late Secretarie in tbat Colonie," under Dale, (True
Discourse, p. 3.) Hamor sailed for Virginia, with Sir Tbomas
Gates, in June 1609, (4 Purchas, p. 1734;) suffered ship
wreck with him on the Bermudas, and arrived out May 1610,
(4 Purchas, p. 1748;) accompanied Governor Dale in his
expedition to Pamunkee, March 1614 ; was afterwards " em
ployed to Powhatan," May 1614, (Dale's letter in 4 Purchas,
p. 1769,) and returned to England witb Argall, June 1614.
His " True Discourse " was written directly after his return
to England. (See his address " To the Reader," where he
speaks of the Colony as under tbe command of Governor

70 THE MARRIAGE OP POCAHONTAS.
Gates and Governor Dale " three years and more." Galea
took charge of the Colony in August, 1611.) His account of
tbe capture of Pocahontas is alraost absolutely tbe same with
Argall's own, except a little fuller, perhaps, and except a tri
vial variation as to the lapse of time, after her capture, before
Powhatan sent in tbe seven Englishmen, (and which, bis
writing, aa he says be does, ("To the Reader,") "without
notes, but in memorie," sufiiciently accounts for; but wbicb
variation only goes more certainly to fix tbe marriage after
April 1613.) After atating that a message had been sent
to Powhatan to acquaint him with tbe capture of Poca
hontas, be proceeds thus : " He (Powhatan) could not, with
out long deliberation with his council, * * resolve npon
anything, and * * we heard nothing of him till three
months after •* * he sent us seven of our men * * and
word tbat whensoever we pleased to deliver bis daughter, he
would give us satisfaction * * 500 bush, of corn and be
forever friends with us. * * We returned bim answer * *
that his daughter waa very well and kindly intreated, and so
should be however be deit witb us, but we conld not believe
tbe rest of our arms were stolen or lost, and till he returned
tbem aU, we would not by any means deliver bia daughter.
* * This answer, as it seemed, pleased bim not very well,
for we heard no more from him till in March last, when with
Capt. Argall's ship, * * Sir Thomas Dale * * went up
into bis own river * * and carried with ua his daughter," &c.
Now observe, tbis is written in 1614, just after Hamor's
return to England in June of tbat year. When was tbat
"March last" but — (according entirely witb tbe date of
Governor Dale's expedition, as fixed above by tbe Governor's
own letter) March 1614 ?
His account proceeds more circumstantially, and more
dearly, than Governor Dale's, but in entire accord with it,

THB MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.

and is that of an eye-witness, or as he calls himself, " Ocular
testis," and as it is at once original and entertaining, as weH
as curious and rare, I give it in full.
He introduces bia "True Discourse" (p. 3,) on tbe "firme
Peace that hath been so happily concluded" by "inserting"
as "in no whit impertinent" thereto " the indeavors of Cap
tain Argall," viz : bis visit to lapazeus at Pataomecke, and
capture there of Pokabuntus — following it with an account of
Governor Dale's expedition to, arrival, and proceedings at
Pamaunkee, and continues as follows :
" Higher up the river we went, and anchored neere unto the
chiefest residence Powhatan had, at a town called Matclicot, where
were assembled (whioh we saw) about 400 men, well appointed with
their bowes and arrowes to welcome us; here they dared us to come
ashoare, a thing which we purposed before, so ashoare we went, our
best landing being up a high steepe hill, which might have given the
enemy much advantage against us, but it seemed, they as we, were
unwilling to begin, and yet would gladly have bin at blo-v^es, being
landed, as if they had no show of feare, tbey stirred not from us,
but walked up and downe, by and amongst us, the best of them
inquiring for our Weroance or King, with whome they would gladly
consult to know the occasion of our coming thither, whereof, when
they were informed, they made answer that they were there ready to
defend themselves, if we pleased to assault them, desiring neverthe-
lesse some small time to dispatch two or three men once more to
their King, to know his resolution, which, if not answerable to our
request in the morning, if nothing else but blood would then satisfy
us, they would fight with us and thereby determine our quarrell,
whioh was but a further delay to procure time to carrie away their
provisions; nevertheless, we agreed to this their request, assuring
them till the next day by noon, we would not molest, hurt, nor detain
any one of them, and then, before we fought, onr Drums and Trumpets
should give them warnings. Upon which promise of ours, two of
Powhatan's sonnes, being very desirous to see their sister, who was
there present ashore with us, came unto us. At the sight of whom,
and her wellfare, whom they suspected to be worse intreated, though
they had often heard the contrary, they much rejoiced, and promised
that they would undoubtedly persuade their father to redeem her,
and" to conclude a firme peace forever with us ; and upon this resolu-

72 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
tion, the two brothers with us retired aboarde, we having first dis
patched two Englishmen, Maister John Rolfe and Maister Sparkes,
to acquaint her Father with the business iu band. The next day,
being kindly intreated, they returned — not at all admitted Powha
tan's presence, but spake with his brother Apachamo, his successor,
one who hath already the command of all the people, who likewise
promised us his best endeavors to farther our just request; and we,
because the time of the yeere being then Aprill, called us to our
business at home to prepare the ground, and set corne for our win
ter's provision, upon these terms departed, giving them respite till
harvest to resolve what was left for them to doe, with this promise,
that if finall agreement were not made betwixt us before that time,
we would thither return againe, and destroy and take away all their
corne, burne all the houses upon the river, leave not a fishing weire
standing, nor a canoa in any creeke thereabout, and destroy and kill
as many of them as we could. Long before this time a gentleman,
of approved behaviour and honest carriage, Maister John Rolfe, had
bin in love with Pocahuntas, and she with him, which thing at the
instant that we were in parlee with them, myself made knowne to
Sir Thomas Dale by a letter from him, whereby he intreated his
advise and furtherance in his love, if so it seemed fit to him for the
good of the Plantation, and Pocahuntas herselfe acquainted her breth
ren therewith, which resolution Sir Thomas Dale wel approving, was
the only cause he was so milde amongst them, who otherwise would
not have departed their river without other conditions.
" The bruit of this pretended marriage came soon to Powhatan's
knowledge, a thing acceptable to him, as appeared by his sudden con
sent thereunto, who, some ten days after, sent an olde oncle of hers,
named Opaohisco, to give her as his deputy in the church, and two
of his sonnes to see the marriage solemnized, which was accordingly
done about the fift of April, and ever since we have had friendly
commerce and trade, not only with Powhatan himself, but also with
his subjects round-about us : so, as now, I see no reason why the
CoUonie should not thrive apace."
These are tbe only original sources of correct information
in regard to tbe capture, detention, baptism and marriage of
Pocahontas, known to me, and, I think, conclusively show
that she waa kidnapped at Patowomeek in April 1613,
waa detained "long" in captivity, was taken to Pamaunkee
in March 1614, brought back to Jamestown about 1st April,

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 73
was then baptized, and was married to Rolfe "about the fifth
of April," one thousand six hundred and fourteen.
It is, perbaps, of little importance lo show bow the common
mistake originated, but by tbe light afforded by tbese excerpta,
from tbe original authorities, it is not, I think, difiicult. The
source of the mistake ia probably found in Smith's General
History, (tbe edition of 1626 is tbe one before me,) p. 113.
Smith ia reciting from, and abridging, Hamor's " True Dis
course." The year of Sir Samuel Argall's arrival out in
Virginia, is correctly given, in his margin, 1612; but be goes
on, -under the same marginal year, to give an account of
Argall's expedition to Patowomeek, and kidnapping of Poca
hontas, wbicb, aa we have seen above, took place, not in 1612,
but in the spring of tbe following year, 1613. There tben
follows, in Smith, (still re-writing and abridging Hamor's
" Discourse,") an account of both Argall's and Dale's expe
ditions, but witbout tbe dates, " April 13," of tbe former,
and " March last," of the latter, wbicb fix tbe years, and
opposite the account of tbe marriage in Smith, is this margi
nal note : "The marriage
of Pocahontas
to Maister
John Rolfe.
1613
Sir Thomas Smith,
Treasurer."
Now tbe marginal datea in tbis compilation from Ha
mor, have reference to tbe Treasurersbip of Sir Thomas
Smith, and they are not found in Hamor's work. But
the text of tbe original .authorities conclusively shows that
the date just cited— 1613— -belonged to tbe commencement
of tbe account of Argall's expedition as given on tbe pre
vious page of Smith, and was, doubtless, by some accident
8

74 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
or inadvertence, printed where we now find it. Seeing the
date, 1613, afler the marginal notice of Pocahontas' marriage,
and opposite the paragraph in which is the account of it,
witb nothing to excite distrust, and, quite possibly, with
no means of collating, the original accounts, and thus correct
ing tbe error, our earlier bistoriana naturally adopted the date
thua seemingly given by Smith as that of tbe marriage, and
have been followed by later ones, witbout examination.
The omission by Smith (Gen. Hist. p. 115) of the intro
ductory sentence to Hamor's account of tbe latter's mission
in " May " to Powhatan, bas served to seemingly separate, and
widely disconnect, tbe date of tbe latter event from that of
the marriage ; and, accordingly, all tbe hiatories, while they
aaaign (erroneously as before shown) Pocahontas' marriage to
1613, assign, rightly, Hamor's miaaion to 1614. That sen
tence ia aa follows : " I purposely omitted one thing in the
Treatise of our Concluded Peace, wherewith I intend to con
clude my discourse, * * * and this it is." Hamor tben
proceeds witb tbe account of bis visit, as compiled from bim in
Smith and all the otber Histories, and plainly, and inevitably,
connects it witb tbe " Peace " of wbicb be bas been treating,
(p. 11 et seq.,) which Peace (the immediate fruit of Pocahon
tas' marriage) was concluded as above shown recently before
the dispatches of Gov. Dale and Mr. Whitaker, June 18<A
1614. In a word, Hamor's Mission was in tbe May follow
ing tbe April of Pocahontas' marriage, and immediately
before tbe June of Hamor's return to England, 1614. (See
True Discourse, p. 37.)
Strachey's reference to Pocahontas' marriage demands a
special notice. Superficially examined, it might seem to war
rant tbe idle and hasty theory of a prior marriage to tbat
witb Rolfe, which has been built upon it, but read aright, as
I conceive, it is essentially consistent witb the accredited ac
counts of that event.

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 75
In Strachey, continuing bis somewhat high-fiowing account
of the " Great Emperor," Powhatan, occurs this paragraph :
" He was reported by the said Kemps, as also by the Indian Ma-
chumps, who was sometyme in England, and comes to and fro among
us as he dares, and as Powhatan gives him leave. * * * I say
that they often reported to us that Powhatan had then lyving twenty
sonnes and ten daughters, beside a young one by Winganuske, Ma-
chumps, his sister, and a great darling of the king's ; and besides
yonge Pocahunta, a daughter of his, using sometyme to our fort, In
tymes past, nowe married to a private captaine, called Kocoum, some
two years since." — [Strachey's Historie of Travails into Virginia, Hak
luyt Edition of 1847, p. 54.)
If the marriage of Pocahontaa here spoken of were so re"
ferred to as to make it necessarily a different one from tbat to
Rolfe, and totally irreconcilable with tbe idea of its being tbe
same, it would be simply incredible, at least witbout a weight
of testimony of tbe most conclusive character. A new and
interesting fact, in regard to a period written of by many con
temporaneous pens, of a nature to be known to all, and not
likely to be suppressed or omitted by any, cannot be accepted
as true unleas so supported. But in tbe case of such a fact,
affecting the central and capital figure of her day and country,
and one ao directly connected with an important historical
event, (tbat of restoring peace, and assuring safety to the
English colony,) recorded by several contemporaneous wri
ters — impossible to be unknown to thera — and being known,
inconceivable to have escaped aome notice or comment, the
total silence of all contemporary and posterior history in
respect to it must be decisive against it, without such irresist
ible testimony.
Governor Dale, wbo seema to have taken the greatest in
terest in Pocahontas, and in whose f\imily it ia not improbable
she passed her captivity— Parson Whitaker— Ralph Hamor—
Sir Samuel Argall— and Rolfe himself— wbo all wrote of
her at tbe sarae period as Strachey and much more fully

76 THE MARRIAGE OP POCAHONTAS.
and specially, both then and afterwards ; who were all at
Jamestown with Strachey during his whole stay there, and
wbo all manifest tbe greatest respect and regard for her —
that the circumstance of a prior marriage of so important a
personage (of the time and place) should have been known to
Strachey, and not to them, or, if known, should have chal
lenged no notice or reraark from tbem, is simply incredible.
The report of one or both of the Indians, if their testimony
could be made applicable to tbis fact, (wbicb I sball show it
it cannot be,) would not weigh a feather against tbe total
silence of all these gentlemen under tbe circumstances stated;
while it may not be amiss in tbis connection to note — to bave
such weight as it should in estimating tbe value of tbis whole
Indian report of Strachey's — tbat Kemps, one of tbe reportersj
is described by Smith (Gen. Hist., p. 84), as one of "the two
most exact villanies in all the country." Throwing their testi
mony out, the statement considered as of a prior marriage would
remain wholly unsupported, and I submit, tbat such a statement,
of no writer however respectable, could be received as any proof
whatsoever of such a fact, but be set down, rather, to the
adoption by bim of some idle rumor, or to some now inexpli
cable misapprehension or mistake.
I think bis book affords much reason to suppose that he
gave a too ready ear to reports, and such especially as were of
an unfavorable cast in regard to bis aboriginal neighbors. For
while there is nothing intemperate, or even harsh, in his
account of tbem, they are certainly seen in a somewhat less
favorable light in it than in any contemporary work. Nor is
it surprising. StracbeyJR-ived in Virginia in 1610, at the
moment when by the joint influencea of disease, famine and
Indian massacres following on Smith's departure in 1609, the
Colony had in a few months dwindled frora six hundred, to
sixty persons, and was on the eve of extinction. Hostile rela
tions witb the Indiana continued through tbe whole of bis

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 77
two years' stay. He could have bad, therefore, but limited
opportunity of personal observation, and none to see tbe
harsher featurea of tbeir war-character softened^ by those
milder Ughts of peace in which tbey were seen by both Smith
and Hamor. It is observable, too, that almost the whole of
his book relating to tbe country and its people, tbat is origi
nal, consists of these verbal reports he picked up at Jamestown
frora his Indian informers, of whom one, " wbo came to dwell
there," (Kemps,) it being a time of war between tbe Indians
and tbe colonists, may be reasonably held to bave been a
deserter from his tribe. The rest is but a wholesale recasting
(and, I believe, witbout acknowledgment) in new and more
ambitious forms, and, as he doubtless conceived, l|h more
classic moulds, of Smith's earUer History — but witb much
loas by tbis transfusion, as I think, of the terseness, raciness,
and picturesqueness of tbe oiiginal, witbout any compensating
gain. Where he has departed frora Smith he seems usually
unsupported (aa in his new names for Pfjvhatan and Poca
hontas) — and at times misled, (aa in regard, for instance, to
Powhatan's age.)
Now, it may be, tbat tbe case before us is another instance
of bis having been misled by erroneous information. But
there is no occasion, I conceive, for such an assuraption.
Strachey's account is susceptible, I think, witbout forcing, of
being brought into harmonious reconcilement witb the other
uncontroverted accounts of the same occurrence. The mean
ing of tbe clause giving rise to tbe doubt,' manifestly turns
on the cbronological value of tbe words "now two years
since." In determining tbis, it may be noted, tbat Strachey went to
Virginia witb the purpose of writing a history of the Colony,
and of what transpired there, and did write there bis " Ob
servations," which be purposed, however, " to detaine in tbe
shadow of darkness," till he could " deliver tbis perfect," ka.

78 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
He makes thia statement, in England, in 1612, (Introd.
p. xxi.) His book, therefore, ia this perfecting of those "Ob
servations," and to some extent, doubtless, a transcript of
tbem. Sucb, evidently, ia tbe beginning of the paragraph
(p. 53) preceding the one above quoted, where be says, "Of
hia women there are said to be about some dozen, at this pre
sente," &c. — proceeding to give their names, as received from
Kemps, in tbeir then order of precedence — but as this pre
cedence was capricious and constantly changing, (p. 54,) so
"this presente" could only have been written originally
when the information waa received, viz : in Virginia. And
as Strachey arrived in Virgina, May 1610, and muat have
left early in 1612, at latest (for be published two books in
England tbat year, and made aome progress in a third,) we
may assume tbe information in question, which is amongst the
earliest of bis " Observations," to bave been received by him
in 1611, if not 1610, and tben noted in bis " remembrancer.''
So the firat part of the paragraph above quoted at large is,
obviously, in the then present tense, when he was in Virginia,
and recorded those reports, and not the time present, when he
re-wrote them in England. Tbe phraseology there used, —
"comes to and fro among ua aa he dares, and aa Powhatan
gives him leave," ia impossible to bave been employed origi
nally, after Strachey returned to England, and is evidently
tranaeribed from hia "Observations" as written in A''irginia.
AV^as the close of that paragraph, also, then written ? and, if
not, when was it written? — for on this depend the value and
meaning of the statement of Pocahontaa being "some two
years since married."
He began to write the book, as now published, in the year
1612,' as stated by his Editor in note, (p. 24,) (confirmed by
the datea pp. 24, 130, wbicb I have verified) : and tbe state
ment made, p. 29, that " (well near) six years," (as origi
nally written,) bad then elapsed since the settlement of James-

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 79

town, (April 1607,) shows it must have been late in tbat
year. His "Second Book," was begun to be written in 1613,
for tben, (p 140,) "six years" had elapsed from the settle
ment of Jamestown.
The alteration of "six" (years) to "11," (from tbe set-
tlement of Jamestown,) on page 29, was necessarily made
in 1618.
His Dedication to Sir Francis Bacon as "Lord High Chan
cellor," to which of&ce Bacon was not appointed till 4th Jan
uary 1618, was necessarily also written after tbat date.
It thus appears that portions of the book, as now pub
lished, were written when tbe author was in Virginia, and
tbat it did not pass finally out of bis bands before 1618.
Strachey might, then, bave written tbe clause in question
any time between 1610 and 1618. Was it written in bis
original notes made in Virginia, 1610-11 ?
Now, referring Strachey's " Nowe married * * some two
years since," to two years iramediately before Kemps' report
to him (1610 or 1611) we are brought at latest to 1609, per
baps 1608. How old was Pocahontas in 1609 ? Smith in bis
"True Relation," London, 1608, says she was, when be was
a pri.-iouer of Powhatan, (Fall of 1607,) " a child of tenne
years old;" though, afterwards, in his "Gen. Hislorie,"
London, 1626, he speaks of her as being, at tbe same period,
"a girl of twelve or thirteen." Taking the former account,
she would have been in the summer of 1609 under twelve
years old, and under fourteen, taking bia later account. Ac.
oordant with Smith's first account, is Strachey's. He speaks
of " Pochahuntas, a well-featured, but wanton* young girle.

"Itis presumable that Strachey used this term in one of those
more innocent significations, of "wandering" or "sportive," usual
about the time he wrote with the more refined and educated minds.

80 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
Powhatan's daughter, sometyraes" (i.e., heretofore, as for
merly used,) "resorting to our Fort, of tbe age then of eleven
or twelve years." Now, Pocahontas is said never to have
(Unless, indeed, the father's pet-name for his little darling, "Poca
hontas," which may signifie "little wanton," (Strachey, p. 14,) may
have suggested the word.) Thus, Milton's "wanton ringlets'' of
our first mother. Eve — and Shakspeare's "little wanton boys swim
ming on bladders," — and Bacon's " houseful of children, one or two
of the eldest respected, and the youngest made wantons," — where
impure associations would almost desecrate the text. And this sup
position is confirmed to almost certainty by the context of the pas
sage where it is found, which connects her with childish sports. Yet,
on the mere strength of the employment of this phrase, and of tho
statement following it, that Pocahontas, at the age of 11 or 12, went
naked, accordiug to the customs of her tribe, and engaged in the nat
ural pastimes of children, (itself, by the way, 8 hearsay statement,
for Strachey never saw her,) there have not been wanting natures
gross enough to blow their deilowering breath over a character that,
from childhood to the grave, has been pei fumed by the admiring
praise of all that knew her. Smith, himself, the theme of a hundred
applauding pens, reported her, while yet a child, the "Nonpareil"
of her country, by which title. Worthy Master Hamor sa'.th, too, in
troducing her as the "delight and darling" of Powhatan, "her
fame hath even been spread in England" — Gov. Dale, the most
knightly of Virginia's early Governors, found in her a beautiful na
ture not unworthy his efl'orts still further to adorn — she was wel
comed by one of the purest of its ministers (Rev. Alex. Whitaker)
iuto the bosom of the Christian Church, and seems to have extorted,
bythe mere force of her rare excellenoe .and happy dispositions,
against the urgency of many strong dissuading considerations, the
true and tender homage of an honest and discreet English gentleman,
on whose character not a. stain, or an aspersion, is known ever to
have been cast— while, by the testimony of Purchas— himself an
applauding eye-witness— she carried herself, when in England, so
becomingly in the new and diflacult paths she was treading there,
(and which soon terminated at her early tomb,) as to approve herself
altogether worthy of the many distinguished attentions of which she
was the object, and of that universal respect which waited on her
while living, and was paid to the "godly memory" which, dying,
she left behind her.

THB MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 81
been seen at Jamestown ("our fort") after Smith left there,
which was Michaelmas, (i. e., September,) 1609, till her capture
in 1613, (of course Strachey never saw her,) and the war of
massacres that instantly ensued upon Smith's departure, and
continued up to the very peace, (of which ber marriage in
1614 was the harbinger and guarantee,) renders tbat state
ment next to certain. If, then, when she resorted to the
Fort, which must have been in 1608-9, she was eleven or
twelve years old, there is entire accord between Strachey and
Smith's first account, that she waa ten in 1607 — and tbe
story of her marriage in either of those years, (which were
the two years preceding the Indian's report to Strachey,) is
simply preposterous.
Again, when " reported " by Kemps, she is spoken of as
" The yonge Pocahonta." This term was very applicable,
if applied to ber in 1610 or 1611, as a girl of some twelve
or fourteen years of age, but would have been inapplicable,
and strangely misapplied to a woman already two years mar
ried ! I think it is clear, therefore, that Strachey's "younge
Pocahonta" of 1610 or 1611, of whom his Indian informers
made report, was not then a wife of two years standing, or a
wife at all — and tbe clause in question was not written in his
original " Observations " made in Virginia.
As, therefore, tbis clause must have been written at a date
posterior to the first part of tbe paragraph, and might have
been written at a time that would authorize the supposition of
an intended reference to tbe historical marriage of 1614, and
thus reconcile it to all otber accounts, it would itself justify
tbe hypothesis of its having been written at that tirae. But
if it appear, tbat, in point of fact, Strachey had tbe work
under his eye, (quite possibly may have re-written tbe whole
of it, preparatory to publication,) at tbe time when tbe
addition of tbis clause would show an intended reference to
tbe raarriage to Rolfe, the hypothesis of its having been tben

82 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
introduced into hia narrative would be strengthened almost to
certainty. Now, tbe Ashmolean MS. paaaed from hia bands,
probably in 1616; for be could not have written later than
tbat, and, very probably, then wrote the Dedication of it to
Sir Allen Apsley, " Purveyor to hia Majeatie's Navie Royall,"
whoae title, as auch, ceased in 1616, being merged in the
higher one of " Lieutenant of the Tower," an ofiBce to which
be was in tbat year appointed, (Strachey, History of Travaile,
Introduction, p. xxii.) and the likelihood is, tbat reviewing it
before it passed from his hands, tbe news of Pocahontas' mar"
riage, some two years previous, (April, 1614,) had reached
him by some imperfect oral report that may account for tbe
mistake of tbe name* of the person to whom she waa married,
or Kocoum may bave been Rolfe's Indian name.
It aids this hypothesis to observe : 1, That you may seek,
I believe, in vain, through all the writings of the time for
the term " Captaine" applied to an Indian — 2, tbat "Wero
ance " ia aaid by Strachey, (p. 51,) and by some otber, (I
think Smith, but cannot now turn to tbe paasage,) yet more
emphatically to be the only Indian title "for all Commanders;"
and laally, that tbe marriage of the great Emperor, Powhatan's
" dearest daughter " to a " private Captaine " or Weroance,
would be extremely improbable, if not, indeed, incredible.
My conclusion, therefore, is, that tbe above paragraph after
tbe word " past" was written early in 1616, and was intended

* Mistakes and liberties with the names are, of all errors, perhaps,
the most common. Thus Hamor speaks of "Apachame," (p. 10,)
which Is evidently the "Opochankenough" of all other writers.
Purchas, p. 1726, writingfrom Smith's "Written Notes," has "Kemps
and Kinsock," while Smith has it "Kemps and Tassore ;" (True
Travels, 1819, p. 224 ;) or Strachey may have had the sarae anthority
for calling "Rolfe" "Kocoum," as for calling "Pocahontas" "Amo-
nate," (Strachey, p. Ill,) or Powhatan, "Ottaniack," and "Maman-
towiok," viz : some Indian reporter.

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 83
to refer to Pocahontas' marriage to Rolfe two years before,
viz : April 5th, 1614.*
As "in no whit impertinent," as Master Hamor might
say, to tbe foregoing discourse, I take leave to insert a few
observations on tbe doubt that some have been forward, re
cently, to cast on tbe truth of Captain Smith's story of bis
rescue by Pocahontas. The justification of tbis doubt is
rested on Smith's omission to notice it in the account of bis
capture and detention among tbe Indians first transmitted to
England in 1608. Now, what strikes one at the outset is,
tbat tbis hypothesis only removes one diflSculty to create a
greater; for it would seem easier to account for tbe omission,
in tbe first case, tban for the imputed falsehood in the last.
For, abstracting tbe question from all surrounding considera
tions, and viewing it by the light of probabilities alone, I
submit that it is more probable, and more just, to suppose
tbat there existed a sufficient motive for oraitting to atate tbe
occurrence in the first and briefer account, tban to assume
tbe unproven existence of a dishonoring motive to account
for the falsehood gratuitously imputed to tbe statement subse
quently given.
Still it raay be conceded, tbat tbe omission referred to is
calculated to attract notice, and, perhaps, create a certain dis
trust, were there not, in truth, many and notable considera
tions strongly militating against the admission of so harsh an
imputation, as the rejection of Smith's often reiterated state
ment of the fact, would necessarily enforce.
lat. It would be hard to parallel, by a single otber case,
the extent, variety or emphasis, of the laudatory notices by
friends, in every station of life, (and, in numerous instances,
by tbe companions and eye-witnesses of his exploits,) of Cap-
* This is very ingeniously presented by a writer in the " Virginia
Historical Register," under the signature of "Pbilo."

84 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
tain Smith and of his history — anno, 1624 — after tbe sub
stance of it bad been long before tbe public, and all of it, as
well as his own character, long seen in the censure of all tbe
cotemporary accounts, tben, or now, known ; and in the face
of that cotemporary envy and enmity,* which, as the com
mon lot of the great, he did not wholly escape ; and at a time,
too, when many yet lived to rectify, or expose, any misstate
ment or perversion of so much of what be wrote as was
known to olhers as well as himself, and which there were
some abundantly wilUng to do, if it could bave been done suc
cessfully, but which none ever attempted. And in all these
testimonials. Smith's high "bonour," "truth" and "piety,"
form the burden of tbe verse, and are extolled by his host of
friends and comrades, as, perbaps, were never man's virtues
praised before.
2dly. While there is no reason to claim, or to suppose, that
bis bistory is free from some garniture of tbat extravagance
and liberal embellishment wbicb seems to have been tbe habit
and taste of his time, as regards booka of travel, and to bave
been received wiihout prejudice to tbeir character for authen
ticity — (of wbicb Strachey's "Dreadful Tempest, tbe mani
fold deaths whereof are to the life described,") and copious
* Edward Maria Wingfield, first President of the Colony, is an
instance. The value of his traduction of Smith may be judged
from the fact, that the injustice of it seems to have been one of the
chief causes of his (Wingfield's) degradation from the Presidency —
that a fine of £200 (which Smith put into the publio Treasury) was
imposed on him for the slander by a jury of the Colonists; that his
book of vindication of himself, and of impeachment of Smith, and
addressed by w.ay of appeal to the Company iu England, seems to
have been wholly unheeded by them — and is dismissed by the respect
able Purchas with no further notice than this significant marginal
note : " I have also Mr. Wingfield's uotes of theso affairs, but would
not trouble the reader here with thiugs more thau troublesome."
4 Purchas, p. 1706.

THE MARRIAGE OP POCAHONTAS. 86
discourse on his "wrack" on the Bermudas, given (aays old
Purchas, p. 1733,) in " Rhetoricke's Pull Sea and Spring
Tide," raay serve as a specimen) — I, yet, do not remember
an instance of any confutation, or contradiction, of any im
portant fact sta,ted by him, while instances of confirmation are
innumerable. Thus, bis account of bis reception by Powha
tan in 1607 (Genl. History, p. 48) finds its general corrobo
ration in Hamor's account of his in 1614, (Hamor, p. 39,) —
and one of tbe very strangest of hia stories, tbat of his seiz
ing the Indian Chief by tbe beard, in tbe presence of hun
dreds of his warriors, witb but a handful of bis own men
about hira, is distinctly confirmed by several wbo witnessed it;
whilst bis description of Virginia, not only in its larger fea
tures, but in its details, is an instance of accuracy, and con
scientious caution, among the most extraordinary of which
we have any example.
3dly. If we are to apply the rule of rejecting all that Smith
wrote after bis publication of 1608, concerning the country
and people of Virginia, and the incidents and chances that
befel bim there prior to that date, wbicb ia not to be found in
that pubUcation, we must reject tbe greater part of tbe earliest
bistory we bave of tbe Colony, and the whole story, almost,
of tbe detail of his capture and seven weeks detention by tbe
Indians — a story full of strangeness, indeed, and wonder, but
neither incredible nor unnatural, and which, in many of its
parts, stands confirmed in tbe light of after events.
4tbly. Again, tbe several accounts of tbe saving of Smith's
life are none of tbem incompatible with tbat of its having
been also saved by Pocahontas, or with one another. Tbey
refer to different instances where bis life waa imperilled. Thus
he once saved bis life by using bis guide as a shield— another
time it was saved by an Indian he bad been kind to— it was
again saved by Opecbancano from his sense of Smith's seem
ing supernatural knowledge. I know no references to his
9

86 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.
life being saved from imminent peril, in 1607, but these, and
none of them are inconsistent with tbe account of his subse-
sequent rescue by Pocahontas.
5tbly. Pocahontaa' constant visiting of the Colony, till
Smith left it — her frequent and friendly interventions on be
half of the colonists, more or less fully confirmed by other
pens tban Smith's in particular instances, and I believe no
where contradicted, but entirely consistent witb all other
accounts and notices of ber, (as her saving tbe life of tbe
boy Spelman (Gen. Hiat.) and thatof Richard Wyffin, (p. 80,)
which seeras to be the direct alatement of Wyffin himself,)
would all seera to show tbat she indulged sentiments of parti
cular interest towards Smith, and are in entire keeping with
her alleged intercession for him.
6thly. Her, as yet a young girl, being sent by ber father
to intercede witb Smith for the liberation of Indian captives,
directly after his (Smith's) liberation, — would it not seem to
imply some peculiar and strong ground of claim on her part
to bis grateful recognition ? — and does not Smith's reference
of bia clemency to these captives, expresaly and exclusively to
her solicitation, confirm tbe probability tbat such ground
really existed, and tbe discbarge of these captives appear but
as tbe natural requital of it ? What more probable ground
could there be, than the one afterwards disclosed of her hav
ing saved bis life ? and where is tbe wonder of, and wherefore
then discredit, her having interceded to save Smith's life, who
often, it appears, saved tbe lives of others 1
Why did be not earlier disclose it ? I admit it is a ques
tion easier asked tban answered, but tbe inability to furnish
an explanation is very far from warranting a deduction tbat
there is none. May it help to furnish a solution to consider,
that, in 1607, Smith was under suspicions of those then in
power, (wrongful and groundless aa after shown, indeed, but
not the less real,) of intending to " usurp the Government,

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 87
murder tbe Council, and make bimself King" (Dr. Studly
in 4 Purchas, p. 1706); that he had juat previoualy been long
"restrained" a prisoner, and degraded from tbe Council? —
that, ridiculous as tbe idea would now seem to us, it would
not bave been ridiculous at that day, and might even have
been fatal to Smith, as confirmatory of those suspicions, for
the impression to bave bad a plausible support of a possible
alliance between bim and tbe Indian Emperor's daughter,
wbicb very project, indeed, for all bis caution, was actually
among tbe charges specially laid against bim by bis eneraies,
the year after, when be returned to England, (R. Potts in 4
Purchas, 1731) — and the known silly flutter, occasioned, long
afterwards, in the Court circle of England, by Rolfe's mar
riage to Pocahontas, will show that we should not be too hasty
in refusing all weight to tbis conjecture. Seeming proof,
too, for some extraordinary caution on tbe part of Smith,
is furnished byhis pubhshing bia "Newes from Virginia"
under a feigned narae, and by its manifest abstinence from
topics affecting tbe Government, and Governors, of tbe Col
ony : whilst it should not be unnoticed tbat tbe " Newes from
Virginia," as published, did not embrace all that Smith wrote ;
(see tbe first Editor's note ;) and we do not, therefore, know
what was omitted, or wherefore omitted. But if no reference
to tbe fact of bis life having been saved by Pocahontas were
embraced in what be tben wrote, and if the consideration sug
gested influenced the omission, the same consideration would
account for his continued silence on tbe subject while he was
still seeking employment in Virginia at the hands of the com
pany in London, (as we bave good reason to suppose he was)
up to tbe time of Pocahontas' marriage; and it was but shortly
after that event, tbat the statement of bis having been rescued
from death, through tbe intervention of Pocahontas, was first
made public in his letter to the Queen.

o

'-rjt.--A

i/./'^f

'mtm

J\ky

'Uk^

'-r#

«">s

t^T