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RICHARD HENRY LEE 293 that body and demanded an inquiry into his conduct. It was granted; the senate united with the house, witnesses were examined, and Lee was heard in his defence. The charges were, that he had demanded of his tenants pay- ment of their rent in produce instead of mo- ney, with a design to depreciate the paper cur- rency of the country; that he had favored New England to the injury of Virginia ; and that, as a member of the secret committee in congress, he had opposed the publication of their proceedings from a desire to conceal the embezzlement of the public money. These charges were fully refuted. As to the main imputation, that he designed injury to the cur- rency by receiving produce in place of money for rent, it was shown that the proposition was made to his tenants in 1775, when the non- intercourse associations had ruined the sale of produce, when scarcely any paper money had been issued, and when it was a great favor and convenience to the tenants, for whose relief the plan was devised. Lee's speech upon this occasion is represented to have been full of noble eloquence, and to have affected his listeners profoundly. Without any display of passion or unbecoming anger, he plainly stated that certain evil-disposed persons hated him for that very zeal which good patriots had com- mended in him ; and that these enemies, in his absence, had deliberately planned his destruc- tion. He is said to have shed tears during his speech. The result was a resolution of thanks to Richard Henry Lee "for the faithful ser- vices he has rendered his country, in the dis- charge of his duty as one of the delegates of this state in general congress." When George Mason, one of the recently appointed dele- gates, soon afterward resigned, Lee was chosen in his place; and thus his vindication was formally recognized as complete. Such is a brief relation of an event which enlisted the deepest feelings of the country at the time, and which still remains a vivid tradition in the popular mind. The motive of the charges it is difficult at the present day to arrive at. Lee's prominent part in the exposure of Speaker Robinson's deficit, and the consequent hatred of the influential members who were involved in it, are said to have laid the foundation of a silent but bitter and profound hostility toward him ; and the old application for a collector- ship under the stamp act, never allowed to sleep, may have had its influence. Lee re- turned to congress, and in 1778 served upon 37 committees, though laboring under serious ill health. He continued to sit till 1780. During this and the three succeeding years he remained in Virginia, and as county lieutenant of West- moreland actively exerted himself in repelling the enemy, who were making incursions on the banks of the Potomac. He also sat in the as- sembly, and took a prominent part in the de- bates. In 1784 he resumed his seat in con- gress, and was elected its president. In 1786 and 1787 he sat in the assembly ; was again elected to congress, and took his seat in the latter year ; and when the federal constitution was adopted, was chosen one of the first two senators for Virginia. He was not a member of the Virginia convention to decide upon the adoption of the constitution, and was strongly opposed to that instrument, regarding it as a consolidation of political powers which would tend to destroy the independence of the state governments. Nothing, he said, could have induced him to accept the appointment of senator, except his reverence for the liberties of the land, and "a thorough conviction of the danger these will be exposed to by the un- amended state of the new constitution." He exerted himself to carry the proposed amend- ments, and like his great associates lived to form a more favorable opinion of the instru- ment. He became a strong supporter of the administration of Washington, and fully ap- proved of his course in the Genest affair, and of his neutrality policy. The last letter which he wrote upon political affairs was a long and earnest one to Washington, warmly approving his measures. In 1792 he finally retired from public service, received a vote of thanks from the Virginia assembly, and returned to West- moreland. Lee had married early in life Miss Aylett, by whom he had two sons and two daughters ; and after her death, Mrs. Pinkard, who is said to have been " every way worthy of him." He was a devoted member of the Episcopal church, and was twice thanked by conventions of that denomination for the in- terest which he had taken in its affairs. His charity to the poor was extremely liberal, and no doubt largely contributed to his popularity in Westmoreland. This popularity never failed him, and he never suffered a political defeat in the county. His personal appearance was a valuable assistance to his oratory ; it was emi- nently noble and engaging. His stature was tall, and the carriage of his body graceful and courtly. His countenance was of the Roman model, with a tall, narrow forehead, the head " leaning persuasively forward." By an accident resulting from the bursting of a gun, in shoot- ing swans on the Potomac, he had lost the four fingers of his left hand, and always wore upon it a black silk bandage; but in spite of this misfortune his gesture was so graceful that he was thought to have practised it before a mir- ror. Lee's disposition was gentle and amiable. He no doubt possessed that pride of race and sentiment of class which then characterized every man of ancient ancestry, and his schol- arly habits probably made him appear exclusive and aristocratic in his feelings. There is suffi- cient proof, however, that he possessed a warm and kindly heart. The well authenticated in- stances of his open-handed charity, and the warm love which his brothers felt for him, in- dicate the amiability of his temper; and the many expressions of cordial affection in the let- ters addressed to him by his contemporaries, show that he had conciliated strong friend-