HENRY
HENRY
lost, Henry was employed as counsel for the
colony. He discussed the mutual relations and
reciprocal duties of the king to his subjects, and
of the clergy to their parishioners, and when he
declared that the king who would insist on such
a principle as advanced would, instead of remain-
ing the father of his people, degenerate into a
tyrant and would forfeit all rights to the obe-
dience of his subjects, the murmur of "treason"
ran through the court-house, and then when he
continued by denouncing the parsons for refus-
ing to share the hardships of the community,
they left the court-room in a body. When the
jury brought in a verdict of one penny for the
plaintiff the entliusiastic people bore the young
advocate on their shoulders in triumph around
the court-jard. Patrick Henry in the Hanover
court house had struck the keynote of the Amer-
ican Revolution. His practice raj^idh' increased
and in 1765 he was elected to the house of bur-
gesses to fill a vacancy. Here he took his seat.
May 20, and met all his examinei's of two years
before except John Randolph, besides many other
distinguished statesmen of Virginia. Nine daj'S
after he had taken his seat he offered resolutions
denying the right of Great Britain to enforce the
stamp act in Virginia. Peyton Randolph, Pen-
dleton, Wythe and other experienced debaters
opposed the resolutions, but after what Jefferson
characterized a "most blood}'" debate Henry
carried his resolutions by a majority of one.
Jefferson speaks thus in his autobiography of
Henry's talents as an orator: " They were great
indeed: such as I have never heard from any
other man. He appeared to me to speak as
Homer wrote." It was in this debate that by
voice and gesture he electrified the house with
" Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First Iiis
Cromwell, and George the Third " "Trea-
son! " cried the speaker, John Robinson, and
" Treason! treason! " re-eclioed from every part
of the house. Without faltering, but rising to a
loftier attitude and fixing on the speaker an eye
which seemed to flash fire, Henry completed his
sentence, may profit by their example. If this
be treason make the most of it." From that mo-
ment Patrick Henry, on that day twenty-nine
years old, was the political leader of Virginia.
In 1769 lie was admitted to practise in the gen-
eral court and attained eminence in criminal
cases. In May, 1773, he helped in organizing
and was made a member of the committee of
correspondence. In 1774 he was a delegate to
the Virginia convention, the first public assem-
bly to recommend an annual general congress.
He was a delegate to the Continental congress,
1774-76, and opened the first session hx a speech
in which he declared, "I am not a Virginian,
but an American." He served on the committee
CARPEMTERS HALL.
PH I U. A OE L f H
to prepare the address to the king, but his draft
was too advanced for the conservative party led
by John Dickinson and the address was modi-
fied. When the
proposition of
Joseph Gallo-
way for a plan
of reconcilia-
tion with Eng-
land was before
congress and
apparently had
the sanction of
that body, Mr.
Henry led the
opposition and
was the only
'3^
one to speak against it. The vote of one col-
ony defeated the measure and Patrick Henry
alone arose to the occasion that precipitated the
war. He followed this action b}^ a motion be-
fore the Virginia convention, March 23. 1775, to
put the colony in a state of defence preparatory
to war which was threatening, and followed the
motion with a speech remarkable in the exam-
ples of eloquence. The delegates met in St.
John's Episcopal church. Richmond, and Mr.
Henry for two days had listened with mortifica-
tion to the proceedings which had been directed
toward an amicable settlement of the difficulties
between the colonies and England. He foresaw
in any compromise acceptable to the king, abso-
lute submission that would be little less than
slavery, and finding that some bold act was
necessary to rouse the patriotic spirit of the
assembled delegates, he prei^ared a set of resolu-
tions providing for an immediate organization of
the militia and the placing of the colony in a
condition of defence. The reading of tliese reso-
lutions alarmed some who saw in them revolu-
tion, disgrace and death, and svich delegates
deplored Henry's rashness and lack of prudence
and asked him to withdraw the resolutions. In-
stead of this he pronounced his immortal oration,
closing with the sentence, "I know not what
course others may take, but as for me. give me
liberty or give me death! " To quote from Wil-
liam Wirt: " He took his seat. No murmur of
applause was heard. The effect was too deep.
After the trance of a moment, several members
started from their seats. The crj- ' to arms! '
seemed to quiver on every lip and gleam from
every eye. Richard H. Lee arose and supported
Henry with liis usual spirit and eloquence. But
his melody was lost amid the agitations of that
ocean, which the master-spirit of the storm hart
lifted on liigh. The supernatural voice still
sounded in their ears and shivered along their
arteries. They heard in every pause the cry of
