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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
Bought with the income
ofthe
ALFRED E. PERKINS FUND

THE IflRGM coraiTioi OF me.
A DISCOURSE

DELIVERED BEFOKE

THE A^maiisriA. .alfh^
OF THE
PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY.
IN THE CHAPEL OF
WILLIAM AND MAKY COLLEGE,
IN THE CITY OF WILLIAMSBURG,
ON THE AFTERNOON OF JULY THE 3rd, 1855.
BY
HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.

[published by a resolution of the society.]

J. W. RANDOLPH,
121 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, VA.
1855.

f^ ' ¦ *"\ I ill \ 1

W. H. CLBMMITT, PRINTER,

DISCOURSE.

Mr. President :
Before I proceed to the .subject which I have
selected for the present occasion, I cannot refrain from expressing
my grateful acknowledgments to the society in which you preside,
for the honor of admission into its ranks, and my delight at its
re-establishment. The PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY, insti
tuted more than two-thirds of a century ago within the walls of
William and Mary by some of Virginia's noblest sons, and inter
twining itself since with the most eminent colleges of the Union,
has performed an office of incalculable importance in the history of
American literature. The names of John Marshall, Bushrod
Washington, Spencer Roane, John Nivison, the Cabells, the
Stuarts, Hardy, Page, Cocke, the Bookers, the Shorts, and
others, who laid its foundations, or were among its earliest members,
deserve to be held in lasting remembrance.* The most eminent
names in war and peace, throughout the Union, have been sub
sequently inscribed upon its rolls. Its annual gatherings constitute

* The names of the original members of the Phi Be
lished in Williamsburg on the fifth of December, 1776,

John Heath,
Thomas Smith,
Richard Booker,
Armistead Smith,
John Jones,
John Stuart,
Daniel Fitzhugh,
Theodore Fitzhugh,
John Starke,
Isaac Hill,
William Short,
John Morrison,
George Braxton,
Henry Hill,
John Allen,

John Nivison,
Hartwell Cocke,
Thomas Hall,
Samuel Hardy,
Archibald Stuart,
John Brown,
D. C. Brent,
Thomas Clements,
Thomas W. Ballandine,
Richard Booker,
John Moore,
Spencer Roane,
William Stith,
W. Stuart,
J. J. Beckley,

ta Kappa Society, estab-
are as follows :
Thomas Savage,
John Page,
WiUiam Cabell,
John Marshall,
Bushrod Washington,
Thomas Lee,
Landon CabeU,
W. Pierce,
Richard B. Lee,
William Madison,
John Swann,
Thomas Cocke,
Paxton Bowdoin,
Alexander Mason.

4 WILLIAMSBURG — ITS ASSOCIATIONS.
the great literary jubilee of our country. Sir, I indulge the hope, —
nay more than hope,— the firm and full belief, that its re-institution
here, in the place of its birth, appealing, as it does, with irresistible
power to our love of letters and to our love of country, is an omen
of cheering import ; that its star shall be obscured no more ; and
that, as the past generations beheld its genial light, so the genera
tions to come will hail its influence sweetly and charmingly blended
with the radiance of our venerable college, now and henceforth,
with becoming pride and joy.
The scene before me suggested the subject to which I invite
your attention. I was to speak in Williamsburg, the metropolis of
the Colony, and the cradle of the young Commonwealth. I was to
address a society instituted by some of the patriot fathers of the
Republic. I was to speak before a college in which most of those
patriot fathers were nurtured. I was to speak almost within the
shadow of that sacred edifice in which those fathers so long wor
shipped, in which they bowed beneath the chastisements of the
Ruler of Nations in fasting and prayer, at the altar of which they
put forth their first and fervent supplications for the prosperity of
the new Commonwealth which, under the guidance of Providence,
they had been impelled to erect, and in which they invoked the aid
of His countenance, who had guided their fathers over the waters,
who had shielded them amid the dangers of the wilderness, and
who had blessed them with prosperity and peace, to sustain them
in the fearful contest in which they were engaged. And, as if the
glory of that contest were inseparably connected with this ancient
city in which it may be said to have begun, it was not far from
hence that the last great battle of the Revolution was fought; it
was here that the booming of the distant artillery was heard, as the
red cross of St. George descended to the dust, and the stars of
America and the lilies of France proclaimed to the distant be
holder that the sceptre of Britain was broken at last, and the inde
pendence of our beloved country established forever.
I propose to treat of the Convention of Virginia, which assem
bled in the hall of the House of Burgesses in this city on the 6tli
day of May, 1776, and which framed the first Constitution of Vir
ginia. If we regard the circumstances under which it assembled,
the character of the men who composed it, the comprehensive and
invaluable results which flowed from its action — results affectino-

THE STATE OF THE TIMES. 5
the destinies not only of this Commonwealth, and of the other
States of the Union, but the world at large, its importance cannot
be too highly enhanced. Indeed, such is the grandeur of the sub
ject, that I might well shrink from undertaking it, and I truly wish
it had been assigned to some one of those who are now before me,
and whose genius and skill would invest it with that drapery which
would so richly become it. But, confident in the goodness of my
cause, and in full reliance on the magnanimity of this audience, I
proceed to discuss it.
It is proper to recall the state of the times when the Convention
assembled in this city. For more than ten years previously, the
Colony had been full of anxiety and excitement. The financial
embarrassments of England had become pressing, and her states
men, having exhausted the resources of domestic taxation, felt
constrained to look abroad for new subjects of revenue. Hence
the series of measures which led to the Revolution. It ought not
to be disguised, that the Colonies, especially Virginia, were at
tached to the parent country. Fears were indeed expressed at the
British Court as early as the days of Charles the Second, that the
New England Colonies were anxious to assume a republican form
of government;* but full reliance was always placed on the fidelity
of Virginia. The northern Colonies, occupying a sterile soil, were
compelled, in self-defence, to engage in commerce and manufac
tures, and totally disregarded from the earliest period the naviga
tion laws of Great Britain,! and traded wherever they pleased.
But Virginia, whose inhabitants were engaged in cultivating a
genial soil, and whose productions were readily sought by the ships
of England, had few inducements to embark in a contraband trade,
and never made any progress in forming a commercial marine of
her own. Her connexion with England was consequently more
intimate than that which existed between the New England Colo
nies and the parent country. Our population was also more nearly
* Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, Vol. II. , 59. Anno 1671.
t See Sir William Berkeley's an.swers to the inquiries of the lords commis
sioners of foreign plantations, Hening, Vol. II., 511, and the Virginia Histori
cal Register, Vol. III., 11. I cannot refer to the Register without bearing my
testimony to the value of its contents, which are almost indispensable to a
correct knowledge of our history. The precious letters and documents which
it contains are worth all the leaves of the Sybils. No young Virginian should
rest satisfied until he obtains a set of its six small volumes neatly bound, which
may be had of the editor at the historical rooms in Richmond.

6 THE STATE OF THE TIMES.
assimilated in manners and customs to that of England ; for, with
the exception of a few persons from Ireland, and from France
during the troubles which ensued upon the revocation of the edict
of Nantes, our emigrants were mainly from England and Scotland,
and cultivated ample freehold estates of their own. Moreover, the
established religion of England was also the established religion of
the Colony; and, although perhaps, at no time did it embrace a
majority of the whole people, it was heartily sustained by those
who held the reins of colonial authority.* It was the pride of
the Virginia planters to contemplate the power and glory of the
mother country. They were descended from a common stock;
they spoke a common language; they professed the same form of
public worship; they enjoyed nearly all the benefits of a free gov
ernment in the Colony, and were protected by the flag of Britain
abroad. Some of the most intelligent statesmen of the Colony
regarded Virginia as occupying the same relation toward the British
Crown as was borne by Scotland before the union of that country
with England, and holding the king as the common bond :t a doc
trine which would seem to be sustained by the arms of the Colony
on which were quartered those of England, Scotland, and Ireland,
with the motto, En dat Virginia quarta-m. Nor was the pride of
Virginia offended by the connexion. She believed that she gave
an ample equivalent for the protection of the British flag in the
profits derived from her commerce ; for she thought that Great
Britain might well protect that trade which she arrogated exclu
sively to herself. But when questions of a local nature were con
cerned, Virginia practically repudiated the interference of the
British parliament. For one hundred and sixty-seven years she
had levied her own taxes ; and it was her boast that the poorest
man in her dominion could not be required to pay a tax which had
not been laid with his own consent given by his immediate repre
sentative. When the British ministry sought to disregard this
principle, it is the glory of Virginia that she led the van in sus
taining the common rights of the colonies. Her opposition carried
with it a peculiar influence, and it was as decided as it was pecu
liar. The passage of the resolutions of the House of Burgesses in
* Mr. Jefferson estimated the opponents of the established church at the
breaking out of the Revolution, at not more than one-half ofthe people.
t Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Wythe held this opinion. Jefferson's Works, Vol. I., 6.

THE DECLARATION OF JULY, 1775. 7
1765, holding its sessions in this city, against the stamp act, was
the first great blow which British supremacy received on this side
of the Atlantic. The historian of America, as he records them on
his pages, will delight to exhibit them as the first great act of the
drama of the Revolution. Nor was this measure adopted until the
usual modes of appeal had been pressed, and pressed in vain.
Indeed so far from true was it, that independence was generally
bought in the beginning of the troubles, that, to pass over proofs,
the Convention of August, 1774, had met and adjourned; the Con
vention of JIarch, of July, and of December, 1775, had also met
and adjourned, without the expression of a single opinion in favor
of independence. On the contrary, at the close of the Convention
of July, 177.5, the body published a "Declaration" to the people,
which concluded with the following explicit statement of their
views. "Lest our views and designs should be misrepresented or
misunderstood, we, again and for all, publicly and solemnly declare,
before God and the Avorld, that we do bear faith and true allesiance
to his majesty, George the Third, our only lawful and rightful king;
that we will, so long as it may be in our power, defend him and his
government, as founded on the laws and well known principles of
the Constitution; that we will, to the utmost of our power, pre-
¦>erve peace and order throughout the country; and endeavor by
every honorable means to promote a restoration of that friendship
and amity which so long and happily subsisted between our fellow
subjects in Great Britain and the inhabitants of America; that as,
on the one hand, we are determined to defend our lives and pro
perties, and maintain our just rights and privileges at every, even
the extremest hazard, so, on the other, it is our fixed and unaltera
ble resolution to disband such forces as may be raised in this Colony
whenever our dangers are removed, and America is restored to
that former state of tranquility and happiness, the interruption of
which is so much deplored by us and every friend to either
country."* * Journal Convention, July, 1775, page 28. Mr. Jefferson in a letter to John
Randolph, who had gone over with Dunmore, dated August 25, 1775, declares:
" I am sincerely one of those (who wish for a connexion with England,) and
would rather be in dependence on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any
nation upon earth, or than on no nation." Works, Vol. I., 151. See also the
letter of George Mason to Col. Mercer; Virginia Historical Register, Vol. II.,
30 ; and Pendleton's sketch of his own life, in the archives of the Historical
Society.

8 THE QUESTION OF INDEPENDENCE.
Although no ulterior object beyond the peace of the Colony was
sought prior to the time of the assembling of the Convention in
May, 1776, the people, in self-defence, had taken the government
into their own hands; for a year had past since Dunmore, the royal
governor, had withdrawn from this city; and the subject of inde
pendence had been discussed in private circles and in letters. The
conviction was felt by our leading statesmen, that Great Britain
intended to subdue the colonists at every hazard by force of arms,
and, as it was plain that no foreign aid could be expected so long as
the colonies were connected with the mother country, it was
thought expedient to dissolve that connexion. Hence Richard
Henry Lee, then in Philadelphia, wrote to Patrick Henry when he
was about to take his seat in the Convention, exhorting him to pro
pose a separation.* It should be observed that the battle of the
Great Bridge had been fought more than four months before, and
the military resources of the Colony had been drawn into requisi
tion. And. on the first day of the January previous, Dunmore had
applied the torch to the borough of Norfolk, the great seaport of
the South, and reduced it to ashes. Still, when the election of the
members of the Convention was held, there had been no formal
declaration by the people, as has been shown by Mr. Jefferson, of a
desire to separate from England, and to establish an independent
system of their own. Nor should it be forgotten, that the variou.s
non-importation enactments, which could only be defended as mea
sures of peace, and which were wholly unwise, and even destruc
tive, if reference were had to a war with England, remained in
full force. Such was the state of things when the Convention
assembled in the hall of the House of Burgesses in this citv, on
the sixth day of May, 1776.t
* I first saw this patriotic letter in December last, among the Henry papers
at Red Hill, the seat of John Henry, Esq., the youngest son of Patrick Henry,
where the great orator lived and died, and where his remains now repose. After
a slight ahusion to a letter which he had previously written, Lee begins ;
"Ages yet unborn, and millions existing at present, may rue or bless^that
assembly on which their happiness or misery a ill so eminently depend." The
letter is dated April 20, 1776, and was unknown to the grandson of Lee, who
wrote his life. I confess my obligations to Mr. Henry ior the liberality' witli
which he showed me all the papers of his father in his possession, and "for his
generous hospitality which I have so frequently enjoyed.
f As it is common lo confound the House of Burgesses with the Conventions,
the former of which bodies was elected by writs issued by the royal governor'
and the latter by the act of the people themselves, it is proper to state than on
the day of the meeting of the Convention, " forty-five members of the House

MEETING OF THE CONVENTION. 9
The crowd which filled the Capitol evinced the intensity of the
public excitement. The most influential men from the neighboring
counties, not then in office, had sought the city, and repaired early
to the place of meeting. Mothers and daughters were to be seen
in the hall and in the gallery, watching with deep interest a scene
which was to affect their own peace and happiness, and the peace
and happiness of those who were dear to them. They were
anxious to behold the beginnings of that plan of government which
was to be sustained by the wisdom and valor of their husbands,
brothers, and sons, and in the maintenance of which they were ere
long to be called upon to bestow, as a tribute to the treasury of
their bleeding country, the jewels which in a happier hour had
sparkled in the bridal wreath, or had reflected the purity of the
bosoms which bounded beneath them.
We may readily imagine the feelings with which the members
themselves took their seats in that ancient hall. Many of them
had sat in the House of Burgesses for a long series of years, and
had often heard with pride the words of the British king spoken by
his representative. Thirty years before, that hall had resounded
with the congratulations of the Burgesses, when the victory of
CuUoden had sealed the fate of the Stuarts, and fixed firmly on the
British throne that Hanoverian dynasty which they were soon to
shake off.* And seventeen years before, some of the members
then present had raised the voice of thanksgiving when Wolfe on
the Heights of Abraham had crushed the power of France, whose
aid they were shortly to invoke. How different was the prospect
before them ! The sceptre of British rule was now to be broken,
and forever. Yet there were emotions of a tender kind which
agitated their bosoms. When last they assembled in full session in
that hall, the manly form of Peyton Randolph had filled the chair.
His elegant person, his imposing address, the high place which
he held in his profession and in the public esteem, the ability and
dignity with which he had filled, for the past ten years, the chair of
of Burgesses met at the Capitol in this city ; but thinking that the people
could not be legally represented under the ancient constitution, which had been
subverted by the king, lords, and commons, they unanimously dissolved them
selves accordingly." See the Virginia Gazette of that date in the library of
Virginia. * The House of Burgesses called the first county created after the battle of
CuUoden, in honor of the Duke of Cumberland.

10 PEYTON RANDOLPH.
the House of Burgesses, were freshly remembered ; while the tem
pered zeal with which he engaged in the contest in which the
country was now embarked, and which concentred on himself the
confidence of all parties, *his honored and patriotic career in the
General Congress in which he was unanimously called to preside,
the wisdom and firmness which he displayed in the Conventions of
March and July, 1775, in both of which he presided, the resolution
with which he persisted in the public service in spite of feeble
health, and which elicited from the Convention of July a mark cf
acknowledgment as rare as it was delicate and becoming,* sll
heightened and softened by the recollection of his sudden death a
short time before in a distant city, while engaged in tbe service of
his country; falling, too, at a crisis when his peculiar caste of
character and admirable talents were so much needed by his com
patriots, appealed with overpowering force to every heart. AltLough
averse from precipitate action even in a good cause, and not indis
posed to discountenance the strong measures which were urged by
younger statesmen, he yet enjoyed the unlimited confidence of the
two great parties, which had for some years past been gradually
assuming a distinct form, and had always been elected to the promi
nent offices which he held by an almost unanimous vote. His
career had been a remarkable one. As early as 1748, ere he
had attained his twenty-fifth year, he was appointed Attorney
General, and performed faithfully the duties of the office until
1766, when he succeeded on the death of Speaker Robinson to the
chair of the House of Burgesses, of which he had long been a
member, and was successively elected to that high station until the
body was superseded by the Conventions of the people. Of the
first Virginia Convention which was held in August, 1774, in this
city, he was unanimously elected President.! He was at the head
of the Committee of Correspondence. His name stood first on the
roll of delegates appointed by that body to the General Congress,
* Journal Convention, July, 1775, page 18. The Convention invites him by
a resolution to retire from the chair, that he might recruit himself for the labors
of the approaching Congress, of which he was President.
t I regret that I cannot put my finger upon the list of the members of the
Convention of August, 1774, A list of the twenty-five members of the Honse
of Burgesses who met in this city and convoked the Convention, may be found
in Purviance's, "Baltimore during the Revolution," page 135, and a sketch of
the doings of the Convention itself may also be seen in the same work, page

JOHN RANDOLPH. 11
above that of a Washington, a Harrison, a Bland, a Pendleton, and
a Henry. And when the Congress assembled, he was unanimously
elected its President. Although he may be said to have died early,
as he was in his fifty-second year only, when in October, 1775, he
was stricken with apoplexy, he had been nearly thirty years in the
public service. In person he was tall and stately, of a grave de
meanor, and was more distinguished, as a lawyer, by the soundness
of his learning and his accuracy of research, than by the elegance
of his language or by the mere graces of delivery. Sprung from a
family, whose wealth, accumulated by an industrious but unculti
vated ancestor who had emigrated to the Colony about the close of
the previous century, had been wisely expended in the education
of its members, who successively for a long series of years attained
to the highest honors of the Colony, he suj>eradded to his really
great qualities the prestige of a name; so, that he was one of those
fortunate men, who from considerations accidental as well as in
trinsic, become honors, and whom honors become. Even the
unfortunate adhesion of his brother to the royal cause — an attach
ment which led him to forsake his native country, and to spend the
short and sad remnant of his life among her enemies — and which
would have cast suspicion over ordinary men, tended by the force
of contrast rather to elevate than depress him in the estimation of
the people. Men of William and Mary! he was peculiarly your
own. It was in this city that he was born. It was at the breast of
your venerable parent he drew his early nurture, and it was from
her lips he learned those lessons of patriotism and piety, which
have encircled his name with unfading honor. It was, in later life,
as the immediate representative of your interests in the House of
Burgesses, that he founded some of his highest claims to the grati
tude of his country. And it is within the precincts of this sanc
tuary, beneath the platform on which I stand, and by the side of
his father, whose marble tablet, placed more than a century ago on
that wall, looks down on the graves of his race, that his honored
ashes now repose.* As I behold that spot, a mournful vision rises
• The Virginia Gazette of the 29th of November, 1776, says : " On Tuesday
last the remains of our amiable and beloved fellow-citizen, the Hon. Peyton
Randolph, Esq., were conveyed in a hearse to the College Chapel, attended by
the worshipful brotherhood of Free Masons, both houses of Assembly, a num
ber of other gentlemen, and the inhabitants of the city. The body was received
from the hearse by six gentlemen of the House of Delegates, who conveyed it
to the family vault in the Chapel ; after which an excellent oration was pro-

12 JOHN TAZEWELL ELECTED CLERK.
before me. A few rapid years have passed since the burial of
Peyton Randolph, and these boards were again displaced. In a
fresh grave were slowly lowered in silence and in sadness the
mortal remains of a man who was the boast of this college and the
pride of Virginia, who had worthily worn tbe highest legal honors
of tbe Colony, who had forsaken bis country in the hour of her
trial, and who had paid in a foreign land the penalty of a broken
heart. John Randolph, the son of that Sir John, whose marble
image has so long adorned your hall, separated in the convulsions
of a great crisis from his patriot brother, then reste-d once more by
his side.
When the time arrived for calling the Convention to order, a
member rose in his place and proposed John Tazewell as its
clerk. This eminent and excellent man had been conspicuous in
the preparatory movements which led to the call of tbe several
Conventions, and had been a member of the memorable association
of 1770. He studied at William and Mary, was bred to the law
which be prosecuted with success, and subsequently under the con
stitution he was elected a judge of tbe General Court. On the
assembling of the second Convention in Richmond, in March, 1775,
he had been unanimously elected clerk, and filled with fidelity a
station which was second only in dignity and influence to that of
the speaker, and which a Wythe before and an Edmund Randolph
afterwards deemed not unworthy of their ambition. He was also
elected clerk of the Conventions of July and December of the
same j^ear.* When the clerk bad taken his seat, tbe election of a
presiding officer came up in course. Heretofore in the appoint
ment to public office there bad been, since tbe beginning of tbe
troubles, entire unanimity in the Colony. Peyton Randolph had
always been elected to the chair of tbe House of Burgesses and of
the Convention of which he was a member, by an unanimous
nounced from the pulpit by the Rev. Thomas Davis, in honor of the deceased,
and recommending it to the respectable audience to imitate his virtues. The'
oration being ended, the body was deposited in the vault, when every spectator
jjaid the last tribute of tears to the memory of their departed and much honored
friend. The remains were brought from Philadelphia by his nephew, Edmund
Randolph, in pursuance of the orders of the widow."
• Judge John Tazewell died in Williamsburg, I am informed, in 1781 and
was buried in the church yard of that city. No stone marks his' grave— a re
mark which applies to most of the graves of our early statesmen.

ELECTION OF SPEAKER. 13
vote-* and Robert Carter Nicholas, who succeeded him joro tempore
in the Convention of July, 1775, was also elected unanimously.
The election of Edmund Pendleton to the chair in the Convention
of the previous December, was also unanimous.
But a new feeling had been recently roused in the Colony. An
incident, which created much unpleasant excitement, and which
threatened at one period serious consequences to the army, had
recently occurred. Tbe great orator of the Revolution, who had
been appointed by the Convention of July, 1775, to the command
of the military forces of the Colony, and who was anxious to lead
his countrymen to the field, had been virtually superseded by the
Committee of Safety. Of this committee, Pendleton was the head,
and was held responsible for its action. It was believed that if the
party of which Henry, wbo was a member of the House, was the
representative, should unite upon a candidate of their own for the
office of President, Pendleton, who was a candidate for re-nomina
tion, would lose the election. Under these circumstances, Richard
Bland rose to address tbe House. His grey hairs, which were to
him truly a crown of honor, his tall and manly form slightly bowed
beneath the weight of years, bis striking and even handsome face,
which is still to be seen in bis portrait at Jordan's, mutilated though
it be by the bayonet of a British vandal, his bright blue eyes, now
weak with age, and protected by a green shade, bis distinguished
position as a leader and member of the House of Burgesses for
nearly the third of a centur}', and his brilliant reputation as the
ablest writer in tbe Colony, might well make an impression even
on that august assembly. He proposed the name of Pendleton,
and resumed his seat. Archibald Cart, of whom we shall pre
sently speak, seconded the motion. Up to this moment, although
much dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Committee of Safety
had been expressed privately and in print, it was not certainly
known that there would be a formal contest for the chair. But all
doubt was instantly dispelled when Johnson of Louisa appeared on
the floor. The county from which he came, the very name which
he bore, settled the question. It was the county of Louisa which
* When Peyton Randolph was first nominated in 1766, to fill the vacancy in
the Speaker's chair made by the death of Col. Robinson, R. H. Lee nominated
Col. Richard Bland in opposition ; but his subsequent elections were unanimous.
See Journal House of Burgesses, of November 6th, 1766.

14 EDMUND PENDLETON.
Henry represented when he offered his resolutions against the
stamp act. It was a Johnson who had resigned bis seat in the
House of Burgesses, that Henry might succeed him.* Of all the
opponents of the party of Pendleton for tbe past ten years, the
Johnsons were the most ardent and uncompromising. They were
men of a fierce temperament, and were utterly fearless in the ex
pression of their opinions.! As a personal friend of Henry,
Thomas Johnson felt acutely tbe indignity with which it was urged
he had been treated by the Committee of Safety, and he was un
willing that Pendleton, whom be held bound for the action of the
committee, and who was then at its bead, should so soon receive so
signal a mark of the public favor. He proposed Thomas Ludwell
Lee for the chair, and was sustained by Bartholomew Dandridge.
But here, as throughout a life protracted far beyond the limit of
the Psalmist, and spent to its latest hour in tbe public service, the
fortunate star of Pendleton prevailed.!: He was re-elected, and
escorted by Richard Bland and Archibald Gary, was led to the
chair. Nor could tbe honor of tbe presiding office have been con
ferred more wisely. How far his reputation was involved in the
difficulty with Henry, will be presently discussed. As a parlia
mentarian, he had no equal in the House ; a superior nowhere. He
had been a leading member of tbe House of Burgesses for five and
twenty years, was familiar with all its forms, and was admirably
skilled in the dispatch of its business. If his knowledge of our
early charters did not equal that of Bland, it was more than respec
table, and with tbe British statutes bearing upon tbe Colony, and
with the acts of Assembly, be was fully conversant. And in an
intellectual point of view, as one of the raost accomplished speak
ers of the House, he imparted honor to the chair. Nor were his
* The Journals of the House of Burgesses for the session of 1765, spell the
name Joh-nston, but I am inclined to believe that the name is Johnson. Mr.
Wirt says that Johnston resigned to give place to Henry, while the Journal
states that he vacated his seat in consequence of accepting the ofl5ce of coro
ner. Journal House of Burgesses, 1765, page 99.
t An incident will illustrate the character of one of the Johnsons. He had
uttered an oath in debate in the House of Burgesses, which was promptly fol
lowed by an order that the offender should receive the reprimand of the Speaker,
which that officer jironounced on the spot in due form. As soon as he ended!
Johnson, who had ri.sen to receive the reprimand, set up a loud whistle which
brought down the house in a roar of laughter, and converted the whole affair
into a farce.
X The Journal gives the result, but does not state the vote.

ELECTION OF CHAPLAIN. 15
physical qualities at all inferior to his intellectual. He was fully
six feet in height, and was in the vigor of life, having reached his
fifty-fifth year ; his face still so comely as to have won for its pos
sessor the reputation of being the handsomest man in the Colony;
his noble form yet unbent by that fearful accident which, in less
than twelve months, was to consign him tothe crutch for bfe ; lithe
aijd graceful in all his movements; his manners pohshed by an
intercourse of a quarter of a century with the most refined circles
of the metropolis and of the Colony; his voice clear and ringing,
so that its lowest note was heard distinctly throughout the hall; and
a self-possession so supreme as to sustain him in the fiercest col
lisions of debate as if in a state of repose. Of such a man it may
be safely said, that in whatever view we choose to regard him, and
whether we look abroad or at home, a more accomplished personage
has rarely presided in a public assembly.
Before taking his seat, Pendleton made his acknowledgments to
the house in a few plain sentences, which have come down to us,
and which, simple as they seem, eminently display his skill as a
politician. The adroitness with which he regarded his election as a
fresh mark of the public confidence, the scrupulous care with which
he kept out of sight the subject of independence, which be well knew
the party of Henry intended to bring forward, and tbe zeal with
which he pressed tbe topics which in a state of flagrant war de
manded the immediate attention of the bouse, were as keenly felt
by bis opponents as they were applauded by his friends.*
It is gratifying to observe, that one of the first acts of the Con
vention was the appointment of a chaplain, whose duty it was to
open its sessions with prayer. And on the second day of tbe
meeting, tbe chaplain, the Rev. Thomas Price, was requested to
preach a suitable discourse in the Episcopal church in this city, on
the Friday week following, in compliance with the resolution of the
Congress, which had set apart that day as a time of fasting and
prayer throughout the Colonies. Nor was the observance of so
grave a religious ceremony a mere matter of form. Some of the
few letters of the patriots of that day, which have come down to us,
and which, if not worth all the classics, are invaluable for the pur
poses of history, show the spirit in which such days were kept.
• Journal Virginia Convention, May, 1776, page 5.

16 DUTIES OF THB CONVENTION.
The members not only attended in person, clad in mourning, and
marching in procession to tbe church, preceded by the sergeant of
arms bearing the ancient mace in his hand, but required their fami
lies at home to follow their example.*
It would be unjust to overlook the diligence with which these
eminent men performed their public duties. The house was opened
first at nine in the morning, and afterwards at seven, when the
chaplain read prayers. Tbe letter of a member ofthe Convention,
who was also a member of a previous one, affords us a glimpse of
tbe daily routine. "The committees met at seven, and remained
in session until tbe hour of nine, whe|i''lhe Convention assembled,
which rarely adjourned until five in the afternoon. After dinner
and a little refreshment, the committees sit again until nine or ten
at night." t The writer speaks of tbe difficulties that beset the
members: difficulties, indeed, but from which, great as they were,
those noble patriots did not shrink, but with which they manfully
grappled, and which, under the guidance of a kind Providence, they
overcame, crowning their work with that independence which they
were about to declare, and with that happy plan of government
which tbey were now about to establish.
Let it be kept in mind, that the Convention not only performed
the ordinary duties of the legislative department, but, while in
session, those of the executive also. Thus it received and answered
the letters of tbe highest mihtary officers in the public service, and
the letters of the members of Congress. Hence, from tbe extreme
pressure of business mostly of an executive kind ; for it must be
remembered that Dunmore was still on our waters, and that it was
not till several days after the adjournment of the Convention, that
he was driven from bis retreat at Gwin's Island by the artillery of
the gallant Lewis ; it was not until the fifteenth day of .May, after
long and solemn deliberation in committee of the whole, that two
resolutions, which were in every view the most important ever
presented for the consideration of a public body, were reported to
the house, and unanimously adopted. As these resolves have been
* A letter of George Mason, vsritten on the occasion of a fast, and recently
brought to light, enjoins it upon his household that they should attend the ser
vices in the church near Gunston Hall, and that his three sons and two daugh
ters should appear in mourning. Mason to Cockburn, Virginia Historical Reir-
ister. Vol. III., 28. ^
t Virginia Historical Register, Vol. II., 23.

RESOLUTIONS PROPOSING INDEPENDENCE 17
rarely drawn from the journals in full, and recorded in the histories
of tbe period, and as they constitute ihe first declaration of inde
pendence, I quote them at large :
" Forasmuch as all the endeavors of the United Colonies by the
most decent representations and petitions to the king and parliament
of Great Britain, to restore peace and security to America under
the British government, and a re-union with that people upon just
and liberal terms, instead of a redress of grievances, have pro
duced, from an imperious and vindictive administration, increased
insult, oppression, and a vigorous attempt to effect our total de
struction. By a late act, all these Colonies are declared to be in
rebellion, and out of the protection of the British crown, our pro
perties subjected to confiscation, our people, when captivated, com
pelled to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and
countrymen, and all former rapine and oppression of Americans
declared legal and just. Fleets and armies are raised, and the aid
of foreign troops engaged to assist these destructive purposes. The
king's representative in this Colony hath not only withheld all the
powers of government from operating for our safety, but, having
retired on board an armed ship, is canying on a piratical and
savage war against us, tempting our slaves, by every artifice, to
resort to him, aad training and employing them against their mas
ters. In this state of extreme danger, we have ao alternative left
but an abject submission to the will of those overbearing tyrants,
or a total separation from the crown and government of Great
Britain, uniting and exerting the strength of all America for defence,
and forming alliances with foreign powers for commerce and aid in
war. Wherefore, appealing to the SEARCHER OF HEARTS for
the sincerity of former declarations expressing our desire to pre
serve the connexion with that nation, and that we are driven from
that inclination by their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of
self-preservation :
" Resolved, unanimously. That the delegates appointed to represent
this Colony in the General Congress, be instructed to propose to
that respectable body, to declare the United Colonies free and inde
pendent States, absolved from all alle^ance to, or dependence upon,
the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the
assent of this Colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures
may be thought proper and necessary by the Congress for forming
2

18 AND A PLAN OF GOVERNMENT.
foreign alliances, and a confederation of the colonies, at such time
and in tbe manner as to them shall seem best; Provided, the power
of forming government for, and the regulations of the internal con
cerns of each Colony, be left to the respective colonial legislatures.
" Resolved, una^nimously , That a committee be appointed to prepare
a Declaration or Rights, and such a plan of government as will
be most likely to maintain peace and order in this Colony, and
secure substantial and equal liberty to the people."*
The subsequent history of tbe first resolution, which instructs
the delegates 'of Virginia in Congress to propose independence, is
known to all. The proposition was made in Congress in nearly the
words of the resolution, by Richard Henry Lee, who was gallantly
upheld by John Adams, whose eloquence and unfaltering courage,
as they were the admiration of his own age, so tbey will be cher
ished in all time to come. Tbe Declaration of tbe Fourth of July
followed in due time ; and it may be recorded as a fortunate inci
dent in our history, that, in a contest sustained with equal zeal by
tbe chivalric men of all the colonies, she was the first to instruct
her delegates to declare independence, that the declaratory resolu
tion adopted by Congress was drawn and offered by one of her rep
resentatives, and that tbe public appeal to the nations of tbe earth
in the form of a declaration of independence, was drafted by
another. It is becoming to observe that, when the resolution instructing
the delegates in Congress to propose independence was adopted by
the Convention, tbe result was welcomed by the people of Wil
liamsburg with every demonstration of joy. Thus, amid tbe ring
ing of bells and the thunder of artillery, tbe jocund shouts of the
young and the cordial congratulations of the old, the kingdom
passed away, and independence was assumed.! While this ani
mated scene was enacting without^ the eye of the reflecting ob
server beheld in the Convention an eloquent remembrancer of the
* Journal of the Convention 1776, page 15. In a letter to R. H. Lee, dated
May 18, 1776, in the archives of the Virginia Historical Society, Geo. Mason
criticises with some sharpness the wording of the preamble.
t The Virginia Gazette of the 17th of May, 1776, gives an animatad account
of the rejoicings. The resolution was read to the army in the presence of
Gen. Andrew Lewis, who, a few days later, was to drive Dunmore ignomini-
ously from our waters, the Committee of Safety, the members of the Conven
tion, and the people at large ; and a feast was spread for the soldiers in Waller's
grove. At night the city was brilliantly illuminated.

THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS REPORTED. 19
past. The ancient silver mace, once tbe superb and princely
symbol of imperial power, now tbe trophy of a people resolved to
be free, rested on tbe table of the clerk.
It has been seen that at the same time tbe Convention instructed
the delegates in Congress to propose independence, it adopted a
resolution appointing a committee to frame a declaration of rights,
and a plan of government for the State. Accordingly a committee
consisting of over thirty members most distinguished for their wis
dom and ability, Archibald Cary at their head, was appointed by
the chair;* and on the twenty-seventh of May, Mr. Cary reported
to the bouse a Declaration of Rights, "which be read in bis place,
and afterwards delivered in at tbe clerk's table, when the same was
again read, and ordered to be committed to a committee of the
whole Convention." From tbe twenty-seventh of May to the eleventh
of June, the Declaration of Rights was discussed at intervals in
committee of the whole ; and on the latter day it was ordered that
tbe declaration with tbe amendments be fairly transcribed, and
read a third time ; and the day after, the fifteenth of June, it was
passed unanimously. And on the twenty-fourth of June, Mr. Cary
reported a "plan of government," which was read the first time,
and ordered to be read a second time. It was passed over on the
twenty-fifth, discussed on the twenty-sixth and twent3--seventh,
and on the twenty-eighth was reported with amendments to the
house, and ordered to be read a third time ; and on the twenty-
ninth OF JUNE, tbe first written constitution ever framed by an
independent political society, was adopted by an unanimous vote.
And here, let me add, it is in the spirit of ju^t exultation that
Wilham and Mary may contemplate the fact, that the statesman
who was probably tbe author of the Virginia declaration of inde
pendence, from whose lips the declaration of rights was first heard
in a public assembly, and wbo reported the first written constitu
tion of a sovereign state known araong men;t and that the states-
* The committee consisted of the following gentlemen : Mr. A. Cary, Mr
Meriwether Smith, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Henry Lee, Mr. Treasurer, (R. C. Nicho
las,) Mr. Heniy, Mr. Dandridge, Mr. Gilmer, Mr. Richard Bland, Mr. Digges,
Mr. Paul Carrington, Mr. Thomas Ludwell Lee, Mr. Cabell, Mr. Jones," Mr'
Blair, Mr. Fleming, Mr. Henry Tazewell, Mr. R. Cary, Mr. Bullitt, Mr. Watts
Mr. Banister, Mr. Page, Mr. Starke, Mr. David Mason, Mr. Adams, Mr. Read
and Mr. Thomas Lewis. And at a later day, as they arrived in the city. Mi
Madison, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Benjamin Watkins, Mr. George Mason, Mr,
Harvie, Mr. Curie, and Mr. Holt.
1 1 attribute the preamble to the resolutions proposing independence and the

20 VIRGINIA THB FIRST STATE TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE.
man wbo drafted the eloquent preamble of that constitution, and
the immortal charter of our liberties, the American declaration of
independence, were among her cherished sons.
As the claim of Virginia to the honor of having first declared
independence, has been recently disputed, it is our duty, assembled
as we are, in tbe very city where that declaration was made, to see
how tbe case stands, and to defend her fair fame from any unjust
pretension, come it from any quarter it may. On the fifteenth of
May, 1776, she formally instructed her delegates in Congress to
propose independence, and on the twenty-ninth of June, she
declared in the raost solemn manner on tbe preamble of her con
stitution, that the ties which had previously bound ber to the
British crown, were thenceforth dissolved. But it has been urged
that the people of the county of Mecklenburg in our sister State of
North Carolina, made a regular declaration of independence on the
twentieth of May of the preceding year, thus anticipating the
action of Virginia by a twelve month. All honor to the patriots of
Mecklenburg I The names of her Alexanders, of Brevard, of Polk,
of Balch, of Kennon, and of others, deserve to be held in grateful
reraembrance. Nor were the gallant sons of Carolina content with
words. Before the close of that very year tbey rushed to the de
fence of Virginia, who was suffering from the piratical warfare of
Dunmore, and joining Woodford after tbe handsome affair of the
Great Bridge, marched in triumph to Norfolk, where the combined
forces under the Carolinian Howe, taught Dunmore a lesson which
he did not soon forget. A resolution adopted by our Convention of
1775-6, will proclaim to future times the high sense entertained by
that body of tbe services of the gallant Carolinians.* But, Mr.
President, while I rejoice to acknowledge the patriotism and valor
of North Carolina, displayed then and since on our own soil, and
while I shall concede, for the present at least, that tbe good people
of Mecklenburg did adopt on the twentieth of Way, 1775, certain
resolutions which reflect the highest credit upon them; still I must
be permitted to doubt whether those resolutions contained, as
alledged, a declaration of a formal and absolute independence of
formation of a plan of government to Archibald Cary, from internal evidence.
Neither R. H. Lee nor Mason had then arrived ; and as Cary was chairman of
the committee, it is probable that, if he be not the sole author, he gave it its
present shape. * Journal Virginia Convention of 1775-6, pages 74 and 81.

THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION. 21
the British crown. That the people overturned the royal govern
ment in their county, that they denounced every man a traitor who
should hold or accept a commission from the king, that they drew
up some regulations for their temporary government, and that tbey
acted independence, if tbey did not formally declare it, I am quite
willing for the present to concede ; but I must confess that all tbe
evidence yet accessible by me, does not quite convince me that
there was a regular declaration.* It is true that the resolutions
purporting to have been then and there adopted, do make such a
declaration ; but I am inclined to think that there has been some
mistake in the case, which I shall proceed to surmise. You will
see at once, sir, that if the original manuscript or a printed contem
poraneous copy could be produced, the question would be settled at
once. But unfortunately no such copy can be found, and we are
referred to two copies, one of which is supposed to be more genu
ine than the other, is generally put forth as the true copy, which
was discovered among the papers of one of Carolina's most distin
guished sons, the late Gen. Davie, and which is now said to be on
file in the state department at Raleigh ; and the other copy, which
is the first printed one known to exist, is contained in the history of
North Carolina by Martin, wbo was once governor of that State.
Now, sir, apart from the changes in the tenses of verbs, such as
"abets" in one copy and "abetted" in the other, there are in tbe
first short resolution of each copy ¦nine words that are not in both ;
and in the Davie copy of the first resolution, we find the insertion
of tbe ominous words "inherent and inalienable,'' which have made
the foundation in part of the charge of plagiarism against Mr. Jef
ferson, and which do not appear at all in the Martin copy which, as
before observed, was tbe first that appeared in print. The first
resolution of the Davie copy contains forty-five words ; the same
resolution in that of Martin, forty only, showing a difference of one-
eighth of all tbe words in tbe resolution. In the second, there are
in the Davie copy sixty-two words ; in that of Martin fifty-seven,
and there are ten words, or more than one-sixth of the whole, that
do not appear in both resolutions. In the third, there are in the
* The subject of the Mecklenburg declaration has lately been discussed with
treat ability by the Rev. Dr. Hawks, in a lecture delivered before the Historical
ociety of New York. This lecture has been published in #ook form, with the
discourses of Governor Swain and Mr. Graham on North Carolina history, by
Mr. Cooke of Raleigh, 1853.

22 THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION.
Davie copy sixty-seven words ; in that of Martin fifty-eight only ;
and there are six words not to be found in both copies. In the
fourth, there are in the Davie copy fifty-eight words ; and in that of
Martin thirty-six only ; but, though the substance of the resolution
is the same, the words are almost wholly different. In the fifth,
there are in tbe Davie copy one hundred and nine words, and in
that of Martin eighty-five only ; and, though on tbe same subject,
tbey differ almost entirely in their phraseology. A sixth resolution,
which requires the proceedings of tbe meeting to be sent "to tne
Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, to be laid before
that body," and which would point out a source to which we might
refer for a contemporaneous copy, appears in tbe Martin copy, but
is absent from the more graphic copy of Davie.
Now 1 am free to confess that the substance of the two series of
resolutions is tbe same in both copies; but the remarkable fact to
which 1 would call attention is, that it is palpable not only that
neither series was copied from the other, but that tbe copies from
which they were taken must also have differed as widelj- from each
other, and thus we go back to Almost to the date of the resolutions
themselves ; for it is admitted that the Martin copy was obtained
prior to 1800, and it is urged by the friends of the resolutions, that
the Davie copy was in existence as early as 1793. So there is a
point of time eighteen years only after their date, when the dif
ferent copies clashed precisely as they do now. What, Mr. Presi
dent, is the plain inference from such a state of facts ? Why, sir,
that both cannot be true copies of tbe original ; and that, when we
consider tbe early clashing of the copies, that neither is a true copy.
If I were allowed to form an hypothesis in such a case, it would be
that the original was probably destroyed or lost at or near its date ;
that, as time drew on, and tbe clouds of war rolled over — when the
fame of tbe great American declaration was diffused abroad, and its
phrases had become stereotyped in the common mind, pubhc atten
tion was drawn to the proceedings of the Mecklenburg meeting of tbe
twentieth of May, and that an effort was made to supply the lost
document from tbe memoranda or the recollections of those who were
present at the meeting; and, as they brought to tbe task a perfect
famiUarity with the phrases of tbe great declaration, so they un
consciously adof)ted them in their paper; and hence the resem
blance in certain forms of expression to that instrument. Nor do

THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION. 23
I impute fraud or collusion among the parties. On the contrary,
they may have been so fully convinced that tbey had succeeded in
restoring the original document that, in the lapse of time, the fact
of its loss was forgotten altogether, and one or other of the existing
copies was regarded as such.
But I may be asked what can I say of the fourteen* witnesses
residing in different states, who testify some forty or fifty years
after tbe date of the meeting, that there was a formal declaration of
independence. I answer at once that I believe them to be true and
honest patriots, who have served their country in their day and
generation, and whose lightest lock I would not lift irreverently
frora their honored temples for all the vexed questions in political
history. And when tbey testify to a fact which is a legitimate
subject of parole testimony, I would believe them as soon as any
other fourteen men on the face of the earth. Thus, when some of
them declare that there was a public meeting held in the county of
Mecklenburg, on the twentieth of May, 1775, though I might be
able to show from other sources that it was the thirtieth instead of
the twentieth on which the meeting was held, I admit at once that
they declare what they believe to be true, and that their testimony,
though not conclusive as to tbe day of the meeting, would seera to
be conclusive that there was a meeting about that time; but, when
they testify on tbe strength of mere memory, after the lapse of
almost half a century, concerning the peculiar phraseology of a
series of abstract resolutions which they had beard read from the
steps of a court-house, and which they never saw in print, and
which indeed were not printed for years after their date ; and when
it is considered that those who obtained their affidavits, honorable
and conscientious men as I concede them to be, regarded their tes
timony as deciding a question in which family and state pride was
enlisted ; and when, so far as I know, no one who doubted the au
thenticity of the resolutions was present to freshen the recollections
of these old men ; the case is altered, and I apply strictly to their
testimony the same rule applicable to human testimony under such
circumstances. Now, I assert that such testimony cannot be con
clusive. Those venerable men might well remember that at a
given period resolut'ons were offered, which struck down the royal
* Dr. Hawks' Discourse.

24 THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION.
government, and established an independent system in its stead,
which organized the mihtary forces of the county of Mecklenburg,
and which denounced vengeance on all who upheld the authority of
the king; and that the people were ready to maintain the new sys
tem, if need be, with their lives. I say that these aged patriots
might well remember that the people acted independence, whether
tbey used the form of a declaration or not, and put forth their reso
lutions of a corresponding tenor ; and hence they called the change
a declaration of independence, which indeed it was, but only as
the action of all tbe states at that time may be said to have de
clared independence. At the date of the Mecklenburg meeting,
Virginia was practically as much a self-governing and independent
state as she now is. Tbe Convention of August, 1774, had met
and adjourned. The Convention of March, 1775, had met, had
organized the military forces of the Colony, beside making other
preparations for the approaching crisis, and had adjourned. These
aged men might readily have confounded such revolutionary pro
ceedings with a formal declaration of independence of tbe British
crown. At all events, none holds the honor of these worthy wit
nesses in higher repute than I do.
But, let rae ask, why were not these famous resolves printed 1
The proceedings of the same comraittee which is said to have
framed them, adopted ten days after, were duly emblazoned through
the northern and southern press, and a printed copy of them, b}'
tbe way, was enclosed by tbe royal governor in a letter, which Mr.
Sparks recently saw, to the state department in England. It is
urged that the resolutions of the twentieth were too violent for
publication ; but the resolves of tbe thirtieth were printed, which
embraced an entire plan of government, and contained the dis
tilled essence of treason, the punishment of which was death; and,
as no greater punishment than death can be inflicted upon the sarae
persons, it is not easy to tell why one set of resolutions, which may
be sai'd to be priraary and authoritative, should not be published as
well as the other which followed as a matter of course. Well, sir,
the resolutions of the twentieth were ordered by tbe meetino-,
according to one of the copies, to be laid before Congress, and it is
in testimony that the messenger who is said to have carried them
to Philadelphia, and who, by the way, did not set out, it would
seem, until after the thirtieth of May, and took with him the pro-

THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION. 25
ceedings of that day, deposited them, as be states, in tbe hands of
the Carolina members. Why were they not reported to Congress,
and spread upon the journals.' There would be no danger from
such a publication, as Congress always sat with closed doors ; and
surely a body which was busily engaged in subverting the royal
authority by armies in the open field, had nerves strong enough to
bear the resolves of the people of the county of Mecklenburg.
Why were they not shown to Mr. Jefferson or to John Adams, both
of whom declare that they never heard of thera until alraost half a
century after their date ? If the miserable charge of plagiarism
urged against Mr. Jefferson may lead tbe fanatic to undervalue his
testimony, surely that of John Adams, the Colossus of indepen
dence, is unimpeachable.
I have argued thus far, Mr. President, against the authenticity of
the Mecklenburg declaration of the twentieth of May, on the
ground of the clashing between the two copies which have come
down to us, of tbe incompetency of witnesses after a lapse of near
half a century to prove any precise words in a series of resolves
which they had never seen in print, and which they had merely heard
read at a public meeting, and on other considerations. I now take
the position that it is not only not true that a forraal declaration of
independence was made at the time and place aforesaid, but that it
is impossible to be true. Fortunately for tbe cause of sober his
tory, the same body of men who are reputed to have made the
Mecklenburg declaration of an absolute independence of tbe British
crown on the twentieth of May, 1775, prepared an elaborate and
admirable series of resolves, which were designed as a plan of go
vernment for the county of Mecklenburg, and which were read to
the people on the same spot,' on the thirtieth of May, or ten days
after the date of the supposed declaration, and were published far
and wide. Now, sir, there is not a more established rule of evi
dence in the interpretation of public documents than that which
ascertains their meaning from a comparison of tbe opinions ex
pressed at or about the same time under the same circumstances or
in the different stages of the same case. Let us apply this rule to
the resolves of the Mecklenburg committee, published on the thir
tieth of May, the authenticity of which is placed beyond all doubt.
A learned professor of this college has recently pronounced the
constitution of Virginia, framed by the Convention of 1776, the

26 THE MECKLENBURG, DECLARATION.
first written constitution of a free state in the annals of the worid;*
and be has said truly. But why did he make such an assertion ?
Had not South Carohna formed a plan of government before the
date of that instrument ? Assuredly she had. Had not New Hamp
shire done the same thing.? Yes, sir, she bad. How comes it
then that our professor asserts for Virginia a priority of claim above
her sister states to such an honor ? Simply because in the plans of
government formed by the states aforesaid, they limited the exis
tence of their constitutions until such time as tbe difficulties with
the mother country should be settled : thus recognising by such a
limitation the right of erainent domain in the British crown. With
this distinction in view, let us look at the resolves of the thirtieth
of May, by the Mecklenburg coramittee. And here, sir, I cannot
express myself too warmly in favor of the superior skill with which
these resolves are drawn. They deserve to rank among the first
compositions of the great era in which tbey appeared, and which
they adorn. The beauty of their diction, their elegant precision,
the wide scope of statesmanship which tbey exhibit, prove incontes-
tibly that tbe men wbo put thera forth were worthy of their high
trust at that difficult crisis. They well knew the progress of the
controversy with the mother country, and the temper of the times.
The resolves are as formal and as regular a plan of government for
a county, and almost as much in detail as our own constitution,
(adopted a twelve month afterwards,) was for a state. And let rae
say they are from the pen of Ephraim Brevard, an exalted patriot,
wbo, not content with the use of words however gracefully in his
country's cause, erabarked at once in the military service, and in
his capacity as surgeon was taken prisoner at Charleston, and was
at last dismissed on parole, but not until he bad contracted a dis
ease of which he died soon after his return home. Sir, if North
Carolina, like our own Virginia, were not too backward in testifying
by overt acts her regard for her departed patriots, one of the first
questions an American would ask on entering her beautiful metro
polis would be : where is the monument to Brevard ? Well, sir,
this paper, drawn with such consummate skill, speaks for itself, and
will speak forever. It discloses all the purposes and plans of the
committee. Now what does it say of a declaration of indepen-
* Discourse before the Virginia Historical Society in 1852, by Prof. Washington.

MECKLENBURG RESOLUTIONS OF THE THIRTIETH OF MAY. 2^
dence alledged to have been made ten days before .' Does it recog
nise in its elaborate provisions a previous formal declaration .' It is
as silent as the grave on tbe subject. There is 710 allusion to a pre
vious meeting at all. So far as the face of this paper shows, there
never was such a previous meeting for independence or for any
thing else. But this is not all. It is not only silent on the subject
of a previous declaration, but shows that it is impossible that any
such declaration could have been made. For it adopts the course
of South Carolina and New Hampshire, and almost their words,
and provides in the eighteenth resolve "that these resolves shall
bs in full force and virtue until i"structions frora the provincial
Congress (colonial assembly) regulating the jurisprudence of tbe
province, or the legislative body of Great Britain resign its unjust
and arbitrary pretensions with respect to America ;" thus recognising
in the plainest terms the right of erainent domain in the British
crown. Now, sir, when we reflect upon the character of the men,
and observe tbe admirable policy prescribed by tbe resolutions, is it
not clear that if they had made a deliberate declaration of inde
pendence only ten days before, they would still have maintained
their ground, or, if they thought proper to sound a retreat, would
have offered some shadow of apology for their retrograde move
ment 1 Sir, tbe case is palpable enough. They never -made any
such formal declaration at all. Hence there was no occasion either
for retraction, or for an allusion to a previous meeting. Let us sup
pose that the declaration bad reallj' been made; let us suppose that
the shout which we are recently told by an eloquent divine on tbe
announcement of tbe declaration bad rent the sky, had really made
all tbe confusion in, the upper regions which he said it made, what
would have followed v.hen the same Col. Polk, who read the sup
posed declaration, again appeared after an interval of only ten days
before tbe same excited multitude, and read a paper which recanted
all the high talk about an absolution of allegiance, and which
brought the people back again under the heel of the British king —
that very king who had been employing that interval in .slaughter
ing their brethren, and in filling our cities and our seas with a hire
ling soldiery ? Sir, no sooner had the recreant words been uttered,
than the click of a hundred triggers would have greeted the ears of
the traitor. And, if be escaped alive, it would have been only to
bear a name as infamous as that of Monteith in the land of their

28 MECKLENBURG RESOLUTIONS OF THB THIRTIETH OF MAY.
Scottish ancestors, or as that of Arnold subsequently became in our
own. But no such thing happened, and for tbe best of all reasons,
— there bad been no previous declaration ; and the patriot Polk re
ceived, as he deserved, tbe hearty congratulations of his friends
and neighbors. 'Now then the whole affair of the Mecklenburg dec
laration resolves itself into this : either there was no declaration, or
there was. If there was none, there is an end of the matter; but,
if it was made, then was it ignorainiously recanted ten days after it
was raade, by the very men who made it, on tbe spot where it was
made ; aye, in the presence of the very same people wbo are
reported to have hailed it with enthusiastic applause, and who
meanly uttered the sarae demonstrations of joy when tbey were
again reduced ten days after under tbe vassalage of tbe British
king ; and the declaration having been thus recanted by those who
made it, lost its value as a chart of honor, and can no longer be
exhibited as the Prima Charta of a great commonwealth, and the
most .precious of her patriotic gems. Thus, sir, it is seen, that
even if there had been such a declaration, as assuredly there was
not, it is a worthless and withered thing, and not to be introduced
into decent history in comparison with the authentic acts pf other
states on the same subject. Now, if I were disposed to imitate the
example of the most violent advocate of the Mecklenburg declara
tion,* and intermix with a purely patriotic theme tbe rancor of
personal and political prejudice, might I not go on and affirm, on
the strength of the well known maxim of tbe law — falsum in uno
falsum in omnibus — that, as tbe resolution of the twentieth of May
about independence was never adopted, so none of its associate
resolutions were adopted.? And might I not go a step farther, and
deny that there was any meeting at all on the twentieth of May ;
The main proof that is brought to show that there was a raeeting on
that day — for the resolutions themselves, even if they were genu
ine, as they have no date, prove nothing — is the parole testimony of
five or six old ment who testify their belief that their was a meet
ing held on that day, and who, after such a lapse of time, might
naturally enough have confounded the twentieth with the thirtieth
of May, when a glorious meeting was really held, and thus have
made a mistake of ten days in forty years. For, if there was such
¦* Jones in his " Defence of North Carolina."
t Dr. Hawks' Lecture,

MECKLENBURG RESOLUTIONS OF THE THIRTIETH OF MAY. 29
a meeting, what did it do, and why the necessity of another meet
ing ten days after.? And might I not carry tbe war of retaliation
still farther, and accuse all those honorable men who have upheld
tbe genuineness of the declaration with their testimony, their aiders
and abettors, as so many conspirators against the truth of history
and the rightful claim of Virginia to her primal honors in the
cause of independence, which for almost half a century she had
gracefully worn, and which, it now appears, so far as the Mecklen
burg declaration is concerned, she will wear forever ? And, if it
were alledged that so many reputable people as those who testify in
favor of the declaration and argue in its defence cannot be de
ceived, might I not point to the story of tbe Ossian fraud in the
history of tbe land from which the ancestors of the Mecklenburg
people, and some of the people themselves, came — a fraud that was
sustained by tbe learned and tbe ignorant alike, by the professor
from his chair and b}' tbe peasant in bis hovel.? Could I not show
that there were thousands of men in every station of life ready to
swear, and did swear, that they had heard in their infancy the wild
rant of McPherson, and to lay down their lives in defence of the
authenticity of Ossian ? And could I not point out, as an apt coin
cidence, that a learned Scotch theologian,* as a learned and eloquent
North Carolina theologian has recently done in tbe Mecklenburg
affair, put forth a most elaborate argument in defence of tbe bard of
the mountain and the mist? And might not I charge, as was
charged against Scotland, that the whole people of Carolina were
banded together to maintain per fas aut nefas their title to what
they deem their most distinguished honor .? But, sir, I will use no
such lano-uase. and for the best of all reasons — it would not reflect
my feehngs. I know too well the tendency of the human mind in
its highest and best estate to err, and how frail tbe recollections of
men are after a lapse of years, and I love and venerate the memory
of the patriots of North Carolina with that large and overflowing
measure which they deserve from every Araerican heart. And
especially would I refrain from words of recrimination, because I
should be iraitating an example which I would most studiously
avoid, of the most strenuous advocate of the Mecklenburg declara
tion in the wanton harshness and bitter personal enmity with which
be has assailed Virginia's greatest statesman, who was educated
* Dr. Blair in his dissertation on Ossian,

30 THE NORTH CAROLINA RESOLUTION OF INDEPENDENCE.
within your walls, and whose name is tbe proudest and most glo
rious ever recorded on your rolls.
In closing this branch of our subject, let me speak a word to our
Carolina friends in tbe spirit of respect and friendship. Drop the
Mecklenburg declaration so called. If it is false, it is unworthy of
tbe regard of all honest men; and, if it be true, it impugns the
courage and wisdom of your purest patriots, and derogates from the
majesty and grandeur of the noble resolutions of the thirtieth of
May. These are am.ple enough to fill the measure of the loftiest
patriotism. Fall back upon them, or rather advance to them; and
with these in her hand. North Carolina may take what place she
pleases in the history of our comraon country.
But there is another claimant for the honor of the first declara
tion of independence, who has recently appeared, and vrhose title,
taken from tbe record, is pronounced indisputable. And whom do
you take this new claimant to be? Why, sir, she is a sovereign
state, and the very one of all the sisterhood of states whom I would
wish to wear the honor, if Virginia is at last to lose it from that brow
which for almost eighty years it has so well become. It is none other
than North Carolina herself, appearing this time not as the repre
sentative of one of her counties, but in her proper person and in
ber own right. And are we, Mr. President, to lose the honor at
last? Is that precious treasure which our dear departed fathers
valued so highly, and thought so safe, to be taken frora us at this
late day, and forever? Well, let it go. Let Carolina wear it as
worthily as her elder sister has worn it, and we will not complain.
Still, before we part with it, it is at least becoming to look into the
title of her who claims it. Here it is. In the sarae lecture before
the New York Historical Society, in which Dr. Hawks defends
with so much abiUty the Mecklenburg declaration, this eloquent
son of Carolina, who though no longer a resident within ber limits,
cherishes her glory with truly filial affection, produced a resolution
of tbe provincial Congress of that State on the subject of indepen
dence adopted on the twelfth of April, 1776, which is a month
earlier than the resolution of Virginia, which I not loner since read,
instructing her delegates in Congress to propose independence.
Here it is :
" Resolved, that the delegates for this Colony in the Continental
Congress be empowered to concur with tbe delegates of tbe other

THE NORTH CAROLINA RESOLUTION OF INDEPENDENCE. 31
Colonies in declaring independence, and forming foreign alliances,
reserving to this Colony the sole and exclusive right of forming a
constitution and laws for this Colony, and of appointing delegates
fro.m time to time, (under the direction of a general representative
thereof,) to raeet the delegates of the other Colonies."
Are j'ou satisfied? Will you give up the ship? After all our
trouble in tripping that buxom daughter of Mecklenburg, are we to
have the old woman come down upon us with a vengeance after all ?
One thing is certain. We cannot fight this resolution with dates.
Nor can we impugn its authenticity. These points are settled by
the undoubted record. What shall we do? At all events, before
we strike our flag, let us look our foe fairly in the face. When be
had read the North Carolina resolution, the accomplished lecturer
proceeds to say: "This, we repeat, is tbe first open and public
declaration for independence, by the proper authority of any one of
the Colonies, that can be found on record." Now, sir, with all due
deference, I deny that this Carolina resolution is any declaration
for independence at all. The Carolina Congress, so far frora de
claring independence, does not even instruct its delegates in gene
ral Congress to bring it forward. Nor is this all. It not only
fails to instruct the delegates to bring forward a declaration, but
even to vote for one when brought forward by others. The resolu
tion contains no instruction whatever. All that it pretends to do is
to confer on the delegates in Congress a naked power of concurring
with others in declaring independence, provided, always, that the
delegates choose to assume the responsibility of so doing. So far
as this resolution is concerned, if tbe declaration had not been raade
to this hour, and the Carolina delegates had abstained frora bringing
forward a proposition in favor of one, they would have kept within
its legitiraate scope ; and if a declaration bad been brought forth by
others, and the Carolina delegates had unanimously refused to sus
tain it, they would still have acted within tbe scope of the resolu
tion, which gives thera tbe naked power of voting for a declaration,
but throws the whole responsibility of tbe act on the delegates,
who might or might not assume it as tbey thought proper. Nay, so
far as this resolution is concerned, the Carolina delegates, even
though all the delegates from the other states bad assented to the
declaration, might have withheld their assent up to this very hour
of the fifty-fifth year of the nineteenth century, and yet complied

32 THE NORTH CAROLINA RESOLUTION OF INDEPENDENCE.
fully with all the requisitions which it imposed upon them. That
the terms of the resolution are not casual or accidental, but were
drawn with considerate caution, may be inferred from one fact,
among others, that the body which passed it had voted down a pro
position in favor of independence at a preceding session, when, by
the way, one of the Mecklenburg comraittee which is said to have
declared independence on tbe twentieth of May of the previous
year was present, and helped to vote down tbe resolution for inde
pendence. That the Carolina resolution was drawn with deliberate
caution, is supported by conteraporaneous testiraony, and was a
common topic of remark by our fathers at the time. Thus a
writer under tbe signature of Aristides in the Virginia Gazette of
the thirty-first of May, 1776, calls attention to the manifest dis
tinction between the resolution of North Carolina, which merely
empowers her delegates to vote for independence at their own will
and pleasure, and the resolution of Virginia which peremptorily
instructs her delegates to propose independence whether they are
willing or not. This writer remarks: "The two Carolinas (so it
seems that South Carolina comes in for her share of honor as weU
as North) have agreed to concur in all measures that raay be
approved by Congress for the general welfare of the American
erapire. Virginia alone stands up, and gives the great example
with positive orders to ber delegates to vote for independence at all
events." Tbe resolution of North Carolina was then weU under
stood at the time, as assuming no responsibility on the subject of an
immediate declaration, but as throwing it upon her delegates, who
might or might not assume it as they pleased. Should they assume
it, then and not tiU then did her responsibUity begin. That her
delegates were not likely to be too forward in their action, both Mr.
Jefferson and Mr. Adams bear significant testimony.* Tbe decided
tone of tbe Virginia resolution settled the subject at once. The
resolution for independence was instantly brought forward by one
of her delegates, and was in due time adopted. There was no
* I mean not the slightest reflection on the patriots who composed the North
Carolina delegation, and Professor Tucker has shown that Mr. Jefl^erson did not
use the words which have given so much offence in the sense imputed to them;
but the letters of Jefferson and Adams show that they did not regard the North
Carolina delegation as eager for independence. It was a question of time, on
which the purest and ablest patriots differed, and might well differ. South Caro
lina voted against the resolution of Congress, declaring that the Colonies were
free and independent.

THE NORTH CAROLINA RESOLUTION OF INDEPENDENCE. 33
shrinking from instant responsibility, there was no delay, but prompt
and conclusive action followed. With this fair representation of
the whole case, may we not safely affirm that tbe resolution of
North Carolina, which was in fact no positive declaration at all,
which did not even enjoin upon her delegates to sustain indepen
dence when proposed by others, and which was weU known by our
fathers, and regarded for what it was worth, can never be brought
into comparison for a moment with the bold and timely movement
of Virginia ? And am I not right in concluding that Virginia may
continue to wear tbe honor of the "first open and public declara
tion for independence by the proper authority of any one of the
Colonies that can be found on record," until some more potent
claimant shaU arise to take it from her? And may I not say to the
eloquent Carolinian, that he must first bunt up some other act of
his beloved State, duly spread upon the record, which she has per
formed, or some downright and instant responsibility which she has
assuraed in favor of independence, prior to the fifteenth day of
May, 1776, before she is entitled to bear away from our venerated
mother the laurel which she has worn so long ? And let me tell
him that, when such a case is fairly made out, Virginia will not
higgle upon trifles ; but, as she has freely and magnanimously given
vast principalities to be divided araong her associate states, so she
will be ever ready to unbind her own laurels, and twine them with
her own fingers about the brow of a worthier sister ?
If I may appear, Mr. President, to have dwelt too long on the
topics which I have discussed, it must be remerabered, that if Vir
ginians will not take the trouble of preserving the glory of their
ancestors intact, nobody will perform the office in their behalf; and
although I am quite willing to confess, that, whether our fathers
performed a noble action on one day or another is comparatively
unimportant, yet, as other states have embarked in the race of dates,
and are ready to found upon them high claims to public conside
ration, it is only fair that the case of our own state be plainly set
forth, fully conscious as we are, that it will speak for itself. And,
if the reputation of Virginia is to be defended, what ground is more
appropriate than that which we are now treading, what place more
becoming than beneath the roof which sheltered the infancy of
many of those eminent men who wrought out her independence,
and of others who have since illustrated her name with unfading
3

34 ELECTION OF GOVERNOR.
honor, and within the limits of this city where stood her ancient
capitol in which she first defied the power of the British king, from
which she sent forth her resolution for independence, in which she
laid the foundation of the young Comraonwealth, and beside the
moral grandeur of which the proudest structuse ever reared by hu
man hands vanishes as tbe vision of a dream?
When the Convention adopted on tbe twenty-ninth of June the
new constitution, the members proceeded immediately, in pursuance
of its provisions, to elect a governor, a council of state, and an
attorney general.* Patrick Henry, Jr., as he was then called —
for his venerable uncle of the same name, wbo had kindly retired
at his request from the court ground at Hanover when the young
orator was about to make bis debut in tbe parson's cause, who hved
to see bis namesake take up his abode in the palace heretofore
occupied by the representatives of the British king, and who made
him the executor of his will, still survived — Patrick Henry was
elected the first Governor of the Commonwealth by a majority of fif
teen votes over Thoraas Nelson, the elder, who received forty-five ; a
result which probably showed the state of parties as they existed at
the coraraenceraent of the session. A comraittee of several mem
bers, at the head of whom was George Mason, was appointed to
inform the governor of his election, which duty they promptly per
formed, and reported his acceptance in the form of a letter to the
house, which is a graceful speciraen of his style, and which is re
markable as the first paper from the chair of an American execu
tive, which contains the magical words now so familiar to us all —
"the Commonwealth of Virginia," and "fellow-citizen." A man
of the times, be seems at once to have fallen into tbe peculiar
phraseology of the new era ; but, as the letter is to be found in
Wirt and in tbe Journal of tbe Convention, I shall not trouble you
with it for the present.
Within five days after the election of the governor and council,
and when the body had dispatched a large amount of current busi
ness — for, as I have said, up to this period it was tbe legislative,
* The names of the council were John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe,
John Blair, Benjamin Harrison, of Berkeley, Bartholomew Dandridu-e, Thomas
Nelson, and Charles Carter, of Shirley. Thomas Nelson declined "serving on
account of his infirmities, and Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon, was next day
elected in his stead. Edmund Randolph was appointed Attorney General. The
salary of the Governor was £ 1,000, that of the council to be apportioned ac
cording to attendance, £1,600, and that of the Attorney General £200.

APPEARANCE OF THE CONVENTION. 35
and, when in session, the executive of the Colony, and, among other
things, had adapted the liturgy to the new state of things, approved
the design of a common seal, and provided that the constitution
should be "published in the respective parish churches and meet
ing-houses for two Sundays successively, immediately after divine
service;" the Convention adjourned on the fifth of July. And
it ought to remind us of the fleeting nature of our mortal existence,
w^hen we reflect that of all who aided in forming the constitution,
and of all who beard it proclaimed in tbe churches, not a solitary
survivor reraains. And even the constitution itself has passed
away, but not until it had fulfilled its office, and for half a century
had diffused the blessings of liberty and law over a free, a great,
and a happy people.
It is high tirae, sir, that we becorae better acquainted with the
individual members wbo composed the Convention ; and I confess
that this is the main point of view in which I would present my
subject, feehng, as I do, most painfully, that their memory, which
ought to be as lasting as the hills, as living as the streams, and as
fresh as the flowers of the lovely land which they have bequeathed
to us, is fast fading frora tbe public mind. Let us look at the mem
bers as tbey are sitting in solemn asserably. You see at once that
it is an august body. You mark, indeed, a variety of character in
those manly faces and in those stalwart forms, and a various cos
tume. You can tell tbe men who come from the bay counties and
from the banks of the large rivers, and who, from tbe facility with
which they could exchange their products for British goods, are
clothed in foreign fabrics. You can also tell those who live oflF
from tbe great arteries of trade, far in the interior, in the shadow of
the Blue Ridge, in the Valley, and in that splendid principality out
of which the county of Botetourt had been lately formed and named
in honor of the popular and lamented Berkeley, but which still
stretched onward to the Mississippi, and was called West Augusta.
These are mostly clad in homespun, or in the more substantial
buckskin, which so early and so long gave a name al home and
abroad to our people.* The well powdered wig, you see, with its
* The worthy Mrs. Glass, the tobacconist, in the Heart of Midlothian, propo
ses to send the unfortunate but beautiful Effie Deans to her Virginia correspon
dent Ephraim Buckskin, Esq., who had left with her a standing order for a
vnfe. Many members of the assembly up to the present century wore buck
skin breeches. John Clarke, of Campbell, wore them to the last. The last

36 THE DRESS OF MEMBERS.
graceful curls and ample proportions, was freely worn. That on
the head of the great orator of the assembly looks rather the worse
for wear. Some of the members, you perceive, stiU cling to the
cocked hat; others have native hunting caps in their hands, and
others again, wbo are young and dressy, wear those conical hats
that you see on the heads of the members of the House of Commons
in the paintings of the time of the Protectorate, and which were
now coming into vogue.* Tbe sword, which had been worn in the
House of Comraons in the days of Sir Robert Walpole, had gone
out of fashion, except on high state occasions ; but many of the
members from the interior had come to the city well armed ; for
tbey bad heard that Norfolk had been burned to ashes three months
before by Dunmore, who controlled the waters of the Colony, and
who might peep in upon them in this city merely to see what
they were about. If you look more closely at the members, you
will be struck with their noble stature. You mark their dignified
mien, their high bearing. There are one hundred and twenty-eight
in aU, and one hundred and twenty-eight finer looking men are
rarely seen together. Their courage, their intelligence, their patri
otism, their physical capacity to endure the toils of war which some
of them were to court, and the trophies of which some of them
were to win, were calculated to inspire the people with resolution
to prosecute the great contest to which they were now fully com
mitted. There were, indeed; some aged men, better fitted for the
council than the field, and of these we shall presently speak.
Whence, do you inquire, did this band of patriots come ? From
what stock did they spring ? Whence that devoted spirit of liberty,
that ennobling love of country, which was impelling them to the
pair of buckskin breeches that I have seen, belonged to the wardrobe of the
late John Randolph, of Roanoke. They were elegantly made, evidently by n
London tailor.
* Mr. Madison wore one of the conical hats, and was so unfortunate as to
have it stolen from the passage of a house in Williamsburg, where he was visit
ing. He used to tell how embarrassed he was by the loss of his hat at a time
when from the non-importation laws it was difficult to supply its place. By the
way, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the House of Burgesses, though
studi ously observant of all the forms ofthe House of Commons, never adopted
the practice of wearing hats during the session. Nor did the chairman in com
mittee of the whole take the chair of the speaker, but sat at the clerk's table.
And when the house was in committee, the mace was taken from the table of
the clerk and placed beneath it. And it may be observed here, that the mem
bers of the ditferent Conventions took no oaths ; while the inembers of the
House of Burgesses always took the oaths taken by the members of the
House of Commons.

THE VIRGINIA CHARACTER. 37
field against the most formidable nation of the earth, rather than
pay a trifling tax on tea — an article which many of them would
have scorned to taste ?* 0 1 that the history of such a race were
worthily written. O! that our historians, instead of beginning and
ending with the acts of the beggarly governors who for a century
and a half were sent over to fatten on the revenues of the Colony,
and caUing such a record Virginia's history, had looked to the races
from which this glorious stock had risen, their high spirit, their
burning patriotism ! These writers tell us that these noble quali
ties have been derived from a class of men who came over from
time to time, few and far between, and under tbe name of cavaliers
sought a livehhood in the Colony. Miserable figment! Outrage
ous calumny 1 Why, sir, the cavalier was essentially a slave — a
compound slave — a slave to the king and a slave to the church.
He was the last man in the world from whom any great elemental
principle of liberty and law could come. He was as incapable of
transmitting such a principle to others, as he was of conceiving it
himself. It is true that some of this class did come over at intervals.
Some came with the gallant John Smith ; but, when he found out
how worthless they were, he implored the Virginia company to
send no more. Even tbe gallant Smith hiraself left the Colony af
ter a short sojourn, and was soon followed by Percy, whom tbe
first honors of the colony could not tempt to remain within its bor
ders.! But when the great gold shipment turned to dross, the
cavalier carae no raore. A home in the wilderness, to be cleared
by his own axe, and guarded by his own musket against a wily foe,
was no place for the voluptuary and the idler. The size of the
* Tea was used by the great families of the seaboard, and in some of the
wealthier ones in the interior; but its use was not general. As it was costly, it
became a proverb when a family accustomed to use it fell into pecuniary trou
bles, "so much for drinking tea." I have seen the early silver spoons introduced
into Charlotte county. They would be lost in a modern cup. Coffee in time
became the favorite beverage, but was used sparingly. There are persons now
living who remember when in wealthy families coffee was used on Sunday
mornings only. In the early days of Hampden Sidney College, neither tea nor
coffee was used. In this, as in many other instances, habits and customs
brought over by the colonists survived long after they were dropped in the
mother country. If the present generation be inclined to associate meanness
and poverty with the absence of tea and coffee, it should be remembered that
neither was used at the magnificent banquet at Kenelworth, which Leicester
gave to Elizabeth, and which some of the first colonists may have seen.
f We are indebted to Conway Robinson, Esq. that a fine portrait of Peacy,
copied from the original in the possession ofthe Duke of Nortnumberland, now
adorns the hall of the Virginia Historical Society.

38 CHARACTER OF THE CAVALIER.
farms patented before the civil wars shows that they were culti
vated, if not by the personal labor, at least under tbe immediate
and constant supervision of their owners. During the civil wars
some of tbe cavaUers fled hither, as they did to other parts of
the world, from tbe edge of that Anglo-Saxon sword which was
wielded so effectually in defence ofthe Uberties of England ;* but,
when that contest was over, and British freedom had faUen by
the treason of its friends, many of those ardent supporters of despo
tism in church and state returned to their old home as a raore con
genial place for thera. Sir, I look with contempt on that miserable
figment, which has so long held a place in our histories, which
seeks to trace the distinguishing and salient points of the Virginia
character to tbe influence of those butterflies of the British aristo
cracy, who, unable to earn their bread at home, came over to the
Colony to feed on whatever crumbs they might gather in some
petty office, or from the race-course, or from tbe gaming table, in
stead of regarding those distinctive traits as the legitimate results
of a great Anglo-Saxon people placed in a position of all others
best adapted to the fuU and generous development of their pecu
liar virtues. The secret of our colonial character lies far deeper.
If you wiU look into the reigns of Henry the eighth and Elizabeth,
you will find sorae of the causes which led to the settlement of Vir
ginia. For a long series of years the domestic policy of England, as
distinguished from its civil and political, had been assuming a form
most odious to the bulk of tbe people. The effect of that pohcy
was to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer. Tbe tenure of
viUenage was indeed abolished ; but this privilege tended to make
things rather worse than better ; for every man was bound to main
tain himself and his famUy in a country in which almost every foot
of land belonged to the church, to the nobility, or to the king. But
what greatly added to tbe embarrassments of the poor was tbe
comparative abandonment of tiUage by tbe wealthy proprietors, es
peciaUy during the reigns of Henry the eighth and Elizabeth, and
the laying down all the best lands in pasturage. t Hume teUs us
that a single farmer would own four and twenty thousand sheep,
• If the reader wishes to see a curious group of cavaliers who had fled to
Virginia in 1649, let him consult Col. Norwood's Voyage to Virginia Va His-
toMcal Register, Vol. II, 136.
t Consult Hume, reign of Henry the eighth.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE VIRTUES OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 39
and that laws were repeatedly enacted to restrain a policy which
threw^ the laboring population almost wholly out of employment, but
were enacted in vain. It was when this obnoxious policy bad
wrrought its effect, that the Colony of Virginia was open for settle
ment. During the existence of the Virginia company, which con-
troUed emigration, the rush of the people to the new world, though
their attention had been awakened on the subject, had not fairly
begun; but when the charter of tbe company was withdrawn, and
before 1670, the human tide began to flow in a deeper and wider
stream than had yet been seen in the history of European coloniza
tion. In 1670, when the population of tbe Colony did not exceed
forty thousand persons, of whom two thousand only were slaves,
Sir William Berkeley deposed in his answers to the lords commis
sioners of plantations, that the annual number of emigrants for tbe
seven previous years reached fifteen hundred;* a wonderful emi
gration, when we reflect upon the tonnage of the ships of that day,
and- surpassing in proportion that which is now crowding to our
shores. And let me say in passing that, if we look to the history
of the times, we may fairly presume that araong the emigrants, as
is freely confessed by Beverley when it suited his purpose so to do,
¦were many of those brave men who had served under Cromwell,
and whose backs, as has been truly said, no enemy ever saw.t
This was in the regular course of events. But when sorae great
political coramotion occurred in England, such as the Monmouth
rebellion, t when some great calamity raged, as the plague in Lon
don, the number of emigrants was proportionally enhanced. At
such a rate of addition as stated by Berkeley, tbe population of tbe
Colony, including the native increase, would double itself in a very
short tirae. And who were these emigrants that crowded to our
shores ? Were they cavahers, with their soft bands complained of
by Smith as unknowing of the axe, and with their pack of trumpery
fashions on their backs ? 0 I no, sir. Their good-natured but un
principled and ungrateful monarch was now on his throne. The
mouldering remains of the greatest character in peace and in war
which England had ever known were torn from tbe grave and
chained to the gibbet. Hard work had no charms for men who
* Va. Hist. Reg. Vol. Ill, 10. f Beverley calls them Oliverians.
I See C. Campbell's History, p. 99, where the cruel letter of Sunderland con
cerning the rebels is given at length.

40 CAUSES OF THB SETTLEMENT OF THE COLONY.
were contending for the smUes of Eleanor Gwynn, or were ena
mored of the more exquisite graces of the Querouaille. Who then
composed that living stream which was to diffuse civiUzation
through the new world, and who were to make the wilderness blos
som as the rose ? They were poor, very poor in worldly goods ;
many of them could not pay their passage, and were sold for a time
as servants, passing through a stern but wholesome apprenticeship
on the plantations, which prepared them in due time to set up for
themselves. Tbey were the very men above all others whom we
could wish them to have been. They were the bone and sinew of
that unconquerable people, whom, made up of the Britons, the An
gles, the Danes, the Finns, the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Normans,
¦we call, for the want of a better narae, the Anglo-Saxons ; a people
as reraarkable for their love of rural life as tbey were terrible in
war. Tbey were the descendants of the men who, under the vali
ant kings of Britain, struck terror into the fiercest legions of France,
and made the names of Poictiers and Agincourt classic words in
British story. It was the brothers of those very men, and sorae of
the men themselves, who made the army of Cromwell more forrai-
dable than the hosts of tbe Edwards and Henries ever were, and
who scourged the cavalier so sorely that he did not feel safe in his
shoon until be bad the sea between him and his foe. As for the
Valley of Virginia, the Germans owed no obligations to the cava
lier ; and as little did the Scotch- Irish, who were ever most de
voted to freedom in church and state, and whose course before and
during the Revolution was one continued blaze of glory, put forth
any title of descent from such an ancestry ; though coming, of
course, from the great Anglo-Saxon stock. Sir, I cannot but regret
that to this hour tbe class and character ofthe mass of our colonial
population is a sealed book in our history. I fear that no record
presents a true state of our white population as late as thirty years
anterior to the Revolution. Writers on statistics sometiraes infer
the amount of tbe population of a country and its extent of business
from tbe nuraber of law-suits in a successive series of years. If
this test were applied, the result would show an amount of
white population in certain counties greater than can now be
readily beheved. In the year 1770, the docket of the cases in
which a single lawyer was engaged in what was then almost a

THE CHARACTER OF THE EMIGRANTS. 41
frontier county, who practiced in several other counties also, filled
fifty half foolscap pages written on one side.* Thus we see what a
large white population existed in the interior counties, and which,
being engaged wholly in agriculture and entitled to vote, elected the
men who composed the Virginia Convention of '76. How that Con
vention would have laughed to scorn the notion that they, and those
¦who chose them, owed their high courage, their keen sense of
wrong, their exalted love of hberty in church and state, to a set of
vagrants and office-bearers wbo never drew a sword but in defence
of a tyrant king, and whose highest ambition only sought the petty
honors which a tyrant deemed high enough for his tools in a dis
tant Colony ! What would Benjamin Harrison have said to such
a dogma ; he, who, if not lineally descended, as was sometime be
lieved, from bis namesake in the High Court of Justice which con
demned the "martyr of blessed memory" to the block, was of his
race, and whose son in the fullness of tirae was to preside in that
confederate empire, the corner-stone of the greatest State of which
he was about to lay ?t What would John Tyler have said, who
w^as related to, if not directly descended from, the greatest rebel in
English history, after whom he bad named a son; whose maternal
ancestor was a Huguenot, and who, though not a member of the
Convention, attended its debates, and was araong tbe first to take
up arms in his country's cause ; who was in a few months to begin
a civU career, which extended through more than the third of a
century; whose great and unapproachable honor it was that he pro
posed in the House of Delegates the resolution whicii convoked tbe
meeting at Annapolis which ultimately resulted in the call of the
General Convention which formed the federal constitution ; and
whose son of the same narae, who is now present as the Rector of
this college, lending tbe influence of his name and character to the
promotion of the literature of his native State, was also to preside
in that federal government which the resolution of the father may
* Paul Carrington's docket ofthe cases in which he was employed in Cum
berland county court. The original is in my possession.
t It is a singular fact that, although the Harrisons are not lineally descended
from Major General Harrison of the Parliamentary army on the paternal side,
those of Brandon at least are descended from him on the mother's side through
the Willings. Harrison is stated by the editor of Pepys to have been the son
of a butcher, and Sir Walter Scott harps upon the fact m Woodstock.

42 THE HUGUENOT AND THB SCOTCH.
be said, in a certain sense, to have caUed into existence?* What
would Thomas Jefferson have said, wbo, though a member of
the Convention, was unable to quit his post in Congress ; who
drafted the preamble to the constitution which the Convention was
about to adopt ; who was the author of that admirable paper in
which tbe true connexion of the Colonies with the mother country
was first clearly defined ; who had recently written the answer of
the House of Burgesses to the propositions of Lord North ; who was
ever foremost in the contest at home, and was to draw tbe declara
tion of independence by tbe Congress; and wbo was to preside
with unparalleled honor, not in tbe person of his son, but in his
proper person, in the government of tbe Union ? He has indeed
spoken for himself; for when, in the graceful sketch of his hfe
from his own pen, he alludes to his father who was a plain planter,
he speaks of him with a just pride as of a man who had done a
good deed — wbo bad helped to make the first regular map of Vir
ginia ; but when he touches on the maternal side of his house,
which would have led hira into the mists of an uncertain gene
alogy, be settles the matter with a dash of his pen. What would
Thomas Lewis have said, who had not only a sprinkling of Mile
sian blood in his veins — for he was born in Ireland — but could also
claim the kindred blood of the Huguenot and the Covenanter;
whose father, the pioneer of West Augusta, slew the Irish lord ;
whose brother Charles had gloriously fallen two years before at
Point Pleasant ; whose brother William bad distinguished himself
in the Indian wars, and was an officer during the revolution; whose
brother Andrew had not only reaped the highest honors in the
Indian wars, and was the victor at Point Pleasant, and -was to drive
a few days after the adjournment of the Convention the recreant
Dunmore from the waters of Virginia, but who was, with the single
exception of Washington, tbe first mihtary man in the Colony, as
he was undoubtedly among tbe first men in peace and in war ofthe
era in which he lived, and who was to seal his devotion to his
* I have alluded in the text to the fact, that John Tyler called a son after
Wat Tyler. On one occasion when Patrick Henry visited Mr. Tyler, between
whom and Henry there existed a long and intimate friendship, terminated only
by the death of the latter, he saw the infant on the lap of his mother, and asked
his name. "He is called. Col. Henry, after the two_greatest rebels in English
history." "Pray, madam, who were they ?" " Wat Tyler and Patrick Henry."
The name of the boy was Walter Henry Tyler. I learned this incident from
Ex-President Tyler.

THOMAS LE'WIS, HENRY TAZEWELL, PATRICK HENRY. 43
adopted country by death from disease contracted in tbe public ser
vice ere he reached his own fireside ; and who, embarking in civil
life, had voted for the resolutions of Henry against the stamp act,
and for those embodying the militia? What, I say, would Thomas
Lewis have said, that sterling patriot, whose single vote carried
successfully through the House of Burgesses the fifth and fiercest
resolution of Henry against the stamp act ? What would Henry
Tazewell have said, whose paternal ancestor, as if, like Langoi-
ran, the bosom friend of Colligny, anticipating tbe result of that
struggle between fanaticism and good faith which was raging in the
breast of Louis the fourteenth, and which impelled him to revoke
the edict of Nantes, had quitted the vine-clad vaUies of his beloved
France, and had sought the shores of Britain ? What would Pa
trick Henry himself have said, who was the author of the resolu
tions against the stamp act and of the resolutions for putting the Col
ony in a state of defence ; who bad headed the first military move
ment in the Colony, and whose father was a Scotchman of a com
paratively recent importation ? Those pure and devoted patriots
knew full well that their love of liberty, their hatred of wrong,
their unflinching courage, came from another quarter. Whatever
merits their fathers, or their fathers' fathers possessed, were all
their own. They had come over poor, but by industry had ac
quired wealth, which was freely used in the education of their chil
dren, who in time became an educated class, and, as industry,
directed by inteUigence and honesty, is rarely unsuccessful, their
children not only retained their inheritance but increased it ; thus
from generation to generation preparing insensibly but surely for
tbe great contest in which they were now engaged. And let me
say to you, sir, how much raore noble it is as well as more true,
how much more congenial to the pride and honor of the Virginian,
to reflect that the virtues of his fathers are to be traced, not to a
race of men whose whole career was one long and bitter and bloody
protest against civil and religious freedom, but to the great Anglo-
Saxon family, whose swords were never drawn in vain, and before
whom the hosts of the cavalier in the old world were driven as
chaff" before tbe wind? Such were the men who in tbe council and
in tbe field achieved the revolution.*
* This topic would require a speech in itself to be fully treated, and I can
only say here, that so ar from the cavalier influence bringing about the Revo-

44 PENDLETON — THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THB CAVALIER.
I have spoken of the folly and falsehood of that philosophy
which sought to draw upon the cavaher for those qualities which
ennobled our fathers. StiU there was in tbe Colony a distinct cava
her class, not wholly contemptible in numbers, but more potent in
influence, which partook of the character that marked the foreign
original, and which in its modes of life imitated English manners, prac
tised English sports, cherished English prejudices, and were proud
of tbe glory of England, not in its loftiest development, but as cast
ing its brightness, of aU others in tbe Colony, on itself. But even
to this class sorae who could trace a legitimate descent from those
who came over after the discomfiture and death of Charles, did not
belong. These descendants differed materially from their ances
tors. The architects of their own fortune, reared in that noblest of
all schools, the school of poverty, they had mingled freely with the
people and shared their pursuits ; and thus not only lost their he
reditary prejudices but adopted popular views, and became the most
strenuous supporters of the very principles from which their ances
tors would have recoiled. It was the spirit of Anglo-Saxon liberty,
inculcated for generations by the peculiar circumstances of the
Colony in their race, that made tbe names of Washington, George
Mason and the Lees a bulwark in the cause of independence. But
neither of these was the representative of the party to which by
the accident of birth he belonged. That office, since the departure
of John Randolph, fell upon a man wbo was unconnected with it
by birth and was infinitel}' superior to many of its prejudices, but
lution, the Revolution was brought about in spite of the cavalier. The three
greatest test measures of that epoch were the resolutions of Henry in 1765
against the stamp act, the resolutions of the same individual in the Convention
of March, 1775, for putting the Colony into military array, and the resolution
instructing the delegates in Congress to propose independence. Now of all
these measures the cavalier party, as a party, was the stoutest opponent. It is
true, that on the last mentioned resolution the vote in the journal is set down
as unanimous; but we know from a letter of George Mason to R. H. Lee, dated
May 18, 1776, that there was a considerable minority, and we know from other
sources who composed that minority. This minority, when it was plain that
the members composing it must either be drummed into independence, or
drummed out of the country, finally came in. It would be invidious to single
out by name the cavaliers who at the beginning of the troubles were placed
under heavy bonds, were confined to the forks of rivers, or were escorted under
guard into the interior. Unfortunately, so far as the convenience of reference
is concerned, the ayes and noes were never taken in the House of Burgesses or
in the Conventions, and we are compelled to hunt up the votes of individueJs
elsewhere. One thing is clear to my mind, that the three great measures men
tioned above were carried by the western vote, that is, by the vote of the mem
bers living north and west of Richmond, as were the leading measures of re
form some years later.

EDMUND PENDLETON. 45
who held some principles in common with the class.* Nor could
it have devolved on a more suitable person. I allude to Edmund
Pendleton. The origin of this remarkable man was obscure. He was not in
a legal sense nobody's son, but in the estimation of a haughty gen
try he was something worse — he was the son of nobody. He was
born in 1721, in the county of Caroline, his father having died be
fore his birth, and in his fourteenth year be was bound as an ap
prentice to Col. Benjamin Robinson, Clerk of Caroline Court.t Ih
his sixteenth year he was made clerk to the vestry of St Mary's
parish in his native county, and appropriated bis salary to the pur
chase of books which he read diligently. In his twentieth year
he was made clerk of Caroline Court Martial, and in his twenty-
first year, with his master's consent, he was licensed to practice
law, having undergone, as he tells us, a strict examination by Mr.
Barradall, an eminent lawyer, whose narae, having alraost died
away, has been revived by a recent edition of his reports by a Vir
ginia publisher, and whose tomb, honored with a Latin inscription,
may still be seen in tbe cemetery of this city. Before coming to
the bar, and before he was of age, Pendleton married Betty Roy, a
young lady of great beauty, against the consent of his friends, and
especially of his master, who, however, as he tells us in his old age,
"still continued his affections to bim." This union was destined
to be short, his wife dying in less than two years after his marriage.
In his twenty-fourth year he married for his second wife Sarah Pol
lard. He had thus far practiced in the county courts with great
success, and now undertook the management of cases in the Gene
ral Court, at the bar of which he continued in full business until
1774, when the courts were closed by the Revolution. In 1752 he
was returned a Burgess from the county of Caroline, and was suc
cessively re-elected until the body became extinct. In 1774 he
* The firm and decided course of Peyton Randolph had separated him from
the cavalier party. In his attendance on Congress he had caught the spiiit of
the times. We are told by Mr. Jefferson that Peyton Randolph, fearing lest
Col. Nicholas might not write in a spirit which he thought the occasion de
manded, requested him to answer the propositions of Lord North.
t The dates and some of the facts in this sketch are taken from a short ac
count of himself written by Pendleton in his latter days. A manuscript copy
may be seen in the archives of the Virginia Historical Society, and it is printed
in the Norfolk Beacon, Oct. 3, 1834.

46 EDMUND PENDLETON.
was the presiding magistrate of Caroline, and at the same time held
tbe responsible and honorable office of County Lieutenant.
But it is in his more pubUc career as a politician, that bis char
acter demands our special attention. In the calm of old age, — if, in
deed, that calm ever came to a man who from the year 1752 to his
death in 1803, a period of over half a century, during which, either
in the capacity of Burgess, of member of Convention, of Speaker of
tbe House of Delegates, and of Judge, he was connected with the
public service, — he states in tbe brief record of his services by his
own pen which has come down to us, that "when the dispute with
Great Britain began, a redress of grievances, and not a revolution of
government, was my wish." And this sentiment explains the
course which he pursued throughout the difficulties that led to the
Revolution. It has been seen that in 1752 be entered the House
of Burgesses, tbe sessions of which he assiduously attended, and in
which he gradually rose into eminence as a public speaker. From
tbe similarity of tbe names of Benjamin Robinson, his old master,
as he always called him, and of John Robinson, the Speaker of the
House of Burgesses, it has been usual to regard Pendleton as the
p-otege of the Speaker ; but it is probable that the Speaker was
more deeply indebted to Pendleton than Pendleton was to the
Speaker.* It is true that their line of policy was the sarae, and it
was in Pendleton that the Speaker found his ablest aUy when
the proposition to separate the office of Treasurer frora that of
Speaker, both of which be had held for four and twenty years, was
made in the House of Burgesses. It was this course of action that
led the cavaUer interest to look up to hira for guidance and counsel
in the crisis that was now at hand. Not a member of the caste,
his efforts in its defence might assume an impartial air. Of a con
servative temper, and fearful of change, he was more solicitous of
controUing tbe progress of others than of advancing himself. A
bold measure, merely because it was bold, was distasteful to him.
In the interpretation of the gravest questions of policy which spring
up at a period of impending revolution, he applied tbe sarae rules
with which he would seek in a time of profound peace to amend
an act of assembly. He was essentially tbe statesman of peace.
* Wirt and the Virginia writers generally, except Howison, have fallen into
the mistake of confounding the two names. Even the author of the biographi
cal sketches in the new edition of Call's Reports adopts the error.

EDMUND PENDLETON. 47
He had that intuitive love of prescription which was a marked trait
in the character of almost all the eminent lawyers to whose exer
tions tbe liberties of England were indebted for their existence.
Tbe strongest argument that could be urged in favor of a particular
measure in his view was that it had formed for a century a part of
the general mind. The same sentiment, which impeUed our Eng
lish ancestors to declare against a change of the laws of England,
always governed him. And in ordinary Jegislati on it is unquestion
ably tbe true policy of a Commonwealth. He well knew that in a
thinly settled country, without a press and without a post, inteUi
gence was slowly diffused, and that repeated changes which made
the law either vague or uncertain, whatever might be the outward
form of the government, established a wretched slavery by the fire
sides of the people ; and in this respect we may fairly take a lesson
from his experience. This principle swayed his conduct not only
in the Colony but in the Comraonwealth. But, if he were distrust
ful of ordinary changes, be was still more opposed to civil war : and
from revolution he absolutely recoiled. Hence in regard of the
great legislative measures which paved the way for the Revolution,
he was invariably found in the negative. He opposed Henry's
resolutions against the stamp act. He opposed, as has just been
said, the scheme of weakening the influence of the Speaker of the
House of Burgesses by rendering tbe office of Treasurer incompati
ble with that of Speaker, — a measure which the liberal party main
tained on the ground not only of diminishing the patronage of the
Speaker, wbo, though elected by the Burgesses, was approved by
tbe Governor, but of keeping the Treasurer more within tbe reach
of the House. He opposed, in the Convention of March, 1775, the
resolutions of Henry for organizing the militia, preferring to consult
the chapter of accidents yet longer before he upheld an unequivocal
act of opposition to the royal authority. But there was a manliness
about him which made him scorn to sneak or skulk in a time of
trial. Cautious and even skittish in the early stages of a great
measure, when it was adopted, he acquiesced in the decision. His
habits of mind insensibly attached him to the new state of things ;
and he was most efficient in carrying out the details of a policy
which he had strenuously opposed in debate. Hence, as his inte
grity was beyond suspicion, and, as his abiUties were held in the
highest repute, he was called on, not by one party but by both par-

48 EDMUND PENDLETON.
ties, to fiU all the great posts of the day, the duties of which he
performed with masterly skiU. He was one of the committee
which in 1764 prepared the memorials to the House of Commons,
to the House of Lords, and to the king.* He was appointed in
1773 one of the Coramittee of Correspondence. He was appointed
by the Convention in 1774 one of the delegates to Congress, and
was rechosen in 1775, when from indisposition he dechned the ap
pointment. He was a meraber of all tbe Conventions, having been
called to preside in that of December, 1775, and in that of May,
1776, of which we are now treating, and Vvfas at tbe head of leading
committees until he was elected to the chair. But nothing could
show more clearly the general confidence reposed in him than his
unanimous election by the Convention of July, 1775, as the head
of tbe Comraittee of Safety. That body consisted of eleven mem
bers, was, in the interval of the sessions of the Conventions, the
executive of the Colony, and was always in session. Its duties
were of the most delicate, of the raost perplexing, and of the most
responsible kind. There was no precise rule for its guidance. The
ordinance which created it, endowed it with enormous powers posi
tive and discretionary.! Its difficulties were enhanced by the fact
that the Colony was in a state of war. The utmost prudence, en
ergy and wisdom were required in its head ; and these qualities
Pendleton possessed in an eminent degree. If the highest order of
executive genius be not accorded him, he was unsurpassed in the
readiness with which, at a time of great peril, he arraj'ed his
means, and adopted a line of policy proper for the occasion. He
was thoroughly conversant with the finances of the Colony, and,
as be was skiUed in figures, and had served an apprenticeship of
four and twenty years in the House of Burgesses, everything ap
pertaining to its population and its resources was on the tip of his
tongue. He had also a knowledge of the practical arts, which be
came important, as, in consequence of tbe non-importation acts,
there was neither salt, nor gunpowder, nor arms, nor clothing in
the Colony; and it was one of the responsible duties of the com
mittee to examine the various proposals for the manufacture of
* He did not draw either of them. The memorial to the House was written
by Wythe ; the memorials to the king and to the lords bv R. H Lee Life of
Lee, Vol. I, 29.
t See the ordinance, page 44 of the Journal of the Convention, July, 1775.
The wages of a member ofthe committee was fifteen shillings per diem.

THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY AND COLONEL HENRY. 49
those articles, and to decide upon them. He was not only versed,
as heretofore stated, in our own acts of assembly and in the British
statutes, but in tbe law of admiralty and in tbe laws of nations ;
and it is most pleasing to observe the courtesy which he was ready
to extend to our enemies when justified by the public law. The
army and navy were under the control ofthe comraittee; and it not
unfrequently happened that grave questions of prize carae up for
adjudication. It was also charged with the domestic and foreign
correspondence ofthe Colony. Such was tbe sphere of the com
mittee of which Pendleton was tbe head from its organization until
it was superseded by tbe government established by the constitu
tion ; a position which he raight well have dechned, and which no
man, wbo was not ready to lay down his life in his country's cause,
would have dared to assurae. In that interval bis conduct deserved
and received the warmest approbation of bis country.
One single act of the committee excited in some minds a preju
dice against its head; and justice to the memory of Pendleton de
mands a passing allusion to it. I aUude to tbe difficulty that oc
curred between the Comraittee of Safety and Col. Henry. It cre
ated some excitement, and, indeed, exasperation at the tirae, and
made an impression upon the Convention ; for on the ensuing elec
tion of the members of tbe comraittee tbe narae of Pendleton, hith
erto easily the first, fell to tbe fifth place.* Wirt, and our histori
ans generally, are inclined to irapute, directly or indirectly, unwor-
' thy motives to Pendleton ; and a cloud, which was dispelled almost
as soon as it was formed, has been made to darken a reputation
which it ought to be the pride of posterity to illustrate and to dwell
upon with unmingled delight. That Edmund Pendleton and Patrick
Henry were enemies, I do not affirm ; but that they were at the
head of their respective parties at a tirae when their issues involved
life and death, is known to all. The true nature of those parties
will be traced elsewhere. Suffice it for tbe present to say, that
Pendleton represented the great conservative interest of the Colo
ny, and that Henry personified the great body of the people who, in
all countries and in all ages, are opposed to the few who wield tbe
influence of government for their own advantage. Their opposition
began as early as 1765, and was renewed at intervals until Henry
was elected Governor and Pendleton, after passing a session or two
* Journal Convention, Dec. 1775, page 68.
4

50 THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY AND COLONEL HENRY.
in the House of Delegates, was called to the bench. To all wbo are
farailiar with tbe character of Pendleton, it raust be obvious that
political aniraosity could never have impeUed bim to seek the de-
.struction of an opponent. Of all bis favorite schemes of policy be
fore the Revolution, and of all his plans discussed in the House of
Delegates under the new constitution, the most radical, the most
skillful, tbe most uncompromising foe was Thomas Jefferson ; yet
with Thoraas Jefferson he lived in unbroken and ardent friendship
for a third of a century, and it is frora the pen of Jefferson that pos
terity will receive the raost eloquent tribute to the integrity, moral
worth, and patriotisra of Pendleton. Nor could the success of Henry
interfere in any respect with the arabition of Pendleton. The highest
honors of the Colony were always within bis reach ; and in passing
from the Colony to the Commonwealth he not only did not lose his
ground, but was placed in a loftier position before tbe country. He
was, as chairman of the Committee of Safety, the supreme executive.
The success of the arras of the Colony was the success of bis own
policy. To blast the farae, or to curb the spirit of an officer under
his control, was virtually to prevent the increase of his own re
nown and to dira the glory of his own administration. The time
when the difficulty occurred between them also demands attention.
On the seventh of November, 1775, Dunmore issued a proclama
tion from tbe harbor of Norfolk placing the country under martial
law, summoning all persons capable of bearing arms to his standard
on the penalty of being denounced traitors, and inviting all servants
bond and free to join him. He had subjected to bis authority
through hope or fear nearly tbe whole population in tbe vicinity of
Norfolk. As he had a naval force sufficient to control tbe waters
of tbe Colony, the most fearful results were justly anticipated.
Slaves not only fled to his standard in great numbers, but were en
rolled in the ranks, and were stimulated to wage war against their
masters. The few patriots in the Norfolk district, who cherished a
love of their country, were overawed, and, in the event of resist
ance, would have been executed summarily on the spot. To give
a prompt and decided check to a sway which threatened such dire
ful results, was a measure almost of life and death to the people.
To repel the disciplined forces of Dunmore by a band of raw re
cruits might not be impossible ; but, to be possible, the troops must
be led to the scene of action by a soldier who possessed not only

THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY AND COLONEL HENRY. 51
personal bravery but the highest military skill, and who was accus
tomed to deal with a wary foe. Nor should it be concealed that
leading men in the tide-water counties were in the counsels of the
enemy. Several prominent persons had been detected in their
coraraunications with Dunmore, had been arrested, and had been
dispatched into the interior. A regiment could hardly receive its
marching orders before tbe fact would be conveyed to Dunmore
by his secret emissaries. Every facility was thus offered to tbe
enemy for cutting off a detachment by surprize. Moreover, defeat
was to be dreaded by tbe Committee of Safety not only in its im
mediate result as involving the fate of the army, but from its effects
on the spirits of the people. To lead a force at that critical junc
ture. Col. Woodford, Henry's second in command, was highly
qualified. He had been engaged in the Indian wars, and was a
thorough master of the discipline necessary for an army about to
pass through an enemy's country. He was accordingly detached
from the comraand of Col. Henry by the orders of the committee,
and dispatched with his regiment lo tbe seat of war. His triumph
ant success justified tbe foresight of tbe comraittee. A victory
achieved by a handful of raw militia, at the expense of one hun
dred killed and wounded of the enemy, two-thirds of whom were
troops of the line, without the loss of a single man on our side, pro
claims the capacity of the officer who won it. We may readily
imagine with what emotions Pendleton, who was president of the
Convention as well as chairraan of the Comraittee of Safety, com
municated to the former body the third day after the battle tbe des
patch of Woodford detaUing the victory at the Great Bridge, and
announced to Woodford the unanimous vote of the Convention in
honor of the victor. But to return to Col. Henry. He was brave
and full of spirit, and was eager to occupy the post of danger ; but
he was entirely destitute of military experience. He had probably
never seen a regiment of regular soldiers even on the parade
ground, and was wholly unacquainted with, if not averse from, that
disclphne which raade them formidable. Nor was there time for
preparation. The danger was instant and irarainent. Such were
the circumstances which induced the Committee of Safety to assign a
separate command to Woodford, and to order him to report directly to
itself. The same danger which rendered a separate command ne
cessary, rendered it necessary that all communications from the

52 THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY AND COLONEL HENRY.
officer should be promptly received and attended to by the comrait
tee which was always in session. Nor was tbe position of Col,
Henry in this city void of danger. Dunmore, who held undisputed
sway over our waters and was burning with revenge, might at any
moment approach it from the York or the James, and seize upon
those whom he might deem the ring-leaders in the rebelhon. That
tbe committee bad a right to assign a separate command to Wood
ford none who will read the ordinance of its creation, and the com
mission of Col. Henry in which this right is distinctly stated,* will
deny ; and the question for the decision of posterity is, whether the
emergency ofthe times did not justify its exercise.
But, let the question be decided as it may, the result cannot im
peach the integrity or the honor of Pendleton alone. He was one
of the eleven who composed the committee. On a question touch
ing the true meaning of an act of asserably or the law of prize, the
opinion of Pendleton would have had its proper weight with the
body ; but, when the safety of the State or the honor of a soldier
and a gentleman was involved, would George Mason, who had re
cently paid to Henry the most splendid compliment which one
man of genius ever paid to another t ; would John Page, who alone
of all the council of Dunmore refused to assent to the proclamation
denouncing Henry ; would Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee.
Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, WiUiam Cabell, Carter Braxton
James Mercer, and John Tabb, have been guided at such a delicate
crisis by feelings of envy towards a patriot, who, having distin
guished himself in the public councils, sought to win honor in ano
ther and more dangerous field ? On the contrary, if we are dis
posed to attribute the conduct of Pendleton and his associates to in
dividual jealousy, and to a desire to ruin the fortunes of a dreaded
rival, would tbey not have adopted an opposite course, and have
dispatched Henry, unacquainted as he was with war, through a
hostile population to the sea-board, where tbe British forces, which
had been recruited sorae days before by a reinforcement of regular
troops from St. Augustine, were ready to receive him ? I
* For commission see Journal Convention, July, 1775, page 25, and for ordi
nance page 44.
t George Mason to Col. Cockburn, Va. Historical Register, Vol. Ill, 28.
I I have heard at second-hand from a member of the Committee of Safety
who was present at the time and bore his share of the responsibility of the
measure, that the real ground of their action was the want of discipline in the

THE CAREER OF PENDLETON. 53
If I may seem to have dwelt too long, Mr. President, on this in
cident in the life of Pendleton, it must not be forgotten that, in the
estimation, perhaps, of a large majority of readers, it has cast on
tbe fair fame of an illustrious man a stigma which, I hope, I have
shown to be wholly unmerited ; and that to preserve unstained the
memory of an eminent citizen is a duty enjoined by a proper re
spect for the truth of history as well as by the more generous dic
tates of patriotism and affection.
Distinguished as was this remarkable man as a lawyer, as a de
bater in tbe House of Burgesses, as the presiding officer of a delib
erative assembly, and as tbe virtual executive of Virginia during
the perilous period in which she was passing from tbe Colony to
the Commonwealth, he may be regarded as yet only in tbe begin
ning of his wonderful career. He was now in his fifty-fifth year, and
as be had been engaged since bis fourteenth, either in tbe wasting
drudgery of a clerk's office under the old regime, in the fatigues
and privations of an extensive practice in the county courts and at
the bar of tbe General Court, and in tbe most responsible trusts
ever committed to a representative, in all of which be performed
his part with the strictest fidelity and honor, and with the applause
of his country, and in the possession of an ample fortune, he might
now have sought retirement with a becoming grace, and, closing his
career with the extinct dynastj'', might have left to the new gene
ration tbe direction of affairs ; and, doubtless, had he consulted his
own inclinations, be would have retired upon his well-earned fame
regiment under the command of Col. Henry. None doubted his courage or his
alacrity to hasten to the field ; but it was plain that he did not seem to be con
scious of the importance of strict discipline in an army, but regarded his sol
diers as so many gentlemen who had met to defend their country, and exacted
from them little more than the courtesy that was proper among equals. To
have marched to the sea-board at that time with a regiment of such men,
would have been to ensure their destruction ; and it was a thorough conviction
of this truth that prompted the decision of the committee. It was the general
belief of the time that Woodford's men, had he been defeated, would have been
given over for indiscriminate massacre by the black banditti which Dunmore
had listed and armed.
My authority is the late Col. Clement Carrington of Charlotte, son of Judge
Paul Carrington, sen. Col. C. was at the battle of Eutaw where he was dan
gerously wounded, was a member of the House of Delegates in the interval be
tween the close of the war and the adoption of the iederal constitution, was
present at the Convention of 1788, of which his father and elder brother were
members, knew personally many of the eminent men of the times, and in his
old age, his memory undimmed, delighted to recall the scenes in which he was
a close and critical observer. I shall hereafter refer to his testimony, commit
ted to writing at the time, under the head of Carrington Memoranda.

54 THE CAREER OF PENDLETON.
and fortune, and spent the remainder of his life in honorable re
pose. But Pendleton had other views of public duty. He was yet
to render raost important service to his country and to win bis most
durable, if not his most briUiant, titles to the public regard. But
of his subsequent course in the House of Delegates, in which he
filled the chair of Speaker, mingling, however, in debate with abil
ity confessedly unrivalled,* and fighting tbe battles of a party that
was insensibly dwindling away with a vigor most formidable to his
opponents ; as a reviser of the laws which stUl bear the impress of his
plastic handt; as a member ofthe Convention of 1788, in which he
presided, and in the debates of which he freely engaged; and on
the bench of the Court of Appeals in which be fiUed for yet a
quarter of a century tbe highest seat, presiding with an ease and
dignity rarely surpassed, with a fullness of knowledge and a readi
ness in its application, that received the unlimited respect of the
bar as it inspired the universal confidence of tbe people, with an
industry that quailed not even beneath the weight of fourscore
years, and, above all, with a purity that, even in the most deli
cate case of his life — a case involving issues at once personal,
religious and political — the faintest breath of censure never soiled,
it is not within the scope of my present design to speak at large.t
Having thus paid our respects to tbe president of tbe Conven
tion, let us contemplate sorae of those eminent men wbo brought
their eloquence, their learning, their experience in public affairs,
their pure and honest lives, and their glowing patriotism, to the
support of their country in tbe hour of trial, and wbo up to this
period had usually acted with the party of which Pendleton was
the representative. Sir, if you will look imraediately in front of
the chair, a little to the left, you will see two aged men sitting side
by side, one of whom bad nominated Pendleton to the chair, and
both of whora were cordial in his cause. They are among the old
est members of the body. Even Pendleton, wbo is now fifty-five,
and bad been for five and twenty years a member of the House of
* " Taken all in all, he was the ablest man in debate I have ever met with."
Jefferson's Memoirs, Vol. I, 30.
t It was the opinion of Mr. Wickham, that the part performed by Pendleton
in the revision of the Laws could be distinguished by its superior precision. So
says Henry Lee in his review of the works of Jefferson.
X Pendleton died on the 28th of October, 1803. As it is my intention to pre
pare at the request of the Virginia Historical Society a discourse on the Con-

THE CAREER OF PENDLETON. 55
Burgesses, looks young beside them. What a reach in our history
do the hves of those two men embrace ? Tbey had seen Robert
Carter of Corotoman, one of the original benefactors of this col
lege and one of its visitors, who fiUed the chair of the House of
Burgesses, with the purse of the Colony, as was the wont, in his
hand, and had^resided in the Council; him, wbo from his acres
which he counted by the hundred thousand, and from his slaves
whora he counted by the thousand, was called " King Carter."*
One of those old men was a grandson ofthe "King," and had been
dandled on his knee. The age of either of those men added to the
age ofthe " King," would cover tbe whole of one century and the
third of another. The "King," as a boy of fourteen, bad known
Sir William Berkeley, had played on the lawn of Greenspring, and
might have seen the aged cavalier when in search of health be era-
barked for England to re-visit his rural horae no more.t They had
seen Holloway, the contemporary in his latter years of Sir John
Randolph who has left us in his Breviate Book a capital sketch of
his character,^ who for fourteen years filled the chair of the House
of Burgesses and also, for nearly the same time, held the purse of
the Colony ; a soldier-lawyer — an Erskine by way of anticipa-
vention of 1788, I shall not, as a general thing, trace at large the course of
those members of the present Convention such as Pendleton, Wythe, Henry,
Madison and others, who were also members of the Convention of 1788, but
will in the main confine myself to that period of their lives when they took
their seats in the present Convention.
When I delivered this discourse, I was not aware of the existence of a por
trait of Pendleton; but I have been informed since that there is one at the resi
dence of Hugh N. Pendleton, Esq. in the county of Jefferson. I have also seen
since a portrait of the Judge by Sully, just taken from a miniature, at the resi
dence in Richmond of Jacquelin P. Taylor, Esq., who intends to present it to
the Virginia Historical Society. This portrait probably represents him as he
was between sixty-five and seventy-five, and hardly justifies the glowing de
scriptions of his person which have come down to us ; but as Pendleton was
unable to take any exercise on foot, nor at all except in his carriage, from his
fifty-seventh year to the day of his death, much allowance must be made for
his looks in old age. He is represented in a flowing powdered wig, with blue
eyes, with a sharp face probably attenuated by age, and with thin compressed
lips. It is the face of a clear, close thinker, rarely pestered by the exuberance
ot his imagination. Lest I may be thought to have spoken too warmly of his
handsome appearance in early life, I refer for the truth of the existence of the
tradition, among others, to the Hon. William C. Rives.
* Robert Carter of Corotoman died August 4, 1732, aged 69. He owned
300,000 acres of land, and 1100 slaves. There is a portrait of him at Shirley.
C. ( ampbell's Hist, of Va.
f Sir William Berkeley died ia London, and was buried at Twickenham
July 13, 1677.
X Sir John's sketch of Holloway may be seen in the Virginia Historical
Register, Vol. I, 119; and a sketch of Sir John himself, by an able hand, may
be seen in the same work. Vol. IV, 138.

56 NORBORNE BERKELEY.
tion — and, if not the rival of the modern in eloquence, quite his
equal in the mystic cunning of the law, and may have heard him
tell in his peculiar way of the battles which he had fought on Irieh
ground, before he reached Virginia, under the banners of good King
WiUiam. They remerabered the arrival of the ship which forty
years before brought over Sir John Randolph with his patent of
knighthood in bis pocket, and the scandal to which it gave rise.*
They had known Dinwiddle, who, having detected certain frauds
in tbe customs of Barbadoes, had been transferred to Virginia as a
fair field for tbe exercise of his discriminating powers, and they
could recall the sly jests that were current on the occasion of his
arrival in the Colony. They had seen and known intimately the
gay and gallant Fauquier, who, we are told, ¦was the most accom
plished statesman who ever filled the chair of Governor, had sat at
his classic board, had attended his briUiant entertainments, had of
ten received him as their guest and played with hira his favorite
garae of whist, and bad led the deliberations ofthe House of Bur
gesses during his adrainistration. But, above all, they would have
told of NoRBORNE BERKELEY, whose votivc statue now guards your
grounds, of his dazzling first appearance in this city in a chariot — a
present from the king — drawn by six railk-wbite steeds, and, what
was quite a topic of interest with our fathers, of tbe stock from
which those steeds were sprung ; of his graphic descriptions of the
scenes in the House of Comraons when the sway of Sir Robert
Walpole yielded at last to tbe terrible assaults of the opposing host,
and which he had seen in bis early manhood ; of tbe eloquence of
Pitt before the coronet bad clouded the spirit of the great Com
moner, and of tbe unrivalled glory of his administration ; of his
own protracted contest for tbe barony of Botetourt which he had
then but lately won ; of his affection for your coUege displayed not
only by his punctual attendance on her ministrations, but by the
gold and silver medals which he had struck off at his own expense,
and which he awarded to the successful votaries of literature and
science in this very haU; of his lamented death, and of his burial
beneath the platform on which I stand ! How much could Rich
ard Bland and Robert Carter Nicholas have told of men and
things that is lost forever!
• See letter of Gov. Page, Va. Hist. Reg. Vol. Ill, 143. The grandmothes-
of Page was a daughter of Robert Carter of Corotoman.

RICHARD BLAND. 57
Of these two distinguished men, whose names are so intimately
connected with our colonial history, Richard Bland was the elder.
You see him as he rises from his seat, and as he walks to the door.
His tall figure, as before observed, is bent with age ; his deep blue
eyes have lost their brightness ; and you infer rightly from his slow
and studied gait that he is almost blind. In sorae respects his fame
surpassed that of most of bis contemporaries. On the score of an
cestry he could vie with the oldest families, as his forefathers, if
not among the first, were among tbe earlier settlers in the Colony;
and be could trace his blood in the field and in the council to the
knights of the Edwards who had planted the lion of England above
the lilies of France, and had shown their prowess in the wars which
England waged in defence ofthe phantom, which so long held pos
session of tbe public mind, of building up on the continent of Eu
rope a British State. Nor was his name without a peculiar illustra
tion at home. He bore in bis veins the kindred blood of that Giles
Bland, who struck for liberty a century too soon, and wbo fell a
martyr to the remorseless vengeance of Berkeley; and, as the blood
of Pocahontas was mingled with his race, there was a propriety in
his position as the guardian of the public rights. And that office
he performed with great ability. From his youth he was fond of
books ; and passing through tbe curricle of William and Mar}^ of
which institution he subsequently becarae an efficient visitor, en
tered the University of Edinburg, whence be returned home with a
generous ambition to excel, and immediatel}' devoted himself to
those studies which bear upon the business of Ufe. He was a fine
classical scholar. You will observe on the title-page of his Inquiry
into tbe Rights of the Colonies a noble passage frora Lactantius.
But his great learning lay in the field of British history in its largest
sense ; and especially in that of Virginia. With all ber ancient
charters, and with ber acts of Assembly in passing which for nearly
tbe third of a century he had a voice, he was familiar ; and in this
department be raay be said to have stood supreme. What John
Selden was in the beginning of tbe troubles in the reign of Charles
the first to the House of Commons, was Richard Bland to tbe House
of Burgesses for thirty years during which he was a member. Du
ring that time on all questions touching the rights and privileges
* " I am an old man, almost deprived of sight." Bland's speech in the Jour-
nal Va. Convention of July 1775, page 15.

58 RICHARD BLAND.
of the Colony be was tbe undoubted and truthful oracle ; for, as
was observed by Mr. Jefferson, he was as wise as he was learned.
When a great occasion occurred, a tract from his pen was looked
for and haUed as a chart of the times. He was returned from
Prince George to tbe House of Burgesses at an early age, and he
soon rose to the first rank. He was not, however, in tbe full sense
of the terra, an eloquent speaker ; for, although he spoke with the
ability with which he wrote, and exhibited in bis speeches the same
vigor of logic and the same unequalled research, which mark his
written compositions, he did not possess some of the qualities of a
speaker, which, though possessed by ordinary men, are essential to
all. His manner was not attractive to common observers ; and, as
others hesitated for the want of something to say, so tbe very exu
berance of bis resources not unfrequently checked the freedom of
his utterance. But when a question arose deeply affecting the bu
siness and bosoms ofthe people, such was tbe iraposing earnestness
of bis manner, such were the extent and accuracy of his research,
so conclusive was bis argumentation, aU heightened by tbe convic
tion of bis good sense and spotless integrity, that, though he lacked
the sweet elocution of Pendleton and moved not in the stately
march of his kinsman Peyton Randolph, he held from the begin
ning to the end of his speech the ear of the House. Still his claim
of superiority above his contemporaries, fortunately for bis farae,
rests rather on his abilities as a writer than as a speaker. Hence,
when any line of policy, any great truth, was to be impressed on
the public mind, the task, from which both Pendleton and Randolph
would have shrunk, was always assigned to him. His letter to the
Clergy on the Two Penny Act, a theme which called forth the first
exhibition of the eloquence of Patrick Henry, and which settled the
public mind on the subject, written in 1760, is still extant. He
wrote the first parapblet on the nature of the connexion of the Col
onies with the parent country ; and, although it raay be in some
measure Uable to the friendly criticisms of Mr. Jefferson, which,
however, raust be read with the allowance necessary in estiraating
the opinions of an ardent young man who was anxious to raise the
public pulse to the beat of bis own, and although it may not possess
that polish which periodical writing has assuraed in our times, con
tains sound doctrine enforced with great ability, and surpassed in
the judgment of Mr. Jefferson the more celebrated Farmer's Letters

RICHARD BLAND. 59
written by Mr. Dickinson. And when at a later day the scheme of
an American Episcopate, which bad slept from tbe beginning of the
century, was revived, be opposed it in a tract which may have led
the House of Burgesses to condemn it forthwith, and to return its
thanks to the opponents ofthe measure.*
It is time to observe more minutely the steps in the career of
this learned man and devoted patriot. He took his seat in the
House of Burgesses about tlie year 1745, and remained a member
until the Conventions assumed the direction of affairs, occupying a
leading place on all the important committees. In 1760 be de
fended the Two Penny Act, taking the side of the Asserably and
the people against the Clergy. In 1764 be opposed with great zeal
on the floor of the House of Burgesses the Stamp Act of the British
Parhament, and was one of the coramittee of nine which prepared
the memorials to the Commons, to the Lords, and to the King. The
memorial to tbe Lords was long attributed to him ; but it is now
known to have been written by R. H. Lee. In 1765, stiU confiding
in the potency of tbe memorials forwarded to England at tbe pre
vious session, he opposed the resolutions of Patrick Henry. In
1766 he published his Inquiry into the Rights of the Colonies, in
which tbe whole subject was discussed for the first time with that
force of logic and fullness of illustration which we have already al
luded to, and which not only sustained his reputation as the ablest
writer in the Colony, but materially assisted in bringing about a
right understanding upon tbe subject in question. This tract won
for its author the warmest and most grateful applause. Among the
congratulatory letters which be received, he was deeply touched by
the one written by the Norfolk Sons of Liberty; and his answer
may be referred to as a graceful specimen of the courtesy and pa
triotism of the period.! In May 1769, when the House of Bur-
* This pamphlet I have not seen, nor can I trace any recognition of it in the
written and printed authorities within my reach ; but I am told by Gov. Taze
well that Col. Bland did write a tract against the Episcopate. That he was op
posed to the scheme is shown by the fact that the House of Burgesses deputed
R. H. Lee and himself to return its thanks to Mr. Henley, Mr. R. Gwatkin,
Mr. Hewitt, and Mr. William Bland, clergymen, for their open and decided op
position to the scheme. See Journal House of Burgesses 1770, and Burk Vol.
Ill, 365. Col. Bland also wrote a tract on the tenures of land in Virginia which
I have heard Gov. Tazewell say he had read before his examination for his li
cense to practice law, and which stood him in good stead. Bancroft makes a
respectful recognition of Bland's Inquiry, Vol. V, 442-3.
t The original is in the archives of the Norfolk Clerk's Office, and a printed
copy, which was furnished to the Literary Messenger by Otway Barraud Esq.
may be found in one of the earliest volumes of that work.

60 RICHARD BLAND.
gesses was dissolved by tbe Governor, and the members composing
it assembled at the Raleigh, and prepared a series of resolves on
tbe subject of economy and non-importation, he was among the first
to sign the agreement ; and when in June of the foUowing year the
House again adjourned to the Raleigh, and drafted in connection
with the merchants and the citizens generally resolutions stiU more
stringent, bis narae appears araong the first inscribed on the roU.*
In 1773 he was appointed one of tbe Coramittee of Correspon
dence, and in August 1774 he was a member of the first Virginia
Convention, which was held in this city, and was chosen one ofthe
seven delegates to the Congress about to meet at Philadelphia, and
was re-elected till August 1775, when he declined in a touching
address to tbe Convention, of which he was also a member, ex
pressing his grateful acknowledgments of the repeated honors which
it had conferred upon hira, and declaring "that this fresh instance
of their approbation was sufficient for an old raan, almost deprived
of sight, whose greatest ambition had ever been to receive the plau
dit of his country whenever he should retire from the stage of pub
lic life." The Convention consented to accept his declination by a
resolution in these words : " Resolved, unanimo-usly, That the thanks
of this Convention are justlj' due to Richard Bland, Esq., one of
tbe worthy deputies who represented this Colony in the late Conti
nental Congress, for his faithful discharge of that important trust,
and this body are only induced to dispense with his future services
of the like nature on account of his advanced age." When the re
solution was adopted, the president, bis ancient friend, whom we
have just pointed out as sitting by his side, Robert Carter Nicholas,
rose from the chair, and expressed to Col. Bland in glowing lan
guage the high sense entertained by the House of his character,
and of the services which he had rendered to bis country. On the
organization of the Comraittee of Safety in July 1775 he was ap
pointed one of its raembers, and in Deceraber of the sarae year he
was a meraber of the Convention which sat in Richmond, as he
had been a member of that of March 1775, when he opposed the
resolutions of Col. Henry for organizing the militia, and sustained
the substitute offered by Col. Nicholas. In the Convention of May
1776, which was now sitting, he appeared, as usual, as a delegate
* The agreement of 1769 was written by George Mason, who was not a mem
ber of the House of Burgesses, nor present in Williamsburg, when it was
adopted ; and was brought to the city by Washington.

ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS. 61
from Prince George, where, at his estate called Jordan's, he spent
nearly tbe whole of his life. He was placed on every important
committee, and had the honor of belonging lo that which reported
tbe Declaration of Rights, and the Constitution. Thus was his name
inseparably connected with every great measure in tbe history of
the Colony for almost half a century. He saw the name of Colony
sink down and that of the Commonwealth rise in its stead ; but it
was not the will of Providence that be should behold the close of
the great contest in defence of those rights of which he was the
earliest and ablest asserter, or catch even a transient glimpse of the
glorious future which awaited his country. He died whUe on a
visit to this city at the residence of bis friend John Tazewell, on
the 28tb of October, 1776, in tbe sixty-eighth year of his age, and
within three months from tbe adjournment of the Convention.*
The fate of Robert Carter Nicholas was more fortunate. He
lived to take his seat in the House of Delegates under the new con
stitution, which he filled for several successive years, and to sit on
tbe bench of the new judiciary, to hail the successes of his friend
Washington at Trenton and Princeton, and to swell that chorus of
joy which rang out from every hill-top and spread through every
valley, when the victory of Saratoga, sealing the fate of tbe fearful
hosts of Burgoyne, was proclaimed over the land ;t but he did not
live to see, as he might almost have seen, from his own door, the
proud banner of England traiUng in tbe dust, and to behold his be
loved country take her place in the commonwealth of nations. He
was brought up to the law, soon rose into eminence, and became
one of the leading counsel at the bar of the General Court, when
that bar was radiant with the genius and eloquence of Peyton Ran
dolph, Wythe, Pendleton, Thomson, Mason, Henry, and John Ran
dolph the Attorney General. While yet a young man he was re
turned from James City to the House of Burgesses, and remained a
member of the body until it gave place to the new system. From
1764 to 1776 he was a conspicuous member of the party of which
Richard Bland, Peyton Randolph, and Pendleton were prominent
* Virginia Gazette of the date. He was stricken with apoplexy while walk
ing the streets of this city, and was carried to Mr. Tazewell's. Bland and Taze
well married sisters, I believe.
f It is necessary to look over the private letters of our public men written at
the time to estimate the importance of the victory at Saratoga, and to realize
the joy with which it was received.

62 ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS.
leaders, and in 1765 voted against the resolutions of Henry. We
must be careful lo discriminate between the party to which Nicho
las belonged and the party which was bound soul and body to the
throne. It is true that the latter always voted with tbe former, and
did not assurae a separate shape until bostUities began ; yet there
was a clear line of distinction visible at all times between them.
There were in fact three great parties in the Colony : the friends
of British rule under all circumstances ; the friends of British rule
when that rule did not impinge on the rights and franchises of the
Colony; and the radical party, which, though it did not openly
propose or desire independence, displayed a determination to resist
so far that either a repeal of the obnoxious acts or hostilities
would inevitably ensue. The first mainly consisted of wealthy
planters, who lived upon their plantations in a style of baronial
splendor, who idolized British institutions, whose magnificent es
tates were bound up in the law of entails, and who raight lose all
but could not in their estimation gain any thing by civil commo
tions ; and of this party John Randolph, the Attorney General, who
went off with Dunmore, was the head. The second ranked among
its members the most intellectual men in the Colony, almost all the
eminent lawyers, a body of men, wbo, in all the great civil contests
in England, had, as a class, usually leaned to the side of liberty,
tbe prominent physicians, and the aspiring young men, who, in
view of public life, had studied history in tbe spirit of philosophy,
and the wide-spread connexions of these three important descrip
tions ; and of this party Peyton Randolph, the brother of the Attor
ney General, was coraraonly regarded the head. The third was
made up of a class of raen, young, active, intelligent, and brave,
and, for the most part, in moderate circumstances, living mainly in
the interior; who had long observed with jealous eye that poUcy
which bestowed all the political honors of the Colony upon the off
shoots of a few wealthy families living upon tide or on the banks of
the larger streams ; who were becoming more and more hostile to
a church establishment the severe pressure of which they were be
ginning sensibly to feel; wbo already endured a weight of taxation
which, though the ordinary expenses of government and a debt of
between two and three miUions, contracted principally on account
of the French and Indian wars, rendered it neaessary, was oppres
sive ; and who were ready, sooner than endure fresh taxes from

ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS. fid
abroad or acknowledge tbe right to lay thera, to resist at every
hazard ; and of this party Patrick Henry was tbe bead.* Nor is it
necessary for the purposes of history to assail the integrity or tbe
patriotisra of either of the three great parties. Under siraUar cir
cumstances the same parties would rise to-morrow ; and nothing
would be more unphOosophical than to judge of tbe wisdom or the
worth of men from the failure or success of any line of policy which
on the occurrence of any great emergency tbey may be induced to
adopt. In the contest of tbe Revolution tbe right was on our uide,
but tbe power was on tbe part of Great Britain. All tbe probabili
ties of successful resistance were against us. If the two countries
had been left to their individual exertions, tbe result would have
been extremely doubtful. The fires of civil war, now smouldered,
now raging, would have out-lasted tbe generation which kindled
them. But for the liberal aid of foreign nations, and of France in
particular, the eighteenth century, like tbe preceding one in the
old world, would have beheld a thirty years' war in tbe new. That
tbe Colonies would have borne up in the contest for a long time is
probable ; but those who know that portion of the secret history of
the times which has come down to us, are aware that there were
moments when statesmen, who were the boldest in denouncing tbe
usurpations of Parliament, quailed before tbe difficulties which
threatened to overwhelm them, and talked, it is said, of a separate
peace with tbe enemy. The history of the cost of tbe Revolution
in blood and treasure has not been written and never can be writ
ten. And if, in the contemplation of such imminent risks, sorae of
tbe colonists, instead of incurring them, were disposed to postpone
the struggle altogether, let us thank God who over-rules the actions
of men and who crowned that fearful contest with peace and inde
pendence, for tbe blessings which we enjoy, and let us show our
gratitude, not by impugning tbe motives of those who differed from
our fathers, but by seeking to diffuse as widely as possible peace and
good-will among men.
But Robert Carter Nicholas requires no allowance to be made for
him. He was as ardent a patriot, he was as ready to incur great
risks, as any one of his contemporaries ; but the distinguishing
• I have heard Ex-President Tjrler say, on the authority of his father, that
the supporters of Henry's resolutions against the stamp act were called Old
Field Nags, and the opposers of them were styled Higli-blooded Colts.

64 ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS.
feature of his policy was to put the British government as far as
possible in the wrong. Thus, though be entirely approved of the
doctrines of Henry's resolutions against the stamp act, yet, as he
was anxious that tbe three memorials to the Commons, to the Lords,
and to the King, which had been carefully prepared at the prece
ding session, should produce their full effect on those to whom they
were addressed, he voted against their adoption. Thus, when
Henry, in the Convention of March 1775, proposed his resolutions
for an organization of the militia, Nicholas, deeming the measure
premature, opposed them ; but when he saw that tbe temper of the
House was bent upon military preparation, he brought forward a
scheme which displayed the highest degree of wisdom and fore
sight, and which, bad it been adopted, would have saved hundreds
of lives and millions of treasure ; — a scheme for raising a regular
army of ten thousand raen to serve during the war. If this policy
had been successful, Norfolk would not have been reduced to
ashes ; the invasions which disgraced our State would have been
repelled ; our negroes, one-fifth of whora, if not raore, were irre
coverably lost, would have been preserved ; and millions of pro
perty, which was destroyed by mere handfulls of British soldiers,
would have been saved. Short enlistments were the bane of the
Revolution ; and we cannot accord too much credit to Nicholas,
who at the outset saw the difficulties of the period, and suggested
such an admirable scheme for preventing thera. He enjoyed the
confidence of all parties. He was elected to all the responsible
trusts not incompatible with his office of Treasurer, to which he had
been appointed in 1766, when it was for the first time separated
from that of Speaker, and which he still held. In 1769 and 1770
he was among tbe foremost signers of the non-importation agree
ments. In 1773 he was a meraber of the Comraittee of Corres
pondence ; but, as tbe duties of tbe Treasury confined him to the
Colony, he was not deputed to Congress. He was a member of aU
tbe Conventions, and of the Convention of July 1775, on the retire
ment of Peyton Randolph, be was elected President pro tempore.
He was elected to the House of Delegates under tbe new constitu
tion, and showed the regard which be cherished toward Pendleton by
nominating him to the chair ; — a nomination that was unanimously
confirmed ; and was successively re-elected and served during the
sessions of '77, '78, and '79, when he was appointed one of the

ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS. 65
judges of the High Court of Chancery, and necessarily became a
judge of the Court of Appeals. When it was decided at the first
session of the House of Delegates that a person holding the office of
Treasurer could not bold a seat in the House, choosing at bis ad
vanced age to be relieved of a responsibility which he had so long
and so faithfully borne, and to retain bis seat, he resigned that
office, the House declaring by an unanimous vote its high apprecia
tion of the fidelity and abUity with which be had discharged its
duties. His personal appearance was not as imposing as that of his kins
man Peyton Randolph or that of bis compatriot Bland. Not above
the middle stature, his features rather delicate than prorainent, and
inclined to be bald, he commanded attention rather by the gravity
of his demeanor and frora his great reputation than by any mere
physical qualities. He was a strong and ready rather than an elo
quent speaker, a sound lawyer, a good financier, and a wise states
man. Some of the popular expositions put forth by the early Con
ventions, and many of their elaborate ordinances, are from bis pen.
The stirring appeal to the people known as the Declaration of the
thirteenth of December 1775 is believed to be the work of his hand.*
Some of bis writings in the archives of his famUy, as stated by
Call, indicate literary talents of a high order.t Educated at Wil
liam and Mary, of which he became one of ber raost stedfast friends
and visitors, bis whole life was spent almost within the shadow of
her walls. What may seem trivial now, but what was of essential
service in his time, he was intimately connected with the wealthi
est and most influential families in the Colony. His name he de
rived from that Robert Carter already alluded to, who was the Pre
sident of the Council as early as 1726, and whose portrait, painted
more than a century and a half ago, may yet be seen in the par
lors of Shirley.
In the House of Delegates under the new constitution he opposed
the separation of the Church from the State ; nor was that great ob
ject fully attained until some years after his translation to the
bench. And here it should be distinctly observed that in forming
an opinion of the conduct of our fathers, we should be careful to see
•Journal Convention, 1775, December, page 63.
f See a sketch of Nicholas in the preface of fourth Call.
5

66 ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS.
the great questions of their day from the point of view from which
they beheld them. They loved the forms, tbe hturgy, and the doc
trines of the Episcopal church ; but, great as was their attachment
to these, it did not wholly influence thera in opposing a divorce of
the church from the state. They regarded the subject not by the
hopes of tbe future but by the lights of the past ; and that past was
written in blood. Some of the purest professors of the reformed
faith bad been burned at the stake, bad been suspended from gib
bets, and had had their heads struck off at the block. And some of
the patriots of the Revolution beheved that the means which in
their view had prevented for a century the shedding of Protestant
blood on account of religion in the Old World, would be the safest
to accomplish the same end in the New. Hence they were op
posed to a separation of the Church from tbe State without a greater
degree of reflection than could then be afforded. Nor was this
pause desired by any regard of the questions of majority or mi
nority. When we recently beheld the Church of Scotland quit the
elevated platform which for centuries she had held, and assume an
independent and antagonistic position to the State, there was a
shout of exultation from the lovers of religious freedom throughout
Christendom ; but it was soon seen that tbe leaders in that great
movement, so far from embracing the true notions of religious
liberty which we bold in this countrj", strongly insisted that it was
the duty of the State to uphold an estabhshment. They were
ready to defend the Church of Scotland against tbe encroachments
of the State ; but, so far from desiring a divorce from it, they main
tained with equal zeal the obligation of the State to sustain the es
tablishment. When we reflect that in the full blaze of the nine
teenth century the capacious mind of Chalmers had not embraced
the doctrine of a separation, we may well excuse any momentary
hesitation on the part of some of our patriot fathers. The great
party of which Nicholas was a meraber, however prorapt in resist
ing aggression from without, were cautious in remodehing the do
mestic pohcy of the State when a civil war was raging in the land.
The conservative influence of those men was of incalculable value
to their country. Let those who are inclined to blame their caution
in adopting radical changes in a time of extraordinary peril, and
who approve of what are now called the pecuhar institutions of the

ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS. 67
South, keep in mind that but for these very men those institutions
might not have survived the last century.*
Mention has already been made of his election to a seat on tbe
bench ; but he had hardly entered on its duties, when he was taken
suddenly ill and died at his seat in Hanover in 1780 in the sixty-
fifth year of his age. Now that death has put a seal upon his fame,
the social character of this estimable man appears in the most en
dearing light. He loved indeed a particular form of religion, but
he loved more dearly religion itself. In peace or war, at the fire
side or on the floor of the House of Burgesses, a strong sense of
moral responsibility was seen through all his actions. If a resolu
tion appointing a day of fasting and prayer, or acknowledging the
Providence of God in crowning our arms with victory, though
drawn by worldly men with worldly views, was to be offered, it
was from his hands that it was presented to the House, and from
his lips came the persuasive words which fell not in vain on the
coldest ears. Indeed such was the impression which his sincere
piety, embellishing as it did the sterling virtues of his character,
made upon his own generation, that its influence was felt by that
¦which succeeded it ; and when his youngest son near a quarter of
a century after his death became a candidate for the office of At
torney General of the Commonwealth, a political opponent, who
knew not father or son, gave him his support, declaring " that no
son of the old Treasurer can be unfaithful to his country." Nor
was his piety less conspicuous in a private sphere. Visiting on
one occasion Lord Botetourt, with whom he lived in the strictest
friendship, he observed to that nobleman : " My lord, I think you
will be very unwilling to die;" and when asked what gave rise to
the remark: "Because," said he, "you are so social in your na
ture, and so much beloved, and have so many good things about
you, that you must be loth to leave them." His lordship made no
reply; but a short time after, being on his death-bed, he sent in
haste for Col. Nicholas, who lived near the palace, and who instantly
* That George Mason, Wythe, Jefl^erson, Pendleton and others would have
voted for emancipation is beyond a doubt. Mr. Jeflierson not only proposed
the measure in the House of Burgesses, but prepared a plan, which was agreed
upon by the revisors, to be offered as an amendment to one ofthe revised bills
when it came up in the House. George Mason in giving his reasons for voting
against the Federal Constitution in the Convention which framed it, enume
rates the clause which allowed the introduction of slaves from abroad for a lim
ited period, contending that slavery was a source of weakness to a nation.

68 ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS.
repaired thither to receive tbe last sighs of his dying friend. On
entering his chamber, he asked his commands : " Nothing," replied
his lordship, "but to let you see that I resign those good things
which you formerly spoke of with as much composure as I enjoyed
thera." After which, be grasped his hand with warmth, and in
stantly expired.* And none could have performed with more ap
propriate feeling than Nicholas the task which the House of Bur
gesses devolved upon bim and his associates, of procuring that
statue to the memory of his friend which so long adorned the area
of the capitol, and which now fitly stands within the hmits of this
college which in hfe tbe original so dearly loved. t
If this true patriot shared the fate of Peyton Randolph and Rich
ard Bland, and departed not only before he saw the close of the
contest in which he was engaged but when the gloom was darkest,
be bequeathed to his country the influence of his great name and
a noble heritage of sons, educated within these walls, one of whora
was distinguished during the Revolution in the field and in the
council, was a leading meraber of the Convention which ratified
the federal conslitution, was a meraber of tbe House of Delegates
whose deliberations he alraost entirely controlled, leaving an im
press upon our laws which has been felt in our own generation,
and becarae tbe law-giver of a new commonwealth then rising in
the west, and all of whom filled the most responsible public sta
tions with fidelity and honor. t
And now, Mr. President, we are about to pronounce a name
which is inseparably connected with j'our College frora its birth
almost to the present hour, which is bound up with tbe history of
* This incident is taken nearly verbatim from the 4th volume of the new edi
tion of Call's Reports.
t The committee charged by the House of Burgesses to procure the statue
consisted of William Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Peyton Randolph, Robert C.
Nicholas, Lewis Burwell and Dudley Digges. Journal H. of B. 1770.
X Col. Nicholas died at his seat in Hanover, leaving four sons ; George, allu
ded to in the text, who removed to Kentucky where he died in 1799; John,
who removed to New York and was a member of Congress from that State ;
Wilson Cary, who was a member of the House of Representatives and of the
Senate of the United States, and Governor of Virginia ; and Philip Norborne,
called after Norborne Lord Botetourt, who was for many years Attorney Gen
eral of the Commonwealth, President of the Farmers' Bank of Virginia, a mem
ber of the Convention of 1829-3(1, and a Judge of the General Court ; all of
whom are now dead. The father of Robert'Carter Nicholas was Dr. George
Nicholas, who emigrated to the Colony at the beginning of the eighteenth cen
tury, and married the widow Burwell whose maiden name was Carter.

ROBERT CARTER NICHOLAS. 69
this city, and which shone for more than a century with equal
glory in the Colony and in the Commonwealth. You see him who
bears it sitting within that group from which we have singled out
Nicholas and Bland, for; as in a memorable body of a later day,
and as is usual in tbe British parliament, the customs of which
were closely copied in the Colony, those who thought and acted
with each other occupied adjoining seats; but be is a much younger
man than either of thera. He is in bis forty-fifth year, tall and
graceful in person, his face, if not strictly handsorae, bearalng with
inteUect and benevolence, and full of that modesty, which, if it be
not the unerring mark of genius, is one of its raost becoraing and
most winning attendants. He occupied a seat that had immemo-
rably been filled by some of the greatest men in the Colony ; for
he was with peculiar propriety the representative of this College
in that august body. If we were to pronounce on the descent of
a man by the test of the genius, the virtue, and the piety of his an
cestors, his birth was more iUustrious than that of any other mera
ber. He was descended frora tbe stock of that remarkable man,
wbo as early as 1685 carae over to the colony as a raissionary, who
was afterwards appointed commissary of the Bishop of London
within whose diocese Virginia then was, and who was by virtue of
his office a member of tbe Council and for a long period its presi
dent, and whose benignant face raay still be seen in his portrait
suspended frora the walls of your Blue Roora. But all these ho
nors, and tbey were such that satisfied the highest arabition of tbe
proudest spirits in the colony, sink into insignificance beside that
which was in every sense of the word particularly his own — he
was the Father of the College of William and Mary. He obtained
her charter ; be procured her benefactions ; his gentle hand rocked
her cradle ; he was her first president ; and when in 1743, at an
age far exceeding the period of the Psalmist, and after sixty years'
service in the Christian Ministry, be breathed his last, closing bis
great mission here — in your midst — one of his latest aspirations
to the Father of Mercies was that He might take his favorite off
spring under the shadow of his wing. Nor was this great man the
only worthy ancestor of tbe representative of this College in the
Convention. His father inherited tbe sound sense, the manly
piety, and the self-denying patriotism of our Christian Patriarch,
whom he succeeded in the Council, of which he was for a long

70 JOHN BLAIR.
series of years the president, and for the duties of which he was
quahfied by an efficient service in the House of Burgesses of
which he was a meraber from this city as early as 1736. The pe
riod of his presidency in the Council was one of uncommon diffi
culty ; but in his correspondence with Col. Clement Read of Lu
nenburg he displayed a self-possession, a command of expedients,
and a love of country throughout the troubles with the Indians
who infested the remote outskirts of that region, which were wor
thy of high praise.* A descendant from the author of the dis
courses on the sermon of our Saviour on the Mount could not weU
be the persecutor of Christian men ; and we accordingly find in his
letter to the attorney of Spottsj'lvania, which he wrote as acting
Governor which he became on the death of Fauquier, he manifes
ted a spirit of toleration as rare at that day as it was creditable to
his head and to bis heart.t But great as was the ancestral honor
which preceding generations reflected on your representative in
the Convention, his personal merits would have earned him an
enduring fame. Frora the beginning of the difficulties with the
parent country, John Blair, as was his venerable father, was al
ways on the side of the Colony. When he had finished his course
of instruction at this college, he repaired to London where he pur
sued his legal studies diUgently at tbe Temple, and was soon en
gaged in full business at the bar of the General Court. He en
tered the House of Burgesses at an early age, and was a member in
1765, when on the ground maintained by Nicholas and Bland he
opposed the resolutions of Henry. In 1769, when the House of
Burgesses was dissolved, he was one of that patriotic band consisting
of Washington, Bland, Nicholas, and others, which held a meeting
in the Raleigh, and drafted the non-importation agreement already
referred to ; and when in 1770 the House was again dissolved and
the members again assembled in the Raleigh to revise and amend
the articles of agreement, associating with themselves the mer
chants of the Colony, he was araong them, and recorded his name
on that roll where it will be read forever.t In this year he was
* His original letters to Col. Read are in my collection. The letter to Spott
sylvania may be found in our histories, especially in C. Campbell page 139.
t President John Blair died some two or three years before the declaration
of independence, leaving a spotless name to his son.
X Va. Hist. Register Vol. III. 17.

JOHN BLAIR. tl
appointed one of the executors of his friend Lord Botetourt. In
the Convention now sitting he appeared as the delegate from the
CoUege of WiUiam and Mary, and was a member of tbe grand
committee which reported the Declaration of Rights and the Con
stitution. He was destined to be the last of that long Ust of era
inent men who represented the College in tbe pubUc councils, and
it is a coincidence worth observing in the history of your institu
tion, that, as it received the privilege of sending a member to tbe
House of Burgesses — a privilege which she used so wisely for more
than eighty years — from the charter procured by James Blair, so
she was to lose that privilege when represented by his distin
guished relative. That he fought gallantly in defence of his Alma
Mater may be readily believed ; but, as the test questions were
mainly settled in the committee before the constitution was reported
to the House, all memory of the scene is lost. And, indeed, not a
word of any debate that occurred in the House itself has come
down to us, nor does the journal of the House show the character
of any araendment that was offered to the constitution during
the time it was under consideration. He was elected by the Con
vention a member of the Council, and when the judicial depart
ment under the constitution which he assisted in fraraing was es
tablished, he was elected a judge of the General Court of which
he became Chief Justice, and on the death of Robert Carter Nich
olas in 1780, he was elected a judge of the High Court of Chan
cery, and by virtue of both stations become necessarily a judge of
the first Court of Appeals ; and was one of the Court when the
law requiring the judges of the Court of Appeals to act as judges
of the inferior Courts was pronounced unconstitutional. Nor by
his decisive conduct did he forfeit his popularity with the Assem
bly ; for he was appointed by that body a delegate to tbe Conven
tion which was about to assemble in Philadelphia for a revision of
the Articles of Confederation. In that assembly he supported
¦with Edmund Randolph and Madison what was called the Virginia
plan in opposition to the New Jersey scheme which sustained the
separate sovereignty of the States ; and with Washington and
Madison alone of all the delegates from Virginia voted for the
adoption of the constitution by the body ; and, when the federal
constitution was submitted for the ratification of Virginia, he was
returned from the county of York to the Convention which was to

72 JOHN BLAIR.
decide upon it, and again voted in its favor. On the organization
of the federal judiciary, he was appointed by Washington, be
tween whom and himself a long and intimate friendship had subus-
ted, a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, discharg
ing tbe duties of the office with ability and dignity until near the
time of his death in this city on the thirty-first of August, 1800,
in the sixty-ninth year of bis age.
Honored, as he was, by tbe high offices which he held through
a long course of public service, he shone with a lustre, if not more
dazzling, raore diffusive and raore benign in private life. His
mild virtues, illustrated by tbe highest mental qualities, inspired an
affection and exerted an influence, which mere talents, however ex
alted, rarely effect, and which were sensibly felt, as they will ever
be remembered, in the polished society of this city, of which he
was for half a century one of the noblest ornaments.* Mr. Presi
dent, the time has come when tbe glory of him who buUds a hos
pital for the relief of human woe for ages after the heart which
prompted the deed, has ceased to beat, and of him who builds a
college for the diffusion of the blessings of knowledge and piety
among the people long after the band which reared it has turned to
dust, is deemed by the wise and the good greater than the glory of
"bim wbo taketh a city." My own raaternal ancestors came from
the sarae country frora which came James Blair, and bore his name
as I do now ; and if I thought that I bad a drop of blood in my
veins kindred with his own, I would not exchange it for the blood
of the proudest knight that ever won his spurs on the fields of
Cressy or Poictiers, or who with the lion-hearted Richard had
gathered trophies beneath the ramparts of the Holy City.t
I have alluded to the character of the society which so long adorned
this city in the Colony and in tbe Comraonwealth. It was such as was
alraost unknown in any other Colony and was rarely surpassed else
where. Sir, if we could raise by the wand of the enchanter the
* The late St. George Tucker, the elder, writing to Wirt in 1813, speaks of
Blair as "a model of human perfection and excellence," and as "a man ofthe
most exalted and immaculate virtues." Kennedy's Life of Wirt, vol. I. 316.
t The tomb of James Blair is at Jamestown ; that of John Blair and his wife
Jean is in the church yard of this city. I am indebted to my young friend Wil
liam Lamb of Norfolk, now a student of William and Mary, for a knowledge
of the fact that Commissary Blair bequeathed by his will now on record in the
General Court at Richmond his estate to John Blair, the father of the John
Blair of the Convention.

JOHN BLAIR. 73
social scenes which were enacted more than eighty years ago in this
city, what a vision of high bearing, of gentle courtesy, of command
ing intellect, and of dazzling beauty, would charm the ravished sight !
Tbe amiable Botetourt, destined to an early grave, is yet in vigor
ous health, and is holding one of his gay entertainments in yonder
palace. He had recently received glad tidings frora the mother
country, and had communicated them to the Burgesses, who had
responded to them in a spirit of conciliation and peace ; and every
heart beat high with joy. You see him as he stands, with a sraile
on his face, at the head of his suite of rooms, arrayed in the cos
tume of his order, the arms of Britain and tbe arras of Virginia,
drawn with all tbe honors of heraldic erablazonry, fondly in
tertwined and suspended above hira, and as he extends to his
guests the gratulating hand. His council, Burwell, Corbin, Brax
ton, Worraley, the younger Nelson, Page, the patriarch Nelson
in their midst, are standing beside him ; and near him clad in
their robes, the President of the College, John Camm, the succes
sor of Blair in tbe office of Comraissary, and, as such, a member
of the Council, celebrated for the zeal and ability with which be
had long upheld in many a well-contested field the claims of his
class, and his reverend associates Gwatkin and Henley, who were
ere long to oppose tbe scheme of an American Episcopate so
warmly cherished by their principal, and to receive tbe forraal
thanks of tbe House of Burgesses for their wisdora and courage.
You see approach the elegant Pendleton, yet untouched by tirae,
ahke the pride of the bar, tbe light of the senate, and the grace
of the social sphere, and you mark the impression which he makes
as he salutes bis noble host. You hear the cry of " The Speaker
— The Speaker," — and you behold, bending low as he makes his
obeisance, the stately form of Peyton Randolph, his queenly wife,
who was ere long to weep in a distant city at the bedside of her
dying husband, and to pay in this hall the last sad tribute at bis
grave, resting on his arm ; while the grave Treasurer, Robert Car
ter Nicholas, is at one hand, and the Clerk of the House, tbe
modest Wythe, at tbe other. Whose, you inquire, is that com
manding figure, attired with scrupulous taste in the rich dress of
the period, that is just announced, and is approaching tbe host,
his partner on his arm, her early beauty beaming still, and who
was to share with her husband, ere that beauty faded, the purest

74 JOHN BLAIR.
fame that human virtue ever won, and who in the fullness of time
was to place with her own hands the cypress on that sacred brow
— the victor with armies yet unraised — the chief of an empire
whose corner-stone was yet unlaid — the peerless model for the
admiration of ages yet unborn — I need not name his name. Now
behold the thick-coming throng of names which Virginia wiU never
"willingly let die." The aged Bland, moving slowly, salutes the
host, who advances to greet bim ; Archibald Cary, his smaU sta
ture and delicate features veiling frora the common eye the lion-
spirit that burned within ; John Randolph the Attorney General,
his noble form still erect, bis cheek yet unraolstened with repen
tant tears; the briUiant brotherhood of Lees ; the sprightly Jef
ferson, his great Declaration and his greater statutes abolishing pri
mogeniture and entails and an established church yet unwritten ;
John Tyler, the venerable Marshal of the Colony, supported by
his son John, on whose youthful and honest face the Anglo-Saxon
and the Huguenot seemed to struggle for the mastery ; * Carter,
another descendant of a president of tbe Council, still bearing on
his escutcheon the heraldic symbol whence he derived his name.
Still — still they come ; — the Burwells, the Scotts, the Digges', Ca
bell of Union Hill, Peyton, Mayo, Carrington, Thompson Mason,
Jones, Hutchings, Bassett, Read, Lewis, Woodson, Starke, Poy-
thress, Barbour, Ball, Riddick, West, Newton, Walke, Cocke, Banis
ter, Baker, Moseley, Marable, Johnson, Gray, Wilson ; and conspicu
ous even in that gallant band was tbe benignant face of John Blair.
But tbey carae not alone. Would that I could draw aside the pall of
tirae, and present to the view of their lovely descendants the mo
thers and daughters who shed their brightness and beauty over that
fairy scene! The music sounds; and the courteous host leads off
the dancing train; and the stately Randolph, tbe gay Pendleton,
the gallant Washington, Innis, then in the dawn of his splendid fame,
but in the fullness of his gigantic proportions, Richard Henry Lee,
smihng as he offers his only hand to the fortunate fair, join in the
mirthful dance. — But that dance is done — tbe last note of that de
licious music has died away — the scene is closed. Even the joy
which it inspired, was short-lived. A profligate ministry had de
ceived the candid but credulous host ; and soon that crowd gath-
* The young Tyler in the text is the father of the Ex-president.

JOHN BLAIR. 75
ered around his grave. — Years have passed, and the curtain rises
once more. The vicegerent of the British king no longer dweUs in
his palace — he is gone — his very palace is in ruins — the sceptre of
his king has been broken. The kingdom has passed away. The
Republic has risen in its place and " beams herself " in all her
beauty before us. New views and fresh feelings inspire the gene
ral mind. Liberty — Independence — Peace — Union — are tbe magic
¦watch-words of the age. Again, assembled in this city, behold the
gladsome throng. The blended arms of Britain and Virginia are no
longer seen suspended from the wall. The portrait of the king, too,
is gone ; but another is seen beside which the image of the proudest
king that ever filled a throne grows pale. A familiar face it was
and long had been in the streets of this city and at its firesides.
But it was a face whose influence no familiarity could impair ; for
it was the face of him who had led our armies in war, wbo had suc
ceeded in establishing a federal union, and wbo was in the first
term of his first administration. Grateful tidings from abroad,
which filled every breast with joy, had just been proclaimed. The
sun of French liberty — too soon to set in blood — was seen on the
edge of the horizon. As the people assemble, no lordly minion, in
regal array, stands to receive their homage, but, in his stead, be
neath his own roof, the modest Blair extends tbe cordial welcome.
Elevated, as he had been, to the highest honors of the federal judi
ciary, he wears not the simple robe of his office, but appears, as he
was, without disguise, like justice herself, whose minister he was.
Again the sound of music is heard. Wisdom, gallantry and beauty
again move in the mystic mazes of the dance, or share in more se
rious mood the enthusiasm of tbe kindling scene. And that music,
too, has died away; and all those brave men and lovely women
have retired to their homes — and to their graves. But the memory
of their genius and valor, of their social elegance, of their beauty
and their worth, which diffused so long over this city their charm
ing influence and which is felt to this hour, still lives, and with that
memory the image of Blair, as he appeared in private life, is in
separably inwoven.*
Let me invite your attention, Mr. President, to a group of young
' The reader who delights in recalling the images of the past will read with
interest the graceful discourse of John R. Thompson Esq. founded on the Bote
tourt papers, which was published in the Messenger ofthe past year.

76 EDMUND RANDOLPH.
men who are conversing with each other near the door leading into
tbe lobby. There are three of them you perceive. A casual
o-lance discloses at once that two of them are rather above the mid-
die stature, while the third is much below it. Those three young
men the observer, if he could have cast his prophetic eye to the
close of tbe century, would have pronounced the most remarkable
men in the body. Two of them had just taken their seats in a de
hberative body for the first time ; the third had been a member of
tbe House of Burgesses at its last session. In their history is
wrapped up tbe history of the most important epoch of the
eighteenth century. The taUest of the three was tbe representa
tive of Williamsburg in the Convention. His noble stature, his
handsome face, his iraposing address, insensibly arrest the atten
tion. There was something of accident in his position that bespoke
respect. He bore on his youthful shoulders the mantle of Wythe,
who, having been chosen by the city of Wilhamsburg as its repre
sentative in Convention, was necessarily absent in the General Con
gress, and was represented by him as bis alternate. His position
was one of extreme interest to William and Mary ; for she 'well
knew that the contest for the honor of sending a delegate to the
Assembly, which she had so long and so worthily worn, was now
approaching. There was a singular fortune in having such a friend
at such a conjuncture. He had been educated within her walls, and
his father, and his grandfather before him. The narae of his great
grandfather was written in her original charter. All of them had
gallantly sustained her interests, and had represented her at various
periods in the House of Burgesses. Randolphs, from father to son,
from generation to generation, she had counted among her favorite
children. She lost her cause indeed, not frora any want of ability
in her advocates, but from controlling considerations of public
policy which no eloquence raight gainsay. Sir, I need not say that
I allude to Edmund Randolph. He was in the twenty-third year
of his age, and nearly six feet in height, and his raanners were those
of a man who bad moved from boyhood in tbe refined society of the
metropolis. His literary acquirements were of the highest order.
The English classics he had studied with the closest attention, as
sorae of his books stiU extant attest. He loved philosophy, and had
dipped deeply into metaphysics which Scottish genius had then
recently invested with pecuhar interest ; and he loved poetry as a

EDMUND RANDOLPH. 77
kinsman of Thomas Randolph, the boon companion of Shakspeare
and Ben Johnson, was bound to love it.* When a young relative,
wbo was to wreathe their common name with fresh honors, was
sent to study law with him, the first book which be put into his
hands was Hume's " Treatise of Human Nature," and the next was
Shakspeare. t He spoke with a readiness, with a fullness of illus
tration, and with an elegance of manner and of expression, that ex
cited universal admiration. Moreover, he was regarded as the
most promising scion of a stock which had been from tirae irame-
morial foremost in tbe Colony. No member could recall a time
when a Randolph had not held high office. No man could remem
ber a time when a Randolph was not among the wealthiest of the
Colony. A few old men had heard from their fathers that the origi
nal ancestor bad some time beyond the middle of the previous cen
tury come over from Yorkshire poor, and made his living by build
ing barns; I but tbey also remembered his industry, his integrity,
and his wonderful success in acquiring large tracts of land which
he bequeathed to his children, and the political honors which he
himself lived to attain. In the space of near thirty consecutive
years, three of the family had filled the office of Attorney General.
One had been the Speaker of the House of Burgesses for the past
ten years. Nor was their success the result of the prestige of a
name, and confined to the Colony. When Peyton Randolph ap
peared in tbe Congress of 1774, he was unanimously called to pre
side in that iUustrious assembly. But Peyton bad died seven months
before, a martyr in the civil service of the country, and his brother
John, the father of Edmund, tbe Attorney General, bad adhered to
the fortunes of Dunmore. This last circumstance, which might
have cast a stain on the escutcheon of most young men, tended to
the popularity of Edmund ; for it was believed that he not only re
fused to follow bis father, but sought to dissuade him from leaving; ||
and he soon gave a hostage to fortune in leading to the altar a
lovely and accomplished woman — a true whig — the daughter of
* Sir John Randolph, the grandfather of Edmund, was a grand-nephew of
Thomas Randolph the poet. Va. Hist. Register Vol. IV, 138.
f Southern Lit. Messenger, February 1854. Article on the Randolph library.
X Carrington Memoranda.
II He was disinherited by his father for refusing to adhere to the royal cause.
Preface to the Vindication of E. Randolph, lately republished by his grandson

78 EDMUND RANDOLPH.
that stern old Treasurer who would have been the last man Uvins
to mingle the blood of his race with that of a traitor. Nor did the
smUes of beauty afford the only guerdon of the briUiant triumphs
that awaited him. He sought the camp of Washington, and became
a raeraber of his military family. The people of this city, as before
observed, sent him to the Convention which was now sitting as the
alternate of Wythe, and before the close of the year elected him
their Mayor. The Convention itself conferred upon him the office
of Attorney General under the new constitution ; and at a subse
quent session of tbe House of Delegates, he was appointed its clerk.
His success at the bar was extraordinary. Clients fiUed his office,
and beset hira on his way from the office to the court-house with
their papers in one hand and with guineas in tbe other.* In 1779
he was deputed to the Continental Congress, and remained a mem
ber until 1782. In 1786 he was elected Governor by the General
Assembly, and was chosen by the same body one of the seven dele
gates to the Convention at Annapolis, and in the foUowing year to
the General Convention which had been summoned to revise the
Articles of Confederation. In 1788 he was returned by the county
of Henrico to the Convention which was called to decide upon the
federal constitution. In 1790 he was appointed by Washington the
first Attorney General under the new federal system, as he had been
the first Attorney General of Virginia — thus fiUing an office which had
been hereditary for three generations in his family. In 1795 he
succeeded Mr. Jefferson as Secretary of State ; an office which he
held but for a short time, when he withdrew to private hfe, and re
sumed the practice of the law. His person, his mode of speaking,
the caste of his eloquence, as these appeared in his latter years, are
described by Wirt, and will live in the pages of the British Spy.
He died in 1813 in the sixtieth year of his age. The history of this
extraordinary raan is the history of Virginia for the most interesting
quarter of a century in her annals, and this history, although it has
not yet seen the Ught, has been recorded by his pen.t Of all the
spheres in which he moved, that in the Federal Convention held in
* I heard this fact from an eye-witness.
t Mr. Wirt saw and consulted it while he was writing his sketches of Henry;
I am sorry to say that this history was destroyed by fire in New Orleans sorae
years ago, while in the possession of the grandson of Edmund Randolph who
resided in that city. "The exact date of the birth of Edmund Randolph is
August 10, 1753.

HENRY TAZE'WBLL. 79
Philadelphia will especially attract the attention of posterity. His
career in that body was surpassingly brilliant and effective ; and,
although he ultimately voted against the adoption of the constitution
by that body, that instrument may be said, perhaps, to bear more
distinctly tbe impress of his hand than that of any other individual.
Nor was his course in the Convention of ratification, in which he
sustained the constitution, less imposing. But we must stop here.
My present purpose has been to present him to your view as be
appeared in the prime of early manhood as the delegate of Wil
hamsburg in the Convention of 1776, and that is accompUsbed.*
Another member of that youthful group of which Randolph from
his stature, and more develofied form, was a prominent figure, was
Henry Tazewell. He, too, was in the twenty-third year of bis
age, rather above than below the middle stature, and, though not
as portly as Randolph, or as be himself subsequently became, pos
sessed a form of perfect symmetry, and was a model of manly
beauty. He was descended from WiUiam Tazewell, who came
over from Somersetshire in 1715, wbo married a daughter of Col.
Southey Littleton, and who engaged in the practice of the law.
His father, Littleton, resided in the county of Brunswick, where
in 1753 Henry ¦was born. He lost his father in early life, be
came a student of WiUiam and Mary, and studied law with his
uncle John Tazewell, who was the clerk of the Convention
then sitting of which he was now a member, and was soon
admitted to the bar. Like Pendleton, he may be said hardly
to have known a father's care, and, like hira, raarried before he
was of age ; and shared with him the misfortune of losing the
bride of his youth in the short space of three years after their
marriage. Her name was Dorothea Ehzabeth Waller. Tradition
has handed down to us a glowing picture of young Tazewell in the
first flower of manhood. Fortunately an admirable portrait by the
elder Peale sustains the impression which he made upon his con
temporaries. At the court of Elizabeth or of the second Charles,
his mere physical qualities would have won his way to the highest
offices in the State. His face was extremely beautiful. His
bright hazel eye shaded by long black lashes, his nose of Greek
* Edmund Randolph died on the twelfth of September 1813 in the county of
Frederic, now Page, and was there buried. No true portrait exists of him. A
silouette profile of his face is in the possession of one of his descendants.

80 HENRY TAZEWELL.
rather than of Roman mould, b's forehead full and high, his auburn
locks, parted at the foretop, and faUing "not beneath his shoulders
broad," presented a striking picture ; while the tints of his skin,
partaking more of the Italian than the Saxon hue, bespoke, hke
his narae, which, though assuming an English form, was of French
origin, the foreign blood in his veins.* His carriage was altogether
becoming, and blended tbe freedom of the cavaher with the raore
chastened demeanor of the scholar. But, however prepossessing
as his personal appearance undoubtedly was, none knew better
than he that at a time when men's hves and liberties and those
of their children were dependent upon the wisdom and courage of
their representatives, other and far higher qualities were indis
pensable to a successful public career ; and to attain such qualities
had long been the scope of his ambition. He bad thus prepared
himself with the utmost deliberation for tbe scene which was now
opening before him. In 1775, in the twenty-second year of his
age, he was returned by his native county of Brunswick to the
House of Burgesses, which was convoked to receive the concilia
tory propositions of Lord North ; and, with an alacrity that did
bim infinite honor, be prepared an answer in detail which was
read and approved by Nicholas and Pendleton, but from a casual
absence or from some trifling accident he was anticipated by Mr.
Jefferson whose answer was ultimately adopted. That at so early
an age be should have prepared with such promptness on so im
portant a question a paper which received the sanction of two of
the ablest members of the bouse, reflects the highest credit upon
his intellect and his patriotism. In the Convention now sitting he
appeared as a delegate from Brunswick, and, young as he was, was
placed on tbe grand comraittee which reported the Declaration of
Rights and the Constitution. He was regularly returned a member
of the House of Delegates for some years under the new consti
tution until his elevation to the bench ; and it was in that school
he earned some of his most precious titles to the esteem and grati
tude of his countrymen. Nor could a better school of statesman
ship have been found than the House of Delegates from the de-
• The name is believed to have been spelt originally Tazouille, and those
who bore it came over from France to England prior to the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes. The portraits of Judge Tazewell and his wife are in the
possession of his son Gov. Tazewell. The resemblance between the husband
and wife is striking.

HENRY TAZEWELL. 81
claration of independence to the adoption of the federal constitu
tion. All the leading topics of a repubUcan system, all the great
measures of domestic legislation, were perpetually brought into
view, and were discussed with extraordinary abihty. The law of
primogeniture, the law of entaUs, the expediency of a church es
tablishment, paper money, the payment of taxes in kind, the con
fiscation of British debts, the discrimination in regard of emi
grants, tbe mode and means of conducting the war, the expedi
ency of forming the Articles of Confederation, and, subsequently,
of amending them, the regulation of commerce, the disposition
of the public lands, stretching to the northern lakes in one di
rection and to the Mississippi in another; these were some of the
subjects discussed at that time by the public men of the new Cora-
mon wealth ; and it was in this school that the talents of Tazewell
were displayed with such effect as to raake a strong impression of
his quahties as a jurist and as a statesman.
It has been observed that Tazewell engaged early in the prac
tice of the law. He soon relinquished the ordinary county business,
and confined himself to the General Court, at tbe bar of which he
rose into eminence, and enjoyed a large and lucrative practice.
Hence in 1785, at the early age of thirty-two, an age when others
were in their noviciate at that bar, he was elected to a seat on its
bench, and consequently became a member of the first Court of
Appeals. In 1793 he was elected a meraber of the Court of Ap
peals now consisting of five judges; and in 1795 he was chosen a
Senator of the United States, as the successor of John Taylor of
Caroline, even though the name of his friend Madison was put in
opposition to his own.
The office of a Senator of the United States has always been
held in high honor ; nor is its importance likely to be diminished
¦with the expansion of our territory and from the controlling po
sition which this country must ere long maintain araong the na
tions of the earth ; but it would be improper to overlook the fact
that the relative importance of the individual members was greater
more than fifty years ago than it is at present, and that the body
itself consisted of raen of a higher order of talents than is now to
be seen. The number of Senators was then small, hardly exceed
ing that of the independence committee of the Convention now
sitting, or of the committees on the legislative, executive, or the

82 HENRY TAZEWELL.
judiciary department in the Convention of 1829-30, and did not ex
ceed thirty members. A single vote might be expected ordinarily
to decide the most serious questions. A single vote would have
rejected the treaty with Great Britain negotiated by Mr. Jay.
Moreover, the time when Tazewell took his seat in the Senate,
was one of unprecedented difficulty. It was indeed a sphere con
genial to his tastes and for which his career in the House of Del
egates and on the bench eminently qualified hira ; still his position
was peculiar and deeply responsible. He was tbe youngest mem
ber whom Virginia bad yet sent to the Senate. As an American,
and, above all, as a Virginian, be cherished the highest admiration
and the warmest affection for that illustrious man who then pre
sided in the federal government ; yet, painful as the office was, he
was constrained by bis own sense of duty and by the known wiU
of his constituents, to oppose the great measures of the adminis
tration. The question of the assumption act, and ofthe Bank ofthe
United States, had already been settled; but he was caUed upon
immediately to consider the British treaty which tbe president had
just communicated to the Senate, and to oppose its ratification
with all bis zeal. In the discussions on the merits of the treaty he
bore a distinguished part, and proposed a series of resolutions em
bodying the principal objections to that instrument, which involved
one of the most memorable debates in our history, and which were
ultimately lost by a vote of twenty to ten.* But we cannot dwell
longer on bis course in tbe Senate than to observe that he per
formed with unqualified applause the office of a leader in the re
publican party during a period of five years the most remarkable
in our annals. As a state politician, he approved the abolition
of primogeniture and entails, and the separation of the church
from the state. He was a friend of rehgious freedom in its largest
sense ; and when Priestley, flying frora a persecution which had
reduced his library to ashes, and which threatened bis life, arrived
in this country, he becarae his friend ; and a copy of his work on
History, presented to hira by the author, is stiU to be seen in the
* Of the thirty members who voted on the question of ratifyin"- Jay's treaty,
all are dead. Col. Burr, wlio represented New York, -^vas the lasfsurvivor. B.
T. Mason was the colleague of Henry Tazewell, and both left sons who held
seats in the Senate. It is a singular coincidence that Henry T.izewell in 1795
succeeded John Taylor of Caroline in the Senate of the United States, and that
his son Littleton thirty years afterwards succeeded the same individual. Taze-
weU'e Resolutions may be seen in Senate Journal, June 24, 1795.

JAMES MADISON. 83
library of his son. On the subject of state taxation he was in ad
vance of his times ; and after the close of the war resisted the
policy of the payment of taxes in kind as equally injurious to the
interests of the planter and of the Commonwealth ; and, although
that system was upheld by Henry, Pendleton, Cabell of Union
Hill, and other prorainent men, he finally succeeded with others in
effecting a change. His career in the federal councUs drew to a
sudden close. He was taken UI from exposure on his journey to
Philadelphia in which city Congress then held its sessions, and
died in tbe winter of 1799 in the forty-eighth year of his age.
There his reraains repose near those of the eloquent Innis. Thus
passed away one among the most distinguished of our early states
men, who from his youth, in the sunshine of peace and amid the
storms of revolution, had devoted all his faculties to the service of
his country ; and if the light of his glory in the long lapse of years
has seemed to grow dim, it is a subject of gratulation that it has
been lost, as bis fondest wishes would have led him to lose it, in
the blaze which tbe genius of his only son has kindled about bis
name. Widely different from the fate of Henry Tazewell was that of
the small, delicate young man by his side, the last of the trium
virate, his associate and friend. They were indeed to act in uni
son with each other, and in the bonds of strictest friendship, for
almost a quarter of a century yet to come ; but, when Tazewell de
parted, the fame of that young man had not reached its zenith.
He was two years older than Tazewell, but not only survived him
more than a third of a century, but saw, in the long lapse of sixty
years, every member of the Convention, one by one, pass to the
grave. His health had been impaired by tbe zeal with which be bad
pursued his studies at Princeton under the fostering care of Wither-
spoon ; and, although he had taken his degree five years before
and bad spent the interval in the country, it bad not recovered its
original vigor. If be did not possess tbe personal accomplishments
of TazeweU, his gaUant bearing, and that intuitive tact with
which he unconsciously won the regards of all with whom he
associated, there was much about bim that was engaging, and lo a
close observer prepossessing. In stature he was indeed one of the
smallest of men ; but his modest deportment which almost ap
proached a sensitive reserve, his simple and pleasing address, and,

84 JAMES MADISON.
above aU, his face on which even then might have been slightly
traced those lines of benevolence and thought which, after an in
terval of eighty years, are freshly remembered by many persons
now hving, were soon observed, and, when once observed, made
a decided impression in his favor. Even then, as in the admira
ble portrait of him by Catlin, taken five years before bis death,
might have been seen that peak of hair descending low in front and
in its sudden retirement displaying a forehead which Lavater or
Spurzheim would have reverently touched.* Added to tbe vari
ous quahfications of the scholar and statesman which, young as he
• The following memorandum I received from Gov. Edward Coles, of Phila
delphia, who submitted it for the correction of Mr. Madison which it received :
" The earliest account Mr. Madison had of the residence of his ancestors in
Virginia was, that John Madison took out a patent in the year 1653 for land
situated between " North and York rivers, " on the shores of the Chesapeake
Bay. He was the father of John Madison, who was the father of Ambrose Madi
son who married Frances Taylor, August 30, 1700, lived at Montpelier in Orange
county, and was the father of James Madison who married Eleanor Conway,
who were the parents of James Madison, the fourth president of the United
States, who was born at the house of his maternal grandmother at Port Conway
near Port Royal on the Rappahannock river March 16, 1751. He was sent
to school to Mr. Robertson, a Scotchman, in King and Queen county, by whom
he was taught English, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, &c. He afterwards
continued his studies at his father's house in Orange county under the tuition
of Parson Martin, a Jerseyman and brother of Gov. Martin of N. Carolina, until
1769, when he went to Princeton College in New Jersey. There he graduated in
1771, having studied the Junior and Senior classes in one year. He remained
in bad health at Princeton until 1772, studying and availing himself of the Col
legiate library, and friendly advice of Dr. Witherspoon, the president of the
College, who took a great liking to him. He remained in bad nealth for many
years, having an affection of the breast and nerves ; but for which circumstance
he would have joined the army. In the spring of 1776 he was elected a mem
ber of the General Assembly of Virginia. He lost his re-election in 1777 in
consequence of his refusing to treat and electioneer. He was elected by the
General Assembly in the winter of 1777-8 a member of the Executive Coun
cil of Virginia, and remained a member of that Council until the winter
of 1779-80, when he was elected by the General Assembly a member of
Congress, in which body he served until the fall of 1783. He was elected
a member of the General Assembly of Virginia in the spring of 1734
and again in 1785. He was elected in 1786 a member ot Congress by
the General Assembly, and also to the Annapolis Convention ; and in 1787
he was elected to the Philadelphia Convention which made the Consti
tution of the U. S., and in 1788 to the Virginia Convention which ratified
it on the part of that state. He remained in Congress from 1786 to March
1797. He was elected a member of the General Assembly of Virginia in the
spring of 1798 ; an elector of President and Vice President of the U. S. in
1800 ; appointed by president Jetferson Secretary of State of the U. S. in
1801 ; and elected President of the United States in 1S08, and ao-ain in 1S12."
" To this should now be added, that he was elected in 1S29 to tTie Convention
which met at Richmond to amend the Virginia constitution. And it may be
interesting further to add, that Zachary Taylor, who was elected president of the
United States in 1848, was of the family of^ Frances Taylor who married Am
brose Madison as above stated, and in that way was a relation of Mr. Madison.
In September 1794 Mr. Madison married Mrs. D. P. Todd, whose maiden

JAMES MADISON. 85
was, he possessed to an amazing extent, there was an exquisite
sense of humor, an almost inseparable concomitant of high genius,
which, it raay be mentioned as a trait of character, though sensi
bly felt and admired in conversation, and which was to be detected
in the demure caste of his flexile lips, was so effectually con-
troUed as never to appear in any of the written compositions of a
long life, nor in the spontaneous effusions of public discussion.
Such was the wealth of bis mind, that, as if he thought that in the
discussion of public questions no other weapons were necessary
than those with which truth and reason supplied him, he could
hold in abeyance a faculty, which, of itself, built up one of the
most briUiant reputations of the last half century, and which none
could have wielded with more masterly skill than himself. Nor
did his love of humor forsake him in his old age. During the last
year of his Ufe, when visited by two eminent men, his friends and
neighbors, as he resuraed his recurabent position on the couch from
which he had risen to receive them, he apologised for so doing,
observing with a smile : " I always talk more easily when I lie.*
In the Convention now sitting he took his station, as it were at
once, by the side of the first men of the body, and though a new
member, and a most youthful one, undistinguished by descent or
¦wealth, and though not present at its organization, he was placed
name was Payne. The family was from Virginia, but had for several years
resided in Philadelphia."
"Mr. Madison died on the 28th of June, 1836, and was interred by the
side of his father and mother in the family graveyard at his seat called Mont
pelier." " In his dress he was not at all eccentric, or given to dandyism ; but always
appeared neat and genteel, and in the costume of a well-bred and tasty old
school gentleman. I have heard in early life he sometimes wore light-colored
clothes ; but from the time I first knew him, which was when he visited at
my father's when I was a child, never knew him to wear any other color than
black ; his coat being cut in what is termed dress-fashion ; his breeches short,
•with buckles at the knees, black silk stockings, and shoes with strings or long
fair top boots when out in cold weather, or when he rode on horseback of which
he was fond. His hat was of the shape and fashion usually worn by gentlemen
of his age. He wore powder on his hair, which was dressed full over the ears,
tied behind, and brought to a point above the forehead, to cover in some degree
his baldness, as may be noticed in all the likenesses taken of him. This calls
to mind your inquiry as to what likeness of him I consider the best. Stuart's
has always been so considered, and I have, I presume, the best he ever took,
as it is an original one taken for Mr. Madison in 1803 or '4. The likeness by
Longacre, taken in 1833, is an excellent one of him at that time. The features
and expression in his likeness, I think, are more accurate and faithful of him in
the 83rd year of his age, than likenesses taken of him at an earlier period."
* I have heard the Hon. W, C. Rives tell this incident with fine effect.

86 JAMES MADISON.
with his friends TazeweU and Randolph on the grand coramittee
for drafting a declaration of rights and a plan of government. It
was impossible to converse with him in the intervals of business,
or at an evening party, without feehng that he deserved tbe com
phment which the great critic of Greece paid, as a mark of ira-
raortality, to the Jewish law-giver, but which has since degene
rated into coraraon-place, that he was no comraon man. The pre
cision and purity of his speech, his familiarity with topics beyond
the reach not only of ordinary young raen but of reputable states
men, the richness and beauty, and, especially, the appositeness and
force of his illustrations drawn from ancient and modern history,
excited the admiration of the social circle. For, as yet, he had
not engaged in pubUc debate ; nor was it until he had served in
the House of Delegates and in the Congress, that he participated
in discussion ; but, when once he had essayed his strength, he
never fell back, and thenceforth displayed talents for business and
debate rarely surpassed. How it would have cheered tbe hearts
and have given fresh animation to the purposes of that assem
bly, if, at that hour of trial and suspense, when a war with the
most formidable nation of the world was actually raging round
thera, they could have read the future history of that young man !
— could tbey have known that he, young, delicate, unpretending
as he was, tbe son of a plain Orange planter, was destined to live
to see a constitution, to be made by their bands, flourish for more
than half a century ; that mainly through his efforts, a massive
church-establishment, which for alraost two centuries had been the
minister of peace and holy joy to some of the greatest and purest
men who bad lived during that time, and of persecution, torture
and death to others equally as good and equally as great, should
topple to its downfall ; that he would become a member of the
Congress of a Confederation, in the framing of which he was to
render essential aid, yet to be formed, which would bear the coun
try triumphantly through the war ; that he would assist in the rati
fication of a treaty with Great Britain, which would acknowledge
the independence of the States, and establish peace within their
borders ; that he would be appointed a member of a Convention
which would form a federal constitution, and of a Convention,
which, in the name and in behalf of Virginia, would ratify it, and
that he would perform a distinguished part in both bodies; that

JAMES MADISON. 87
under that system his country was destined to becorae one of the
most powerful nations of the globe ; that he should be chosen a
member of the House of Representatives under the new system,
and extend efficient aid in putting that system into operation ; that
in the fullness of tirae he should become under thatjgovernraent
tbe Secretary of State, and the President of the United States ;
that he should declare the second war with Great Britain, and,
when he bad broken tbe spell of British invincibility on the sea,
should ratify another treaty of peace with that haughty power ;
that he should preside in his retireraent from high office in a noble
University called into existence by his native state ; that be should
be summoned in extreme old age, his faculties yet unimpaired, af
ter the lapse of more than half a century, to revise the constitution
which the Convention now sitting was about to form ; that sixty
years from that tirae, and on the sixtieth anniversary of the day on
which they were to adopt their constitution, he should descend to
the grave ;* that a nation of fourteen millions of people, stretching
from the Northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from tbe At
lantic to tbe Pacific, should testify their grief by the flowing of
tears, by the tolling of bells, by the thunders of artillery, by the
stately march of funereal processions such as in the Old World
only commemorate the obsequies of kings, and by eulogies from
tbe lips of their most eloquent men ; and that the settler in bis
cabin beyond the Mississippi and by the waters of the Oregon,
the teacher in his school, the mechanic in bis shop, the sailor on
the deck, tbe professor from his chair, the priest at the altar, the
statesman in the senate, and the grave historian with his awful
style in his band, should pronounce with one accord that the syno
nym of private and public virtue, of exalted statesmanship, and of
true glory, was to be found — then and thenceforth — in tbe name
of James Madison, t
The points of connexion between Madison, Randolph, and Taze
well are more numerous and more conspicuous than are usually
* The Convention practically adopted the constitution on the 28th of June,
and appointed the next day for making the elections called for by the instrument ;
the last reading on the 29th being merely a matter of form. Mr. Madison died
on the 28th of June, 1836.
f Perhaps the highest compliment Mr. Madison ever received was that pro
nounced by his great antagonist in federal politics, John Marshall, that "he
was the model of the American statesman." This is on the authority of C. J.
IngersoU.

88 MADISON, RANDOLPH AND TAZEWELL.
seen in the lives of eminent contemporaries. Randolph and Taze-
•well were residents of this city, were students of this institution,
and were well known to eacb other. Madison bad studied at
Princeton, and was not generaUy known here until he appeared in
the Convention. AU three may be said to have begun their public
life with the session of the Convention, though, strictly speaking,
Tazewell had sat in the House of Burgesses at its last session.
From this date they engaged in the generous contest for reputation
and for public honors, and gallantly did they put forth their fine
qualities untU near the close of the century, when Randolph with
drew altogether from public life, and when Tazewell, his arm never
more vigorous, his spirit never more eager, clad in full panoply, and
in tbe front of the fight, fell on a distant field. All three were im
mediately placed on the grand committee for drafting a declaration
of rights and the constitution, — a signal honor for men so young.
Randolph was elected by tbe body the first Attorney General of
the new Commonwealth. Madison and TazeweU were returned to
the first House of Delegates under the new Constitution, Randolph,
who held his appointment as Attorney General, soon to becorae its
Clerk. At the next session Madison was elected a member of the
Council ; Tazewell kept his post in the House, and Randolph the
Attorney Generalship. Randolph was the first of the triumvirate
to go abroad, having been sent to Congress in 1779, whither he
was followed tbe year after by Madison. In 1785 Tazewell, who
had held his seat in the House of Delegates continuously near ten
years, was elected a judge of the General Court, and under the ex
isting law became a judge of the Court of Appeals, Madison now re
turning to the House of Delegates, and Randolph soon after having
been elected Governor. All of thera approved a revision of the Ar
ticles of Confederation, Madison and Randolph having been deputed
to tbe Convention at Annapolis, and to the General Convention in
PhUadelphia, and TazeweU, who, foreseeing tbe protracted sessions
of tbe body, and unable to leave his seat on the bench for the third
of a year without manifest injury to individuals and to the public,
remaining at home.* In tbe discussion, of the General Convention
both Madison and Randolph were conspicuous; Randolph, however,
•Mr. Wythe tried the experiment of leaving his court but was soon compelled
to return. I have lately heard from Gov. Tazewell that Mr, Wythe returned
in consequence of the death of his wife.

MADISON, RANDOLPH AND TAZEWELL. 89
bringing forth a scheme, which, it is beheved, was concocted be
tween them, which prescribed a form of government self-acting and
complete within itself, and which was in substance ultimately
adopted ; and though Randolph differed from Madison and voted
against the adoption of the constitution in the Convention which
framed it, while Madison strenuously upheld it, both sustained that
instrument in the Virginia Convention which was suraraoned to
pass upon it ; Tazewell, though not a meraber of the latter body,
being opposed to its ratification. The papers of Madison, published
by Congress, attest the close and long-continued correspondence on
political subjects that was carried on by Madison and Randolph,
and reveal some traits of tbe tiraes not to be seen elsewhere. On
the adoption of the federal constitution, all three of these young
men embraced the same rules for the adjustraent and interpretation
of its powers, Madison taking his seat in the first House of Repre
sentatives, and Randolph, who had recently retired from the office
of Governor, his seat in the Cabinet of Washington as the first
Attorney General ; Tazewell, who was shortly after called to the
Court of Appeals under the recent law, not taking his seat in the
Senate until the close of the first administration ; all three, however,
having coincided with each other from tbe beginning on the great
questions of constitutional law and public policy to which the estab
lishment and the administration of the new government gave rise.
Randolph, having succeeded Mr. Jefferson as Secretary of State,
withdrew finally in 1795 frora the federal arena, and devoted the
reraainder of his life to the practice ofthe law, Tazewell and Mad
ison, one in the Senate, -the other in the House of Representatives,
leading the van in the contests in which their party was engaged.
In 1799 Tazewell was suddenly cut off, but not untU he held a po
sition which placed bim in advance of his friendly rivals and asso
ciates. To be chosen a member of the Senate of the United States
is indeed a great honor, but to be elected by Senators to preside in
tbe body is, perhaps, the highest individual honor within the
scope of our government.* By the side of such a distinction, a
mere executive appointment, however exalted, sinks in the com
parison. Thus was the field left to Madison, who, delicate as he
was in youth and indeed throughout life, and averse from that
* Judge Tazewell was twice elected president of the Senate. Thirty-seven
years later his son was elected to the same ofiice.

90 ARCHIBALD CARY.
training which is believed to irapart stabihty to health, survived
Randolph near a quarter of a century, and Tazewell raore than a
third.* Yet, however brilliant were Madison and Randolph and Tazewell,
and full of promise, they were in the raidst of raen, who had ruled
the destinies of the colony before they were born, who were now
in the full possession of their faculties, and who were for a long
time to come yet to lead the deliberations of the house. There are
two men, not far from each other you perceive, who began their
career about the same time, who resided not far frora each other on
opposite banks of tbe James, who pursued their youthful studies
¦within the walls of your institution, who in all the perplexing con
tests in the House of Burgesses previous to the Revolution stood
side by side, who were to assist in the public councils either at
home or abroad throughout the war, and who survived to behold
the establishment of independence. Here, within this sanctuary,
whose floor has often echoed their youthful tread, let their names
be pronounced with gratitude and praise. I aUude to Archibald
Cary of Ampthill in the county of Chesterfield, and to Benjamin
Harrison of Berkeley in the county of Charles City. One of them,
you see, is much taller than the other. Harrison was six feet high,
of large dimensions, and of a florid aspect ; while his compatriot
Cary barely reached the middle stature, was compactly built, and
was of such capacity of physical endurance as to have received
partly on that account but mainly frora his indoraitable courage the
soubriquet of "Old Iron."* The face of Cary in youth was re
markably handsorae ; his features sraall artd delicately chiselled ;
his eye of that peculiar brightness which raay yet be seen in aU his
race. His portrait, painted by the elder Peale, may be seen in the
*It is curious to observe that neither Tazewell nor Randolph ever lost an
election, while Madison was defeated in his election as a candidate for the
House of Delegates in 1777, as a candidate for the Senate of the first Congress,
and as a candidate for the same office in 1795 when Tazewell was elected ; butin
this last mentioned instance it is certain that his name was put forth rather in
the spirit of opposition than with a view of securing his election, as the regular
candidate of the party enjoyed from first to last its entire confidence. It may
be mentioned that Tazewell was elected to the office of Recorder of the Borougn
of Norfolk which Sir John Randolph filled at the time of his death, and was
succeeded by Edmund Randolph.
• It is probable that, as Col. Cary had an iron furnace and a manufacturing
mill on the site ofthe old furnace on Falling Creek established hy John Barkly,
who was murdered there with all his men by the Indians on the 22nd of March,
1622, this circumstance might have suggested the name of Old Iron. His
mills were burned by the British during Arnold's invasion.

ARCHIBALD CARY. 91
parlor of his grandson in the county of Curaberland.* In forra and
temperament, his grandson, the late Governor Thomas Mann Ran
dolph, is said to have borne a near resemblance to him. • He bad
many of those qualities which were congenial to the tastes of the
colonial aristocracy ; for his ancestors had not only emigrated as
early as 1640 to tbe colony, but were unquestionably of noble ex
traction. His ancestor, Miles Cary, had sat in the House of Bur
gesses more than a century before the passage of the resolutions
against the stamp act. He was a descendant of Henry Lord
Hunsdon, and was himself at the time of bis death the heir appa
rent of tbe barony .t He delighted in blooded horses and in im
proved breeds of stock which he imported with patriotic views,
and was most systematic and successful as a planter. But it was
not his physical prowess, his noble blood, or his agricultural skill,
which gave him the decided preponderance which for five and
twenty years he held in the councils of the colony and ofthe Com
monwealth. He entered the House of Burgesses at an early age,
soon became intimately acquainted with its forms, and rose into the
front rank of raen who were ever tbe first of any asserably to which
they belonged. In 1764 he had attained to such erainence, that he
was appointed one of the coramittee of nine to which was assigned
tbe duty of preparing memorials to the king, to the lords, and tothe
commons ; X and in 1765, for the reasons stated in the case of Pen
dleton and Bland, voted against the resolutions of Henry. In 1766
it was on his motion that Peyton Randolph was elected speaker of
the House of Burgesses as the successor of Col. Robinson, in oppo
sition to Col. Bland who was norainated and eloquently sustained
by Richard Henry Lee. In 1770 be was a member of the mercan
tile association consisting of the members ofthe House of Burgesses
and the leading merchants, which was organized to resist the
stamp act by practical measures, and bis name stands fifth on a list
which records the patriotism of Washington, Pendleton, Wythe,
Nicholas, Bland, Richard Henr}'^ Lee, Eyre, Barraud, Thomas New
ton, Anthony Walke, John Hutchings, Paul Carrington, Benjamin
Harrison, and of other gallant spirits who were foremost in resisting
•John Cary Page, Esq.
fFor the family of Cary see Burke's Commoners, "Cary of Fullerton."
|The committee consisted of Peyton Randolph, R. H. Lee, Landon Carter,
Wythe, Pendleton, B. Harrison. Cary, Fleming and R. Bland.

92 ARCHIBALD CARY.
the attacks upon the liberties of the colony. In 1773 be was one of
tbe eleven who composed the celebrated Comraittee of Correspon
dence, and in August 1774 was a member of tbe first Convention
of Virginia, which met in this city, and which appointed delegates
to the Congress which assembled in PhUadelphia tbe month fol
lowing, and was duly returned to the other Conventions which were
held until the state government was established. In the Conven
tion of 1776 now sitting his position was one of the highest dis
tinction. As chairman of the house in Comraittee of the whole, he
reported the resolution instructing tbe delegates in Congress to
propose independence, and when tbe committee was appointed to
prepare a declaration of rights and a plan of government, and which
consisted of the ablest men in tbe body, he was placed at its head,
and reported those measures to the house. It was from his lips that
the words of the resolution of independence, of the declaration of
rights, and of the first constitution of Virginia first fell upon the
public ear. Rarely has it been the fortune of a statesman to connect
himself so intimately in so brief a space with three such important
measures in the history of a nation. On the organization of the
state government he was returned to the Senate, and becarae the
first speaker of that body, perforraing the duties of the office with
a readiness which from his long and familiar acquaintance with the
proceedings of public bodies seemed intuitive, and with a dignity
and elegance which tradition has delighted to commemorate. It
was while he was speaker of tbe Senate that a thrilling incident is
said to have occurred, which, even if apochryphal, shows in a
striking manner the estimation in which he was held by bis contem
poraries. The scherae of a dictator, according to Girardin, was
talked of in tbe Asserably, then sitUng (1776) in this city; and i
is aUeged that the friends of the measure were in favor of Patrick
Henry for the office. Bitterly opposed to such a scheme, and
under the excitement of the moment. Col. Cary met Col. Syme,
tbe half brother of Henry, in the lobby of tbe house, and accosted
him: "Sir, I am told that your brother wishes to be dictator — TeU
him frora me, that the day of his appointment shall be the day of
his death ; for he shall find ray dagger in his heart before tbe sunset
of that day." So far as the existence of such a project is concerned,
it is proper to observe that the journals of the Senate and House of
Delegates are wholly silent ; but they contain resolutions conferring

ARCHIBALD CARY. 93
large powers upon the Governor and CouncU, and instructing the
delegates in Congress to propose to that body the propriety of in
vesting Gen. Washington with powers almost dictatorial, ^yhich the
Congress at an early day assented to. We must be careful in
forming our opinions upon such questions to place ourselves in
the point of view occupied by the statesmen of that day ; to call to
mind the crisis that was impending ; to remember that the House
of Delegates, when its merabers had just escaped the sabres of
Tarleton's cavalry, and when Col. Cary himself was speaker of tbe
Senate, did pass a resolution authorising a nuraber of the merabers
less than a majority of the whole house to constitute a quorum, thus
surrendering the powers of tbe house not to one dictator but to
more than one ; and that during almost the entire period of the
Revolution, South Carolina, who had formed a plan of government
before Virginia had adopted her constitution, invested her Execu
tive with the very powers which it is alleged some of our politicians
were anxious to confer upon our own Executive.*
This distinguished man remained in the senate as its presiding
officer until 1786, when he died at Ampthill, where his ashes now
repose. The career of Col. Cary was confined to Virginia, and
though his reputation is almost unknown to the reader of general
history, the various and responsible services which he rendered for
a quarter of a century to his native state, his fervid patriotism,
which impelled him onward when others shrunk back appaUed,. and
his serene intrepidity, afford imperishable titles to the love and
gratitude of coming generations.!
*0n this subject see Wirt's Henry 222 and 248; Girardin's continuation of
Burk, written under the eye of Mr. Jefferson who endorses in his autobiograph
ical sketch (Memoirs vol. 1) so much of the work as treats of his own state-
administration, page 189 ; and Jefferson's Notes Query XIII. Constitution.
Those who may have had glimpses of the secret history of this epoch may well
believe that some spicy discussions are yet to appear upon this subject.
t The following extract from a letter in my possession will be read with
some interest by the student of William and Mary as well as others :
" Miles Cary, the son of John Cary of Bristol, England, came to Virginia
in 1640, and settled in the county of Warwick, which in 1659 he represented
in the House of Burgesses. In 1667 he died, leaving four sons. His second
son, Henry, was appointed on the removal of the seat of government to Wil
liamsburg superintendant of the Capitol and other public buildings to be erect
ed there. His son Henry (the father of Archibald) was also appointed in due
time to superintend the rebuilding of the College of William and Mary, where
on the 31st of July 1732 the first five bricks of the President's house were laid
by James Blair, the President, Bartholomew Yates, William Dawson, William
Stith, (the historian,) and John Fox professors, at the instance of Mr. Cary.
Mr. C. married Mary a daughter of Richard Randolph of Curls, county of Hen-

94 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
With Archibald Cary was intimately associated in the councils
of the Colony and of the Commonwealth Benjamin Harrison of
Berkeley, his neighbor and his friend. He, too, was a member of
the House of Burgesses at an early period, was a member of the
comraittee of 1764 which prepared the memorials to the king, to
the lords, and to tbe commons of England, a member of the House
in 1765, and, like Cary, and on the same grounds, opposed the
resolutions of Henry; a member of the Mercantile Association of
1770 ; a member ofthe Coramittee of Correspondence; and a mem
ber of all the Conventions held until tbe government under the
Constitution was established. In the Convention of March 1775,
from the considerations which swayed Nicholas, Bland, Pendleton,
and others, he joined with Cary in opposing tbe resolutions of Henry
for putting the colony into a " posture of defence," but was ap
pointed one of the comraittee of twelve to carry those resolutions
into effect. In 1774 Harrison was appointed one of the seven
delegates to the first Congress, and was elected four times to a
seat in that body. If Archibald Cary reported to the Virginia Con
vention the resolution instructing the delegates in Congress to
propose independence, Harrison, as chairman of the Committee of
the Whole in Congress, reported to that body the resolution that
declared the colonies free and independent, and subsequently in the
sarae capacity the great Declaration itself, which in due time he
signed, thus recording his name on a charter compared with which
the roll of Battle Abbey is but the plaything of pride and folly.
If Cary was chosen to preside in the Senate of Virginia, Harrison
was called to the chair of the House of Delegates, and would have
been elected to the chair of Congress as tbe successor of his
brother-in-law Peyton Randolph, but that from motives of the
nicest delicacy and of the loftiest patriotism he insisted .that his
name should be withdrawn in favor of John Hancock, who was
accordingly elected.* It was on his return from Congress that he
rico, and left five daughters, married to Thomas Mann Randolph of Tnckahoe,
Thomas Isham Randolph of Dungeness, Archibald Boiling, Carter Page, and
Joseph Kincade. Col. A. Cary died at Ampthill in September 1786."
• It is reported, too broadly perhaps, that when H.incock, who had but re
cently taken his seat in Congress, was reluctant to accept the chair, Harrison,
who was remarkably athletic, took him up in his arms, and placed him in it,
declaring at the same time : " We will show mother Britain how little we care
for her by making a Massachusetts man our president, whom she has excluded
from pardon by a public proclamation."
Our limits prevent a full enumeration of the important posts held by Col.

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 95
entered the House of Delegates, of which he was chosen Speaker
— an office which he filled until 1781, when he was elected Go
vernor of the Commonwealth. He was also a member of the first
Council of State, and was a meraber of tbe Convention which
ratified the federal constitution, casting his vote against it. He
died in April 1791 at his residence in Charles City.
Of all the ancient famihes in the Colony, that of Harrison, if
not the oldest, is one of the oldest. The original ancestor some
time before the year 1645 had come over to the colony ; but, as
his narae does not appear in the hst of the early patentees re
corded by Burk, It is probable that be bought land already pa
tented, or may have engaged in mercantile pursuits. The first
born of tbe name in the colony of whom we have a distinct record,
was Benjarain Harrison who became a member of the CouncU, and
was Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and died in Southwark
Parish in the county of Surry in 1712, in bis sixty second year.*
And frora 1645 to this date, a period of raore than two centuries, the
name has been distinguished for the patriotism, the intelligence,
and the moral worth of those who have borne it. Berkeley, or, as
our ancestors spelt and spoke tbe word, " Barkley," and Brandon
were almost as famihar naraes two centuries ago as tbey are
now, and as Rufford and Stowe were to the colonists in the
time of Charles the second. If Cary could trace bis Uneage to
the British nobUity, Harrison could boast of a relationship which
at a later day eclipsed that of his friend and compeer ; for, though
not lineally descended from Col. Harrison who sat in the council
Harrison in Congress. He was throughout his long term of service almost in
variably chairman of the Committee of the Whole, and especially while the
articles of Confederation were under discussion. He was one of a committee
of three sent to Washington at Cambridge to concert plans for the supply of
his army. He was chairman of the Board of War, and of the Committee of
Foreign Affairs until a bureau was formed with a secretary at its head. He
was sent by Congress on a mission to Maryland to concert with the Executive
of that Colony a scheme for the defense of the Cheseapeake. He was sent
to New York to arrange with Gen. Lee a plan of defense for that city and for
the selection of sites for forts on the East and North rivers. He was also
chairman of the committee on Marine Affairs, which included the regulation
of the Navy. He was the chairman of the Canada expedition committee. In
deed the numerous and important trusts committed to him during his prolonged
term show the unlimited confidence placed in his military skill, practical sense,
and unflinching patriotism.
* The probability is that B. Harrison, the eldest, was a son of Hermon Har
rison, who came over in what was called the " Second Supply" to Virginia,
(see Smith's Hist, of Va. Rice's edition Vol. I. 203,) or of Master John Harri
son who was Governor in 1623, Smith's History Vol. II. 165.

96 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
which condemned Charles the first to the block, was connected
collaterally with him ; and, if he was not to tread in his footsteps
in consigning a king to the scaffold, he was destined to act a prorai
nent part in sundering the dominions of one of his successors on the
throne of Britain. The, distinctive merits of Harrison, though he
both wrote and spoke re'adUy and' ably, lay not so much in his strict
ly intellectual qualities, as in the force of his character, his practical
sense, his fearlessness, and his love of country. Great presence
of mind, a teraper whose cheerfulness the innumerable vexations
of a civil war could not cloud, and his downright candor which
knew no coraproraise, and which led him to say plain things in
plain words, were "also among his leading characteristics. Hence
the positions which he held in Congress ; in mUitary affairs, the dif
ficult and delicate raissions on whi(5h he was despatched to Cam
bridge, to Maryland, and to New York, the duties of which he
discharged with the unanimous approval of Congress, and of the
General Asserably of his native state, which raore than once ac
knowledged their warm sense of the value of his pubUc services.*
I have alluded to his cheerfulness in times of trial. Even on the
gravest occasions his humor sometimes moved the mirth of his
associates. He was a very large raan, and by the side of Elbridge
Gerry, who was very spare, he was almost a giant ; and overlook
ing Gerry as he affixed his name to the declaration of independence
which he had previously signed, observed to him : " Gerry, when
the tirae of hanging comes, I shall have the advantage of you ; it
will be over with me in a minute, but you will be kicking in the
air half an hour after I am gone."t The readiest and most suc
cessful iraproraptu ever uttered on the floor of Congress is recorded
of hira by Mr. Jefferson. When in June 1775 John Dickinson
had succeeded in procuring the adoption by Congress of a declara
tion of the causes for taking up arras, written by him in a temper
almost revolting to tbe body which had sanctioned it wholly from
regard to hira, and in strong contrast with the manly one written
• Journal House of Delegates 1776 page 6.
t Cheerfulness in contemplation of the gallows would seem to be an heredi
tary trait of the Harrisons. Pepys in his Diary under the date of October 13,
1660 (Vol. I. 146, London edition of 1828) has the following reference to Col.
Harrison the regicide on the morning of his execution: "I went out to Char
ing Cross to see Major General Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered ; which
was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that conditio^."

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 97
by Mr. Jefferson which it supplanted, he could not restrain his joy,
and rose out of order to say to the house that there was but one
word in that paper which he disapproved and that was the word
Congress. Harrison instantly rose and said: "Mr. President,
there is but one word in that paper which I approve, and that is
the word Congress."' Harrison out-lived Cary five years, and like
him, may be said to have died in the public service ; for, though
far advanced in life, he was a meraber elect of the House of Dele
gates, and was regarded as the person most likely to be chosen
Governor at the approaching session of the Assembly ; — thus
equipped to the last in the fuU harness which he put on in his
early youth, and which, for tbe third of a century, in war and in
peace, he had worn with honor to himself and with benefit to his
country.! We would fain indulge the wish that it had been vouch
safed to this aged patriot to know that in the fullness of time, when
his country had doubled its territory, and increased more than four
fold its population, his son William Henry should receive the high
est honor within the gift of a free people.
And, now, Mr. President, if you look over the House, you will
perceive that the tide of emigration, which has since flowed so
steadily from East to West, and which will continue to flow for
generations and for ages to come, had already begun its course, and
you will recognize raen who were born in the East, but nurtured in
the West as the West then was, as the representatives of their
adopted horaes on the floor. About the year 1748 or 1750 a tall
slim youth in the sixteenth or seventeenth year of his age, over six
feet in height, with prominent features, bright blue eyes, and sandy
hair, might have been seen passing on horseback by Roanoke Bridge
in the county of Charlotte then a part of Lunenburg, on his way from
Cumberland through tbe present estates of Edgehill and Greenfield,
now owned by his descendants in the second and third degree, to
Busby Forest, the seat of Col. Clement Read, the clerk of the county
of Lunenburg, who then held his office, as was almost invariably
the case with clerks before tbe Revolution and for many yearu sub
sequently, at his private residence. The youth was of English de-
* Jefl^erson's Memoirs Vol. I. 9.
¦f It may be proper to say that Harrison did not leave his seat in Congress
to attend the present Convention ; though R. H. Lee, and Wythe, and Nelson,
who were also in Congress, appeared in the body before its adjournment.
7

98 PAUL CARRINGTON.
scent. His maternal grandfather and his father had emigrated to
this country by tbe way of Barbadoes in the early part of the cen
tury, and both had been engaged in tbe expedition of Col. Byrd,
undertaken in 1736, for the ascertainment of tbe boundary hne be
tween Virginia and North Carolina. That youth was Paul Car
rington. He had probably learned the rudiments of Latin, and
had acquired mathematics enough, if not to calculate an eclipse, to
perform with the exactest skill the ordinary computations in the
business of life. He wrote a hand neat and smaU, which retained
for near seventy years after undiminished its steadiness and its
beauty. He was about to engage in tbe study of the law through
the slow process of an apprenticeship in a clerk's office, and,
hke Pendleton, was to pass years of toil at the desk before his pro
bation was to close. Like Pendleton, he gained the confidence of
his master ; and, unlike him, did not place it in jeopardy by a
hasty marriage, but sought the band of his master's daughter,
which in due tirae he won. At one and twenty he began the
practice of the law, and set about his business in such earnest that
he soon rose into eminence, and up to the time of the Revolution,
usually obtained raore fees at a single court than are now received
at all the courts of the counties into which the then shires have
been since divided. The fees of that day were indeed smaU, but
were carefully recorded by Carrington in books neatly ruled and
neatlj' written, which after the lapse of more than a century are
yet extant to attest bis mode of business and tbe vast extent of his
practice.* In 1765, when the county of Charlotte was set apart
from Lunenburg, be was returned to the House of Burgesses.
When he took his seat, the session was advanced, but he was pre
sent when the resolutions of Henry against the Stamp Act were
proposed, and voted against them.t He was successively returned
* These fee .books are now in my possession by the kindness of Henry
Carrington, esq., of Charlotte, the only surviving son of Paul Carrington the
elder. I am also indebted to Mr. Carrington for the loan of his fatlier's copies
of some of the original journals of the House of Burgesses, including the ses
sion of 1765.
X Since the delivery of this discourse, I have conversed with Henry Carring-
rington, esq., of Charlotte, the only surviving son of Judge Paul Carrington,
ana learn from him that it is his confident belief that his father voted in favor
of Henrjr's resolutions against the Stamp Act. Mr. Carrington justly states
that his father was most prominent in opposing all the measures of the British
ministry, and was the representative ol the opposition in that whole region
of country. But such was the case with Wythe, Pendleton, Peyton Randolph,
Robert Carter Nicholas and other leading patriots, who nevertheless, on grounds

PAUL CARRINGTON. 99
a member of the House until 1775, when it was superseded by
the Conventions of the people. In 1770 be was a member of tbe
MercantUe Association heretofore aUuded to, and in 1774 was a
member of the first Convention, which chose tbe delegates to tbe
Congress which met in Philadelphia in September of that year.
He was a member of tbe Conventions of March, July and Decera
ber 1775, and that of May 1776 of which we are now speaking.
In 1775 he was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety,
and performed the duties of that office from the organization of
the Committee till the new constitution came into effect the follow
ing year. To the discharge of the duties of a member of that
Comraittee he brought precisely those qualifications which tbe po
sition demanded. His intimate acquaintance with the manners and
customs of the people, and even with their prejudices, his thorough
habits of business, his knowledge of tbe resources of tbe colony
with which a term of ten years' service in the House of Burgesses
had made him famUiar, and bis skill in finance, were tbe qualities
which the emergency required, and which he possessed in an emi
nent degree. He also possessed that firmness of purpose, that
stern personal courage, which sustained him in advising and in
executing measures, which, though at the moment they appeared
harsh and even perilous, were deemed necessary to the success of
the public cause, and which, inherited by three gallant sons, led
them, ere yet their youthful shoulders could well bear the weight
of a musket, through some of the bloodiest fields of the war in tbe
South. In the Convention of 1776 he voted for the resolution in
structing the delegates in Congress to propose independence, and
was a member of the comraittee which reported the Declaration
frequently stated in this discourse, opposed the resolutions of Henry. On the
other hand, it was the impression of Col. Clement Carrington, an elder son of
Paul, who was himself an actor in the Revolution, and who knew Henry, Ma
son, and all the great actors of the day, that his father voted against the reso
lutions. He stated to me that his father before the Revolution and afterwards
rarely differed with Col. Pendleton. But as the session of 1765 was the first
session of the House of Burgesses attended by Paul Carrington, it is not proba
ble that his intimacy with Pendleton began so eariy ; and he may have voted
with the majority of the western men of that day by whose votes the resolu
tions were carried. As corroborative of this view, Mr. Henry Carrington,
who remembers the free and frequent conversations of his father who was
consulted by Mr. Wirt while he was writing the Memoirs of Henry, declares
that from all that he heard, he had no doubt of his father's vole in favor of the
resolutions. It should seem that neither of the sons could recall any distinct
affirmation of their father on the subject. The journal, as before stated, con
tains no vote by Ayes and Noes.

100 PAUL CARRINGTON.
of Rights and the Constitution ; and, though then in his forty-fourth
year, he survived with one exception every member who composed
it. On the organization of the new government he took his seat
in the House of Delegates, from which he passed to the bench of
the General Court, and to the Court of Appeals, in which last he
remained until 1811, when, having attained his seventy-eighth year,
and having outlived his judicial associates of the era of the Revo
lution, he resigned his appointment.
It is reraarkable that from his entrance into the House of Bur
gesses in 1765 until the death of Pendleton in 1803, a space of
near forty years, he was always closely connected with that emi
nent man, between whom and himself there existed the warm
est personal friendship. Pendleton was twelve years older than
Carrington, and had served thirteen years in the House of Bur
gesses when Carrington took his seat in the body. There were
some traits of resemblance in their persons, in their early his
tory, and in their characters. Both were men of lofty stature,
and of an imposing address ; and with a defective education had
passed through the clerk's office to the bar. Both were members
of tbe House of Burgesses from 1765 until tbe Conventions began
to assemble. Both were members of all the Conventions, and of
tbe Committee of Safety during the whole period of its existence.
Both were members of the first House of Delegates under the con
stitution, and were called at the same time to tbe bench of the
new judiciary, Carrington first to the General Court and after
wards to the second Court of Appeals. Both were members of
the Virginia Federal Convention, and voted for the adoption of the
constitution. In the body last named Pendleton was nominated
to the office of President by Carrington, while Carrington was
placed by Pendleton on the celebrated committee of twenty to
which was assigned the office of reporting such amendments to
the constitution " as shall by them be deemed necessary to be
recommended to the consideration of Congress."
In middle life, and until the war of the Revolution was
past, Paul Carrington was of a grave turn. Before the troubles
began, he had lost the bride of his youth. During the war, and
when the Southern states were alraost re-conquered colonies of
Britain, he was never seen to smUe. Day succeeded day in his
domestic life, and not only no smile was seen to play upon his face,

PAUL CARRINGTON. 101
but hardly a word feU from his lips. He was almost overwhelmed
with the calamities which assailed his country. At this moment of
prosperity and peace, when our country has taken her station by
the side ofthe most powerful nations, and when her flag is honored
and feared even in the distant isles ofthe Indian Archipelago, we may
weU afford to dwell for a moment on the difficulties and dangers
which beset the path of our fathers. In Virginia there was neither
pubhc nor private credit. The issues of the State were almost
worthless. A thousand dollars of currency would hardly suffice to
buy a waistcoat or a pair of boots. And, as all the debts of indi
viduals were payable at par in such a currency, the result was, that
aU whose wealth consisted in securities of any kind were reduced
to utter poverty. At no tirae within the past ten years had gold
or silver been much seen in the colony, but now both had entirely
disappeared. ChUdren, ten years old, had never seen a silver six
pence. Boys, ¦who were old enough to play tbe scout, or shoulder
a musket, had never seen a guinea.* At the breaking out of the
war the debt due British merchants was estimated at ten millions of
dollars, which, when the relative value of money is considered, was
nearly equal to the present public debt of the state. Not only had
the war put an end to the general cultivation of our great staple,
which was lawful currency, but a number of slaves between thirty
and forty thousand, one-fifth of the entire black population, had
either gone over to the British or had been stolen by them. The
young men and the middle-aged had either fallen in battle, or were
absent with the army in the North or the South. Those of ad
vanced life, who remained at home, were in perpetual dread of the
enemy who was ready to strike at every vulnerable point. Norfolk
was in ashes, but Portsmouth was equally as accessible by a hostile
squadron, and was repeatedly tbe headquarters of the foe. Rich
mond and Petersburg had been in his possession, and were always
within his reach. The dashing corps of Tarleton were within an
ace of seizing the General Assembly in full session in Charlottes-
viUe, a town in the interior, distant eighty miles from Richmond.
Nor were these the only obstacles to the pursuits of ordinary life.
Our own commissaries were abroad to seek horses and provisions for
*I have been told by an actor in those times that the first specie that made
its appearance in circulation was that procured by the sale of provisions to the
French troops. When a farmer got a French gold or silver coin into his pos
session, he held it as fast and as long as he was able.

102 PAUL CARRINGTON.
the army in the field, and a fine horse or a fat ox or cow was deemed
lawful prize. These domiciliary visits, however necessary and
justifiable, were not only annoying and ruinous to individuals, but
tbey might also be dangerous. Pictures of tbe king and queen,
likenesses of the merabers of tbe bouse of Hanover, in whose honor
our fathers delighted, but a short time before, to narae their coun
ties, might involve a serious risk, and were bid in garrets and out
houses, or were destroyed.* Tbe comraon necessaries of life could
not be obtained even by the rich, if rich they could be called, who,
if their negroes were not taken, or their horses impressed in the
plough, could not secure frora depredation tbe crops which they had
planted, nor purchase with money, if money they had, a change of
clothing or a pound of sugar.t Salt there was none in the country.
Meat was cured with the earth dug out of old smoke-bouses and
old tobacco barns. If tbe soldiers were successful in obtaining a
stray bushel of salt, it was instantly mixed with hickory ashes to
make it go farther. When a soldier from Prince Edward on his
return from tbe South was asked whether he had not killed a
British officer whom he might have taken prisoner, he admitted he
had, "but hoped the Lord would pardon bim, as he hadnH tastedsalt
for a year." Lee's Legion was the favorite corps of the South, and
was better provided for than any other ; yet few of the soldiers of
the Legion had a change of apparel ; and when a well-clad tory was
taken, their first act was to exchange garraents with the prisoner.
These circurastances were depressing enough. But there were
reflections of a peculiar kind which occasionally flashed across the
minds ofthe leading raen of tbe day. Should the colonies be re
conquered, on their heads would faU tbe full weight of British ven
geance. A bill of attainder was on the table of tbe House of
Commons, ready to be called up at a moment's warning, and it was
known to contain the names of several of the prominent men of
Virginia, and might easily be amended to contain yet more. There
was also a conviction that, while some of tbe leaders would be par-
*I have seen several paintings that were injured in the manner described, and
possess likenesses of George the Third and his queen Charlotte, which ran the
gauntlet of the outhouses during the Revolution, and which are seriously de
faced. flf the planters succeeded in getting their tobacco to market, it might be
taken by the British. Campbell, in his introduction to the History of the Col
ony of 'Virginia, computes the loss sustained by invasion in six months at eleven
millions of dollars. Campbell, page 175.

PAUL CARRINGTON. 103
doned by the influence of friends, the fate of the remainder would
be the more certain and the more severe. In Virginia and in
North and South Carolina members of leading families had adhered
to the royal cause, and had either taken up arms in its support or
had withdrawn to England ; and when the day of royal triumph
should come round, they raight interpose to save the lives and for
tunes of their friends ; but who would stand up for Patrick Henry,
George Mason, Pendleton, Paul Carrington, and others whose
voices were heard in every council, and whose naraes were at the
head of every coramittee of resistance to tbe royal authority, when
the red cross of St. George should again flame above the palace and
the capitol ? The remorseless murders perpetrated by a royal
governor a century before at the close of Bacon's rebellion were
freshly remembered ; and it was known by our fathers, as hap
pening in their own tirae, that the house of Hanover in "the Scotch
rebelhon had not leaned to the side of raercy. Such thoughts
forced themselves upon the fiercest opponents of Great Britain.
Of aU the men of tbe Revolution Patrick Henry had displayed tbe
greatest spirit. He had been tbe first to defy the power of the Brit
ish crown on the floor of the House of Burgesses, had headed tbe
people in their efforts to recover the gunpowder purloined by Dun
more, and bad been appointed comraander of all tbe forces in the
colony ; yet, so deeply impressed was he with the peril of the
period, that, when Greene had reached Halifax old Court-house
in bis retreat before Cornwallis, and when Cornwallis himself was
on the banks of the Dan waiting a fall of water, instead of harangu
ing the people of Henry, where he then was, and of marching with
the levy of his county en ¦masse to harrass the foe, fearing lest he
might be captured by tbe scouUng parties of the enemy, he hast
ened frora the scene of war to Hanover. An honorable death in
a fair field he did not dread, but he dreaded an ignominous death
on the scaffold or from a tree. The intercepted letter of Corn
wallis to Nisbett Balfour, dictated on the spur of a momentary
triumph, proves incontestably that tbe success of the British would
have been written in the blood of the purest and greatest men of
whom our country could boast.
From the erabarrassraents of the period which we have described,
and especially from the depreciated currency, few men suffered
more severely than Paul Carrington. A large portion of his wealth

104 PAUL CARRINGTON.
was in the bonds of debtors, which became dross in his hands.
As a legislator, he had sanctioned the issues of paper money as the
only means of conducting the war, and, as a judge, he was bound
to execute the laws. But in the midst of these trials he displayed
the intrepidity of the patriot and the honesty of the man. While
men of wealth went abroad to avoid meeting a debtor; and, when
a debtor called to pay for a fine estate in worthless rags, were not
at home ; or, if at home, could not put their fingers on the bond of
the debtor, who was requested to call again ;* there was no shuf
fling in the conduct of Carrington. On one occasion a wealthy
Scotchman, who owed him a large sum of money, called upon him
with a huge bundle of paper money in his hands. " Colonel,"
said the Scotchman, " / don't call this trash money — do you call it
money V " Yes," answered Carrington, " it is tbe only money of
my poor country in this severe hour of her sufferings." " Then,"
said the Scotchman, " here is the exact amount of my debt, prin
cipal and interest ; give me my bond." And he gave him his bond.
Another instance of a generous nature displayed the character of
the man. His father died intestate before the passage of the act
abolishing primogeniture, and being the oldest son, he became
sole heir of the estate. At a time when nine-tenths of the titles
of land were devised in a similar manner, public sentiment would
have sustained him in exacting his legal claim ; but he scorned to
deprive his brothers and sisters of their equal share of the wealth
of a common parent, and apportioned the inheritance among them.
Nor were his own services all that he gave to his country. His
individual career was confined to the House of Burgesses, to the
Conventions, to the Committee of Safety, to the House of Dele
gates, and to the judiciary; but he contributed three sons tothe
army : George, who was tbe first lieutenant of Armstrong's troop,
and whose gallantry at Quinby Bridge is commemorated by Gen.
Lee in his memoirs of the war in the South ; Paul, who was at the
battle of Guilford, and Clement, who was in that desperate charge
of tbe Maryland and Virginia lines on the bloody field of Eutaw,
and was severely wounded by a musket baU fired at point blank
distance from the house in which a datachment of tbe fl3'ing enemy
bad sought a shelter.
* In due time provision was made by law to prevent all such evasions on the
part of creditors.

THOMAS READ. 105
But, if the middle-life of Paul Carrington was engrossed with
the cares and sufferings of his country, his latter years were
cheered by her prosperity and glory. He became pleasant and
cheerful as he grew old, and frequently indulged in a strain of hu
mor as peculiar as it was irresistible. He enjoyed good health,
always retained the erect carriage of early manhood, and within
a year of his death rode regularly to court, a distance of fifteen
miles, on horseback. And on the twenty-first of June 1818, after
a short illness of a disease which is as fatal to the young as
the old, fifteen years after the death of Pendleton, in the eighty-
sixth year of his age, he died at Mulberry Hill, bis seat on tbe
banks of the Staunton.
The colleague of Carrington from the county of Charlotte,
though his name has almost faded from the meraory of the present
generation, was equally distinguished by the fervor of his patriot
ism, by tbe strictest integrity, and by the highest sense of personal
honor. They were nearly of the same age, were brothers-in-law,
had been together in the sarae clerk's office, were, on all great
occasions, colleagues in the public councils, and were personal
friends, there were sorae strong points of resemblance in their
characters. Both wrote exceUent hands, were thoroughly skilled
in finance, and carried such system into their private affairs that
either could have turned at a moment's notice to a paper half a
century old. Thomas Read, who inherited the papers of his
father, the old clerk of Lunenburg, could have gone back nearly
a century. Read, though not a lawyer by profession, was well
versed in the law, and in his various legal controversies with some
of tbe most eminent merabers of the bar was usually successful.
Both, rather by the process of small profits and strict economy
than by sudden speculation, accumulated large estates. Both,
though courteous and affable, and noted for the disinterested and
valuable services rendered indiscriminately to all who needed them,
were slow in forming friendships ; but, when their friendships were
formed, they were indissoluble. The friendship which Carrington
cherished for Pendleton, and which Read cherished for Madison,
no difficulty, no disaster, no evil tongue, could sunder or impair.
Both were men of pure lives, and of honesty that became prover
bial ; and were for nearly two generations tbe confidential advisers
of the people who knew that neither interest nor passion could

106 THOMAS READ.
sway their opinions. But, great as was tbe influence of Carrington
in the county of Charlotte, that of Read, from bis peculiar man
ners, from his long and unintermitted acquaintance with the peo
ple as clerk of the county for almost half a century, and from the
caste of his political sentiments, was greater still. Hence in aU
tbe elections held for the state Conventions, the only bodies which,
as clerk of a Court, he could attend. Read was returned the senior
member of the Charlotte delegation. He was the son of CoL
Clement Read,* who was clerk of the county of Lunenburg from
1744 to 1765, when Charlotte was formed, who was one of the
most efficient public men of his time as his letters still extant show,
who was a meraber of the House of Burgesses, and whose remains
now rest with those of nuraerous descendants in the burial ground
of Bushy Forest. The success of Thoraas Read, however, de
pended on his personal qualities. Like raost of the active colo
nists who acquired large estates, he began life as a surveyor, an ap-
pointraent of some note in early times, and never granted until the
candidate had passed a strict examination at the seat of govern
ment by a board organized for the purpose. He studied at Wilham
and Mary, and became deputy clerk of Charlotte in 1765, when, as
before observed, it was set apart from Lunenburg, and in 1770 be
came principal, holding tbe office until his death in 1817, with
the approbation of all.f His father was from a county bounded
* The ancestor of Clement Read probably came over soon after the Restora
tion. Col. Thomas Read was one of Cromwell's Colonels, and was in command
of a regiment when Monk addressed to the colonels of his army the celebrated
letter of the 21st of February 1659, on taking the direction of civil affairs out
of the hands of the parliament. Among the colonels of the army were Thomas
Johnson, William Eyre, Banister, Nicholas and other common Virginia names.
The probability is that, as the armistice was most shamefully broken on the
restoration of Charles, some of these men or members of their families soon af
ter emigrated to the Colony. See Baker's Chronicle, edition 1665, page 686
and 689. Among the knights of the Bath at the Coronation of Charles may be
seen the names of Wise, Wray, Nicholas, and other old names of the Colony,
(Ibid 736.) As they were protestants, if not tinged with puritanism, it is not
unlikely that their sons came over to get rid of the religious tyranny of James.
The name of Wise appears as early as 1682 as the standard bearer in the famous
foray against sweet-scented tobacco. It has been well observed by Mr. Minor
that the history of that foray is not well understood.
* On the creation of a new county during the colonial regime a clerk was
appointed from the secretary's office in Williamsburg, who at once removed
to the new county to assist in its organization, or farmed the office to a deputy,
or sold it for ready money. Read purchased the clerkship from his principal,
who never resided in (Charlotte, in 1770. In those days clerkships were fre
quently in the market, and were readily bought as a provision for a son, the
court rarely refusing to confirm the title of the purchaser by a formal election
to the office. The mode of original appointment continued down to the

THOMAS READ. 107
by the James, but Read himself was born in Lunenburg. Paul
Carrington came directly from the James ; a distinction apparenUy
of little note, but which raay be plainly traced throughout the po
litical career of both. Carrington sided with the party of which
Bland and Nicholas were the heads ; Read with that of which
Henry and Jefferson were the heads. Carrington opposed tbe
resolutions of 1765 against tbe Stamp Act; Read would have sus
tained them. Carrington, in the March Convention of 1775,
voted against the resolutions of Henry for embodying the militia ;
Read would have voted for their adoption. Carrington, at a later
day, in the Convention of 1788, voted in favor of ratifying the
federal constitution ; Read, who was his colleague, opposed its
ratification. Carrington sustained the administrations of Washing
ton and Adams ; Read, following the lead of Jefferson and Madi
son, opposed sorae of the leading raeasures of both administrations.
Carrington opposed the adrainistration of Jefferson ; Read sus
tained it with all his zeal. It was not untU the administration of
Madison that these worthy patriots united in a common cause.
During the Revolution Read was the county heutenant of Char
lotte, and not only marched on one occasion to Petersburg himself,
but by his efficient aid in supplying the quotas of that county in
men and means to the state and continental lines, rendered inval
uable service to his country. The requisitions addressed to hira
by Gov. Henry and Gov. Jefferson, endorsed and annotated by bis
own hand, are still extant to attest his zeal in the public cause.
No county in the state surpassed his own in the relative numbers
contributed to the army of the Revolution. It was his own brother,
Isaac Read of Greenfield, who in the comraand of the fourth
Virginia Regiment fell a martyr to disease in tbe city of Phila
delphia, where bis ashes now repose.* It was Col. WiUiam Mor-
Revolution, when the magistrates appointed whom they pleased to the office.
The writers in the secretary's office complained bitterly of this innovation in
their petitions to the General Assembly, and sought a remuneration for their
past labors and blasted hopes. See the Journal of the House of Delegates of
1776. * Isaac Read of Greenfield, as true a patriot as appeared in the Revolution,
deserves a passing notice. He was for many years a member of the House of
Burgesses, especially in 1769 when that body was dissolved by Lord Botetourt,
and when the members adjourned to the Raleigh to form an association against
the act of parliament imposing duties on teas, 8cc. To this instrument the
name of Isaac Read is attached, as well as to the Mercantile Association formed
by the members and leading merchants the following year. Read continued a
member of the House of Burgesses until it was superseded by the Conventions.

108 THOMAS LEWIS.
ton of Charlotte, who slew at tbe battle of Guilford the gallant Col.
Webster, the pride of the army of Cornwallis. Indeed there is
scarcely a battle-field in the North or in the South that has not been
illustrated by the valor or moistened by the blood of the men of
Charlotte. And in effecting such patriotic results it is not easy to
estimate too highly the services of Col. Thomas Read. Nor did his
mUitary spirit ever forsake him. When, tottering on the brink of
the grave, he saw his country involved in a second war of inde
pendence with her ancient foe, he appealed to tbe patriotism of
the young men of Charlotte; and when he saw them marching to
the seat of war, he was ready to embrace them in the excess of
his joy. And when, as he was rejoicing at the ratification of the
treaty of Ghent, an opponent of the war sarcastically observed
that he saw in that instrument no article about free trade and sai
lors' rights. Read, with more than usual warmth, instantly replied :
" We don't want an article — we have fought them and we have
flogged them."
He was one of the last specimens of a class and of a generation
now dying out, when personal manners and dress were more re
garded than at present. His stature approached six feet, and he
was large in proportion. His head was broad and full ; bis eyes
were blue, his nose Roman, his chin round and firmly set. He
wore his hair powdered, and retained the queue which he had worn
that day when, on a report that Cornwallis was crossing the Dan,
he marched with the levy en masse of the county of Charlotte to
oppose his progress. His dress was always neat and even elegant,
and in society he was the model of an accomplished gentleman.*
He died on the fourth of February 1817, at Ingleside, his seat on
Little Roanoke, a stream on the banks of which be was born, and
on the banks of which he was buried. On his dying bed his wonted
amenity was still apparent. When a friend, a few moments be
fore his death, moistened his speechless lips, be nodded a grateful
recognition. One overshadowing sorrow darkened his last days.
He was a member of the Convention of August 1774, that of March, and of
June 1775, by which last body he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the
fourth Virginia Regiment. At this call of his country he cast aside all the
civil honors which were within his reach, and hastened with his command to
the North, where he died from exposure in the public service.
* A beautiful miniature of Col. Read, done on ivory, is in the possession of
his grand-niece Mrs. M. L. Comfort of Charlotte. No likeness of Paul Car
rington exists.

THOMAS LEWIS. 109
A daughter, an only child, the child of his old age, whose voice he
fondly hoped would soothe his departing spirit, he consigned to
the grave ; and when, in less than two years after her death, bis
own body was about to be placed by ber side, his friends saw in
tbe beaten path that led to her solitary tomb beneath the hollies
of Ingleside whence came the shaft that laid him low.
No two members of the Convention were more prorainent in their
respective spheres, or displayed a patriotisra of a purer starap, than
Col. Thomas Lewis of Augusta, and Col. William Cabell of
Amherst, or, as he was styled in the fashion of the day, of Union
Hill. Both were men of action rather than of words, had long been
members of the House of Burgesses, were merabers of all the Con
ventions held previous to the forraation of tbe constitution, and
were especiaUy efficient in carrying out during the war the plans of
the Committee of Safety, of the Conventions, and of the govern
ment under the constitution. Each was the representative of an
important and distinct class, the interests of which, though appa
rently the same, were in many respects dissimilar, and enjoyed its
unlimited confidence. Lewis was the representative of the people
ofthe extreme west, who, from their position and the habits which
it induced, were inclined to advance more steadily and with a
quicker pace to independence than their brethren of the extreme
east. They shared none of the honors of the Colony ; they had
come over to the colony at a comparatively recent date, and brought
with them few of those attachments and prejudices ¦which sorae of
the ancestors ofthe eastern people had brought over and bad taught
their descendants to cherish ; they were full of a martial spirit
which self-defence rendered necessary, and which had been exhib
ited in their Indian contests with signal effect ; they were in a great
measure unrestricted in their religious privileges, and were practi>
cally even more than their eastern neighbors an independent peo
ple. Their sagacity led them to perceive that their privileges would
gradually be lost with the increase of population, and that a church
establishment, to the forms and doctrines of which they were op
posed, would ere long be firmly fixed upon them. To such a people,
living far from the seaboard, and engaged but to a limited extent in
the cultivation of the great staple which constituted the common
currency, the idea of taxation even by their own House of Bur
gesses, which was beginning to be sensibly felt, was formidable

110 THOMAS LEWIS.
enough without the addition of taxation from abroad. Tbe farmer
who raight look upon his fields stocked with cattle, his smoke-house
bristling with bacon, and his granary full of produce beyond the
reach of a market, often had very little tobacco for the payment of
taxes, and rarely a dollar in coin. Hence, on the two great occa
sions of opposition to the stamp act in 1765, and of the scheme of
erabodying the railitia in the March Convention of 1775, the vote
of the west decided the victory. And that vote was freely and
fearlessly cast by Thomas Lewis. Hence that eloquent memorial
frora the Committee of Augusta, presented on one of the first days
of the session of the Convention now sitting, which denounced the
conduct of Great Britain, and advised not only the formation of an
independent state government but a permanent confederation ofthe
colonies. That noble paper, which Augusta might put forth as her
declaration of independence, and which should be equally familiar
in tbe cottage and in the college, was presented by Lewis and was
probably from his pen.* Hence the readiness with which the sons
of the west rushed from their mountains to raeet the enemy, and
the success which crowned their arms on many a classic field.
Thomas Lewis was sprung from a stock the history of which is
the history of the political and religious persecutions of a memorable
century in the annals of Christendom. His ancestor was a native
of France, and in consequence of the religious troubles which ulti
mately led to the revocation of the edict of Nantes but before the
revocation itself, took refuge in Ireland, where in 1678 John, the
father of Thomas Lewis, was born. John Lewis, the father of four
chUdren, was living quietly in Donegal, when a painful affair, in
which he acted with becoraing spirit and honor, compelled him to
fly to Oporto, whence he emigrated to Pennsylvania, whither he was
followed by his wife and sons, and where he spent the winters of
*I fear much that this memorial was lost with other public papers during the
Revolution. The substance of it may be found in the Journal of the Conven
tion of 1776 page 11. It was written some time before Congress adopted on
the 10th of May 1776 a resolution recommending the colonies to form temporary
fovernments for domestic affairs and before our own resolution of independence.
t is the first distinct and responsible proposition in favor of independence and of
a federal union which I have met with. Some son of Augusta should hunt up
the records to ascertain its fate. If it exists, it will probably appear among the
manuscripts in the clerk's office of the House of Delegates, or among those in
one ofthe rooms of the Capitol under the charge of the Secretary of the Com
monwealth, which I once looked over with another object in view. It is possi
ble a copy may be found among the papers of Lewis or of some member ofthe
county committee of Augusta.

THOMAS LEWIS. Ill
1731 and '32. Thence he immediately removed to Augusta, and
was with his family among the earliest settlers of that region. It is
fitly inscribed on the stone which protects the remains of John
Lewis, that " he furnished five sons to fight the battles of the Revolu
tion." A more glorious epitaph could not have been inscribed upon
it, and a nobler fraternal band never drew sword in the public de
fence. Samuel comraanded at Braddock's defeat a company of
Virginians, among whom were three of his own brothers, and aided
in saving the remnants of an army led to destruction by tbe wilful
ness of a brave but conceited leader. William was distinguished as
a soldier in the Indian wars and was an officer in tbe Revolution.
Charles, the only brother born in Virginia, fell at the battle of Point
Pleasant, ere victory bad yet perched upon tbe banner of his cou^n-
try. Andrew of all the brothers attained the highest rank in the
mihtary service. He was with Braddock in the company com
manded by his brother, was with Grant at Duquesne, and punished
on the spot the insolence of a man whose cowardice in the field was
only equalled by his falsehood on the floor of the British parliament,
was with Washington at Fort Necessity, was coramander-in-cbief
at the battle of Point Pleasant, where he achieved a victory which
rendered the soil of Virginia thenceforth sacred from the foot of
the savage, — though not till that soil was moistened with the blood
of a beloved brother — was a member of the Convention of March
1775 and of that of June following, from which last he received a
military commission ; and, as brigadier General in the continental
line, drove, a few days after tbe adjournment of the Convention
now sitting, Dunmore frora bis retreat on Gwyn's island, and
from tbe confines of the Commonwealth. He was over six feet
high, of a noble presence, and of such a stately demeanor that tbe
governor of the colony of New York, whither he had gone to nego
tiate the treaty of Stanwix, remarked that the earth seemed to
tremble beneath his tread. It is painful to reflect that such a man
fell a victim to disease before the independence of his country was
fully established.*
Thomas Lewis, of whom it is our province to speak at present,
though reported by our historians to have been engaged in
Indian fights, and present at Braddock's defeat, embarked in the
*Gen. Andrew Lewis died in Bedford on his way home in 1780 of a disease
contracted by exposure in the low country.

112 THOMAS LEWIS.
civil service only of his country.* On the organization of the
county of Augusta in 1745 he qualified as surveyor, having re
ceived his appointment from a board of which President Dawson of
this College was tbe head. He entered the House of Burge.sses at
an early age, and in the memorable session of 1765, sustained the
resolutions of Henry. He was a member of all the Conventions
including the one now in session. He voted for the resolution in
structing the delegates in Congress to propose independence, and
was one of the comraittee which prepared the Declaration of
Rights and tbe Constitution. He was a raember of the first House
of Delegates under the constitution, and was placed on the com
mittee of Religion, to which was assigned the delicate duty of adopt
ing a policy which would effectually secure religious freedom. And
it may be honorably recorded of him, that at a period when some of
our wisest and purest statesmen hesitated in their course in relation
•Thomas Lewis is represented by C. Campbell and by the author ofthe account
ofthe Lewis family in the Historical Register as having been engaged in our
early Indian fights ; but I am inclined to believe on the authority of a letter of
Gen. S. H. Lewis, his grandson, to Samuel Price esq., dated April 6, 1855, that
the defective sight of Thomas prevented him from joining his gallant brothers in
the field. With the aid of glasses, which he always used, he was hardly able
to tell an Indian from a white man at the distance of twenty paces. The letter
alluded to above says : " I have heard that he was six feet in height, robust but not
inclined to corpulency ; his eyes and hair were dark ; his complexion fair. I
have heard him spoken of as a handsome, fine-looking man. The caste of his
Erofile I cannot describe, but I do not think it was Roman or aquilinej; as I have
eard it said that my elder brother, Thomas, resembled him in features. He
was exceedingly near-sighted, and was under the necessity of using glasses
habitually. 1 here is no family portrait extant of him that I know of. He was
of a grave and serious temper ; strict, perhaps rigid in his notions of moral and
religious duty. Though a supporter of, and a regular attendant upon the ser
vices ofthe established church, he was not a communicant. He was possessed
of a liberal education, and was probably one of the best mathematicians of hia
day in the state. He had a literary taste, and, when not engaged in business or
occupied with company, was generally to be found in his library. His collec
tion of books was very extensive and valuable, embracing many of the most
important works then extant in history, biography, moral philosophy, political
economy, national law, theology and poetry. In his theological department
were Tillotson, Barrow, South, ' the Boyle Lecture,' and other standard works
ofthe English church. He was born in Donegal county, Ireland, on the 27th of
April 1718, and died at his residence in Rockingham county on the Shenandoah
river, three miles from Port Republic, on the 31st day of January, 1790. In his
will he fixed the place on his own estate where he wished to be buried, and 'de-
sirad that the Burial service might be read from the book of Common Prayer by
his friend Peachy Gilmer.' He died of a cancer in the face. He was 1 have
always understood the eldest son of John Lewis. He married on the 26th Jan
uary 1749 Jane, the daughter of William Strother esq. of Stafford county,
whose estate opposite to Fredericksburg joined the residence of the father of
Gen. Washington, with whom (G. W.) she was a school-mate, and nearly of the
same age. She died in September 1820. Thomas and Jane Lewis brought up
a family of thirteen children."

¦WILLIAM CABELL OP UNION HILL. 113
to a church establishment to which he was attached, he went band
in hand with Jefferson, and approved those raeasures which ulti
mately led to the passage of the act concerning Religious Freedom.
In grateful obedience to the mandate of the Augusta memorial he
warmly upheld the scheme of a confederation, and voted for the
Articles proposed by Congress for tbe consideration of the states.
At a later day, when the federal constitution was submitted for
<he ratification of the states, be was a member of tbe Convention
caUed to decide upon it ; but, though solicitous to connect the
states in the closest bonds, and in unison with most of his com
peers who had supported the resolutions of Henry against the
Stamp Act and his resolutions for embodying the mUitia, he re
fused to vote for tbe adoption of that instrument until certain
amendments which be deemed essential to the preservation of tbe
rights of the states were adopted.
It has been observed that Thomas Lewis and William Cabell
were the representatives of distinct and important interests in tbe
colony. Cabell lived upon his patrimonial estate on the banks of
the upper James, was, though distant from tide, a large slaveholder,
and a tobacco planter, and, though from bis position having certain
affinities with tbe west, was in the main frora interest and sympa
thy intiraately connected with the east. His father was an Eng-
lishraan, once a surgeon in the British navy, and he himself, though
liberal in his religious views, adhered to tbe church of England ;
but, as his father had settled in the colony a short time only before
the father of Lewis carae over, he had not fallen heir to that
legacy of prejudices which beset many of tbe descendants of the
earlier settlers. William Cabell, the father of William Cabell of
Union Hill, arrived in the colony about 1720, and, having taken
up lands on both sides of tbe James in the present counties of Am
herst, Nelson, and Buckingham, laid in that region the foundations of
his fortune. He was a good scholar, and soon surrounded himself
in his forest home with a noble library. He was skilled in bis
profession, which he practised within a wide sphere, was lagaciouf
in business, was fond of rural sports, and revelled in the play of
a sportive fancy, the sallies of which yet afford amusement at the
firesides of his descendants.* Dying at an advanced age in 1774,
he did not live to hail the advent of Independence ; but, hke his
• Carrington Memoranda.
8

114 WILLIAM CABEI(L OP UNION HILL.
contemporary John Lewis, contributed four sons to tbe eventful
contest in which it was won. Of those four sons tbe eldest was
William, of whom we wUl speak at length presently ; the second
was Joseph, wbo was at various times a member of the House of
Burgesses, especially in 1769, when that body, dissolved by Bote
tourt, adopted in the Raleigh Tavern the agreement already alluded
to, to which bis narae is attached, and in 1770, when the Burgesses
uniting with the raerchants organised the Mercantile Associatioif,
which also bears his narae. He was a member of tbe Convention
of March, of July, and of Deceraber 1775, but gave place in May
1776 to Gabriel Penn, and was subsequently a meraber of the As
sembly. The third son, John, was a raeraber of the Convention
of Deceraber 1775, and of the Convention of which we are now
treating. The fourth, Nicholas, engaged in the mihtary service of
the Revolution, served under the comraand of La Fayette, was a
member at various tiraes of the Asserably, and was an active poh-
tician. Thus did three sons of the elder CabeU serve in the re
spective Conventions which were held before the constitution went
into effect.
But from this patriotic brotherhood the name of William Cabell
may be singled out as the one posterity wUl be most pleased to ton-
template. Under tbe guidance of his accomplished father he passed
bis early years, availing himself of the literary advantages which
the paternal mansion afforded. Tall and muscular, his face bearing
that Roman outline which may yet be traced in his descendants, fond
of rural sports, skilled in tbe witchery of horseraanship, courting
danger as a plaything, and of engaging manners, be was the model
of the young Virginian of his time. But it is as be appeared at a
later day in the public councils that we seek to trace him. He
was then eminently conspicuous as a man of noble presence, of
gallant bearing, and of undaunted spirit. He was a planter in the
large acceptation of the word, as it was understood rather in the
interior than on the seaboard, which included not only the culti
vation of a staple, and its ordinary agricultural aspects, but the
construction of tbe instruments and the preparation and manufac
ture of articles, which the eastern planters of that day, like many
of their successors, were content to find ready made to their hands.
He fashioned his iron on his own stithy ; he built his houses with his
own workmen; he wove into cloth the wool from his own sheep

WILLIAM CABELL OP UNION HILL. 115
and the cotton frora his own patch ; he made his shoes out of his
own leather. He managed his various estates with that masterly
skiU with which a general superintends an array, or a statesman
the interests of a comraunity entrusted to his charge. What Wash
ington was on tbe banks of the Potomac, Cabell was on the banks
of the upper James. Nor was the bospitaUty of Mount Vernon,
if by the splendor of its exhibitions it eclipsed that of the more
modest Union Hill, more cordial, more comprehensive, or more
refined. There were indeed many traits of resemblance between
the owners of those two fine estates, which, as they were from
their unrivaUed location the objects of the admiration of all who
beheld them, and were the abodes of the elegance and taste of
their accomplished hosts, have a sanctity thrown over them as the
depositories of the ashes of the sacred dead.* The caste of their
characters was much the same. They were nearly of the same
age, were marked by their lofty stature which exceeded six feet,
by the uncommon strength of their sinewy frames, by their perfect
horseraanship, by their entire self-possession, no unfrequent con-
coraitant of well-braced nerves, in tiraes of perU, and by a grave
and stately deraeanor, controlled indeed by the occasion, but verg
ing in a state of repose to sternness, carried into the daily offices
of the house and the plantation the strictest system, and were pas
sionately fond of rural life. Washington, who was born poor, sal
lied into the forest with a compass in his hand which in a spirit of
adventure he exchanged for the sword; but when wealth devolved
upon him, that sword was soon turned into a pruning-hook, and the
Indian fighter became the farmer of Mount Vernon. Cabell, who
was the elder by two years, born rich, engaged at once in his favo
rite pursuit, and prosecuted it with that strict attention to detaUs
* The mansion of Mount Vernon, if not more capacious, was more costly
than the dwelling at Union Hill; but the estate of Union Hill far surpassed in
value that of Mount Vernon. " It occupied the beautiful and fertile valley of
the James from the mouth of Tye River down to the head of the Swift Islands,
a distance of six miles. About the midway of this valley and on a fine swel
ling hill overlooking it. Col. Cabell erected his spacious dwelling, which com
manded a view of the rich bottoms of the James, the ivy cliffs on the opposite
side, and the gentle river flowing between them, and the distant mountains
sinking down and disappearing in the southwestern horizon. The selection of
the site was as creditable to Col. Cabell as a man of taste as his methodical
habits were to him as a man of business. It has been stated that he held at
one time twenty-five thousand acres of the best land in the present counties of
Nelson and Amherst." Letter of J. C. Cabell, esq., to F. N. Cabell, esq.

116 WILLIAM CAEELL OF UNION HILL.
which was shown in the management of Mount Vernon.* Both
were looked upon as tbe social representatives of their respective
regions of country, and were unsurpassed in the baronial expanse
of their hospitaUty, and in the generous courtesy with which it was
dispensed.! Both appeared early in the House of Burgesses, and,
though differing at tiraes in the choice of the means or mode of
resistance, manifested equal sensitiveness to foreign aggression.
Both were merabers of the body in 1769 when it was dissolved by
Botetourt, and signed the agreement put forth by the members,
and were merabers of the House of Burgesses the following year
and recorded their naraes on the roll of tbe Mercantile Association.
If Washington in the March Convention of 1775 sustained the
resolutions of Henry for putting the colony into a posture of de
fence, Cabell, who looked at affairs rather with the eyes of a poli
tician than of a soldier, opposed thera, preferring the scherae of
a regular array presented by Col. Nicholas. When all minor topics
were merged amid the clash of arms, if Washington was called to
military service abroad, Cabell was charged as a member of the
Comraittee of Safety with the civil and raihtary control of the col
ony. If the pre-viouB life of Washington had qualified him to act
with effect in the field, the services of Cabell as a member of the
House of Burgesses, as county-lieutenant, as a man of business
intimately conversant with tbe resources of the colony, and as a
statesman who had closely vratched the progress of the public
troubles, and bis personal intrepidity, pointed bim out as the fit
compeer of those eminent men into whose hands at the dawn of
the war the public interests were confided. There were also about
both that prestige, that undefinable contexture of physical and
moral qualities, which, though neither of them spoke at length in
• The Diary of Col. Cabell, written in his own neat and beautiful hand, from
1769 to 1795, is still extant, and " attests his methodical habits as a planter and
man of business. It records the daily operations and occurrences on the vari
ous plantations on his home estate, all of which in the active period of his
life he visited regularly on horseback twice in the course of the day." His
diary for 1782 is, by the kindness of Henry Carrington, esq., now before me.
t " His dwelling was the theatre of a magnificent hospitality, embracing
his poorer as well as his more wealthy countrymen. He was singularly gifted
with the talent of entertaining large companies. On occasions where his guests
were very numerous, he would divide them into two apartments, attending per
sonally to them in succession, quietly and without seeming effort, providing
for all, and making all easy, contented, and happy." Ibid.

WILLIAM CABELL OF UNION HILL. HY
deliberative bodies, insensibly swayed the feelings of their contem
poraries, and which caused their opinions to be regarded not only
as the opinions of individuals but as those of large and leading
classes of the people. That both of them shared the unbounded
confidence of the people is assuredly true ; and it is equally true
that under every temptation in war and peace they richly deserved
it. Both lived to behold the hght of peace, and to receive tbe
reward of all their toils in their country's service. Both cherished
with equal warmth the union of the states ; but while Washington
in common with nearly all the military men of tbe Revolution sus
tained the federal constitution formed by the body of which be was
the president, Cabell, who was a member of the Virginia Conven
tion called to pass upon it, sympathising warmly with the opinions
of nearly all the most distinguished statesmen of the sarae era
who had held no executive post either in the field or on tbe bench,
sternly refused to vote for the ratification of that instruraent with
out the security of a pledge of previous araendments. And it
ought to be observed, as a striking fact in the history of these two
men, and worthy of remembrance, and which rarely happened in the
case of men engaged for a long series of years almost exclusively
in the pubUc service, that, with all the drafts which an unlim
ited hospitality drew upon their time and their means, and with
all the risks which the frequent absence of proprietors frora their
estates renders unavoidable and perilous, both by a thorough do
mestic generalship waxed rich, flourished apace, and bequeathed
a princely fortune to their heirs.
It has been stated that Col. Cabell was long a member of tbe
House of Burgesses. He was a meraber of all tbe Conventions
held previously to that of May 1776, and in this last mentioned
oody, in which he voted for the resolution instructing the delegates
of Virginia in Congress to propose independence, be was one of
the celebrated comraittee appointed to draft a Declaration of Rights
and a plan of government, and gave to both those important docu
ments his cordial support. When the government under the Con
stitution went into operation, he was returned to the Senate from
the Amherst district, and was subsequently a raember of tbe House
of Delegates. His public life may be said to have closed with the
adjournment of the Federal Convention ; but from an interchange
of opinions with his distinguished contemporaries, whoss letters

118 WILLIAM CABELL OF UNION HILL.
corapose the materials frora which wiU be gathered the story of the
age,* he was always abreast of his times. In the active super
vision of his estates, in tbe dispensation of a generous hospitality,
as the venerable and venerated presiding justice of the county in
which he lived, delighted to behold the success of the institutions
which he and bis compeers had founded, and cheered by the hope
of their perpetuity, esteemed by tbe purest and wisest men of the
ao-e, and revered by his neighbors who knew him longest and who
loved him best, and in tbe midst of his children and grandchildren,
he spent bis last days in peace and joy.t He lived to see his
eldest son, wbo had served with honor as a lieutenant colonel in
the army of tbe Revolution, and who had been his colleague in the
Federal Convention, the representative of his district in the Con-
cress of tbe United States; but be httle dreamed that one of
those grandchildren, now gamboling on the turf of Union HiU,
now prattling on his knee, and who bore his narae, Would become
not only a member of the House of Delegates, and a meraber of
the House of Representatives and of the Senate of tbe United
States under that Constitution which he so warmly opposed, but
* Letter of George Mason to Col. Cabell. Va. Hist. Register, vol III, 84 ;
letters of R. H. Lee to same. Ibid, vol. II, 20.
f If Adam Smith declared in his lectures delivered in the University of Glas-
fow that he was glad to know that Milton wore latchets instead of buckles in
is shoes, the young Virginian may fitly inquire into the dress of our revolu
tionary fathers. A letter before me thus describes Col. Cabell as he appeared
in his old age : " He was six feet high, with large frame, well formed, of erect
carriage, and rather corpulent in the latter part of his life. His features were
remarkable for strength ; his nose was slightly aquiline ; his forehead was capa
cious and well developed, and his head became bald as he advanced to old age.
There was nothing peculiar in his dress, being that of the planters and farmers
of good condition of his day; namely, a round hat, a white cambric stock
buckled behind, a long-tailed coat, a single-breasted w-aistcoat with flap pockets,
short breeches buckled at the knees, long stockings, and shoes with large buck
les. The habitual expression of his countenance was grave, thoughtful, and
dignified. He was generaUy taciturn ; but in entertaining his friends and ac
quaintance, he became affable and communicative ; and he possessed the hap
py talent of adapting his conversation to the ages and conditions of his
associates. His thoughts, however, were always briefly expressed, and bore the
impress of the sound judgment and powerful mind with which he was gifted.
His appearance was eminently dignified and commanding ; in this respect he
was equal, if not superior to any one I have ever seen, save Mr. Jetferson and
Mr. Clay." The dress above described was worn by Col. Cabell towards the
close of the century. His dress at the Revolution was rather different, and
consisted of a cocked hat, a single-breasted coat with wide sleeves studded
with buttons about the cull's, and with large pocket flaps and a standing collar,
a double-breasted waistcoat, with wide pocket flaps, descending to the hips,
buckskin breeches fastened at the knee, and high boots with tassels. His hair
was powdered, and a long queue dangled behind. He was born in March 1730
and died in the spring of 1798.

WILLIAM CABELL OF UNION HILL. 119
the accredited envoy of his country at the court of France at a
period when the crown of that kingdom was plucked from the head
of one Bourbon, and, mainly through his advisement and that of La
Fayette, placed on the head of another Bourbon, and, after a lapse
of years, an envoy at the same court when the crown was plucked
once more from tbe head of a Bourbon — and forever — and placed
upon the head of a man who with his name possessed some of the
qualities of the young general whose dazzling victories on the soil
of Italy had surpassed the glory of ancient time, whose triumphs
he had haUed with applause, and who he fondly but alas ! vainly
hoped would buUd upon solid foundations in the old world institu
tions sirailar to those which he hiraself had helped to lay in the
new.* In looking over the Convention one noble head was seen, which
might well attract the observation of every admirer of genius and
worth, and especially of every lover of this institution. It was the
head of a raan who was the delegate of this city in the body, and
though represented by his substitute in the earlier part of its ses
sion,! appeared before its close, and bore an honorable part in its
proceedings. He had been a student of this CoUege, its repre-
* The Hon. William Cabell Rives is the grandson of Col. Cabell. The late
William H. Cabell, President of the Court of Appeals, who was the son of
Nicholas Cabell, was his nephew. But of all who have borne the name of
the patriarch of Union Hill, none surpassed in native genius the late William
Cabell Carrington of Richmond, a great grand-nephew, who died suddenly in
that city in the winter of 1851 in the thirtieth year of his age. He was the son
of Henry Carrington esq. of Charlotte, was educated at Hampden Sidney and at
the University of Virginia, studied law, and, having selected the press as the
scene of his labors, conducted the Richmond Times with an ability and a grace
that were instantly recognized abroad, and were duly appreciated at home.
The intelligence of the death of no young man since the death of Dabney
Carr and John Thompson ever fell more sadly on the public ear. He was a
member elect of the House of Delegates from Richmond, and was about to
embark in a career for which his admirable talents eminently quahfied him,
when he was suddenly cut off. I knew him from his youth, admired his vir
tues, beheld with pride his advancing fame, and deeply deplored his death.
And now when I compare him with others, I the more regret his fate, and can
iruly say : Heu quanto minus cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse !
tWhenever a member ofthe various Conventions was appointed a delegate to_
Congress, he did not vacate his seat, which was filled during his absence by a
substitute chosen by the people, who withdrew on his return. In the Conven
tion of December 1775 the substitute of Wythe was Joseph Prentis. In the
present Convention his substitute was Edmund Randolph. George Gilmer was
the substitute of Thomas Jefferson. On the adoption of the Constitution no
member of Congress, not even the Treasurer who had held a seat in the House
of Burgesses for a hundred and sixty years, could hold a seat in either house of
the General Assembly. As early as 1758 "Wythe represented William and Mary
in the House of Burgesses.

120 GEORGE ¦WYTHE.
sentative eighteen years before in the House of Burgesses, one of
its official visitors, and subsequently became one its of most distin
guished professors, had long held tbe foreraost rank in the House of
Bureresses of which he had been clerk, and at the bar of the General
Court, and had borne a capital part through all the stages of that
contest which was now to be settled by tbe sword. It is needless
to say that such characteristics met in one man only, and that man
was George Wythe. He was in tbe fiftieth year of his age. He
may be said to have inherited a literary turn, as his maternal an
cestor Keith, who had emigrated to the colony toward the latter
part of the previous century, had devoted much of bis time to let
ters, and had recorded bis essays in a folio volume seen by Call,
which may still be extant, and which would exhibit some curious
specimens of our early literature.! His paternal ancestor, Thomas
Wythe, as early as 1718, was a member of the House of Burgesses,
in which he represented for many years the county of Elizabeth
City, \yhere in 1726 George Wythe was born. He was the second
son, and it is reported that, having lost his father in infancy, he was
taught Latin by his mother, and even Greek; and it is not improba
ble that a tender mother, anxious for the progress of her orphan
child, adopted a plan which had long been recomraended by Locke
in bis tract on education, (which, by tbe way, was better known
then than now,) and raay occasionally have held a translation in
her hand while her boy was toying with the original ; but that she
or any one else ever seriously taught him Latin or Greek in early
life is out of the question; for, at a much later period, perhaps in
middle life, certainly when his band-writing was matured, and he
was studying the Iliad at a time when the English of all Greek
words could be reached only through the Latin, his manuscripts
still extant show that he had not advanced far enough to spell the
most common Latin words correctly. He served his apprentice
ship to the law under his uncle John Lewis of Prince George ; but,
coming into the possession of a respectable estate by the death of
his elder brother and of his mother, he led a careless life, and
wasted in idleness some years of bis youth — precious years, the
loss of which he deplored to his dying day. All his substantial ac
quisitions were tbe work of after life. The intimate friend of Fau-
*Call probably saw the book in possession of Mr. Wythe. As Major Duval
was the executor of Wythe, it is possible his executor may be able to trace it.

GEORGE WYTHE. 121
quier and Small, he became enamored of that learning which
imparted to their conversation its richness and beauty ; and, as he
saw that classical quotation was the countersign not only of scholars
but of intelligent and well-bred raen abroad, he resolved to repair
the defects of bis early education. That he ultimately attained to a
respectable knowledge of Latin and Greek is certain ; and his
warmest admirers may fairly concede that he did not reach that
critical skill in the learned tongues which is rarely compassed by
those who slight them in youth. But his literary accomplishraents,
great in theraselves, were yet greater by a comparison with those
of his contemporaries ; and he was able to draw from the inexhausti
ble sources of ancient eloquence and poetry those pleasures which
were the pride offiis manhood and the delight of his old age. Nor
was his eminent merit founded on bis mere literary acquisitions. In
the solid learning of the law he stood, with tbe exception of Thom
son Mason, almost alone. As a speaker he was always able, often
most impressive, and at times even eloquent. His preparations
were made with conscientious care, and be was most successful in
presenting his case in its best aspect; but he sometimes lost under
the cross-fire of skillful opponents bis self-possession in repl}% and
not unfrequently faded to rally until the day was lost. But the
crowning graces of this good raan were his personal independence,
which, in a condition of worldly affairs barely removed frora want,*
was unassailable by fear or favor, his love of country, which, nur
tured by his conteraplations of classic antiquity, knew neither Urait
nor coraproraise, and the unblemished purity and modesty of his
character. That miserable fear of risking popularity on any great
occasion, which, like a spectre, haunts the daily as well as the
nightly visions of the modern politician, never crossed his mind.
He was one of the earliest and boldest defenders of the rights of the
colonies in the House of Burgesses of which he had been a raeraber
as early as 1758; yet, while he drew during the session of 1764 the
famous meraorial to the House of Coraraons in terras so strong as
to excite alarra, and which were pruned down by his raore cautious
corapeers, he opposed the resolutions of Henry against the stamp
* Mr. Wythe lost many of his most valuable negroes during the Revolution,
and apportioned half of his remaining estate among his relations. His salary
as sole chancellor of Virginia was long only three hundred pounds, Virginia cur
rency, and his official duties forced him to resign in 1789 his professorship in
William and Mary and to reside in the expensive city of Richmond.

122 GEORGE WYTHE.
act the year following on the ground assumed by Pendleton and
others that the petitions of the previous year bad not yet bad suffi
cient time to work their effect on the minds of the British people,
and that it was the true policy of the colony to put the ministry as
far as possible in the wrong. Of all the learned lawyers of the col
ony he alone upheld in its utmost extent the view of the relation of
the colonies with Great Britain which had been maintained by Mr.
Jefferson in his Summary View. Although he opposed the resolu
tions of Henry for putting the colonies into a posture of defence,
which were adopted by the March Convention of 1775, he approved
the more efficient scherae of Col. Nicholas. A thread of his quaker
descent might be clearly traced throughout life in the general con
texture of his character, but his patriotism was oT too bold a stamp
to shrink from the dang;ers of the field.* Hence he was among: the
first to join a volunteer corps with a musket on his shoulder and
without a coramission in his pocket. To defend bis country was so
paramount a duty in his eyes that mere rank in an army no more
entered his thoughts than the relative position of his seat in the
House of Burgesses or at the communion table. He was returned
by the city of Williamsburg to the Deceraber Convention of 1775 ;
but, as he was absent from the city in attendance on Congress, to a
seat in which body he had been chosen tbe August previous, he
was represented by Joseph Prentis. In June 1776 he strenuously
supported on the floor of Congress the resolution introduced by the
Virginia delegation declaratory of independence, and affixed his
narae — where it will be read forever — on tbe immortal declaration
of the Fourth of July. It has been observed that be was absent
during the greater part of the session of the Convention now sitting;
but he was present near tbe close, and was appointed one of a cora
mittee of four to prepare the devices for a seal of tbe Comraon
wealth, which was done and was approved of by the Convention.!
• His maternal grandfather Keith was a quaker.
t As Mr. Wythe bore an active part in Congress in the debate on the resolu
tion declaring independence, and signed the declaration of independence of the
Fourth of July, it raay be proper to show that he was present in the Virginia
Convention sitting at the same time. The journal of the Convention shows that
he was appointed on the first of July on the committee to prepare the seal, and
"was added to the committee to bring in an ordinance for punishing the enemies
of America," an act to be instantly performed. Now, as a member is never ap
pointed to a committee during his absence, and certainly never "added" to a
committee already existing unless he were personally present, he must have
taken his seat in the body. He could not then have signed the declaration of

GEORGE WYTHE. 123
Of his subsequent career as tbe Speaker of the House of Delegates;
as one of the comraittee of Revisors ; as a professor of law in this
college, gathering the gifted youth of his beloved state under the
shadow of his wing; as a judge ofthe High Court of Chancery and
necessarily a judge of the first Court of Appeals, the duties of which
office he discharged with erainent ability and with a spirit of inde
pendence which placed hira foreraost in pronouncing for tbe first
time under the constitution that an act of Assembly in conflict with
that instrument is null and void;'' as sole chancellor, the duties of
which office he discharged until the time of his death in June 1806,
with equal abUity, with unwearied industry, and with general
applause, albeit one of his decisions, that memorable one on tbe va
lidity of the British debts, ran counter to a public prejudice almost
universal ; as a member of the Convention which formed the fede
ral constitution and of the Convention which ratified that in.strument
in behalf of this Coramonwealth ; as a sage, diffusing around hira a
taste for philosophy and letters, and instilling into tbe minds of his
pupils those principles which impelled thera to iraitate his virtues
and even to eclipse tbe splendor of his farae ;t and of his raournful
death ; it is not our purpose to speak at large at present. In respect
of hira, however, it is just to say, that in a course of fifty years un
interrupted official service, there was no pause in the public affec
tion. While the eloquent Richard Henry Lee and tbe venerable
Richard Bland, assailed by personal enemies, sought in person from
the Convention or the Asserably an inquisition into their conduct,
(which resulted in their honorable acquittal) ; while Harrison and
Braxton, absent in the public service, were harshly superseded in
Congress by an ungenerous raanceuvrel made for the nonce, the
independence on the fourth of July when it was signed on paper, but probably
signed it as did Richard Henry Lee on the second of August when it was en
grossed on parchment and signed by the members. R. H. Lee, who offered in
Congress the resolution of independence, and who sustained it in debate, was
also present on the 1st of July in the Convention, and was also appointed on the
committee to prepare the seal. It is now well known that some of the signa
tures to the Declaration were added some weeks and in one instance some
months after the fourth of July.
* See his opinion in the case of the Commonweath vs. Caton and others,
which, in the language of Call, " will ever be a memorial to his honor."
t What a patriotic cartoon— a School of Virginia greater than the School of
Athens — might the brush of the Virginia artist depict in Wythe laying down the
law in the midst of such pupils as Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Mar
shall, James Innis, George Nicholas, Littleton Waller Tazewell, Henry Clay
and John Wickham ?
X By reducing the delegation from seven to five.

124 GEOR'GE WYTHE.
breath of suspicion was never blown on tbe name of Wythe. He
made no public confession of his religious faith ; and, as Mr. Jeffer
son has observed respecting bim that "that religion raust be good
which could produce a life of such exeraplary virtue," there have
been doubts of his belief in the Christian system; but these are at
once and forever dispelled by the declarations of Mr. Munford, who
stated, in his eulogy pronounced over the corpse of Wythe in the
Hall of the House of Delegates, that prayers for the mercies of his
Redeemer were among his most fervent and latest aspirations. Need
I recall to this asserably sitting in a hall which has often resounded
with the echoes of his youthful voice and in which in later years his
familiar presence has so often been, the forra and features of this
illustrious man such as he was when he took his seat in the Con
vention of 1776 ? Shall I point to that slender form, not emaciated
and bowed as with thirty additional years' arduous labor on the
bench and in the closet it subsequently became, but still erect and
active, that over-arching forehead with its wide, magnificent sweep,
and those dark grey eyes that beamed beneath it, that Roman nose,
those finely chiseled lips on which the flame of conscious inspiration
seems yet to burn, that broad and well defined chin, all making up a
profile which would be singled out of a thousand as the profile of a
man whose heart was the home of all the gentle affections, but
whose intellect owned tbe supremacy of duty alone ? No, sir, it
were an idle task. More than a hundred years have passed since
he first appeared within these walls or received your honors, and
yet, as bis narae is on every tongue, so his form is reflected in
every eye, and his image enshrined in every heart. And let us
beheve and declare, that, when fresh generations a century hence
shall celebrate, as we do now, the imraortal names inscribed on the
roll of William and Mary, the honors which they accord to the
worth of George Wythe will be the fairest and fullest measure
of their own.*
* Concerning AVythe consult a sketch of his life in Sanderson's Biography of
the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Jefferson's lettter to San
derson and Mr. Jefferson's memoir of himself in the first volume of his writings,
Mr. Clay's letter to B. B Minor esq. in the new edition of Wythe's Reports,
and in the Va. Historical Register vol. V. lt)2, his manuscripts in the Historical
Society of Virginia, Munford's funeral oration in the Richmond Enquirer of th«
thirteenth and seventeenth of June 1806, Wirt's Life of Henry, Call's sketch in
the fourth volume of his Reports, journals of the House of Burgesses, of Con
gress for 1775-'6, of the Conventions, and of the House of Delegates, and our his
tories of Virginia, especially Charles Campbell's Introduction; Carrington Memo-

WYTHE AND PENDLETON COMPARED. 125
Such was the intimate connection for near half a century be
tween Wythe and his great rival on the floor of the House of Bur
gesses, at the bar of the General Court, in the Conventions, in the
House of Delegates, and in their respective courts of which each
was for near thirty years the presiding justice, and in the public es
teem, that the relation which they held toward each other forces it
self upon the observer, and is indeed no unimportant part of the his
tory of both. Pendleton was five years older than Wythe, was born
poor, his father dying before be was born, had little or no instruc
tion in his early years, and was placed in a clerk's office, the only
sphere of improvement within his reach. Wythe, though he
too lost his father in early life, was not destitute of means, and
shared the supervision of a mother whose association with a father
noted for his learning led her to appreciate the value of knowledge,
and, if not to becorae the teacher of her son, to aid and encourage
him in his studies. He also spent a terra in this college, and with
a view of studying law entered the office of an uncle who was en
gaged in an extensive practice. Thus far the advantages of fortune
would seem to be on the side of Wythe ; but these advan
tages he wantonly sacrificed, and in this sacrifice may be traced
the distinctive traits of his future life. Pendleton, who bad from
bis youth that elasticity of character which no imaginary burden
could compress, and that instinctive sagacity in adjusting himself
to his true position which in after-life stood bim in such stead, de
voted all his faculties to his employraent, and with the fees derived
from jobs beyond the routine of the desk purchased useful books
which he studied closely. He saw at a glance that his only hope
of distinction and wealth lay in success at the bar ; for even the
successorship of his master, however remote, at a tirae when tbe
clerks of tbe secretary of tbe colony were billeted upon tbe various
county offices, was wholly out of the question. A clerk's office
at this day is no mean school of law, and the speeches of counsel
randa. Call and Allen make Wythe speaker of the House of Burgesses, which
he never was, that office having been filled long before Wythe was a member of
the body up to the Revolution by two men only : Mr. Speaker Robinson, who
held it for near twenty years until his death in 1765, when at the ensuing session
in 1766 Peyton Randolph was elected over Col. R. Bland and held it until the
house was superseded Dy the Conventions. As stated in the text, Mr. Wythe
was sometime Clerk ofthe House. He was the Speaker of the House of Dele
gates in 1777. Should it be that he ever filled the chair of the House of Bur-
f esses, it must have been pro tempore during Peyton Randolph's visit to
Ingland, which, however, is not probable.

126 WYTHE AND PENDLETON COMPARED.
employed in affairs of real life are no mean substitutes for the lec
tures of professors ; but, if such be the case at present, it was
stUl raore the case under the less complicated practice of the colo
nial systera. It was alraost irapossible for a youth of quick parts,
bent on his advancement in life, who had performed for seven
years the duties of a clerk, devoting his leisure hours to the study
of the law, and who had heard for so long a tirae the speeches of
the leading counsel of the day, not to become expert in the ordi
nary business of the county court lawyer ; and hence in the case
of Pendleton, as at a later day in the case of Paul Carrington, there
was hardly an interval between the procuring of a license and a
heavy docket. With the increase of business came the strict study
of the principles of each case ; a study from which he was not to
be diverted by the proraptings of idleness, tbe blandishments of
pleasure, or even the pursuits of literature. A book was sought
only for tbe information touching the case in hand, and, when that
object was obtained, it was laid aside. What was the result of
necessity at first, becarae afterwards a habit and a pleasure, and
when a volurae of Burrow, containing tbe decisions of Lord Mans
field, appeared, he seized upon it with the zest with which a mod
ern reader hailed a volume from the author of Waverley, or a work
from the hand of Macauley ; and he declared to Call in his latter
days that he did not desire more pleasant reading. But it was for
adjudicated cases only he sought in the books of the law. For its
mere hterature he bad no respect ; and it is probable that it never oc
curred to him to inquire whether Fleta was the name of a person or
a thing, the name of the author of a book or tbe name of a book;'
whUe Wythe had not only scanned tbe origin of the name, but had
weighed in his mind tbe respective clairas of the two prominent
candidates for its authorship. From the County Courts Pendleton
passed in due tirae to the General Court where his industry was
quickened and his emulation excited by a competition with men
thoroughly conversant with the science and tbe practice of the
law which some of them had studied in the Temple. In this new
school he not only acquired knowledge of the most useful kind,
and, the greatest of aU his acquisitions and for which he was for
ever afterwards distinguished, the readiness of making whatever
* Blackstone q^uotes Fleta as if he were doubtful of the name. He sometimes
uses the expression : Fleta says ; and then again as the author of Fleta says.

WYTHE AND PENDLETON COMPARED. 127
knowledge he possessed available on the instant. His intimacy
with the ablest members of tbe House of Burgesses, which he en
tered early, gave a spur to his ambition, and he had not held his
seat long before his acquaintance with current business and his
ready and graceful elocution marked him out as one of the rising
men of the day. Such was the raan whom Wythe, reverting to
his studies after a long truancy, was called on to encounter. Frora
what has been said it could easily have been foreseen what the
result of such an encounter would be. It has rarely happened
that any man who engaged late in life in a learned profession, and
certainly such a profession as the law, ever attained to the highest
degree of excellence in all the requisites which ensure complete
success. Wythe, whose early advantages were greater than those
of Pendleton, had allowed the spring-time of life to pass unim
proved, and when, as middle life approached, he grappled seriously
with his studies, be bad difficulties to surraount which would have
obstructed altogether the course of ordinary men, and which his
genius and application did not entirely overcorae. General litera
ture he had probably never altogether neglected, perhaps not even
the literature of the law; but a knowledge of adjudicated cases,
the subtleties of special pleading, and what may be called the hab
its of the bar, were to be learned by hira, when these had been
for years the exclusive raeditation of Pendleton, wbo was five years
his senior, and who frora his twelfth year had never lost a day
from the eager pursuit of bis profession. Moreover, in the physi
cal quahties not unessential to success at the bar, Pendleton not
only excelled Wythe, but most of bis contemporaries, for his per
son was of the first order of manly beauty, his voice clear and
silver-toned and under perfect control, and his manners were so
fascinating as to charm all who carae in contact with him. These
advantages Wythe did not share in an equal degree. Hence the
only ground of success on which Wythe could build was to lay in
a greater stock of legal knowledge than that possessed by Pendle
ton ; for Pendleton, who had studied law rather as it "was to be
found in the cases than as a system, and may be said rather to have
known a great deal of law than to have been a master of the
science, approached nearer the character of a great advocate than
of a great lawyer ; and it was to this point the studies of Wythe
were directed, all things considered, with wonderful success. That

128 WYTHE AND PENDLETON COMPARED.
he more thoroughly mastered tbe learning of his profession than
any of his contemporaries, excepting Thomson Mason, seems to
be conceded ; yet in his contests with Pendleton, though clad in
the substantial armor of the law, be not only felt at times the
point of his lance, and reeled from the shock, but was sometimes
fairly roUed in the dust. As members of the bar and as politicians
they shared equally the public esteem ; yet it may appear singular
that in the latter character they seem to have reversed their rela
tive positions toward each other. Wythe raight be supposed from
his love of the weightier raatters of the law to have been averse
from change, and to favor a pacific policy ; and Pendleton from
his habit of regarding the law as a mere instrument for effecting
his purposes might have been supposed to view changes in law and
politics as matters of convenience ; yet the reverse proved to be
true. The first illustration of this difference may be drawn from
the session of the House of Burgesses of 1764, when Wythe wrote
the meraorial to the Coraraons in a temper that would have suited
a much later day; Pendleton was for modulating its tones to the
diseased ear of a reckless House of Commons. When the precise
relation of the colonies to Great Britain became tbe theme of dis
cussion, Wythe boldlj' contended that the true relation was that
which Scotland held previous to the act of Union — a common king,
but nought else in comraon, while Pendleton halted at what has been
called the half-way house of John Dickinson. When the constitu
tion took effect, both were raerabers of the first House of Delegates,
and were subsequently placed on tbe Comraittee of Revisors ; and
here their relative positions were signally reversed. Pendleton, the
architect of his own fortune, clung with death-like pertinacity to the
law of primogeniture and entails, and to an established church;
Wythe saw at a glance the incompatibility of such institutions with
a republican system, and advocated their iraraediate repeal. Both
filled the chair of the House for a single session, and each won
distinction as a presiding officer. On the organization of the new
judiciary each was called to the highest seat in bis respective court,
and, although their decisions more than once smacked of their
ancient warfare, were equally acceptable to the people. In the
Virginia Convention caUed to discuss the federal constitution, of
¦which body Pendleton was the president and Wythe the chairman of
the Committee of the Whole during its sittings, both voted for the

WYTHE AND PENDLETON COMPARED. 129
ratification of that instrument; and this vote is the only enigma in
the hfe of Wythe. Pendleton was a man of the world, and trans
acted business as a thing to be done ; Wythe was sometiraes be
guiled by tbe mode of doing it. Pendleton, who inherited nothing,
brought his mind to bear on the game of life, and amassed a lar^e
fortune; Wythe, who inherited a handsome patrimony, died poor.
Pendleton was strictly a man of talents, and regarded all knowledge
merely as a means of pursuing his ends with success. Wythe was
a man of genius, and loved knowledge for its own sake. To under
take the acquisition of the learned languages late in life was a he
roic aim, from which Pendleton would have shrunk, unless a know
ledge of them had been indispensable to the proper conduct of cur
rent business, but which Wythe embraced that he might enjoy at
the fountain bead those pleasures which, as they are the purest, so
they are the most precious bequests of the genius of the ages that
are past. Pendleton rarely read an English book beyond the r,ange
of the law in its ordinary or in its historical aspect. He had pro
bably never seen the Fairy Queen or read a book of Paradise Lost.
He would not have given the value of a dollar in Virginia currency,
when that currency was at its lowest ebb,
" To call up him that left half-told
The story of Cambuscan bold."
He cared very little for stories at aU, and still less, if less be possi
ble, for the conclusion of a story of which he had not heard the be
ginning ; and he would have sent Sappho and Aspasia to the work
house with the emphatic admonition which the Earl of Wilton gave
to the ejected nuns: Go, spin; you jades, go spin. Wythe bad
burrowed so deeply in the heaps of ancient literature — had dwelt so
long on the ancient classics, some of them out of the comraon range,
and on the writers of the Elizabethan and Cromwellian eras, that
he could hardly refrain from giving a line of Horace the force of an
act of Assembly, nor could forbear from quoting the authority of
Aulus Gellius, that prince of tattlers, in a solemn judicial decision;
and he caught the turns of expression of our old writers, and
dressed his thoughts in a garb that Raleigh or Vane would have re
cognized as his daily wear. Hence, from opposite causes, neither
of these great jurists ever attained to a graceful mastery ofthe En
ghsh tongue. The style of Pendleton, as his letters and published
9

130 RICHARD HENRY LEE.
writings show, was bald, inelegant, incorrect and often involved,
and without spirit.* It was only under the excitement of debate
that his words were combined with sorae degree of taste and ele
gance. The style of Wythe grew more quaint as be grew old,
and, if more correct than Pendleton's, was not more grateful to
modern ears. It is remarkable that neither of thera ever reached
the elegance which tbe casual productions of Patrick Henry's pen
frequently exhibit. Both received the veneration of the people in a
degree rarely accorded to the ermine in recent times ; in the per
son of Wythe that veneration deepened into love. Both lived to
the age of fourscore and died in full harness ;t Pendleton gathered
to his fathers as a sheaf full ripe to the garners ; Wythe perishing
by a poisonous draught, mixed at his own fireside, and presented by
a parricidal hand; — neither leaving a descendant: and both re
ceiving all the honors which a grateful country could bestow upon
tbe illustrious dead. For it is unquestionably the peculiar praise
of these exalted patriots, that, during a term of fifty years' public
service, they held office, not for their own sake, not for the sake of
office, but for the sake of their country. X
Let us now glance at the character of a member of the Conven
tion, whose form was long familiar in your streets, who has often
sat in this hall, who, though not a student of this College, was one
of its raost active and intelligent visitors, who was long the pride of
the social circles of this city, whose eloquence -was the delight of
tbe Senate, and whose patriotisra illumines one of the proudest
pages of his country's story. Araong the patriotic names distin.
guished in our early councils none is invested with a purer lustre
than the name of Lee. It is radiant with the glory of the
Revolution. It has been illustrated by the sword, by the pen, and
by the tongue. And in the Convention now sitting were tvvo
brothers wbo bore the name, and who impressed upon it a dignity,
which, prominent as it had been for more than a century of colonial
• His political writings are alluded to. The opinion of Wickham on the pre
cision of his language in the revised bills drawn by him, and which was mainly
technical, has already been quoted.
t Pendleton died at the age of eighty-two, Wythe at the age of eighty.
X Since the note on a preceding page was in type, I have ascertained from a
letter of Wythe to Mr. Jefl"erson, dated July 27, 1776, which escaped my recol
lection at the moment, that Mr. W. appeared in the Convention after the con
stitution had been committed to the committee of the whole house. See Burk,
IV, 151, Note.

RICHARD HENRY LEE. 131
history, it had never borne before. Thomas Ludwell and Rich
ard Henrt Lee were brothers. Ludwell, the elder of the
two, held a conspicuous position as a patriot and lawyer, and died
before the close ofthe war; but not until be had filled tbe raost re
sponsible trusts with fidelity and honor. He had been a raeraber of
the House of Burgesses, was a raember ofthe Conventions of July
and December 1775, and was chosen a raember of the Committee
of Safety. He took his seat in the Convention now sitting as a
member for Stafford, and was placed on the comraittee appointed to
draft a declaration of rights and a plan of government. On the or
ganization of tbe new government under the constitution he was
appointed one of the five Revisors, and was elected one of the five
judges ofthe General Court.* In the raidst of bis useful career be
fell a martyr to disease. But such was the reputation of Richard
Henry Lee, that the farae of alraost all his distinguished brothers
was lost in the brightness of its blaze. He was born at Stratford,
his father's seat on the Potoraac, on the twentieth of January 1732,
was put to school in Yorkshire, England, returning home before his
twentieth year. As early as 1755 he entered the House of Bur
gesses, and continued a meraber at intervals until the war of the
Revolution. Although a member of tbe House he was not present
when Henry offered his resolutions against the starap act, but ap
proved their spirit ; and on his return home organized an associa
tion for the purpose of resisting the execution of the act.t In 1770
he was a member of the Mercantile Association so often referred to;t
and in 1773 he was one of the Comraittee of Correspondence called
into existence raainly by bis influence, and in 1774 was deputed to
the first Congress where he raade one of tbe most brilliant displays
of his eloquence. The prominent part which he sustained in Con
gress of which he was a member at intervals until that body was
superseded by the adoption of the federal constitution, and of which
he was for a tirae the president, is now known to all. The recol
lections of his able state-papers, of his speeches, and especially of
that patriotism, which glowed the fiercer amid the sternest trials,
* The other judges were Joseph Jones, John Blair, Thomson Mason, and
Paul Carrington.
t For a copy of th« Westmoreland Association see Va. Historical Register Vol
11,14. |Va. Hist. Register Vol. Ill, 18.

132 RICHARD HENRY LEB.
are among the most precious in the estimation not only of this com
monwealth but of the country at large.*
And here it is proper to animadvert to the popular error sanc
tioned by the authority of the eloquent and patriotic author of
the life of Patrick Henry, which is in substance that in the con
tinental Congress the lustre of Lee's fame was dimmed by his in
ability to write in a manner commensurate with his reputation as
a public speaker. A more grievous mistake was never made by
one man of genius in estimating the merits of another. That such
was apparently the case with Patrick Henry raay be granted;
though in his case even, much, very much raust be conceded to
indolence and an insuperable aversion from the labors of the closet;
for we are told by Mr. Jefferson, not that Henry was too indolent
to write papers, but that he could not be prevailed upon to read
papers when written by others ; but the case of Lee was widely
diverse. The opinion of his age and of his contemporaries in
Congress was wholly different from the raodern notion; and this
opinion was exhibited in Congress in a raode that admits of no dis
pute ; for to Lee wac. committed the preparation of the most impor
tant papers of the times, and these papers were approved in many
instances without alteration or amendment, and adopted by the
body. If we look at the number of those drawn by Lee, their
adaptedness to the occasion, the accurate knowledge of Ia'\v and fact
which they exhibit, their temperate yet animated spirit, the ease
and elegance* of their style, we know not, if called on to select
from the names of the raost eminent men who had then excelled
alike on the floor of parliament and in the clo.'^et, after excepting
Bolingbroke and Burke, where his superior among men ofthe Eng
lish race can be found. The origin of the common error may be
readily seen. In the first place, the authorship of the great pa
pers of the revolutionary era written in our state as well as in our
national councils, though known at the time, had slipped from the
public mind, was unsupported by written evidence, and, untU re-
* See the life of R. H. Lpe by his grandson, in which his congressional career
13 dwelt upon at length. With tbe rxception of a notice of Wythe, NeNon and
Harrison, in a v^'ork called the Signers of the Declaration of Independence,
Wirt'.s Lile of Henry, and Tucker's Life of Jefferson, there is no other bio'^'raphy
of any member of the Convention, and this consideration has led me more into
detail in this discourse than would otherwise have been necessary. Not even
Madison has a biographer. There are two men living, either of whom could
perform the task well.

RICHARD HENRY LEE. 133
centlj', was almost unknown. The examination of manuscripts
and the publication of papers from private depositories have within
a few years past shed much light upon the subject. It should be
remarked, in the second place, that those who look into the reports
of the Revolution for that elaborate argumentation and exquisite
polish which mark the great state-papers of tbe present day, will
be disappointed. Most of tbe papers of that day were written on
the spur of the moment in a spirit of business, and were never re
vised by their authors ; nor should it be overlooked that long state-
papers written rather in the style of an eclectic professor than of a
practical statesman, is wholly the growth of raodern times, and,
we may add, of recent American growth. The most famous pro
ductions of British statesmen, even on questions of the greatest
moment, are relatively brief. The letters of Jefferson to Hammond
and of Madison to Erskine, which were justly deemed master
pieces of -diplomatic writing, savor in their brevity of their British
models. The long and elaborate disquisition of recent papers, their
rhetorical embellishments, the popular appeals flashing through
them, which show that the writers were evidently looking beyond
their present purpose, however suited to the sphere of the stately
review, or excellent as specimens of demonstrative eloquence,
may be justly arraigned at tbe bar of a correct literary or practical
taste. Of this gaudy ambition not the slightest trace appears in the
papers of the Revolution. These were written by men who were
thoroughly conversant with the facts of the case in hand and with
the learning applicable to them, wbo were dealing with the most
serious issues, and who sought tbe single object of making upon the
minds of others the impression of their own. Mawkish sensibility,
meretricious ornaraent or artifice, the turn of a period or the beauty
of an illustration, bad no charra in the eyes of men who well knew
that, if they failed to be successful in the struggle in which they
were engaged, their fortunes would be confiscated, their families
exposed to want, and themselves destined to the gibbet or to the
tender raercies of a prison-ship. With such raen statesmanship
was, as indeed it really is, nothing raore than the raeans of doing
the pubhc business, whether with the tongue or the pen, as
public business ought to be done — speedily, effectually, and honora
bly. It was this raasterly execution that called forth the gratula-
tions of Chathara. Now one of the papers which kindled the enthusi-

134 RICHARD HENRY LEE.
asm of Chatham is said to have been frora the pen of Lee.* If we
were required to point out a paper of that epoch, which possessed
the double merit of including all the quahties which a public writing
ought to possess, and of excluding all that it ought not, we would
refer to the Address to the inhabitants of the colonies put forth by
Congress at the close of the September session of 1774. This pa
per, fit to be placed by the side of the Declaration of Independence,
is one and one only of the able papers from the pen of Lee.t
Another paper in the forra of an Address from the twelve united
colonies, by their delegates in Congress, to the inhabitants of Great
Britain, drawn by Lee, is one of the noblest of tbe period. t Whether
we respect its correct style, the selection and arrangement of its
topics, its fine argumentation, or the patriotic glow which pervades
the whole, it merits the highest praise. Of the numerous papers
on the gravest questions of the day, which were written by Lee
during a congressional term which reached with intervals from 1774
to 1788, we have not leisure to speak. Had Wirt, whose venera
tion of the genius of others was a pure and unconscious reflection
of his own, lived to behold the clairas of Lee to the authorship of
the papers in question and of others equally as able fully estab
lished, he would have rejoiced to heap honor on a raan whose dis
tinctive merit it was that, above all his contemporaries, he united
in his person in a supreme degree the various and rare quahties of
the accomplished writer to those of the consumraate orator and of
the profound statesman.
The accidental presence of Lee in the present Convention ex
cited tbe deepest interest. He had been suddenly called from
Congress by the illness of his wife ; || but, before he retired,
he had proposed the resolution declaring independence in obedience
of tbe instructions of the Convention now sitting, and by his raas
terly eloquence had sustained it, amid the misgivings of the weak
and the fears of the cautious, triumphantly in debate. And, when
he was about taking bis seat in Convention, the Declaration of In
dependence, tbe offspring of his resolution, was about to be pro-
* Life of R, H. Lee by his grandson.
t Life of R. H. Lee, Vol, I, 119.
X Ibid, Vol. I, 143.
II George Mason had written to him earnestly beseeching him to leave Con
gress and come to the Convention. See letter of Mason to Lee dated May 18,
1776 in the archives of the Virginia Historical Society.

RICHARD HENRY LEE. 135
claimed, and was eagerly expected bythe members who maybe said
to have called it into existence.* He was the only member of Con
gress, who was also a member of the body, except Wythe and Nel
son, that was present during the session, and he had arrived too late
for the discussion on the declaration of rights and the plan of gov
ernment, both of which had already been adopted; but it is proba
ble that the beautiful prayer which the Convention substituted in
the liturgy for the prayer in behalf of the king and the royal family
was from his classic pen. It is to be deplored, that of all his elo
quent speeches, delivered on the most interesting topics in the
course of a parliamentary career embracing more than the third of
a century, not a solitary specimen has survived him. When Wil
liam Pitt, in the raidst of a brilliant coterie of scholars who were
regretting the lost works of philosophers, orators, and poets, was
asked what work of the genius of the past he would soonest recall
from oblivion, he promptly answered ; A speech of Bolingbroke's.
The lover of Virginia, who truly estimated tbe genius of her most
accomplished son, and who remembered the numerous occasions
which were illustrated by his eloquence, would have said : A
speech of Lee's.
One incident in his life, most painful in some of its aspects, as
deeply wounding the sensibilities of a patriot and a man of honor,
demands a passing review. It should be observed that Lee, though
descended from one of tbe oldest and most honorable families of
the colony, did not inherit any large share of the affections of the
people. His ancestors on both sides of the house had indeed filled
high offices time imraeraorial ; but tbey bad been in all things the
bigotted devotees of the established church and of a kingly govern
ment. A change had now passed over the spirit of the people.
In revolutions, it has been truly said, men live fast, and not only
discard instantly opinions in which they had long acquiesced, but
trend to the opposite extreme. The Revolution of 1776 had fresh-
• The first printed statement of the adoption of the Declaration of Indepen
dence of the fourth of July by Congress was made in the Virginia Gazette of
the 19th of July; when a synopsis only of its contents was published. The
document in full was first published in the Gazette of the 26th of July by an
order of Council, and the sheriff of each county was enjoined to proclaim it at
the door of his court-house on the first court day after he shall have received
it. The order was signed by Archibald Blair as clerk of the Council. It is
probable that the passage of the Declaration was known by private letters as
early as the 10th or 12th of the month. See the Virginia Gazette of the above
dates in the State Library.

136 RICHARD HENRY LEE.
ened in the general raind the recoUections of the RevoIutiqnjjflgT^
and it was well-known that tbe raaternal ancestor of Lee was the
active accomplice of Sir WUliara Berkeley, and was responsible in
sorae degree for the raercUess butcheries perpetrated by that imbe
cile tyrant. The blood of tbe patriotic Bland, of tbe gallant Hans
ford, and of tbe inflexible Drummond, could still be seen, through
the haze of a century, sticking to his skirts. The fathers of the
men then on the stage remembered to have heard from the mouths
of men who bad seen the blue flag of Monmouth raised in the
public square of Taunton and who had been present at Sedgemoor,*
and through tbe emigrants from Barbadoes, of the judicial raurders
of Jeffries at tbe close of Monraouth's rebellion ; bot, execrable as
was tbe conduct of the British judge, they deeraed the conduct of
Berkeley raore execrable still ; for Jeffries, so far frora having in
his pocket, as Berkeley had, a pardon for the unfortunate criminals
whora he slew, was acting under the express instructions of the
king. Nor did it mend matters in the comraon mind that Lee's an
cestor, Ludwell, had raarried the widow of the tyrant. It was be
lieved that one of his ancestors had sought Charles the Second in
his retireraent at Breda, and offered hira the throne of Virginia;
and, although this report is now classed among the fables that long
obscured that portion of our early history, its fallacy was not then
detected. Nor were the grounds of hostility to tbe family purely
historical. Dissenters had increased rapidly in tbe colony, and
among the inhabitants of the Northern Neck were many persons
of this description who could not fail to remember with emotions of
the keenest resentment the persecution which they had endured
from the friends of the church, and that it was the father of Rich
ard Henry Lee who, as a member of the Council, had not only
driven the pious and eloquent Rodgers out of the colony, but had
threatened to withdraw his license to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ from one more eloquent still, whom they regarded as the
apostle of a true faith, the gifted Davies. ^Vhat aggravated the
conduct of Thomas Lee, the father of Richard Henry, was that he
persisted in his iUiberal course in opposition to the royal governor,
whose peculiar province it was to decide upon the meaning of the
act of toleration, and who had leaned to the side of reUgious free-
? See letter of James the Second to Effingham in C. Campbell's History,
page 99. o r j ¦

RICHARD HENRY LEE. 137
dom. Nor could it be forgotten that Richard Henry Lee himself
had faltered in the dawn of the troubles with tbe mother country,
and that, versed as he was in constitutional lore, and capable of
forming an opinion of the legality of acts of parliament, be had
in an evil hour, when the stamp act was about to be passed, al the
mature age of thirty-two, warraly urged his clairas to one of the
offices to be created by it. It was true that upon more deliberate
reflection he had changed his mind, and had opposed the execution
of that measure with zeal and ability ; and had subsequently main
tained the rights. of the colonies with a boldness that courted dan
ger and with eloquence almost unrivalled ; but the people whose
voice now controlled public affairs, had never heard his eloquent
speeches, which were delivered in the House of Burgesses, in
Carpenter's Hall, and in the Hall of Independence, and not before
them. Nor had they read thera ; for the newspapers of that day
were few, and were so small that a single speech of an hour's
length would fill half a dozen weekly issues. At the moment of
which we are speaking, it was, moreover, uncertain whether the
great struggle of our fathers for the rights of Englishmen would
be called a Revolution or a Rebellion ; and, as an element in the
excited state of the tiraes, it raay be raentioned that the contest
between the church and a majority of tbe people wbo were op
posed to the church, was then waging in popular meetings, in ec
clesiastical bodies, and on the floor of the General Assembly.* And
it was well known that Lee was one of the ablest friends of the
church. Hence, if any occasion for an attack on the character of
this eminent man should arise, there was much in the antecedents of
his race and in his religious attachments to be seized upon to inflarae
the popular mind against hira. And an occasion soon arose. Dur
ing the session of the General Assembly in 1777, the election of the
members of Congress was held, and it was ascertained on counting
the ballots that Lee was superseded. The fact that five other per
sons had received more votes than hiraself would at any tirae have
wounded his pride and his sense of justice ; but, in the absence of
any serious charge against him, would have afforded no ground for
animadversion. It appeared, however, that either in conversation
* Mr. Jefi'erson thought that the Dissenters at the date of the Revolution
composed a majority of the people. Mr. Madison was inchned to think that
Mr. J. over estimated their numbers. Tucker's Jeflierson and Jefl^erson's Me
moirs.

138 RICHARD HENRY LEB.
or in debate malignant and scandalous hints and inuendoes, to use
his own language, were cast upon his character, and doubtless af
fected the result. He instantly withdrew from Congress to Chan-
tiUy, was immediately returned to the Assembly, and hastened to
take his seat in the House of Delegates. He proraptly demanded
frora the General Asserably an investigation into his conduct as a
member of Congress, which was granted.
Now for the first time under tbe constitution the Assembly was
to hold an inquest into the character of a member of Congress.
The novelty of the occasion imparted an interest to tbe scene.
The Convention of July had performed a sirailar office in the case
of Col. Bland ;* but, as that body was single and undivided, the
mode of procedure was obvious. But the Assembly consisted of
two houses, both of which must decide in the premises ; and the
question arose whether the trial should take place before each bouse
separately, or before the houses in joint-session. Yet another
question arose. If the trial were to be conducted in joint-session,
should the members of the House proceed to the chamber
of the Senate, or the raerabers of the Senate proceed to the
chamber of the House. In England tbe House of Lords had never
appeared at the bar of the House of Comraons ; on the contrary,
the Commons had always appeared at the bar of tbe Lords. It
was soon seen that there was no analogy between the cases. When
tbe Commons appeared at the bar of tbe Lords, it was either to
hear a speech from the throne or to prosecute an impeachment ;
but on no ordinary occasion had the houses ever been required to
unite in the a joint-vote. It was plain, that, in the absence of prece
dent, tbe law of convenience should prevail. And, as tbe number
of the delegates exceeded the nuraber of the Senators raore than
four tiraes, and as the charaber of the Senate was arranged on too
sraall a scale to bold both bodies, it was determined that the trial
should proceed in the hall of the House of Delegates.
The day of the trial arrived. The novelty of the procedure, the
farae of the individual whose reputation was at stake, the deep and
irrepressible excitement of the public mind which had recently led
to tbe sacrifice of so illustrious a victim, and which was now re
kindled for a second contest, and the universal desire of observing
• Journal Convention, of July 1775, page 8.

RICHARD HENRY LEB. 139
the exhibition of that eloquence which had so often been heard
within those walls, and which, when employed in behalf of others,
was almost irresistible, filled the hall of the Capitol with a concourse
of people which had not been seen in this city since the resolution
of independence had been adopted by the Convention the year pre
ceding. Probably at no period of his life did Lee experience more
painful sensations than he then felt.* Heretofore a brilliant au
dience served only to quicken his faculties; but now his associates
were his judges, and that large audience might be tbe witnesses of
his shame. He felt that sense of huraUiation, which a proud spirit,
conscious of right, might well feel in appearing before raen who had
already prejudged his case under circumstances raost painful to his
pride as a man of honor, and injurious to his reputation as a stales-
man. With popular bodies he had indeed been long famihar ; but
popular bodies in exciting times he well knew were rarely con-
troUed by the mere force of testimony; and by the setting of that
day's sun he might be pronounced a dishonored mani Nor could
he refrain from the reflection, perhaps a generous one, that the in
terest of that spectacle extended beyond the confines of Virginia,
and that the eyes of Congress, from which body he had been so un
kindly recalled, were eagerly fixed upon it. Before him in the
chair of the House sat George Wythe, who, though six years older
than himself, and seemingly advanced in life, had not yet taken his
seat on the bench of that Court in which he was to preside for the
third of a centuiy, who had observed his course from his first ap
pearance on the public stage, who had beard almost all bis great
speeches at horae and abroad, and with whom he bad passed so
many years of mingled hopes and fears. The Senate was soon an
nounced, and entered the hall, the venerable Archibald Cary at its
head. The Speakers of the Houses sat side by side. The raera
bers of the Senate sat together. The order of the day was then
called. Witnesses were exarained at length ; and when the testi
mony was taken, Lee proceeded to address the assembly. Not a
sentence of that speech has come down to us, but its effect is well
* The details ofthe votes for the five members of Congress who were elected
when Lee was superseded were well calculated to mortify him. Each member
was elected separately, and Lee's name was brought forward five times but
never received more than eleven votes in a house of near one hundred and thirty
merabers, and on one of the ballots it received but two. To add to his mortifi
cation, his own brother Francis Lightfoot Lee was brought forward and elected.
See Journal of the H. of D. for 1777, pages 33, 34, and 35.

140 RICHARD HENRY LEE.
remerabered. We are told that he spoke with an eloquence so
touching that every heart was raelted by its power, and that every
eye was in tears. When he concluded, the Senate withdrew, and
the House immediately voted an acquittal; and adopted a resolution
instructing the Speaker to return its thanks to Lee "for tbe faithful
services he has rendered his country in tbe discharge of his duty as
one of the delegates from this state in the General Congress." On
the passage of the resolution the Speaker rose and performed his
office — the tears rolling down his honest face as he spoke. When
he closed his reraarks, Mr. Lee, wbo rose to receive the address of
the Speaker, raade his acknowledgements to the House in a brief
and exquisitely graceful but manly speech.* Tbe Senate also passed
an honorable acquittal. That this affair made a raost painful im
pression on the raind of Lee raay be inferred frora the fact stated by
him in a letter to John Adams written two years afterwards, that
he looked to Massachusetts as the place " where he yet hoped
to finish the reraainder of his days."t
Now, strange as it raay appear, there is no official record, no
general history, not even the gazettes ofthe daj', not even the frag
ment of a published letter, which throws any light on the nature of
the charges whicii blasted for a time the popularity of one of the
purest patriots of the Revolution. Girardin states that the charges
have not come down to us. The grandson of Lee, in his pious
tribute to the meraory of bis ancestor, mentions, but without giving
any authority for the fact, what be supposes to have been the
grounds of the accusation. It was therefore with sincere pleasure
that the person addressing tbe chair, in the course of an exaraina-
tion ofthe papers of Patrick Henry in the possession of his son at
Red Hill, found a letter written by Lee to Henry in -which he slates
the charges alleged against him, and refutes thera at length and
with perfect success. These charges were mainly that in exacting
bis rents from his tenants, which, much to their advantage when
the contract was made, were payable in kind — a contract made be
fore the Revolution and of course before the issue of paper money
* The speeches of Wythe and Lee may be found in the Journals of the House
of Delegates of that year, (113) in Girardin, and in the Life of Lee by hia
grandson. The Journal states that Mr. Lee rose in his place when Mr. Wythe
addressed him. The custom of the British Parliament is that when a member
is thanked in his place, that place becomes his fixed seat as long as he remains
a member of the House. I know not whether this usaee prevailed in the colonv.
t Life of R. H. Lee Vol. 1. 226. ^

RICHARD HENRY LEE. 141
by the state — he sought to depreciate the pubhc currency ; and that
he had made in his public capacity in Congress a discrimination in
favor ofthe Northern ports against the Southern. These were evi
dently pretexts for an opposition based upon other grounds. Nor
was this opposition exhibited only in excluding Lee frora the dele
gation to Congress. Under a plausible pretext of rotation in
office, an act had been passed which declared " that no person wbo
shall have served, or shall hereafter serve, as a raember of Congress
for three years successively, including the tirae he bath heretofore
served, shall be capable of serving therein again till he shall be out
of the same one whole year;"* — a measure which lost to the con
federation the services of sorae of our ablest raen at a most difficult
crisis, and which Lee states in the letter alluded to was aimed ex
pressly at him. The truth is that the history of Virginia frora the
meeting of the first House of Delegates in tbe fall of 1776 to the
close of the war, is yet almost wholly unwritten. Glirapses, faint
and casual, of the state of parties may be seen in the text of Girar
din and in his notes. A record frora one cabinet and a rumor
founded on the supposed contents of another, serve only to sharpen
the general curiosity, not to satisfy it. Should the state of parties
during the time specified ever be recorded with any fullness and by
an impartial hand, it will make up one of the most unexpected and
most thrUlmg chapters in our annals. And let me add, that unless
the effort be raade ere long to write that portion of our secret his
tory, it will be lost to posterity.!
* Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. IX. 299. The same act provides that the
pay of a member of Congress shall be eight dollars per diem, fifteen pence per
mile going and returning, together with his ferriages; and that no member of Con
gress shall be eligible to either house of assembly. The Virginia restriction of
the term of service of a member of Congress was made still more stringent in
the Articles of Confederation, which provided that no delegate should be eligi
ble for more than three years in a period of six.
t Through all his difficulties Lee retained the unabated confidence and affec
tion of Patrick Henry. As illustrations of this fact, and in defence of Lee, I
annex several extracts from the letters of Henry addressed to Lee ;
" Adieu my dear friend. May your powerful assistance be never wanted
when the best interests of America are in danger. May the subterfuges of
Toryism be continually exposed and counteracted by that zeal and ability you
have so long displayed to the peculiar honor of your native country, and the
advantage of all the United States. I am your ever affectionate P. Henry, jun."
The date of the above extract is the time when Lee was most unpopular ; viz :
Williamsburg, March 20. 1777.
" In this suspense (the Legislature had been sitting some time and had done
nothing) when matters of vast concern are on the tapis, your friends think the
general interests of America and the welfare of this State call you here. I

RICHARD HENRY LEB.
An opportunity soon occurred of reinstating Mr. Lee in his for
mer position. Col. Mason, who was one of the five merabers
elected when Lee was deposed, having dechned to accept the ap
pointment, he was elected in his stead, again took his seat in Con
gress of which body he became the president, and was re-elected as
often as he became eligible under the Confederation, until that
body was superseded by tbe federal constitution. When not a
member of Congress, he was usually a meraber of the House of
Delegates; and it is honorable to bis character to affirra that the
views which he took of raany of the great questions in our revolu
tionary councils, such as the expediency of the repeated issues of
paper raoney, the payment of the British debts, the payment of
taxes in kind, and similar topics, are those which the philosophic
historian with the panorama of the past unfolded before him would
pronounce to have been tbe wisest and best. As he was a member
of Congress while the federal Convention was sitting in Philadel-
should think so too, did I not know that your whole time and attention have
been bestowed on the American contest since its first beginnings. Fine parts
are seldom joined to industry, and very seldom accompany such a degree of
strength and toughness as your long contest with Tories required. 1 know
how necessary a little repose is to you. It is cruel to deny it. But I cannot
help fearing that our country may date the era of calamity at the time when
you are absent from the public counsels." Williamsburg, Dec. 18, 1777.
From the letter from which the above extract is taken, I select a paragraph
which will show not only that some of the members ofthe Convention opposed
a declaration of independence, but that they were well known at the time :
" The Confederation is passed (the Assembly) nem.con.; though opposed
bi/ some ¦who opposed independency. This I hear, and I hear other things, though
I shall forbear to enlarge because I still entertain some hope you will be here
to see and hear for yourself, and by seeing and hearing, once more emi
nently serve the cause of Whiggism and your country. I beg you to be as
sured that with great affection I am, my dear friend, yours ever."
Some months later (April 4, 1778,) Henry addressed to Lee the letter of
which the following is an extract :
" You are again traduced by a certain set who have drawn in others, who
say that you are engaged in a scheme to discard Gen. Washington. I know
you too well to suppose you would attempt anything not evidently calculated
to serve the cause of Whiggism. To dismiss the General would not be so;
ergo, &c., &c. But it is your fate to suffer the constant attacks of disguised
Tories who take this measure to lessen you. Farewell, my dear friend. In
praying for your welfare, I pray for that of my country to which your life and
service are of the last moment. I am in great haste your affectionate P. Henry."
And eleven years later, when Lee was a member of the Senate ofthe United
States, a most intimate correspondence was carried on through the post. From
the conclusion of one of the letters of Henry, dated Prince Edward, Aug. 28,
1789, taken at a venture, it will be seen the same devoted friendship existed
between them :
" May you long continue the friend and support of your country's best in
terests, and enjoy every good thing, is the sincere wish of, dear sir, your affec
tionate friend and servant."

RICHARD HENRY LEE. 143
phia, he declined an appointment to that body as the successor of
Patrick Henry ;* nor was be a meraber of the Convention of Virginia
which ratified the federal constitution ; but he strenuously opposed
its adoption without previous araeiidraents, and in a letter addressed
to the Governor of this state he poin,ted out what he deeraed its de
fects, insisting that the state should refuse to adopt the constitution
untU previous amendments were ratified in the mode presented by
that instrument. This letter raade a deep impression not only on
the people of Virginia but on those of Kentucky and North Caro
lina. On tbe organization of the federal governraent he was elected
to the Senate of the United States, and raade great and not wholly
unsuccessful efforts to effect those changes in the constitution
which he had urged in his pubhshed letter, and which were sug
gested by the Virginia Convention. He reraained in the Senate
three j'ears, when he resigned his seat, and died two years after, on
the nineteenth day of June, 1794, at Chantilly, bis residence in
the county of Westraoreland, in the sixty-fourth year of bis age.
Of the raen of the Revolution none has corae down to us with
more distinctness than Richard Henry Lee. His tall, spare forra,
his head, in tbe language of a kindred spirit, "leaning persuasively
and gracefully forward," bis Roraan profile which instantly marked
him out frora the lobby or the gallery, his action polished with such
rare skill that the loss of the fingers of bis left band failed so attract
the attention of the observer, bis flowing eloquence set off by tbe
modulated tones of a sweet voice, his classic wit, his devotion to his
country, and his calm and ardent piety which gilded his pathway
almost from the cradle to the grave ; these impressions, as they are
contemplated by us with delight, at the distance of two generations,
so they will be remembered with grateful admiration for ages yet to
come.t • So stated by Mr. Madison in a letter to Jefferson dated April 23, 1787.
Madison Papers, 643.
t Curtis in his History ofthe Constitution ofthe United States, (I, 49,) after
stating that Mr. Lee was the author of the plan adopted by the House of Bur
gesses in 1773 for the formation of committees of correspondence, out of which
grew the plan of the Continental Congress, observes : " In the second Congress
ne was selected to move the resolution of independence." If the meaning of this
be that Lee was selected directly or indirectly by the body to offer that resolu
tion, I am inclined to believe that Mr. Curtis is mistaken. The Virginia dele
gation was peremptorily instructed to propose independence by the present
Convention, and the duty of presenting the resolution naturally devolved upon
Lee as the senior member, and one who was the best speaker among them. Mr.

144 PATRICK HENRY.
In close connection with the name of Richard Henry Lee has
been associated for nearly a century past, and will be in future time,
the name of a statesman, who, though sprung frora a stock unknown
and unbonored in the colony, and destitute of that wealth which
even in colonial society not unfrequenUy supplied tbe place of
birth, was bis successful rival in the House of Burgesses, in the
State Conventions, on the floor of Congress, and subsequently in
Curtis overlooks the important fact that the resolution is almost in the very
words of the resolution adopted by the Virginia Convention.
In John Adam's Autobiography, speaking ol the reasons which induced Con
gress to select so young a man as Mr. Jefferson to draw the declaration, he
tays: "Another reason was that Mr. Richard Henry Lee was not beloved by
most of his colleagues from Virginia, and Mr. Jetierson was set up to rival and
supplant him." Whether Lee was or was not popular with his colleagues, the
recollection of the venerable patriarch of Quincy must stand for what it is worth ;
but that any unworthy feeling of rivalry between Jelierson and Lee operated in
the choice ofthe former as the head of the Declaration Committee is disproved
by the facts of the case. When the ballot for the committee took place, Mr. Lee
had departed for Virginia on an indefinite absence; and it is well known thatthe
declaration coramittee was appointed for the sake of despatch before the resolution
of independence was adopted by Congress. The probability is that Jelierson
owed his appointment partly to the fact that the resolution of independence was
a Virginia measure ; and partly to his reputation as a ready and graceful J"it|r-
The obvious truth is that Mr. Adams' " Frankfort" Platlorm (Works. II, 512)
is wholly illusory.
Curtis in his History ofthe Constitution of the United States (Vol. I, 116)
has the following sentence : " The suppression of the royal authority through
out the colonies, by virtue of the resolve of the Continental Congress passed on ihe
10th of May, 1776, rendered necessary the formation of local governments, ca
pable at once of answering the ends of political society, and of continuing
without interruption the protection of law over property, life, and public order.'
How " file royal authority" may be said to have been " suppressed" hv the pas
sage of the resolution of the 10th of May does not seem clear to rny mind. The
resolution ofthe 10th of May was but a re-enactment of the resolution of Congress
passed at the close of the previous year, which advised the colonies lo form such
a plan of government " as would" most elfectually secure good order in the
province during the continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain and
ihe Colonies." The resolution of the 10th of May had no reference to the " sup
pression" of "royal authority" al all. Its plain and palpable object was to
bring about such a state of things in the several colonies as to enable thera to
act with efficiency during the pending troubles. The Congress itself was far
from being prepared to "suppress the royal authority" as early as the 10th of
May. Tne debate on the resolution of independence shows that there was
much reluctance among the members to declare independence. The fact is
that Cun-rcss instead of giving the impulse to indepeiulence received it Irom
the colonies. Before the resolution of the loth of Miy could have reached
Williamsburg, Virginia had met in her Convention, discussed the subject of
indep ;ndence, and instructed her delegates to piopose it in Congress; and had
appointed a committee to draft a declaration of rights and a plan of govunment
for a free state. North Carolina had also " empowered" her delegates to vote lor
indep( lul'nce a month before the passage of the resolution of the Idth of May.
This view of Curtis is mainly important as foreshadowing the theory of consol
idation which may be broached in the second volume of his work vshich has not
yet appeared.

PATRICK HENRY. 145
the House of Delegates, who was nearly his equal in age,* wbo
lived with hira in the bonds of affectionate friendship, who acted in
unison with hira on all tbe great public questions of tbe third of a
century, and wbo closed a life equally devoted to bis country, and
equally resplendent with genius and patriotism about the same pe
riod. It has been usual to represent Patrick Henry as an idle, va
grant boy, bating his book, sauntering in the woods, lolling on the
bank of a streara with a fishing rod in his hand, and fond of tbe
sports of the field. That he loved retirement and delighted in the
active exercises of youth is doubtless true ; but be errs greatly who
supposes that the youth of such a man was wholly spent in idleness
and foDy. His father was a Scotchman and a teacher, and was so
well versed in the Latin classics, that no less a judge than Samuel
Davies pronounced hira, Scotchman as he was, more intimately con
versant with his Horace than with his Bible. As it is well-known
that the Scotch teach their children Latin at an early age, it is pro
bable that Henry was in bis early youth skiUed in the rudiments of
that tongue.t He also studied mathematics of which he was fond.
His quick apprehension placed him ahead of his fellows, and he
could easily afford to spend in sport the tirae which others were
compelled to devote in reaching a point to which he bad already at
tained. At no time of his life, indeed, was he a reader of many
books, but at no time of his life was he without sorae great work in
history or morals v.-hich he read with unremitting care. The books
which he read were those v.'hich were well designed to brace his
mind, and to furnish it with knowledge adapted to the sphere in
which he was destined to raove. British history, his favorite Livy
which he read again and again, Soame Jenyns, and Bishop Butler.
whose Analogy was his standard book through life, constituted the
food on which he fed. He reraembered the remark of Hobbes,
that, if he had read as many books, he would have been as stupid
as other people. His speech in the parsons' cause showed that at
that early period of bis life be had been accustomed to arrange his
thoughts with care and had studied tbe art of speaking with the
strictest attention. What the lonely cave and tbe sounding surf-
were to Demosthenes were the rusthng woods and the prattling
* Lee was four years older than Henry and died in 1794 ; Henry died in 1799
t John Adams, in his Diary (Works vol. II, 396,) of the Congress of 177J
says that Henry told them that at fifteen he had read Virgil and Livy, but ha<l
not read a Latin book since.
10

146 PATRICK HENRY.
streams to his modern rival. He belonged to a class of speakers
now passing avsray, of whom Sa.muel Davies was an early and
Archibald Alexander a later type, who had learned to arrange their
thoughts in the strictest logical sequence without putting pen to
paper, and who in the glow of public discussion infinitely tran
scended not only in fervor of fancy but in force of logic their private
meditations. If any evidence were required to show his critical
study of the English tongue, it wiU be found in his letters which
are far raore elegant than those of Pendleton and Wythe, and fully
equal those of Lee. His farewell letter to tbe officers of tbe army,
and his letter to the Convention accepting the office of Governor,
written on the spur of the moraent, are fauUless raodels of what
such letters ought to be. That the stern necessities of life, the labor
of providing bread for a family the cares of which he assuraed in
his eighteenth year, prevented hira from attaining that excellence of
which he was capable, is certain ; but in tbe greatest debates with
his most able opponents he was never at a loss for arguments drawn
from ancient and modern history to sustain his cause. Hence^
too, that power which made him most formidable in reply ; for he
was enabled to see the historical facts pressed by his adversaries not
merely in the light in which tbey were presented in debate, but
in their connections with tbe facts which preceded and the facts
which followed thera. He was not a great law3'er in the technical
sense of the word, nor would be ever have become one. His first
step was a false one, and could not be retraced. He had not served
an apprenticeship to the law; with her forms he was unfamiliar; he
had taken up the profession late as the last resource for the suste
nance of his family ; and with this view he pursued it, distasteful as
it was; resolved, as soon as he was able to live without it, to cast it
aside. When, in the decline of life and in the midst of affluence, he
engaged in the British debt cause, the industry and care with which
he raade bis preparations prove what would have been his course
had he erabraced the law in early life, and had devoted to it his un
divided attention. As a criminal lawyer he was confessedly at the
head of his profession. He was not only not approached, but he
was unapproachable. Even in civil cases, when the question was
loosed from the fetters of special pleading, and involved a principle
of common right or a principle founded on the law of nature and na
tions, of aU the learned men at the bar of the General Court, none

PATRICK HENRY. 147
could stand before him. That Robert Carter Nicholas on retiring
from the bar coramitted his business to Henry, shows that so stern
a judge of merit thought him not unequal to the duty assigned him.
But, however luxuriant and enduring are the laurels which
he won in the disputations of the forum, he raight have trodden
them in the dust, and yet preserved a reputation which his
proudest compeers might have sought in vain to rival. He was the
Seer of the Revolution. He was the patriot-prophet of ah era in the
history of our race, if second to one great religious epoch, second to
no political one, and in comparison with which the Revolution which
placed WiUiam of Orange on the throne of Great Britain sinks into in
significance. The British Revolution was but the exchange of one
king who refused to obey the laws of the realm for another king who
consented to obey them. It -was the exchange of one hereditary
dynasty for another hereditary dynasty to be removed, if ever, by
another Revolution. But the Araerican Revolution was to teach
a far more iraposing lesson than any that could be drawn from
a mere change of rulers. It taught, and will teach forever, that
the people are the only legitimate source of power, that all govern
ment is a trust to be executed for the benefit of those wbo create
it, that personal worth, and not the worth or want of worth of
ancestors, is the true test of merit and the rule of honor, that all
the children of the sarae parents are entitled to equal favor in
the eye of the law, that the soil beneath our feet belongs to the
living, not to the dead, and that man may worship God without tbe
fear of raan according to the dictates of his conscience. Nor are
its facts less eloquent than its doctrines. A few sparse colonies on
the eastern coast of the North Araerican continent, raainly peopled
by the Anglo-Saxon race, and dependent on the guardian care of
a country that despised them, resolved to resist the tyranny that
oppressed them, achieved their independence with the sword in a
contest with one of the most powerful nations known in ancient
or in modern times, estabhshed free systems of government, opened
their ports to tbe active, the enterprising, and the oppressed of
every clime, increased their population in a ratio unknown in the
calculations of Europe, enlarged their territory to such an extent
that it already reaches frora the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico
and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and, to judge the future by
the stern statistics of the past, if we measure a period of time ex-

148 PATRICK HENRY.
tending from the passage of the resolutions against the stamp act fo
the present, and from the present to a point of time nearly
equally distant in the future — a period the expiration of which
the children of persons now living may behold — will possess a
civilized population greater than was ever before gathered under
a single government under the sun, and approaching the enormous
number of three hundred millions of human beings ! Such is the
Araerican Re volution,, and of such an epoch Patrick Henry was
the raaster spirit.
It is proper, however, to observe that even reflecting men are
sometiraes prone to draw unjust inferences from the respective
parts borne by Henry and by his corapeers in tbe preliminary
stages of the revolutionary troubles. There is one point of view
from which the course of both ought to be regarded, and it is the
only point of view from which the consistencj^ of both is fully ap
parent. Alone among all the statesmen of his tirae, Henry was,
from the beginning of the contest, at heart in favor of indepen
dence. All his raeasures took a forra in obedience to bis raain de
sign, and, considered in this light, appear in perfect harmony. On
the other hand, all his contemporaries without exception not onlj-
did not desire independence but eagerly sought an honorable recon
ciliation with the mother country. Mason, Peyton Randolph, Pen
dleton, Wythe, Bland, Nicholas, Jefferson, and others, were as late
as 1775 in favor of a connection with Great Britain.' The Con
vention of July 177.5 closed its sessions with an elaborate address
to tbe people in which thej "solemnly declare, before God and
the world, that we do bear faith and true allegiance to his majesty
George the Third, our true and lawful king." Hence the zeal with
which Henry in the House of Burgesses pressed his resolution?
against the stamp act, and in the March Convention of 1775 his
resolutions for erabodying the militia ; and hence the zeal with
which his compatriots opposed them. Both sets of resolutions,
regarded as a means of forcing independence, were ¦wise and pro
per; but, regarded as measures of policy proceeding frora pubhc
bodies which had already adopted a series of measures deeraed
by thera likely to attain the end in view, and which had not yet
• Journal Va. Convention July 177.-). page 28; Mason to Mercer, Hist. Reg
ister Vol. II, 28; Jefferson to John Randolph, Works Vol.1 ; Pendleton's Au
tobiographical Sketch, he, 8tc.

PATRICK HENRY. 149
spent their force, were manifestly ill-timed and inconsistent. If
the opinions of Henry had been embraced generally as early as
1765, the result would undoubtedly have been beneficial. The
fatal policy of commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain would
have been rejected, and the country in tbe beginning of hostilities,
instead of being utterly destitute of all tbe munitions of war,
would have been weU supplied with the means of prosecuting
the contest with becoming energy. Thus, judging from tbe re
sult, whUe we admire the far-sightedness of Henry which led
hira to take at once the stand which his corapatriots after ten
years of humiliation were cora'pelled to assume, we must be care
ful not to impugn the patriotism of those, who, starting frora a
different point, and having a different object in view, prosecuted
their course with eminent wisdora and abihty, until by the declara
tion of independence a coraraon design and a coraraon object
brought all parties together.
The storj- of tbe life of Henry is so well known by the generous
tribute which the genius of Wirt has paid to his meraory, that we
will hasten through our part. Our present purpose is simply to in
troduce him as he was up to this period, when, in his fortieth year,
he took his seat in the Convention. His success in tbe House of
Burgesses in 1765 in passing his resolutions against the stamp act
was one of the most brilliant and decisive triumphs in parliamen
tary history. The resolutions themselves, written hastily as they
were, are sketched with raasterly ability, and show the point and
grace with which he wielded his pen. The questions involvei.,
in them were beyond and above the common law, and were dis
cussed by hira with a force of argument and with a ¦warmth of
eloquence which solid planters and grave statesraen could not
resist. The oldest and most learned lawyers of the colony quaUed
before a raw youth of nine and twenty, who had never be
fore opened his lips in a deliberative asserably. Indeed all the
external aids which impart dignity and authority to a public
speaker on a great occasion were wanting to him. He was
personally unknown to most of his audience. He was dressed
in such a garb as no delegate from the Salt Lake, no delegate
from the distant realm through which the Oregon rolls his tu
multuous floods to tbe sea, would now wear in a public meeting;
and he spoke to an asserably composed of men, some of whom

150 PATRICK HENRY.
had been educated to the law in the Temple, others of whom were
the cool and skiUful debaters of an age when caste and birth and
dress were more regarded than they are now or will be again.
That bis resolutions should have passed not only without tbe con
sent of such raen, but in spite of their long, keen, and fierce op
position waged in a body in which they had previously for years
exerted an unliraited sway, as it was the raarvel of the past age,
so it is tbe marvel now, and so it will be the marvel in time to
come. On the afternoon of the day on which he offered his reso
lutions, be might have been seen passing along that street on his
way to his horae in Louisa, clad in a pair of leather breeches, his
saddle-bags on his arm, leading a lean horse, and chatting with Paul
Carrington who walked by his side.*
His speech ten years later in the Convention of March 1775 on
his resolutions for organizing the militia was the second great
triumph which be achieved in the public councils. Sorae portions
of his speech in their defence, preserved in tbe raemory of those
who heard it, are still extant, and exhibit a force of argument and
a beauty of expression so finely blended, that, after a lapse of
eighty years, they still forra the delight of the young and the ad
miration of the old.f
Nor was the influence of Henry, as has been too generally be
lieved, confined to public debate. He was as effective in the com
mittee-room as on the floor of the house. In both spheres his
honesty and intrepidity were the sources of his success. Every
body saw that he was sincere, and that he did not belong to a class
not uncommon in revolutions, who are disposed to cling to the pow
ers that be with one hand, and to the people with the other. There
was something fascinating in the boldness with which he planted
himself on the extreme frontier ofthe public rights, and with which
he burled defiance at tbe parliament and at the throne. Yet such
was his wisdom and ability in council, that so competent a judge
as George Mason, who in passing through this city in the spring
of 1774 was invited to the consultation of the leading patriots, de
clared in a letter written at the time and recently brought to lio-bt,
* Carrington Memoranda. Paul Carrington distinctly remembered seeing
Mr. Jefferson among the spectators in the debate on Henry's resolutions.
t Although it may well be doubted that much of the speech published by
Wirt is apochryphal, some of its expressions and the outline of the argument
are believed to be authentic.

PATRICK HENRY. 151
that " he was not only the most eloquent speaker he ever heard,
but that his eloquence is the sraallest part of his*raerit. He is in
my opinion the first man on this continent as well in ability as in
public virtues, and had he lived in Rome about tbe time of the first
Punic war, when the Roman people bad arrived at their meridian
glory, and their virtues not tarnished, Mr. Henry's talents must
have put him at the head of that glorious commonwealth."* If
every other record of tbe worth of Henry were obliterated, this
letter of George Mason would starap iramortality upon his name.
When Henry took his seat in the Convention as a delegate from
Hanover, he may be said to have appeared under a cloud. He
had recently thrown up his commission as colonel of the first regi
ment, and, as such, commander of the forces of the colony, and he
was in tbe midst of men who bad inflicted what some were in
clined to deem an indignity upon him. Pendleton was in the chair,
and in different parts of the house were Mason, Carrington, Digges,
Mercer, Tabb, Jones, Bland, Ludwell Lee, and Cabell of Union
Hill. Thomas Walker alone of the Coramittee of Safety was ab
sent. Of the state of affairs which impelled him to resign his
post I have already spoken at length ;t and it may be doubted
whether he possessed those qualities which make a wary par-
tizan, and which are so often possessed in an erainent degree by
uneducated raen. Regular fighting there was none in the colony,
until near the close of the war. But, if Henry did not possess
those qualities, it was because be possessed others of a higher kind
with which they were in sorae degree incompatible. The most
skillful partizan in the Virginia of that day, covered as it was
with forests, cut up by streams and beset by predatory bands,
would have been the Indian warrior, and, as a soldier approached
that model, would he have possessed the proper tactics for the time.
That Henry would not have raade a better Indian fighter than
Jay, or Livingston, or the Adarases, that he might not have made
as dashing a partizan as Tarleton or Simcoe, his friends might read
ily afford to concede ; but that be evinced, what neither Jay, nor
Livingston, nor the Adamses did evince, a determined resolution to
stake his reputation and bis life on the issue of arras, and that he
resigned his coramission when the post of irarainent danger was
• Letter of Mason to Cockburn, Va. Hist. Register, Vol. Ill, 27.
t Under the head of Pendleton.

152 PATRICK HENRY.
refused bim, exhibit lucid proof that, whatever raay have been his
n!;! nate fortune, he was not deficient in two great elements of mili
tary success; personal enterprize and unquestioned courage.
The face of Henry is known from the portrait by Sully, and
Sully's portrait, though copied from a miniature corrected by the
recollections of friends, is thought a fair likeness ; yet it is proper
to say that I have often beard from one of bis contemporaries who
knew every feature of that magical face, and wbo had seen the
likeness of Sully, that there was a more striking resemblance be
tween the face of Henry and the face of Capt. Cook the navigator
than between the face of Henry and that of the portrait by Sully.*
He was always plain in his dress, and disliked changes in the fash
ions. " Here," said he to a friend, holding up bis arm and dis
playing the sleeve of a coat the worse for wear, " here is a coat
good enough for me ; yet I must get a new one to please the eyes
of other people." His tastes were simple. He loved the old
dishes which he had seen served from infancy on his father's plain
board, and was not indisposed to associate a love of the standard
dishes of the country with a love of the country itself. When he
heard that Mr. Jefferson, recently returned from France, had in
troduced a number of French dishes info bis cuisine, he talked
harshly about a man's "abjuring his native victuals." In later
life as in bis younger days, be was always accessible by those who
sought him. He was wont to tell with great zest an incident that
happened in the yard of Prince Edward Court House just before
leaving tbe county to take his seat in tbe federal Convention in
Richmond. An old fox-hunter gave him a sharp tap on the shoul
der, and said to bim: "Old feUow, stick to tbe people; if you
take the back track, we are gone."
If Henry at the beginning of the session of tbe Convention was
under a cloud, he was to appear before its close in his true light as
the herald of the Revolution. On the twenty-ninth of June that
body adopted the constitution and immediately proceeded in pursu
ance of its provisions to elect a governor. On counting the ballots
it was found that Henry had received a large majority, and he
* Such was the opinion of Col. C. Carrington and, I am told, of Judge Mar
shall. It may be well enough to say that the portrait of Sully is at Red Hill,
and that a fine copy of it has been presented to the Va. Historical Society by
the distinguished artist and now graces its hall in Richmond.

PATRICK HENRY. 153
was declared duly elected. * By a resolution of the body the palace
was assigned as his residence, and he was soon installed in the
building which Dunmore had deserted, which had long been the
abode of the vice-gerents of kings, but which now gained a greater
glory than it bad yet known as the residence of the first Governor
of the Comraonwealth of Virginia — and that Governor the master
spirit who in thc senate was the first to assail the supremacy of the
British king, and to incur tho bitter hatred of his adherents ; who
was the first to draw his sword in defence of the rights of his coun
try and to equip her armies for the field, as he was the first to com
raand them ; and who was among the first to propose independence
and to form that system of government of which he was the first
Chief Magistrate.!
In all great movements of the public mind in governments
whether free or despotic, it rarely happens that the chief glory
belongs to a single individval. It would seera, as if, by a special
design of Providence, to repress the promptings of ambition, that
particular provinces of dutj' are assigned to particular persons, who
reap indeed individual honor aud reputation by a display of their
genius and worth, but whose blended glories, instead of encircling
a single bead, are raade to constitute the raoral capital of the new
systera. Such was the case in the Revolution. Indisputable as
was the pre-eminence of Washington in the field, even in the field he
had co-adjutors worthy of tbe cause in which he was engaged ; and
there were duties to be perforraed quite as urgent as those cora
mitted to him, which were wholly beyond his reach, and from
which bis modesty would instantly have shrunk. To confine our
viev« to Virginia : It would seera difficult to have assigned any
two other persons to the spheres which before and during the Rev
olution were so ably filled by Pendleton and Wythe ; yet there
were spheres beyond the ability of Pendleton and Wythe as well
as of Washington, which it was indispensable to the success of
* The vote was for Henry 60, Thomas Nelson 45, John Page 1.
1 1 have alluded to the friendship which existed between Henry and R. H.
Lee. In spite of a wide difference of opinion on measures of local legislation,
each advocating his own views with great earnestness in debate, they were
warm personal friends. Lee, while a member of the Senate of the United
States, closes a letter to Henry with these words : " I am with the most cordial
regard and esteem, dear sir, your mostaflectionafe friend and servant." Henry's
salutations were equally cordial and affectionate. See the letters of Lee and
Henry at Red Hill.

154 GEORGE MASON.
the common cause to be adequately filled. Hence, as by a divine
impulse, Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry appeared on the
stage. Such was tbe dignity of tbe parts which they played in
that superb drama, that the historian, who should write an account
ofthe Revolution and slight their names, would as little deserve our
respect as the historian, who, in describing the Englisb Common
wealth, should overlook the names of Hampden and Pym, or who,
in reviewing the literature of the age of Elizabeth or the age of
Cromwell, should omit the name ofthe author of Macbeth, or ofthe
author of Paradise Lost. Yet there were other parts to be per
formed of equal if not greater importance than theirs, which neither
Pendleton, nor Wythe, nor Washington, nor Lee, nor Henry could
have performed as well, but which were performed with such skill
and wisdom as to overawe us at this distance of time, and which
fills us with a spirit of thankfulness to the Ruler of Nations when
we contemplate the characters and pronounce the names of George
Mason and Thomas Jefferson.
Both were members ofthe Convention now sitting. Mason, who
was seventeen years older than his compeer, had attained his fif
tieth year, and though his once raven locks were touched with
grey, and he had just recovered frora a smart shock of an hereditary
disease,"^ appeared in the vigor of manhood. He was nearly six
feet high, of a large and sinewy frame, and an active step and gait.
The love of his gun and of the sports of the field kept bis lim.bs in
fine play. He was one ofthe most systematic, raost extensive, and
most successful planters in the colony, shipping to England from
his barn-yard wharf at Gunston, bis splendid seat on tbe Potoraac,
his crops of tobacco, and receiving thence ber manufactures in re
turn. Exposure had deepened the tints of a light brown complexion ;
and it was impossible to behold his athletic form and his grave face
lighted up by a black eye which burned with the brightness of youth,
without a feeling of respect approaching to awe. His bearing was in
the highest degree courteous but lofty, and he seemed at first sight to
belong to that class of which Washington and Andrew Lewis were
members — men of such high and noble qualities and of such august
presence as rather to coramand the admiration of the beholder than
* See his letter to R. H. Lee, dated May IS, 1776, in the archives of the Va.
Historical Society, wherein he says that he has just recovered from a fit of the
gout.

GEORGE MASON. 155
to quicken the gentler feelings of affection and love. Yet no man
was more sensible of the warmest emotions of friendship, as I have
heard from those who knew him, and as his letters to his contem
poraries strikingly show. His portrait, which long adorned the
hospitable mansion of Analosta, may still be seen at Clermont.* As
you look upon it, you perceive that his dark eyes have that pecu
liar expression, half sad, half severe, which is seen in the eyes of
the painter Giotto, the shepherd boy, whom Ciraabue found in the
recesses of the Alps tending sheep, and wbo, when, like Mason,
he was summoned from his forest horae, like Mason, raade an era
in the history of his art.
In Mason those titles to the public confidence, which were sev
erally held by others, were united in a reraarkable manner. He
was, as before observed, a large and prosperous planter, possessed
of great wealth hereditary and acquired. He had never been a
member of the House of Burgesses, and was free frora the entan
glements, political and personal, of party and passion in which sorae
of theleadingpatriots for the past ten years had been deeply involved.
He had never sought office, and would have declined a seat in the
Council, the brilliant prize of colonial arabition, had it been offered
him. Not a lawyer by profession, he was yet thoroughly skilled
not only in general history, but especially in the political history of
England. He had been educated in the colony, probably at this
coUege, and, like Washington, had never been abroad; but from an
early period of life devoting his leisure to study, he had become so
deeply versed iu the knowledge of our early charters and in the
lore of the British constitution, that, in the midst of men whose
lives had been devoted to law, bis opinions on a great political
question had almost a conclusive authority. As if no means of
usefulness should be wanting to this extraordinary man, he was as
much distinguished by his ability in debate as by his wisdom in
council. Nor do his eminent abilities in discussion rest on tradi
tion. His merits as a speaker are avouched by Mr. Jefferson in the
strongest terms, and an equally competent judge, who had often
beheld his forensic exhibitions, and who had encountered him in
the greatest parliamentarj' discussion of that age, the cool and
critical Madison, pronounced hira the ablest man in debate whom
* A copy from an original which was destroyed by fire. Clermont is the
seat of the widow of Gen. John Mason.

156 GEORGE MASON.
he had ever seen. * There was another title to consideration,
which, trifling as it may seem in our eyes, exerted no contemptible
influence on the aristocratic society of the colony. On the score
of birth his position was ofthe highest. His ancestor, whose narae
he bore, was a raeraber of parliaraent in the reign of Charles the
First, and though, like Hyde and Falkland, intent on effecting im
portant amendments in the existing system, did not seek an over
throw of the monarchy, and, like Hyde and Falkland, on the ap
peal to arms adhered to the king. He organized a military corps,
and in several engagements had crossed swords with the troopers of
Cromwell, and had emptied his holsters at his warlike saints. From
1651, when George Mason, the eldest, flying from the field of
Worcester, arrived in Hampton Roads, to the period of the Revo
lution, the Masons had exerted either in the House of Burgesses
or at horae great influence in the colony. t
* Mr, Jefferson's personal Memoir in the first volume of his works, and the
letter of St. George Tucker to Wirt in Kennedy's Life of Wirt, heretofore quoted.
t As stated in the text, George Mason, the eldest, reached the Colony of Vir
ginia and landed in Norfolk county in 1651, and was soon after followed by his
family. He immediately removed to Acohick creek on the Potomac near
Pdsbitaney, and settled a plantation there, on which he resided during his life,
and is there buried. In 1676, the year of Bacon's Rebellion, he commanded a
volunteer force against the Indians, and represented the same year the county
of Stafford in the House of Burgesses. Stafford had been carved out of West
moreland the year before, and was so named by Col. Mason in honor of his na
tive county of Staffordshire in England. His eldest son, also called George
Mason, married Mary, daughter of Girard Fowke esq. of Gunston Hall in Staf
fordshire, England. The eldest son of this marriage also bore the name of
George Mason, the third of the name, and with his father lived and was buried
on the patrimonial estate of Acohick. Their wills are of record in Stafford
County Court in 1710 and 1715 respectively. George Mason, the fourth in de
scent, eldest son of George last named, married a daughter of Stevens Thomson
of Middle Temple, Attorne}' General of the colony of Virginia in the reign of
Queen Anne. He established a plantation at Doeg Neck on the Potomac on
land which he inherited, then in Staflbrd, now in Fairfax county, and was the
" Lieutenant and chief Comraander" of the county of Stafford in 1719. He was
drowned by the accidental upsetting of his sail-boat in the Potomac, and his
body having been recovered was committed to the grave at Doeg's Neck. He
left three children, two sons and a daughter. Of these sons one was the George
Mason of the Virginia Convention, and the other was Thomson Mason, hardly
less celebrated than his brother, who settled in Loudoun, was frequently a mem
ber ofthe House of Burgesses, an erainent member of the bar, and a warm
friend of his country. Thompson Mason was a martyr to the gout, and it is one
of the earliest recollections of Gov. Tazewell to have seen him borne into court
while suffering from that disease. His son Stevens Thomson Mason was a
member of the Virginia Federal Convention, and was a senator of the United
States, and had a son, Armistead Thomson Mason, who was also a senator of
the United States from Virginia.
The George Mason ofthe text, the fifth of the name, was born at the planta
tion of Doeg's Neck, which he inherited, in 1726, married Ann Eilbeck of Charles
county, Maryland, and built a new mansion on the high banks of the Potomac

GEORGE MASON. 157
Nor were these his only recommendations to the public regard.
From the dawn of the contest with thc mother country, though
deeply attached to the Hanover family, and averse from indepen
dence, he planted himself firmly and fearlessly on tbe extreme
limit of colonial right, and proclaimed his determination to main
tain his ground at every hazard. When the merchants of London
addressed a public letter to the planters of Virginia on the repeal
of the starap act, JMason gave it a calm and deliberate answer, de
fending the position maintained by the colonists in a masterly man
ner, and concluding with these monitory words : "These are the
sentiments of a man who spends most of his time in retirement, and
has seldom meddled in public affuirs ; tvho enjoys a moderate but
independent fortune, and content with the blessings of a private
station, equally disregards the smiles and the frowns ofthe great."*
When tbe right "was subsequently asserted by Pailiament to tax
'the colonies "in all cases whatsoever," Mason wrote a tract with
'the raodest title of " Extracts frora the Virginia Charters with some
remarks upon them," which was ragarded as an unanswerable
exposition of colonial rights under the charters, and which proved
a rich mine of authority in the controvers}- then waging between
the king and the colonies. What gave additional force to the pro
ductions of Mason's pen was tbe modest and conservative character
which he uniformly maintained. He cherished no love of change.
He openly expressed just before the appeal to arms his attachment
tothe House of Brunswick, and insisted on the importance of a co-
•
near the river, which he called Gunston Hall, in honor ofthe seat ol his mater
nal ancestry in England. Here he lived, and here on the 7th of October, 1792,
in the 66th year of his age, he died, and was buried. A plain marble slab marks
his grave, and has engraved upon it his name and the date of his birth and
death. The estate of Doeg's Neck, afterwards Gunston Hall, consisted of seven
thousand acres, and lies on the Potomac next below Mount Vernon, This ven
erable patriot left five sons and lour daughters. Ofthe sons, George, the eldest,
was a captain in the Virginia line of the Revolution, and inherited Gunston
Hall, where he lived and was buried, leaving descendants. The fourth son was
the late Gen. John Mason of Analosta Island, who survived all his brothers, and
died at his estate at Clermont in Fairfax County in March 1349 in the 83rd year
of his age. The Hon. James Murray Mason, one of the present senators of
Virginia in Congress, is a son of Gen. John Mason, and is the third of the name
and race that has filled a seat iu the Senate of the United States. All the son.s
of George Mason left descendants. It has occurred to me that the account of
Bacon's Rebellion by T. M. was written by George Mason the eldest, the T.
being a misprint for G., or used designedly, as may have been other things in
that account.
*¦ This answer was published under the signature of a Virginia Planter in
the London Public Ledg-er of 1766.

158 GEORGE MASON.
lonial connexion with Great Britain. Writing to a friend in England
in 1770, when lie had recited in the strongest terms the injuries
which England had inflicted on the colonies, and had indignantiy
denied the iraputed design of ambitious men to separate from thc
parent country, he added: "There are not five men of sense who
would accept of independence, if it were offered. We know our cir
cumstances too well; we know that our happiness, our very being,
depends upon our connexion with the mother country. But we will
not submit to have our money taken out of our pockets without our
consent; because if any man, or any set of men, take from us
without our consent or that of our representatives, one shilling in
the pound, we have no security for the reraaining nineteen."
When we reflect on the Indian wars frora 1756 to the beginning of
the Revolution, and their cost in blood and treasure to the colony,
and recall the disastrous defeat of two gallant armies of Washington
against the western Indians; and when we also recall the cherished
design of France and Spain to encroach on our frontier, and the
defenceless condition of the colonial export and import trade, we
may easily imagine how important in the eyes of a reflecting colo
nist would be an honorable connexion with the greatest military
and maritime nation of the globe. And here the lesson should not
be overlooked, and which the present generation may wisely heed,
how readily a mighty empire bound together by the nearest and
dearest ties of blood, of affection, of a common language, and of
a common faith, and of all the precious recollections which raore
than ten centuries had clustered about the British narae, may be
rent asunder by passion and pride seeking a contest, which, if suc
cessful, could bring no laurels unmoistened in fraternal blood, but
which, if lost, would entail never-ending hate between ancient
friends and a perpetual separation.
The measures adopted frora tirae to time by the House of Bur
gesses in the early stages of the colonial troubles received a firm
and cordial support frora Mason. It was at a meeting of the peo
ple of Fairfax on thc eighteenth of July, 1774, that he may be said
to have made his first great movement on the theatre of the Rev
olution.* The affairs of the northern colonies were approacbino- a
• Although this was the first public appearance of Mason, he had been active
in conversation and with his pen at a much earlier period. The articles of As
sociation adopted at the Raleigh after the dissolution of the House of Burgesses

GEORGE MASON. 159
crisis, and our own horizon wore a threatening aspect. Washing
ton took the chair, and Mason presented a series of resolutions which
must always hold a conspicuous place among the records of the
times. They were twenty-four in number, and not only embraced
a statement of the case in band, but presented the means and
measure of redress. They reviewed the whole ground of contro
versy, recoramended a Congress of the colonies, and urged the pol
icy of non-intercourse with the mother country. These resolutions
were transmitted to the first Virginia Convention which held its
session in this city in the following August, and were sanctioned by
that body; and substantially adopted bythe first General Congress on
the twentieth ofthe following October.* The policy of these resolu
tions was wisely adjusted to the existing public sentiment, and united
all parties on a comra.on ground of resistance. They were decided
and thorough, and were calculated to enlist the coramercial interests
of Great Britain on the side of the colonies ; but they pointed to
reconciliation, not to Revolution. Had the colonists aimed at inde
pendence, the sagacity of Mason would have devised other meas
ures more plausible and effectual for sucfi a purpose. A prudent
British ministry might yet have honorably interposed with success,
and saved the integrity of the British empire.
Such was the modesty of this eminent patriot, and such his love
of domestic life, that it was with difficulty be was persuaded to en-
in 1769 were from his pen. As he was not a member of the House and was
not present in the city of Williamsburg when the articles were adopted, on the
spur of the moraent, I doubted his claim to their authorship ; but it is now cer
tain that the articles were brought to the city by Washington who is said to
have ofl^ered them to the meeting. There were some slight additions, which
may be seen in Writings of Washino;ton Vol. II, 336, note. The articles them
selves may be seen in Burk, Vol. Ill, 345, note, and are signed by the following
gentlemen, who were also members of the present Convention :
Robert Carter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Archibald Cary, Richard H. Lee, P.
Henry, Henry Lee, N. Terry, Thomas Whiting, T. Jetferson, T. Nelson jr.,
Champion Travis, John Blair jr., James Scott, '\Vilson Miles Cary, Willis Rid
dick, John Woodson, Abraham Hite, Fiancis Peyton, James Wood, Edwin
Gray, David Mason, Paul Carrington, William Cabell, Henry Ta3'lor, Robert
Rutherford, Charles Lynch, Wm. Clayton, Lewis Burwell, Thomas Johnson,
William Acrill, Richard Lee, Southey Simpson, and Peter Poythre.ss. For the
rest of the names, among which arc those of Peyton Randolph, Washington,
Isaac Read, Richard Baker, &c., see Burk quoted above.
Mason in a letter to Washington (Writings of Washington, Vol. Ill, 354,)
says that he had begun an address to the people which the weakness of his
eyes compelled him to put aside. Whether it was finished or not, I cannot
affirm. * See American Archives for 1774, Vol. I, Fourth Series; also Sparks, Writ
ings of Washington Vol. II, 488, Appendix No. 9.

160 GEORGE MASON.
ter on a public career. He had never been a raeraber of the House
of Burgesses, and it was not until the meeting of the Convention
of July, 1775, that he appeared in the public councils. He had
been returned in the place of Washington, wbo had been deputed
to Congress, and the county of Fairfax may dwell with becoming
pride on tbe recollection that, when her Washington was engaged
in the public service abroad, she could substitute a Mason in his
stead. Though not a member of the Convention of the previous
March, be had approved the resolutions of Henry adopted at that
session for putting the colony in a posture of defence, and now sus
tained a resolution of like nature, which provided "that a sufficient
armed force be immediately raised and embodied, under proper offi
cers, for the defence and protection of the colony," and which re
sulted in the organization of the two first Virginia Regiments. We
know from one of his letters* that this committee began its labors
at seven in the morni.ig, and sat until thc meeting of the Conven
tion, which body rarely adjourned before five oclock. After a
slight refreshment the comraittee again resuraed its work, not retir
ing till ten.
He was elected by the Convention a member of the Committee
of Safety, his some standing on the list second only to that of Pen
dleton. At an early period of the session he wns pressed to accept
a seat in Congress, but he declined going abroad. Later in the ses
sion, oa the retirement of Col. Bland, he was urgenth' solicited by
Pendleton, Henr}', Carrington, and others to go to Congress, and
was put in nomination ; and when he rose in his place to assign his
reasons for declining the appointment, tears were seen to ilow from
the eyes of Peyion Randolph, who presided in the bodv.t Tho
Convention adjourned on the t\vent3'-nintli of August, closing its la
bors with a formal "Declaration" addi'essed to the people, possibly
from his pen, "setting forth the causes of their meeting, and the
nece'hlty of immediately puttin,;; tho colony into a posture of de
fence, for the better protection of the lives, liberties, and proper-
tics" of the people, and leaving the administration of the o-oveni-
ment in the hands of the Committee of Safetv.
* Mason to Cockburn in the Ta. Historical Register, heretofore quoted.
t An affecting account ofthe scene may be read in the letter of i\Iason to
Cockburn, dated August 'z'.?, 177."i, in the Mrginia Historical Register. The
cause of his declining was the recent death of" Mrs. Mason, who left five sons
and four daughters.

GEORGE MASON. 161
The duties of the Coramittee of Safety have already been detail
ed at length.* Suffice it to observe, that it was the supreme execu
tive of the colony in a time of civil war, and demanded of those
who composed it the first order of wisdom, courage, and virtue.
For such a station no man living was better quaUfied than Mason ;
and he is entitled to a full share of tbe credit earned by that patri
otic body.
It was, however, in the Convention now sitting, that Mason laid
the deep foundations of bis imperishable farae. The body raet on
tbe sixth of May ; but it was not until the eighteenth that Mason,
who had been detained by a fit ol the gout, took his seat. The
resolution instructing the delegates of Virginia in Congress to prO"
pose independence had been adopted three days before, when the
Committee to prepare a declaration of rights and a plan of govern
ment was appointed.! But he was iraraediately placed on that
coramittee. That it should have fallen to the lot of Mason,.
who came so late into a comraittee consisting of so many
eminent men, to draft tbe declaration of rights and the plan of
government, is a signal demonstration of his character, and dis
plays the universal confidence reposed in his judgment and abili
ties. On the day of bis arrival be was also assigned to the com-
mittge of Propositions and Grievances, to the committee of Privi
leges and Elections, and to a select committee already organized for
the encouragement of the making of salt, saltpetre and gunpowder.
When it is remerabered that but a sraaU proportion of the raembers
by ancient parliamentary usage was placed upon committees, and
that Mason, though arriving late, was immediately placed on aU the
important ones, a striking proof is presented of tbe estimation in
which he was held by his contemporaries at this early stage of his
career. The ordinance estabhshing a general test was drawn by
him. The declaration of rights v,'as reported by the select committee to
the house on the twenty-seventh day of May, and on the 13th of
* In tho'sketf'h of Pendleton.
t It would seer.: that the resolution proposing the instructions in favor of in
dependence, though nominally unanimous, had some opponents in the house.
Mason, writing to R. H. Lee on the 18th of May, 1776, says : " The opponent.
being so few that they ,''4d not think fit to divide, or contradict the general
voice." See the letter in the archives of the Historical Society. In the same
letter he says of the preamble to the resolution, that "it is tedious, rather
timid, and in many instances exceptionable."
11

162 GEORGE MASON.
June "tbe Declaration of Rights made by the good people of Vir
ginia, asserabled in full and free Convention, — w'hich rights do
pertain to them and their posterity as the basis and foundation of
governraent," was adopted by an unanimous vote.
Posterity will rejoice that tbe drafting of tbe Declaration of
Rights devolved on George Mason. Tbe texture of his raind was
essentially republican. When the dorainion of the crown was over
turned, of aU our distinguished statesraen, Jefferson and Mason
seemed raost at home on the new and difficult ground which they
were treading. With the history of England Mason was familiar ;
and he knew the landmarks of every concession in favor of liberty
from Magna Carta to the revolution which placed WiUiam and
Mary on the British throne. No person who had not studied
English history in the spirit of a philosopher and a statesman could
have written the Declaration. It has been compared to the Peti
tion of Right ; but it is altogether a paper of a far higher order of
merit. The Petition simply enuraerates tbe laws of the land which
had been violated, and prays that the laws aforesaid shall hence
forth be observed ; but the Declaration of Rights lays down the
principles on which all good government ought to rest. The dif
ference between tbe Petition and the Declaration is tbe difference
between the scherae of an architect who proposes a plan for thg re
pair of a particular structure, and the scherae of an architect who
prescribes the principles on which all structures should be reared
and kept in constant repair. The same remark applies with equal
force to tbe Declaration of Rights adopted by the Convention which
called William and Mary to tbe throne. That celebrated instru
ment, so fit to effect the object in view, is a mere recapitulation of
the acts of misgovernment which rendered a revolution necessary,
and a forraal declaration that the principles which had been wan
tonly violated by the deposed king were among the ancient rights
and liberties of England. No new franchise was acquired by the
people. There was not a curb placed on tbe kingly prerogative
which bad not existed before. The oranipotence of parliaraent was
unaasailed. It was wholly historical and retrospective in its scope.
Tbe Virginia Declaration was eminently prospective. It marked
out the rules by which the entire fabric of governraent should be
fraraed and controUed : rules which bound with equal severity the
legislative, the judicial, and the executive departments. It is a cu-

• GEORGE MASON. 163
rious illustration of the supremacy accorded to genius in great con
junctures, that the British Declaration of Right and the Virginia
Declaration of Rights were written by men who had recently taken
their seats for the first tirae in deliberative asserablies which were
coraposed of the oldest and ablest statesraen of their respective pe
riods. When Somers drafted the Declaration of Right, he had
spoken in the House of Commons for the first time only ten days
before, and the parUamentary experience of Mason was hardly
more extended. When we reflect, however, that Somers was an
able lawyer, deeply versed in constitutional learning; that he lived in
a country the proudest honors of which were approached most
readily by tbe law ; that he had lately been engaged in the most
interesting state trial of that age, in the course of which the pre
rogative of the king had been keenly scanned ; and that, while he
was writing, his powers were quickened and his spirits cheered by
the contemplation of that coronet which he was winning and which
he was soon to wear ; and that Mason was a planter, untutored in
the schools, whose hfe now verging to its decline had been spent in a
thinly settled colony which presented no sphere for arabition ; that
he had never moved beyond tbe sound of the rusUing leaves of his
native woods or the ripple of his native streara ; and that he was so
devoted to bis horae that it was with difficulty he could be per
suaded to forsake for a season the solitudes of Gunston Hall, the ge
nius of the Virginian appears in bolder rehef when contrasted with
the genius of his illustrious prototype.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights is, indeed, a remarkable
production. As an intellectual effort, it possesses exalted merit.
It is the quintessence of all the great principles and doctrines of
freedom which had been wrought out by the people of England
from the earliest tiraes. To have written such a paper required
the taste ofthe scholar, the wisdora of the statesman, and the pu
rity of the patriot. The critical eye can detect in its sixteen sec
tions the history of England in miniature. That it should have
been thrown off by a planter hastily suraraoned frora his plough to
fill a vacancy in the public councils; who was not a member of that
profession the pursuits of which bring its votaries raore directly than
any other into contact with the principles of political liberty ; and
who performed his work so thoroughly that it has neither received
nor required anj^ alteration or amendment for more than three-

164 GEORGE MASON.
fourths of a century, fills the mind v/ith admiration and grandeur.
Nor has it attained its present excellence by tbe aid of the cora
mittee by which it was reported, nor of the committee of the whole
house to ¦which it was referred. With the exception of the first ar
ticle, which was amended, as I have heard at second hand from a
meraber of the select committee, by the insertion of the words;
"When men enter into a state of society," it was approved very
nearly as it Was written.* By the two Conventions of the state
which have asembled since it was adopted, it has been ratified
without note or corament. It received the applause of the gene
ration which hailed its birth, and of those generations which have
passed away, and will receive the applause of thpse to come. Its
great doctrines, as before observed, are the paramount doctrines of
British freedom. Some of its expressions raay be gleaned from
Sidney, from Locke, and from Burgh ; but when Mason sat down
in his room in tbe Raleigh Tavern to write that paper, it is probable
that no copy of the Reply to Sir Robert Filmer, or of the Essay on
Governraent, or of the Political Disquisitions, was within his reach.t
The diction, the design, the thoughts, are all his own. Nor does
its beauty or its worth suffer in coraparison with sirailar productions
carefully prepared at a later day. The biU of rights, adopted by
Massachusetts three years afterwards, contains raost of its articles
evidently copied with a servile though able hand ; but cannot vie
in point and in elegance with the paper frora the pen of Mason.
Nor does the glory of the Declaration of Rights of the twelfth of
June by the Virginia Convention yield to the glory of the Decla
ration of Independence of the fourth of the following July by the
General Congress. In an intellectual view, it occupies a far loftier
position. It stands without a model in ancient or in recent times.
It is the philosophical embodiment of the elemental principles
which lie at the foundation of society, and which, gathered from
the universal experience of man, and refined in the alembic of a
mighty mind, are digested and expressed with a distinctness and
with a severe simphcity intelligible alike by the young and the old,
by the unlettered and the wise. The Declaration of Independence
• Carrington Memoranda. Mason says in a letter to a friend in Europe, pub
lished in the Historical Register, that the amendments rather injured than im
proved it.
t An American edition of Burgh had appeared the year before, and it was a
favorite book with all our early statesmen. Mr. Jetferson delighted to praise it.

GEORGE MASON. 165
is mainly a detaU of wrongs so sensibly felt as to justify a change
of government, and therefore easily enuraerated, which required as
httle arguraent as research, and the suprerae merit of which is that
a plain tale, which, if badly told, raight have raade a slight irapres-
sion on the age, has been adorned with all the graces with which
genius could invest it. It is not in dispute whether Jefferson
could have written the Declaration of Rights as well as Mason
did write it, nor whether Mason could have, written the De
claration of Independence with the grace of Jefferson. It is
whether the Declaration of Rights, as a work of intellect, is not a
paper of a far higher character than a mere Declaration of the rea
sons however well put forth, which impelled the colonies to sepa
rate from the mother-country, and to assume independence. One
is the admirable work of the political philosopher ; the other is the
chaste production of the elegant historian ; and, as to perform a
noble act is more glorious than to record it, so is philosophy of
higher dignity than history, and the Declaration of Rights than the
Declaration of Independence. It is the merit of Mason and Jeffer
son that both in their respective spheres performed their office in
such a manner as to call forth the gratitude and admiration of their
country ; while it is apparent to the reflecting observer that tbe no
ble qualities of mind and statesmanship exhibited by Mason in the
Declaration of Rights far surpass those exhibited by Jefferson in
the Declaration of Independence.*
On the twenty-fourth of June, Archibald Cary reported the plan
of government, which was read by the Clerk the first time, and or
dered to be read a second tirae. On the twenty-sixth, it waa read
a second time, and referred to the comraittee of the whole. It was
discussed on the twenty-seventh, and on the twenty-eighth tbe plan
was reported to the house with araendraents which v»-ere severaUy
concurred in, and the whole was ordered to be transcribed, and read a
third tirae. And on the twenty-ninth of June, 1776, tbe first consti
tution of Virginia, which was the first written constitution of a sover
eign state known among men,t and v/hich was destined to difl'use

handwriting t Curtis il. ...~  J  - 
has the following sentence: "The Student of American consi'tutional history,
therefore, cannot fail to sje, thatthe adoption oiihe first written constituiicn was
accomplished through great and magnanimous sacrifices." If the term " the
first written constitution" be understood in the sense of the first form of gov-

166 GEORGE MASON.
prosperity and happiness araong the people for more than half a cen
tury, and long after those who fraraed it, with one illustrious excep
tion, had passed away, was adopted by an unanimous vo^ie. The
preamble was written by Mr. Jefferson, who transmitted it to Wil
liamsburg, but the main body of the instrument v.'as the work of
Mason. Unfortunately the mode of procedure in the select committee
which reported the constitution has not corae down to us; but we
are able to form very definite and conclusive conjectures upon the
subject. It would seera that the raodern raethod of offering dis
tinct propositions in the form of resolutions, as in the Convention
which formed the federal constitution and in our subsequent Con
ventions, had not then been adopted; but the general outline ofthe
proposed plan of government was presented at once. Two of these
schemes have reached us : the plan of Mr. Jefferson "which from
its late presentation was not formally acted upon, and the plan of
Mason, which with amendments in its details was finally adopted.
To show the peculiar merit of Mason's plan, it should be observed
that the task of the select committee was to prepare a plan of gov
ernment, and it was quite within the range of its powers to have re
ported a systera nearly equivalent to the British constitution. In
the British governraent the power of parliaraent is suprerae. It
may limit the succession to the crown. It raay displace the king,
and consign hira to the scaffold. There is no superior law, fairly
recorded and exposed to view, which limits its powers, and by a
reference to which its acts may be measured. The importance of
such a rule for the ordinary legislature was apparent to Mason, and
he was the first to prescribe it. The three great departments of
government were nominally distinct and independent in the British
constitution ; but it is to thc wisdom of Mason that we owe the great
Araerican principle, that the legislative, the most dangerous of aU,
should be bound by a rule as stringent as the executive and the ju
dicial. Nor does the forra of a constitution, as appears to be a mat
ter of course at the present day, necessarily irapl}- such a limitation
of the legislative department. Even in a repubhc the legislature
ernment of the United States, which may be its fair and proper meaning, it is
well enough ; but if he meant to convey the impression that the Articles of Con
federation, which were not adopted until 17S1, were the " first written constitu
tion," it is plain that the constitution of Virginia preceded the Articles of Con
federation nearly five years in point of time.

GEORGE MASON. 161
might stiU have been supreme. It is therefore the peculiar honor
of Wason that he not only drafted the first regular plan of govern
ment of a sovereign state, but circumscribed the different depart
ments by hmits which they may not transcend. This was the
second great trophy won by the genius of Mason in tbe Convention
now assembled.
The day after the adoption of the constitution, the Convention in
pursuance of its provisions, proceeded to elect a Governor and
Council, and deputed Mason at the head of a comraittee to inform
Patrick Henry of his election as chief magistrate of the Common-
¦wealth. He was appointed chairraan of the coramittee to draft the
oaths to be taken by the Governor and CouncU ; and it is not un
worthy of notice, as showing the confidence of the body in his
judgment and abilities, that on purely legal subjects he was placed
at the head of committees consisting of the ablest lawyers.
That he was subsequently appointed a member of the celebrated
committee of Revisors is known to all.
The last duty assigned him by the Convention was to assist in
the preparation of a seal for the new Commonwealth.* Under the
regal governmsr.t tbe coat of arras of Virginia was one of the raost
imposing in the colonies. Two knights clad in armor supported a
shield on which were quartered the emblems of England, Scotland,
Ireland and France ; and beneath the shield was the honorable
motto: En dat Virginia Quartam! Surmounting the shield was
the half statue of Pocahontas.
The design adopted by the comraittee was not less fortunate in
conception nor less striking in execution than the royal effigy which
* The Committee consisted of R. H. Lee, Mason, Nicholas, and Wythe.
Three designs appear from Girardin (IV, Appendix) to have been before the
Committee : one from Dr. Franklin, another from BI. de Cimatiere of Philadel
phia, and the one ultimately adopted, which Girardin, without naming his au
thority, ascribes to Mr. Wythe. Its designs are taken from Spence's Poly-
metis. Mason reported the design of the present seal to the House, on the eve
of the adjournment. See Journal of the Convention of May 1776, page 86.
As some discussion has taken place in the Va. Historical Register about the
motto inscribed on the old stove, — " En dat Virginia Quartam ;" one of the
writers contending that it should have been " En dat Virginia Qviatum ,¦" it
may be well enough to say that the last named motto was the one originally
taken on the settlement of Virginia, and may be found in the early London edi
tions of Capt. John Smith's work and as late as Beverly; but at a subsequent
period the first named was substituted in its stead, and was usually prefixed to
the title page of the Acts of Assembly. The acts for the tenth year of George
the Third in folio, printed by William Rind, are now before me, and contain the
coat of arms with the motto ; En dat Virginia Quariam'.

168 THOMAS JEFFERSON.
it was designed to supersede. The figure of Virtue, erect and tri-
uraphant, resting on a spear with one band, and holding a sword in
the other ; treading on a tyrant whose crown has faUen from his head,
and in whose left hand is a broken chain and in the right a scourge ;
with the motto: Sic semper Tyrannis; tells with graphic fidelity not
only the story of our independence but the simple majesty of the
men who portrayed it on the standard of our country. It was Mason
who reported to the Convention this device for the ensign of Vir
ginia, and whose fame wiU ever float in its folds. So long as Vir
ginia preserves her flag untarnished and free, tbe. fame of Mason is
safe. But should ber banner be stained or ingloriously lost, could
he speak from his grave, he would be content that his own reputa
tion should perish in the ruin which was destined to overwhelm the
independence and honor of his beloved country.
The history of Mason subsequent to tbe adjournment of the Con
vention, as a member of the House of Delegates, as a statesman
consulted in bis retirement by the ablest politicians on aU the great
est and most delicate state and national questions of the times, as a
meraber of the Convention which fraraed the federal constitution,
and of the Virginia Convention which ratified it, of deep and sur
passing interest as it is, we must postpone for another occasion.*
If George Mason was the Michael Angelo who laid the foundations
and prescribed the proportions of the new governraent, Thomas
Jefferson was the Raphael who iraparted to it its peculiar grace
and effect. If Mason drafted the Declaration of Rights and tbe plan
of governraent, it was Jefferson wbo devised those measures which
were raost effectual in imparting vigor and practicability to the new
system. No mistake is more coraraon than to underrate the value
of an iniproveraent in science or in the arts from its apparent sim
plicity, and from its obvious adaptedness to our present purposes.
The printer's boy, who sees bis types arranged in their cases or
scattered over the floor, can scarcely believe that those moveable
pieces of lead which seera so simple as to require no skill in the
making, were one of the raost remarkable inventions of human ge
nius. The youthful gunner, who has heard that gunpowder is made
at a common factory out of three simple ingredients, rarely reflects
that its invention wrought one of the most marked revolutions re-
* For the Discourse on the Virginia Federal Convention.

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 169
corded in history. So in contemplating tbe measures proposed by
Jefferson during the first session of the General Assembly and sub
sequently, such is their obvious harmony with a republican system,
we are apt to regard them as matters of course, and the iraraediate
and inevitable result of the new order of things. Yet nothing would
be more untrue, or more injurious to the reputation to which every
benefactor of his race is entitied, than such an opinion. Priraoge-
niture, entails, the connection of the church with the state, so far
frora exciting unpleasant feelings in the breasts of a large, inteUi-
ligent, and wealthy class of people, who held the control of the
public councils, had been a portion of the inherited public opinion
of the Anglo-Saxon race for at least a thousand years. Nor was
there anything in either absolutely incorapatible with a republican
forra of governraent. Any raan of a weak head and a base heart
may still, if he pleases, bequeath all bis property to his eldest son,
may cut off the rest of his children with a penny, and may by legal
contrivances transmit bis property in a descending line for a certain
period; and the custom still exists in some of the New England
States of laying taxes for the support of rehgion. That property
should be free to be disposed of by the generation which holds and
protects it, and that the children of common parents should share the
common property, and that every raan should be at liberty to support
any system of public worship raost acceptable to hira, or none at
all, are principles which have taken such deep root as to seem a
part of the general mind, the instinct of our common nature, and
the necessary and the inseparable concomitants of a republican form
of government. It is to Jefferson that these popular araendraents
of our colonial policy are due. Some of the ablest and purest men
ofthe Revolution, who had been araong the first to risk their lives
and fortunes in the cause, adhered to the old opinions, and fought
so gallantly in their defence, that, notwithstanding the sixteenth
section of the Declaration of Rights, the act for establishing reli
gious freedora did not become a law' until nine years after the decla
ration of independence. In these contests Mason and Jefferson
stood side by side. In the dechne of his long and honored life, re-
caUing the struggles of this period, Jefferson, with that modesty
peculiar to great minds, thus speaks of Mason : " I had raany occa
sional and strenuous coadjutors in debate; a.id one most steadfast,
able and zealous; who was himself a host. This was George Ma-

ITO THOMAS JEFFERSON.
son, a man of the first order of wisdom among those who acted on
the theatre of the Revolution, of expansive mind, profound judg
ment, cogent in argument, learned in the lore of our former consti
tution, and earnest for the republican change on democratic princi
ples. Fiis elocution wes neither flowing nor smooth ; but his lan
guage v.'as strong, his manner raost irapressive, and strengthened by
a dash of biting cynicisra, when provocation made il seasonable."
One lesson that weU deserves attention raay be drawn frora this
subject. The three principal raeasures of reform, proposed by Jef
ferson were designed to effect iramediately the most radical change
ever made in so short a time in the institutions of any people. Be
side such an innovation the dissolution of the tie v, hich bound the
colonies to the mother country seeraed comparatively trifling. That
tie was in a certain sense rather theoretical than practical. The
colony always enacted its own laws, and though the assent of
the king was necessary to their validity, that assent on most sub
jects foUowed as a matter of course. But the laws of primogeni
ture, of entaUs, and of an established church, were so intiraately
interwoven with the existing polity, that it would seem a priori im
possible to have assailed them with success. But the bold and
decisive statesmanship of Jefferson did not hesitate for an instant.
* Jefferson's Works, I, 33. Garland in his life of Randolph (I, 19) quotes as
from John Randolph a sentiment deprecating the alteration of the old lav. by the
Virginia statute of descents : "Well might old George Mason say that the au
thors of that law, (Pendleton, Wythe, and Jetferson) never had a son." That
Randolph did make such a remark I have reason to believe from evidence in my
possession, but I am quite sure that George Mason never uttered such a senti
ment. In the the first place, we are told by Mr. Jefferson (Vol. I, 35.) that,
with the exception of Pendleton, the Revisors agreed on the principles of the
law of descents; secondly, in the sketch of Mason by Jefi'erson quoted in the
text. Mason is said to have been " earnest for the repubUcan change on demo
cratic principles ;" which could not be said of an advocate of primogeniture and
entails ; thirdly, if Mason had made such a remark, he would not have included
Pendleton, who warmly opposed the change in the committee of Revisors and in
the House of Delegates. But in truth the remark could not have been made by
Mason ; for when Jefferson reported the draff, he was not raore than thirty-four
or five years of age, and had married a short time before a lady seven or eight
years younger than himself, by whom he had several children, though, as she
died early, he had no son. But Jefferson was still young, and might have mar
ried again, and have had a large family after the death of jMason in 17S;. The
probability is that the fact that neither Pendleton, Wythe, nor Jefi'erson, had a
son, gave rise to the remark, which is probably the product of the present cen
tury, and which was fathered upon Mason who could not have made it.
As Mason was attached to the Episcopal Church, and was a member of the
vestry of Truro parish, it has been thought that he was opposed to the discon
nection ofthe church from the state ; but not only does the remark of Mr. Jef
ferson quoted above disprove any such thing, but the sixteenth section of the
bill of rights settles the question under his own hand.

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 171
He appeared to survey the whole ground before him not so much
with the eye of a contemporary actor, as with the eye of the
representative of a distant posterity. That a comparatively young
man should have bad the wisdora to suggest, ana the raoral cour
age to sustain, a series of raeasures so opposed to existing preju
dices, and so appropriate to the occasion, that in the long interval
of near eighty years we cannot see wherein they might have
been improved or altered to advantage, and that such a policy was
the result of bis own reflections unaided by the example of the
past, is not the least wonder of that wondrous age.
Jefferson, who was deputed to Congress, though a member of
the present Convention, did not take his seat in the body.
Yet his name is forever associated with the result of its labors.
The prearable to the constitution was from his pen. And it is not
our purpose to trace his course at length. His education at this
College, his tutelage under the eye of Wythe, his course in tbe Gen
eral Congress, his course as the second chief magistrate of this
Commonwealth, his mission to France, his course in the federal
, governraent as Secretary of State, as Vice President, and as Presi
dent, his useful services as the founder and patron of the Univer
sity of Virginia, that child of his old age and the delight of his
eyes, have been fully recorded. In the Congress of 1776 the de
claration of independence has made his name imraortal. At a
later period in the sarae body, with that perspicacity which seeraed
rather the result of inspiration than of deliberate calculation which
it assuredly was, he devised the currency of dollars and cents ; —
a system so simple as to bear away the palm from schemes sanc
tioned by the highest names which were brought in competition
with it, and so perfect as in the lapse of seventy years to need no
amendment. In whatever position he v/as placed, he seemed to
have been made for that alone. At the brilliant court of Louis the
Sixteenth, his modesty which was shown in answer to the ques
tion whether be filled the place of Franklin,'"' the elegance of his
manners, his thorough knowledge of the interests of bis country,
his honesty and sincerity in diplomatic affairs, which were in
stantly seen and appreciated, bis love of science and letters which
placed him in communion with the publicists and scholars who
* " No one can fill his place, I am his successor."

I'rS THOMAS JEFFERSON.
were then preparing the public raind for the great event which
overcast the age, and, with all his ardor in the cause of liberty
and letters, keeping steadily inside the strict line of diploraatic re
serve, won the confidence and esteera ofthe king and of the French
nation. He was quite as successful in the cabinet as the first
Secretary of State under the federal governraent. Brilliant and
rapid in his conceptions, he was as conspicuous for the severe and
protracted labor which he underwent in tbe preparation of elabo
rate coraraercial reports as he was for the abUity and eloquence of
his strictly diplomatic correspondence. Of his career as Presi
dent of the United States, this is not the place to speak in detail.
It may be said, however, as it was the chief ambition of the states
men of old, so it was his peculiar glory, to give a magnificent em
pire to his country ; and that, in a complication of erabarrassraents
in which the troubled state of Europe involved hira, and from
which he could not have disengaged hiraself either by what he did
or by what be failed to do, he enjoyed to the close of his term in
as great a degree as had been enjoyed before, or has been enjoyed
since, the confidence and the affections of the people.
His tastes and amusements were made subservient to the inter
ests of his countiy. It is mainly owing to his timely research and
provident care that our Statutes at Large have been preserved in
their present condition. No fact relating to our history and laws,
to our manners and custoras, to our soil, whether in regard of the
forests which grow upon its surface, or of the animals which ranged
through those forests or nestled in their branches, or lie buried be
neath them ; or its minerals, or the length and breadth and depth
of its rivers, or of the changes of the temperature and the course
of the winds, escaped his notice in early life as in raature age.
When the date of preparation and the degree of accessible infor>
mation on its topics are considered, no light production of that day
indicated greater habitual industry than the Fotes on Virginia.
The force and freedora and occasional beauty of its style, the
originality of its views in pohtics, in law, and in physical science,
and the fearlessness with which he e::bibited them, are hardlv lesj
admirable than the extensive resesrch which appears on almost
every pags. His industry and judgmo;-it in the preservation of
the materials of history wera equaUed only by the hbarality with
which he dispensed them. He was consulted on almost every

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 113
topic of American history, of science, and of religion in its con
nection with tbe common lav/, and he not only wrote well on every
question presented to him, but freely opened his stores to the re
searches of others. Vv^ithout his aid Girardin could not have
written his history. Burk and Wirt are deeply indebted to hira.
The reraoval of his coUections to Washington was an irreparable
loss to Virginia, and regret for their reraoval is raore bitter since their
recent destruction by fire in the Capitol. There was an universaUty
in his tastes quite uncommon among men whose fame is political.
He leaned to the sciences more than to hterature ; yet he was
versed in the English classics, and had studied the Latin, the
Greek, the French, the Spanish, the Italian, and the Anglo-Saxon.
His domestic tastes were of a practical turn. He superintended
at home the construction of his own wood and iron work, often
wrought in the shop with his own hands, and, like Washington,
had invented a plough of his own, which obtained a preraiura in
Paris. He had a love of architecture, and a fine sense of beauty,
as his own mansion and tbe buildings of the University show, and,
if it be urged that in those structures usefulness is in sorae degree
sacrificed for beauty, and that they are better suited to the French
than the English notion of doraestic corafort, their design must be
conceded to be altogether classical and elegant. He noted to the
last the changes of temperature and the course of winds, and made
experiments in physics. And in his life and conversation it were
difficult to say whether the practical philosopher or the poUtician
held the sway.
His eminent qualities were set off by a graceful and imposing
person. His height exceeded six feet ; his form was spare ; his
step even in old age light and springy ; his hair was inclined to
red. His eyes were blue, and had a most benignant expression.
His head, which would seera to be large in the portrait by Stuart,
was by measurement really small. In conversation all his features
were raost expressive. Posterity will probably receive the raost
life-hke impression of his face and forra from the statue by Gait,
¦whose chisel " Gives more than female beauty to a stone,
And Chatham's eloquence to marble lips."*
• Had the author of the Task seen the exquisite smile that plays qn the lips
of the Bacchante of Gait, or the sweet, pensive, spiritual face of his Psyche,

174 THOMAS JEFFERSON.
In his address he was hardly equalled by any of his contempora
ries. His manners, which were originally moulded- in the society of
WiUiarasburg when Wythe and Sraall and Fauquier were its bril
liant ornaraents, and which were chastened by long experience in
the most elegant circles of France and America, were so simple
and retiring, so refined yet so cordial, that indifference was quick
ened into love, and strong political prejudices have been known to
raelt av/ay in a personal interview with hira. Like bis preceptor
Wythe, he was through Ufe strictly temperate in his diet, and never
indulged in those vinous excesses which were too coraraon in the
colon}- and in the early days of the Commonwealth. He never
lost his teeth. He used the cold bath daily, and recommended the
practice to his friends as a specific against colds. He retained his
erect carriage to the last.
Jefferson, if we may so speak, was born a reformer. He shrunk
from no change which seemed desirable in his eyes. He regarded
every question in politics, in morals, and in religion, as an open
question, deriving no sanctity from tirae or association, and to be
decided on its intrinsic merits. Before the Revolution he had
sought the abolition of tbe slave trade, and he denounced that
infamous traffic in such severe terras in the original draft of the
Declaration of Independence that Northern and Southern men
alike united in striking those passages frora that paper." No raan
or the manly face of his Columbus, such as he was when on the deck of his
ship he first hailed the shores of the New World, his noble features even in the
flush of triumph bearing a cast of coming sadness, he would have divided
with the young Virginia sculptor the praise which he has so generously awarded
to Bacon. The bust only of Jefferson in plaster is thus far finished by
Gait, and will ere long be taken to Italy to be put in marble. The face of
the bust is said to be a capital likeness of Mr. Jetferson. There is something
highly gratifying to our Virginia pride that the head of such a man as Jefferson
should present its fairest representation to futurity through the genius of a Vir
ginian. * In allusion to the striking out that part of the Declaration of Independence
relating to the slave trade, Curtis in his History of the Constitution (vol. I, SS,)
observes : " But this was not one of the grievances to be redressed by the
Revolution ; it did not constitute one of the reasons for aiming at indepen
dence ; and there was no sufficient ground for the accusation that the govern
ment of Great Britain had knowingly sought to excite general insurrection
among the slaves. The rejection ot this passage from the Declaration shows
that the Congress did not consider this charge to De as tenable as all their other
complaints certainly were."
If Mr. Curtis will turn to the records of Virginia, he will find that this
charge against the British king is fully sustained. The act of the House of
Burgesses seeking to put an end to the tr.iflic, and the proclamation of Dun
more of Nov. 7th, 1775, summoning all persons capable of bearing arms to his
standard, and offering freedom to all slaves who should join bim, and whom he

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 175
hving save himself would have dared to grapple at one and the
same time with the laws of priraogeniture, of entails, and of an
estabhshed church, and to seek their instant and unconditional
overthrow. Boldness in this instance ¦was the height of wisdora.
Had he postponed his assaults until the filaraents of prejudice,
which had been broken by the Declaration of Independence, had
begun to re-unite, nothing short of a new revolution could have rent
thera asunder. Nor did he desire novelty for the sake of novelty.
When Pendleton leaned to the codification of the comraon law,
the practical sense of Jefferson opposed tbe scherae at the onset.
He may seera in our day to have erred in some of his views ; but,
as, hke aU great reformers, he was ahead of public opinion on some
topics, and appealed to the future as well as to the present, candor
might teach us to await tbe forthcoming award ere we arraign bis
wisdom. As a politician in that sense of the terra which consists
in guiding and controlling public opinion, though ridiculed in his
day as a philosopher, he was unsurpassed in ancient or in raodern
times. He seemed to have sprung into existence, like Minerva
from the brain of Jove, full-grown and well-armed. He seeraed to
have passed through no noviciate. From the day on which he
drafted in the House of Burgesses his report in reply to the propo
sitions of Lord North to the day when from his mountain horae he
saw the turrets of the University glistening in the morning sun, he
never lost his control over the pubhc opinion of his age. If it be
urged that in the cabinet of Washington bis star waned before that
of Hamilton — and for tbe sake of illustration we concede as a fact
that which, when properly considered, is no fact at all — it was a
momentary obscuration rather apparent than real — under a concen
tration of forces which would have driven from its sphere any
other political luminary then in the firraaraent. Had Jefferson not
existed or been other than be was, the policy which sought the
protection of the venerated name of Washington, would have
instantly armed, settle the question at once. The present Convention in the
preamble to the Constitution first brought the subject forward, as Virginia was
the firs t to suffer, in these words : " By prompting our negroes to rise in arms among
us, those very negroes, whom by an inhuman use of his negative, he had refused us
permission to exclude by law." As stated in a preceding note the leading
statesmen of Virginia at the time of the Revolution were opposed to slavery
and were anxious at least to put an end to the introduction of negroes from
Africa ; but Georgia and South Carolina were not disposed to abolish the traffic,
and it is«not improbable that the commercial and navigating interests of New
England were equally averse from such a measure.

176 THOMAS JEFFERSON.
descended for generations. The wonder is, not that he failed for a
time to raake head against an accidental raajority in Congress
which was sustained by the comraercial and monetary interests of
the country, and by that band of upright and honorable men who
were deluded to believe that the zeal with which they might uphold
that pohcy was the surest test of the unbounded affection which
they cherished for the Father of his Country; but that in a con
test with such odds pressing upon him, he was able in so short a
time to separate that powerful party into so many fragments that a
corporal's guard could scarcely be mustered against hira. It has
been fashionable of late in certain quarters to give HaraUton the
precedence on the score of abilities over Jefferson. Far be it from
us to detract frora the merits of that illustrious man, whose valor
won its latest and brightest triumph on the soil of this Comraon
wealth, who was the oracle of the forura and the ornament of the
cabinet as he was the pride of war, and who in the vigor of life
amid the tears of a nation went down to a bloody grave ; but con
ceding to his civic merits the meed of high applause, we must stiU
contend that those merits did not reach the standard of Jefferson.
Perhaps the individual best qualified to decide on the respective
abihties of these two eminent men was James Madison. He had
followed Hamilton step by step from the beginning of his career to
its untimely close, and he had viewed him in tbe double aspect of
a political friend and a political opponent. In the decline of life,
when the fires of party, if indeed they ever raged in that gentle
breast, had burned out, he affirmed that it would take raore than
one Hamilton to raake a Jefferson. As politicians, in the sense of
ruhng the affections and the will of tbe people, there is hardly
ground for comparison between men, one of -whom was the
successful champion of a great party reared mainly under his
auspices, and the influence of which is felt to this hour, and the
other of -whom, though the accredited heir of the popularity of the
purest narae in huraan history, could not secure the State in which
he hved from the grasp of bis foe, and in his short life saw not only
the extinction of the party to which he belonged, but the very
name of that party held in disrepute and openly disavowed. Nor
is tbe comparison between these erainent raen raore favorable to
Hamilton, when regarded in the light of the master-spirits of a
great era. Hamilton was eminently conservative. He h'ad but

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 177
httle faith in the capacity of the people for self-government. He
honestly beheved that the British system was the wisest of human
polities ; and though determined at every hazard to give the new
system a fair trial, he could not conceal from himself nor from
others the beUef that the country might yet be compelled to fall
back upon the British model. In an old established system he
would have been at horae. There his peculiar genius would have
reigned suprerae. As the colleague of the younger Pitt, whether in
the field, in the cabinet, or on the floor of the House of Commons,
he would have proved the ablest lieutenant that ever ranged under
the banner of party. But as the guide of a people resolved to shed
the slough of monarchy, and to establish popular institutions, he
was measurably, and, in a certain sense, out of place. And that
place was the place of Jefferson. With the Declaration of Inde
pendence came the establishment of the Virginia Constitution ; and
while the fires of the Revolution were laying waste the land, Jeffer
son planned and carried into iraraediate effect the leading measures
necessary to sustain a republican system as deliberately as he could
have done in a tirae of profound peace. He never looked back.
He never despaired of the republic. He believed, and always
through life acted on the belief, that the people were wise and
honest enough to uphold those institutions which were obviously
designed for their benefit, and which were tbe work of their own
hands. As a Statesman, the career of Jefferson in the House of
Burgesses, in the General Congress, in tbe House of Delegates and
as Secretary of State, has received the coraraendation of all impar
tial persons who have watched it closely. It is not unusual, how
ever, to sneer at the policy which he was compelled to adopt,
during his administration of the federal governraent, in relation to
our foreign affairs. Non-intercourse and embargo are with many,
even at this day, the synonyms of fear and folly. This is not the
place, at the close of a discourse already extended beyond its
prescribed limits, to discuss those subjects in detail; but a defer
ence to a common prejudice requires a passing remark. It may be
observed that nothing is raore unjust than to condemn raeasures of
policy from considerations which are the result of subsequent
developments. And judging by these developments, it may be
affirmed, perhaps, that the wisest course which Jefferson ought to
have adopted in tbe beginning of our commercial troubles with
12

178 THOMAS JEFFERSON.
France and England would have been to declare war with both
nations. But Jefferson had to deal with tbe present and not with
the future. The continent of Europe was involved in a war of
life and death. It was a contest for national existence, and in
comparison with which the present European embroilment is but
the play of the nursery. In the course of the struggle France had
become the unprincipled bandit of the land, and England the
ruthless robber of the sea. The laws of nations were set at naught
equally by both belligerents. To protect our commerce from the
hostile powers was impossible. If our ships touched the British
coast they were forfeitable to France ; if they touched a French
port, they were forfeitable to England. Our sailors, born on that soil
which bad been made free by the valor of their fathers, were seized
on the decks of their ships, and were transferred by thousands to
British men-of-war in which they were compelled to fight the
battles of England, or to be torn by the lash. Even at this distance
of time the indignation of every American glows so fiercely when
be contemplates the injuries which were then inflicted on his
unoffending and defenceless country, that he is hardly willing to
allow that any statute of limitations should bar his right of
vengeance. War with both nations was, indeed, justifiable; but
war in our defenceless state, besides other inconveniences which
would grow out of it, would give England the right to persist in
conduct which in time of peace was an outrage on neutral rights,
and for tbe redress of which she was amenable to the laws of
nations; and in so far as keeping our ships at home -^vas concerned
and which constituted the leading objection to the policy adopted
by the president, war was the most effectual act of non-intercourse
and embargo that could be desired. But the very violence of the
contest which devastated Europe was in the estimation of reflecting
men a presage of its cessation at no distant period, when the sense
of justice ofthe contending parties might be appealed to with
success. To go to war was to take redress in our own hands ; and was,
without gaining any essential benefit, to wipe off all our accounts
with the offending parties. A measure -which would at once enable
us to save our ships, and leave us free to avail ourselves of the
chapter of accidents which might open favorably at any moraent
seemed to be the most plausible means of rehef; and in this view
non-intercourse and an embargo were successively adopted. And

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 179
when war was ultimately declared by Madison, it was ascertained
that if the declaration of it had been postponed a few weeks longer,
the obnoxious orders in council would have been rescinded, and the
means of redress would have been within our reach. When we
estimate the number of lives which were sacrificed by the war, the
raUlions of treasure expended in its prosecution, and, beside other
calamitous results, the sacrifice of aU claim for the remuneration
of previous wrongs, of which war was the consequence, we cannot
but respect the policy of Jefferson which postponed an appeal to
arras. We raay truly deplore the erabarrassraents in our foreio-n
affairs which cramped his adrainistration, and we may look forward
with conscious pride to the time when we may be able to punish
similar wrongs even though inflicted by the combined navies of the
worid ; but it may well be doubted whether the wit of man could
have devised in the existing state of the country more effectual
measures of relief than those which were proposed by hira and
which were approved by the party of which he was the chief.
It has been asserted that he was a lover of popularity, and shaped
his raeasures to please the people. If the meaning of this charge
be that he cherished the good will of those in whose service his life
was spent, such was doubtiess the case. To be loved bythe people
araong whora our lot is cast, to be revered as a benefactor of our
race, is indeed a noble arabition ; and this ambition Jefferson
felt in its greatest extent. But if it be alledged that his great
measures were designed not with large general views but with the
object of acquiring popularity as a means of rising into power, no
accusation can be more untrue. He was of all bis contemporaries
the most uncalculating as to the effect of raeasures upon his own
personal interests. And this, we should say, was the distinctive
trait of his character. A reformer is rarely a hunter after pop
ular favor. He planned with deliberation his measures, and he
brought them forth, utterly regardless of consequences. The idol
of the people, he was, in no sense and at no time, a time-server or
a self-seeker. The great measures with which he connected him
self in early life were almost invariably ahead of public sentiment :
and, opposed as they were by men wbo bad for years controlled
public opinion, were more apt to retard than advance the progress
of a politician. Tbey were calculated to array, and did array, the
wealth, the talents, and the prejudices political and religious of a

1 80 THOMAS JEFFERSON.
powerful class and a ruling caste against him. The man who could
rise in a body composed mainly of tobacco-planters and slave
holders who had inherited their estates and wbo wished to transmit
thera to posterity, and of the friends of the church, and demand an
instantaneous and unqualified repeal of the laws of primogeniture
and entails, and the separation of the church from the state, and
who held in his hand a resolution to abolish slavery, might be
denounced as a mad-cap or an enthusiast, but could not be regarded
by any man wbo heard him state his propositions as a candidate for
present popularity. A tobacco-planter would not have purchased
popularity at such a price, even if he had been sure of his bargain.
The truth is that, so far frora catering for public favor by bis great
measures of reform, he may be said, although tbey becarae ulti
mately popular, never to have entirely recovered frora their support.
They were such as were not likely to be forgotten, and were never
forgiven. They inflicted a wound which no medicaments could
heal. They evoked passions which tirae could not appease, which
tracked him through life, and which gloated above his grave. It
was the merit of Jefferson that he pressed his raeasures, however
unpopular for a season, in the hope that in the process of time their
worth would be acknowledged. And it is most honorable to the
people, as it must have been most grateful to him, that, both at home
and abroad, their affections followed rather than preceded the
adoption of bis raost important schemes of legislation and reform.
The peculiarities of bis mind and character may be traced in his
style. Its essential merit lies rather in its strength and point than
in tbe choice or beauty of its words. Not that be did not fully com
prehend the worth of words and the grace of manner; but he
seems to have regarded language only as a means of accomplishing
his purpose, and to have written hastily out of a full mind, leaving
first thoughts to take care of themselves. Hence that freshness
and raciness which led the reader captive, and drew off his atten
tion from minor defects. His letters partake of this character
to a considerable extent. In all his writings reason predominates
over imagination ; and the reader quickly sees that the author
derived more pleasure from the pursuits of science than frora
those of literature. The same trait may be seen in his criti
cisms on books, and would sometimes lead us seriously to ques
tion the purity of his taste, if he had not written so much and

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 181
so well. In one respect he surpassed all his conteraporaries : in
the faculty of throwing a raass of doctrines into a group, and in
making them the shibboleth of a parly. His first inaugural,
severely criticized as it was, and in some respects justly amenable
to criticism, was the most remarkable chart of a party known in
our annals. It took such a firm hold of the public mind that neither
the eloquence, the wit, nor the bitter sarcasra of political opponents
could loosen it. The faculty of putting great truths in a nutshell,
of compressing whole theories or doctrines into an adage, was so
conspicuous in his writings that it may be said, when he wrote a
letter or a paper upon a party topic, the letter or paper became the
battle-ground of the time. It was tbe arraory frora which his
friends chose their weapons of offence and defence. Its phrases
becarae a part of the public raind. If his thoughts recorded in a
book were not so potential as his lighter essays, it was because they
were less easily accessible by the mass of the people. Hence the first
constitution of Virginia withstood for near fifty years his attacks in
the "Notes;" but when he threw his thoughts into the shape of a
letter to Kercheval, the fate of that instruraent was sealed. The
phrases of that letter were at once stereotyped in the pubhc voice ;
and it was amusing to observe on the court green and in debate
how those phrases passed current with men who had never seen or
heard of the letter, and who believed that they were clothing their
own thoughts in their own words. If he sought strength rather
than elegance in his writings, it was from no inability to adopt a
different style. Scattered freely throughout bis works are passages
of extraordinary grace and of rare excellence. His letter of con
dolence with John Adams on the death of his wife is justly praised
by the grandson of tbe sage of Quincy for its exquisite beauty of
thought and diction ; and it is certainly one of tbe happiest and
most harmonious compositions in the language. And not less
beautiful is the letter, the last be ever wrote, to the Washington
committee, declining to attend the celebration of that Fourth of
July on which he was to die. It is the appropriate and melodious
death-song of that wondrous magician wbo for half a century
wielded at wiU tbe affections of tbe American people.
The respective styles of Jefferson and Madison afford a singular
exemplification of the individual character of each.* As diplo-
* It is not unworthy of remark that both Jefferson and Madison wrote excel-

182 JEFFERSON AND MADISON COMPARED.
matists, neither of them had a rival. The letters of Jefferson to
Hammond, and of Madison to Erskine, are the best specimens
which we yet possess in that department of writing. These ex
hibit in coraraon perfect self-possession, ample research, great apt
ness in disquisition, and vigor and elegance of expression ; but it
will appear on a closer inspection that Jefferson, though reasoning
on large general principles, hastens rapidly to his conclusions,
which he presses upon his antagonist as if they were made ex
pressly for the case in hand, and as if his object was to obtain a
present victory. Madison, whose scope of reasoning is equally
as wide, is more elaborate in bis argumentation, and applies his
conclusions with equal tact to the case in hand; but in his philoso
phical mode of handling tbe subject, seems to regard his present
opponent as one member only of that august tribunal present and
future which was to decide the question. In their inaugural as
well as in their ordinary messages to Congress the same dis
tinction is apparent. Force and point and rapid analysis are tbe
characteristics of tbe style of Jefferson ; full, clear, and deliber
ate disquisition carefully wrought out, as if the writer regarded
himself rather as tbe representative of truth than the exponent
of the doctrines of a party or even of a nation, is the praise of
Madison. One wrote as a great minister at tbe head of a bureau,
under tbe pressure of business, and thoroughly conversant with
his subject, raight be expected to write. The other wrote with
full deliberation as if he were laying down the rules and principles
by which great ministers should be governed. Hence, as before
observed, every paper from the pen of Jefferson abounds with ex
pressions easily separable frora the context, which became the tocsin
of a party ; while it is difficult to cuU from the papers or even the
speeches of Madison, written on purely party topics, an adage or
a maxim, or even a pointed phrase, as a weapon to be used in the
existing contest. Jefferson was so thoroughly steeped in prac
tical affairs, that in aU his writings he could never let the politician
drop entirely out of view. Madison, though viewing politics as
lent hands. It is said that the leading actors in the drama of the French Rev
olution wrote hands that were hardly legible— Napoleon writing worst of all.
On the other hand our great Virginia statesmen excelled in this respect. Pey
ton Randolph, Pendleton, Mason, Henry, Read, Carrington, Cabell, Wythe,
Tazewell, were expert and graceful pensmen. The beauty of Washington's
hand-writing is proverbial.

JEFFERSON AND MADISON COMPARED. 183
steadily in their direct application to business, stiU regarded them
as a science, and was indisposed to attempt a conquest by other
means than those which were legitiraate in a discussion of pure
philosophy. Their respective characteristics were evinced in their use of
words. Madison was probably more critically learned in the dead
languages than Jefferson; for bis early advantages of acquiring
them were greater, and be nearly sacrificed his life by his devotion
to letters in bis youth ; yet in the course of his life he never dared
to coin a word. He was so well satisfied with the riches of the
EngUsh language that he found a word or a phrase for any purpose.
Jefferson, as if disposed to assail the sovereignty of the English
tongue as well as the sovereignty of the English sword, never hes
itated to coin a word when it suited bis purposes so to do ; and
though many of his brood are questionable on the ground of ana
logy and as intermixing languages ; yet they were expressive, and
became famihar. The epithet "pseudo-republican," the product of
an illegitimate cross, and applied to a celebrated jurist before he
assuraed the gown, is a word of his coinage, and may serve to re
mind the political adept of an interesting period in the state of
parties. The time is fast coming, if it has not already come, among the
nations of Europe as well as in his own land, when the name of
Jefferson will be indisputably the first on the civic roll of America.
Indications clear and abundant show that the finest minds of the
age, men wbo view history in the spirit of philosophy, are beginning
to assign him his station as the architect of American liberty.
Time, and distance which is but another phase of time, can alone
develope the true proportions of a great reformer. The mists of
prejudice and faction, of party and personal feeling, which darken
the vision of his contemporaries, must be allowed to dissolve. We
are old enough to remember when an allusion to the color of his
breeches would excite a laugh ; and within a quarter of a century
past, and within less than four years after his body had been com
mitted to the grave, one of his bitterest opponents sought to move the
mirth of a grave assembly by casting ridicule on a plough invented
by the author of tbe declaration of independence. He lived at a
time of extraordinary excitement, when passion passed frora poli
tics to persons, and when the courtesies of life were rarely ex-

184 THOMAS JEFFERSON.
changed between the contending parties. Most of those opponents
have departed ; but their prejudices yet survive in sorae of their
descendants. Another generation will brush them aU away. The
publication of his writings has contributed wonderfully to his
fame abroad. Here, where a generation has not passed since his
death, we may expect that some harsh comments which they may
contain on tbe conduct of relatives and associates, and on measures
which have been connected with tbe names of honored friends,
wiU in certain quarters produce a sensation ; but abroad no such
feelings exist. Rarely have the records of a human life reaching
beyond eighty years presented such a monuraent of industry, of
inteUigence, of consistent and devoted purpose, of patriotism pure
and fearless, and of a rare and far-reaching philanthropy. Even
his " Ana," which have been severely judged here, wiU be pro
nounced invaluable memorials of his tiraes, and serve with the
diaries of Reresby and Luttrell, of the younger Clarendon and the
younger Sidney, of Pepys and Evelyn, to let us in behind the
scenes of outward history. It is iraraaterial whether those records
in all their rainute details be true or false ; it is enough for tbe
purposes of history to know that they were believed to be true,
and were deliberately recorded and acted upon by the statesraan
-who was the master-spirit of the time.* They tend to illustrate
the greatest transition-period in modern history, and, apart from
the particular facts which they disclose, possess an inestimable
value. We would not erase a single line, we would not blot a sin
gle word, from bis writings which have come down to us. As
Christians, we may deeply deplore for his sake the fact, that his
narae cannot be ranked with the naraes of Locke and Newton and
Pascal, and of your own Boyle, t as the name of a believer in the
divinity of our Saviour, and that in a religious view we must place
hira in the sarae class with Franklin, Governeur IMorris, AUen,
the Adarases, Story, and other prorainent men of his era. But the
very freedom with which he discloses his views is honorable to
* Of course, I am pleased when any descendant of the actors of those days
can remove any imputation cast upon his ancestors ; but with all sueh ex
planations the value of the Ana is not impaired. The belief of Jefierson in
their truth is the ground of their worth. 'What would we give for the Ana
of Hampden or Cromwell, and how would they have been received after the
Restoration, or even in the time of the Georges ?
t Robert Bojjle was a great benefactor of William and Mary. His portrait,
presented by his brother still adorns the blue-room.

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 185
him. He had no concealments from those who sought bis opinions
in the ordinary forms of social intercourse. The utter absence of
aU hypocrisy in his writings is a merit of tbe highest order. The
disciples of TaUeyrand may sneer at his indiscretion, and may
repeat the proverb of their miserable master ; but we may rejoice
that Jefferson had higher views of lansuase than as a means
of concealing bis thoughts frora his fellow-men. We see hira and
we know bim as be was. But, aside from his collected writings
which posterity will cherish as its raost precious legacy bequeathed
by the primeval age of the repubhc, his titles to the kind reraem
brance and veneration of future times are beyond number. Indeed,
if any man were raore fortunate than another in interweaving his
name with the affections of his race, Jefferson is that man. If we
cast our eyes over the Comraonwealth, we behold everywhere his
handy--work. The traveller as he approaches the MetropoUs of
the State sees erainent above every other building our majestic
Capitol, and instanUy caUs to mind that the beautiful representa
tion before him of the modern capitol of Scaraozzi traced by tbe
genius of Clerissault was the design of Jefferson. This ancient
city is full of associations connected with his history. As the in
telligent stranger enters this College, and recalls the many dis
tinguished men whose youthful footsteps pressed its floors, the
name of your most illustrious son is tbe first that rises to his lips.
Here he spent his early hours ; here he gave back the shouts of
laughter araong his fellows ; here he disciplined his fine genius ;
and hence he sallied forth to engage in the business of life ; and
subsequently, when he was invested with the first honors of the
State, he again appeared within your walls, and devised certain
amendments of your polity which still exist in your statute-book.
It was in the doraestic circles of this city and in its ancient palace
that he forraed his manners, and acquired that social grace which,
even in his latest days, was tbe charm of all who approached hira.
It was in the Capitol in this city that he beard while a student the
eloquence of Henry, and becarae instinct with that love of coun
try which inspired hira through life, and which produced its rich
fruits, when, as a member of the House of Burgesses, be wrote
some of tbe ablest state-papers in our records. The elegant
mansion and the humble cottage, dotting in thick profusion the
hiUs and dales of this broad land, alike speak his praise. It was

186 THOMAS JEFFERSON.
his work that the colossal fabric of primogeniture and entails was
demolished, and property made free. It is his work that the
sons and the daughters of coraraon parents enjoy the comraon
patrimony. Inequality of wealth will indeed exist as long as some
men spend more than they earn and others earn more than they
spend ; for such an effect is of the essence of freedora ; but no
huraan law prevents the division of estates. When Jefferson
struck at the laws of primogeniture and entaUs, the property of
the country was mainly in the hands of a few, and every precau
tion the wit of raan could devise for its perpetuation in the sarae
families was carefully adopted. But such has been tbe effect of
his policy, that at this day, while there are not more than twenty
men in the State who would be deeraed rich on the London Exchange
or in Wall Street, there are tens of thousands and hundreds of thou
sands of thrifty proprietors, who on their native soil and in the shadow
of their own vine are enjoying the blessings of plenty and peace.
Now every youth starts fair in the race of wealth and farae. This is
tbe praise of Jefferson. Every temple, however humble or stately,
reared to religion, is a remerabrancer of his fame. If one passion
were stronger than another in English bosoms, it was a love of the
established church. The love of royalty was a strong passion ;
but the love of the church was stronger than the love of royalty.
It was Jefferson who year after year sapped the foundations of
this sacred monopoly until it toppled to its downfaU. And, as if
there was permanency in all his deeds, while not a shred of the
constitution drawn by George Mason exists in our present forra of
government, the preamble from the pen of Jefferson still holds its
place in the existing constitution and in tbe affections of tbe peo
ple. In all these measures he may be said to have appealed to the
people as a whole, to the old and the young, to the wise and the
simple. But in the establishment of the University of Virginia
he may be said to have rested bis appeal in the bosoms of tbe
young alone. That noble institution was the child of bis old age.
One of the raost touching of all his letters contains the o-lowino-
prediction of its usefulness which is verifying every hour. His
marble image, the work of a native sculptor, will ere long adorn
its halls, and will recall him to the eye of future ao-es such as he
was, when surrounded by private embarrassments and under the pres
sure of age, he sought to open up in the wilderness that fountain of

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 187
letters ; but, long after tbe marble shall have crumbled to dust, tbe
affections of youthful genius kindled at that sacred shrine wiU hal
low his name. If we look beyond the Coramonwealth, tbe evidences
of bis farae crowd upon us. The Fourth of July singled out from
common days by his pen, and consecrated by his death, is his for
ever. As long as that day in tbe endless cycle of ages shall re
turn, his fame wiU be fresh. The currency of the federal govern
ment, so siraple yet so perfect, is the work of his hands. The
mOl, the cent, the dirae, the dollar, the eagle, perpetually proclaira
the genius of the raan who called thera into being. The rules
which he laid down as tbe guides of federal policy are still held
in such repute that the worth or want of worth of an adrainistra
tion is decided by its adherence to thera or by its departure from
them. It was his doctrine that it was -cheaper and more honora
ble to acquire territory by the purse than to seize it with the sword ;
and the original territory of Louisiana, added to the Union with
out the tears of the vanquished or the wail of the widow, without
the loss of a single life or the shedding of a drop of blood, will be
a meraorial of his worth as long as its fertile fields produce their
harvests, and its noble rivers bear those harvests to tbe sea. When
we look at the unnumbered and iraportant topics associated with
his name, all of which are intiraately connected with the progress
of the huraan race, when we contemplate the vast extent of our
country which will in due time be settled by a dense population, the
increasing facilities [of intercourse among nations, the power of
the press the capacities of which for the diffusion of knowledge,
great as they now are, are but in the process of development, and
the expansive tendencies of our institutions, and turn our glance
from the past and the present to the future, may we not conclude
that, though a century has passed since the birth of Jefferson — a
century the chronicles of which are resplendent with bis deeds —
his fame is as yet only in its early dawn .?*
* The sources of information concerning Jefferson are abundant. I need
only specify his memoir of himself and his writings generally, the excellent
Life of Jeff'erson by Professor Tucker and the Eulogies of Wirt and Webster.
I wish I could speak of the truthfulness of the sketch in the work called Party
Leaders in as warm terms as I can of the ability and eloquence with which it
is written. Mr. Baldwin has brought out in bold relief some fine traits of Jef
ferson, and in a way that could hardly have been expected from an opponent;
but the general view which he takes is that which could only be taken by a
disciple of Alexander Hamilton or of Timothy Pickering.
On the subject of the constitutionality of acquiring Louisiana, about which

188 THOMAS NELSON.
To paSs over a single honored name of the Convention is a sub
ject of regret ; but we have far exceeded our limits, and we raust
touch lightly even the noble name of Thomas Nelson, who, edu
cated at this CoUege and at the University of Cambridge, England,
had served in the House of Burgesses and in the Council, who was
a meraber of aU the Conventions including the present, in which,
however, he did not keep his seat, having been deputed to Congress
in which body he signed the Declaration of Independence, being the
fifth member of the Convention whose name is attached to that
instrument;* who succeeded Jefferson as governor ofthe Coraraon-
wealth at a perilous crisis, and whose gallant services in the field
with his purse as well as with his sword entitle hira to tbe gratitude
and admiration of his country; of George Gilmer, the alternate of
Jefferson and his intimate friend, whose classic meraory yet sheds
a radiance over his beloved Albemarle ;t and of his colleague
Charles Lewis; of Benjamin Watkins of Chesterfield, the col
league of Archibald Cary, whose name, revived in his illustrious
grandson, has become the talisman of honor, of genius, of eloquence,
and of a glowing patriotism; of William Fle.aiikg of Cumberland,
a son of William and Mary, who was a meraber of the House of
Mr. Jefferson doubted in the first instance, I would refer the reader to the
arguraent of Mr. Tazewell in a report on the Colonization Society made in the
Senate of the United States in 1828, which is the ablest exposition of the
right extant.
The narae of Jefferson was among the first settlers. From a memorandum
made of the proceedings of the first House of Burgesses existing only in man
uscript in the British State Paper Office by Conway Robinson, Esq. it appears
that a Jefferson was one of the Burgesses. The Madisons, it appears from the
same source, had come over to the colony before 1623.
* The members of the Virginia Convention of 1776, who were also members
of Congress, and who signed the Declaration of Independence, were Wythe, R
H. Lee, Harrison, Jefferson, and Nelson. The life of' Kelson was shortened by
exposure and care in the public service. He died at his seat in Hanover on the
fourth of January, 178!l.in his fiftieth year. The eloquent Innis has commem
orated the death of his friend by a striking eulogium beginning: "The illus
trious General Nelson is no more ;" and ending with the lines from ShakspeE

speare

" His life was gentle ; and tlie elomonts
So tnixed in ilini, that nature might stand up
And say to all tiie world — this was a ."VIan.''

A sketch of his life, not free from some inaccuracies, ma}' be found in Sander
son's " Lives of the Signers." ("VII, 2()5.) See also Campbell's History page
154, where it is said a beautiful portrait of Nelson taken when he was a youth
by Chamberlin in London is now at Shelby in Gloucester, the seat of his daughter
Mrs. Mann Page.
t For many interesting particulars concerning Dr. Gilmer see Kennedy's Life
of Wirt, and Gilmer's Georgia Letters.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE MEMBEKS. 189
Burgesses and of the Conventions, a meraber of the coraraittee on
independence, a judge of the General Court and a judge of the
Court of Appeals;* of Meriwether Sraith of Essex, long a raember
of the House of Burgesses, a meraber of aU the Conventions, a
member of the Declaration Coramittee, and a meraber of the Vir
ginia Federal Convention ; of Joseph Jones of King George, long
a raember ofthe House of Burgesses, a meraber of all the Conven
tions, a raeraber of the Declaration committee, a raeraber of Congress,
and a judge of tbe General Court; of William Roscow Wilson
Curle, of the borough of Norfolk, a member of the House of Bur
gesses, and a judge of Admiralty and of the first Court of Appeals ;
of James Mercer of Hampshire, a student of William and Mary,
a member ofthe House of Burgesses, a member of all tbe Conven
tions, a raember of the Declaration committee, a raeraber of Con
gress, and a judge of Admiralty and of the first Court of Appeals;
of Richard Cary of Warwick, a student of William and Mary,
long a raeraber ofthe House of Burgesses, a member of the Decla
ration comraittee, a judge of the General Court, and a raeraber of
the Virginia Federal Convention ; of Simpson and Smith of Acco-
mac ; of Tabb and Winn of Araelia: of Richard Lee and Johw A.
Washington of Westraoreland ; of Dudley Digges and William
Digges of York; of Watts and Booker of Prince Edward ; of
Potthress of Prince George ; of Mayo of Curaberland ; of Bul
litt and Henry Lee of Prince Williara;t of Cocke and Faulcon
of Surry; of Robinson and Thoroughgood of Princess Anne; of
Page and Thornton of Spottsylvania ; of Brent of Stafford ; Or
Mason of Sussex; of the Harwoods of Charles City and War.
wick; of Gray and Taylor of Southampton; of James Taylor of
Caroline ; of Talbot and Lynch of Bedford ; of Kenner and Cralle
of Northumberland; of Bowyer and Lockhart of Botetourt; of
Acrill of Charles City ; of Field and Strother of Culpeper ; of
* The late Daniel Call once said to a friend : Roane may give you more rea
sons for his opinions, but Fleming is more apt to be right.
t The reader will not confound Henry Lee of Prince William with Richard Hen
ry Lee or any of his brothers, or with Henry Lee of the Legion. He was an old
raember ofthe House of Burgesses, a member of all the Conventions and ofthe
Declaration committee, and was a member of the General Assembly. His stand
ing was ofthe first before and after the Revolution. It was to Joseph Jones ot
King George to whom as a member of Congress, George Mason addressed his
able letter on the Virginia and Pennsylvania land dispute in 1780, which
may be seen in the Bland papers. Appendix, 124.

190 GENERAL VIEW OF THE MEMBERS.
Banister* and Starke of Dinwiddle; of Wilson Miles Gary and
Henry King of Elizabeth City ; of Scott of Fauquier, a name which
has held an honorable place in the Conventions of Virginia to this
day; of Speed of Mecklenburg and of his colleague Goode, a narae
also known in aU the early and in the subsequent Conventions; of
Wilkinson and Adams of Henrico; of Holt and Newton of Norfolk;
of Riddick and Cowper of Nansemond ; of Wills and Fulgham of
Isle of Wight; of Terry and Watkins of I|alifax; of Garland of
Lunenburg; of Meriwether and Johnson of Louisa; of Aylett
of King WUliam ; of Woodson and Thomas Mann Randolph of
Goochland; of Selden and Gordon of Lancaster; of Peyton of
Loudoun ; of Berkeley and Montague of Middlesex; of Nathan
iel Lyttleton Savage and George Savage of Northampton; and
of others, who, as students of WiUiam and Mary, as members of
the House of Burgesses, and of aU tbe deliberative bodies of the
Revolution, and as ardent patriots, deserve our favorable regard. t
But it is time that the Convention adjourn. Its work was done
and well done. That parting scene might well touch the sensibUi-
ties of the sternest heart. Some strong passions had been roused
at several stages of its proceedings; and though the votes on the
prominent questions were apparently unanimous, there ¦^^•ere some
serious struggles in adjusting details, and the line of division between
the two great parties was more than once sharply drawn. t As is
usual at the close of a session, the rules of order were slightly re
laxed. A group of merabers might have been seen examining the
ingenious device ofthe public seal which a few moments before bad
been reported by Mason and unanimously adopted hv the House ;
and others were at the table of the Clerk inspecting the enrolled
* There is no living male descendant of Col. Banister that I am aware of. He
was educated in England, and studied law at the Temple, was a member of all
the early Conventions, a colonel in the Virginia line, and a member of Congress.
A small stream in Halifax bears his name. He died in 17S7 and is buried in
Dinwiddle county near Hatcher's Run. There is a miniature likeness of him
at Osrnore in the county of Amelia. For his letters and other particulars re
specting him see the Bland papers collected by Ciiarles Campbell, to which I
am indebted for these details.
f The general catalogue of William and Mary, recently published by the
faculty, is an interesting document; but, while it contains the names of some of
the members of the Convention who were students of the College, it omits
others. It is valuable as it is, and will be doubtless amended in the next
edition. X See Letter of George Mason of May 18, 1776 in the archives ofthe Histor
ical Society.

CLOSE OF THB CONVENTION. 191
biU ofthe constitution ; but, when the motion to adjourn was made,
the raerabers hastened to ther seats. When the motion was carried,
Pendleton rose slowly from the chair to announce the result. He
evidently felt the solemnity of the scene. His handsome face, the
serenity of which the fiercest storm of debate could not ruffle, re
flected the unwonted feelings which agitated his bosom ; and when
the clear tones of that silver voice fell on the ears of the members
now for the last time, feelings too deep for utterance were excited in
every bosom. Yet his self-command was such, no emotion save in
the tremulous fullness of his voice appeared in his manner. He
spoke deliberately and wisely as became the organ of such a body.
He said in substance, " that tbe labors of the Convention were
ended. Independence bad been declared, and a form of govern
ment had been adopted ; and from urgent necessity the Convention
had devised certain measures for the public safety. He called upon
the members to keep in mind that independence was yet to be
maintained in the field, and that the adrainistration of the new gov
ernment required the constant and cordial aid of the people. He
felt that his associates would act their part with honor, and would
spend their treasure and their blood freely in the common cause;
and would animate the people by their example. A war with a
powerful nation might justly be deemed formidable even to a na
tion long established and well provided with the means of defence.
But their case was peculiar. They were engaged in a struggle of
life and death under circumstances of great embarrassment. They
were in the midst of a civil war. The hand of a brother might be
raised against a brother; the nearest and dearest ties of blood and
friendship must be sundered. If they were unsuccessful, their es
tates would be confiscated, their families would be reduced to want,
and the scaffold raight be their own fate. But their blood would not
be spilt in vain. Their cause was just. Liberty was their birthright,
and life without liberty had no value in their eyes. The contest
was no choice of theirs. They had been driven to the sword. They
had coramitted their cause to the God of Battles; and should it be
His will, as he hoped and believed that it would be, to give success
to their arms, what a glorious triumph awaited them ? They would
enjoy the blessings of liberty and peace, and their children and
their children's children would rise up and call thera blessed. He
returned his sincere thanks to the members for their kind appreciation

192 CLOSE OF THE CONVENTION.
of his services in the chair, and he bade them — one and all — an affec
tionate farewell.'' Thus closed the sessions of the Virginia Con
vention of 1776, the deliberations of which led directly to tbe es
tablishment of Araerican Independence, and will be felt in human
affairs as long as the language in which they are recorded shall
endure.

CONCLUSION

Now, Mr. President, we have heard the history of some of these
worthy men under whose guidance our beloved Virginia cast aside
her colonial bonds, and assumed a position araong the nations of
the earth. Should I seem to have dwelt too long on their personal
history, it raust be remerabered that the praise of but few of them
is to be found in print, and that the rise, progress, and consumraa-
tion of the Revolution are most intimately connected with the
individual character and personal influence of tbe raen who were
engaged in it. Of them it may be strictly said, that tbey were
men, not whom the Revolution made, but who made tbe Revolu
tion. From the impulse of gain or ambition no prudent man of
that era would have incurred the risks of a radical change. Ulti
mate defeat was probable ; and an immense loss of life and property
was inevitable. Nought but the defence of a great principle would
have impelled our fathers to make a stand on such an occasion ;
and, as we have reaped the rewards of their sacrifices, we nat
urally seek to know the domestic life of our benefactors. Let
us make the story of their hves the first lessons of tbe young as
well as the study of the old. Let us make their faces and their
forms farailiar to the public eye. Let the chisel of the sculptor
strike frora tbe rock their august iraages for the illustration of the
Capitol. Let the brush of the artist portray their features for the
adornraent of our horaes, of our colleges, and of our historical
haUs. Let the daguerreotype reflect frora the walls of the
humblest cottage of a Virginia farmer the faces of the Fathers of
the Republic. For never did a people owe more to their ancestors
than we do to ours. A more magnificient heritage no people ever
shared, or ever descended from a purer source. It is to the mem-
13

194 CONCLUSION.
bers of the Virginia Convention of 1776 that we are indebted for
the independence of Virginia. It was their mandate to our dele
gates in Congress that caUed into being the resolution, drawn by
one of its raerabers, which pronounced tbe United Colonies free
and independent. It was in pursuance with that resolution, that tbe
Declaration of Independence of the Fourth of July, drawn by another
of its merabers, was promulgated to the world. It is to their provident
forecast that the fundamental and inalienable rights of man are
recorded in a form within the reach of the humblest citizen — a
forra so succinct as to have been adopted by other states and to
becorae the coramon birthright of tbe Araerican people. To them
belongs tbe honor of having presented to the world the first model
of a written constitution of a free coramonwealth. These venerable
patriots, to whora we owe so much, have all passed away. The last,
not the least of them all, was gathered to bis fathers amid the shades
of Montpelier nineteen years ago. The wave of tirae has now fairly
settled above thera all. Let it be our pride to cherish their meraory.
Let us teach our youth to repeat their naraes, to recount their deeds,
and to iraitate their virtues. But let us not forget that, though they
have passed away, our beloved Virginia is iraraortal. She still
lives in the freshness of life and in tbe prime of ber esceeding loveli
ness. Time has written no wrinkle on her majestic brow. Not a
leaf of the laurels with which two centuries have bedecked ber
has withered or been plucked away. The Atlantic marks her
empire in the east, and tbe gentle waves of the Ohio wash hej.
northwestern limit; but her territory no longer leans on the Mis
sissippi. A noble state, created b}- ber act, and carved out of
her lands, once known as tbe Bloody Ground, now as Kentucky
forms ber western boundary. Her laws organic and statute she
may alter or amend as tbe interests and feelings, or even the
caprices, of her children, may require; for since the date of the
Convention a white population exceeding that then or now residino-
in the East, strong in its love of liberty as in its numbers, and de
voted to her rule, has sprung into existence beyond those mountains
which were then tbe alraost extreme boundaries of the Ano-lo-Saxon
race on the Araerican continent. Railways and canals have pene.
trated the interior, and united ber children by ties which may never
be sundered. This CoUege, over which in its infancy she extended
her fostering hand, still survives to bless new generations, and hails

CONCLUSION. 195
with the affection of a sister those kindred institutions which are
lighting the mountain and the plain in one general blaze of civiliza
tion and knowledge. Her ancient church, the object of her early
care, resting no longer on the infidel arm of the secular power, but
on the arm of ber Divine Master, and reposing on the general
affection, flourishes fairer and purer and lovelier than ever. Nor are
her temples the only temples on which a Christian patriot delights to
dweU. A thousand spires reared by the willing hands of Christian
men, controlled not by the law of the land but by the law of love,
proclaim the great truth that religion is free, and that God is wor
shipped in spirit and in truth. WeU may our blessed mother con
template -^vith joy her colleges and her churches ; for she knows
ftiU well that knowledge and religion are the noblest and best
defence of a Coramonwealth. Behold our beloved mother! How
beautiful she seems ! Pure as she is beautiful, good as she is great !
You hear no word of repining, no voice of censure or of envy, from
her taintless lips. She looks abroad over the Commonwealth. She
knows no East, no West, no North, no South. She regards with
equal affection all her children. She asks not in what distant
clime any of them may have been born — enough for her to know
that they cherish her prosperity, and have their homes beneath her
wings. Now, as ever, she delights in the beauty and piety of her
daughters and in the wisdom and valor of her sons; and many a
precious name has she garnered beside those of her Clark, her
Henry, and ber Washington. And shall we not requite her devoted
affection? Shall we not cling, aye, forever cling to that soil which
our mighty fathers trod, and beneath which they are laid to rest?
Shall we not sustain with our latest pulse her spotless banner?
Shall we not seek in our day to diffuse that brotherly love, that
generous civilization, that love of liberty and that light of letters,
which she prizes so well ? Shall we not seek by a mild and wise
policy to underraine the loathsome jail and the fearful penitentiary,
and rear on their reeking ruins the school-house, the college, and
the church? ShaU we not seek by physical means as well as
moral, by the raUway and the canal as well as by the school-house
and the church, to connect in pleasant coramunion all the parts of
our territory, all the children of one family? Thus shall we earn
a titie to be reraembered, when our ashes shall have mingled with
the ancestral mould, by the sons and daughters of Virginia who

196 CONCLUSION.
may henceforth assemble in this hall to dwell upon the past, and to
invoke upon future generations the untold blessings which we now
enjoy. In conclusion, let rae express the pleasure which I have enjoyed
in revisiting after a long lapse of years your ancient institution.
When in the distance I beheld the rays of the sun glancing from
her hoary roof, all her precious associations crowded upon me. Her
position in this rural and peaceful city, once the metropolis of the
Colony and ofthe Comraonwealth, and ever the abode of high cour
tesy and honor, where the Muses have loved so long to dwell ;*
her structure still stately and sound with a century of years chron
icled on its front — transported rae into the past, and I seeraed to see
the incidents of her busy life rise in quick succession before me. I
could share the exultation of your pious Founder as he saw rising
day by day an edifice from which a band of educated youth would
go forth to teach the savage, and to diffuse in the New World the
benefits of knowledge and religion. The names of his successors
in the presidency, the Dawsons, Stith, Yates, Horrox, Camm, Mad
ison, Smith, Wilmer, Dew, who devoted their lives to the cause of
literature and science, and who trained raany a noble j'outh for the
service of his country, rush upon ray recollection. I can trace the
youthful Washington as be passes your portal, with his warrant of
Surveyor in his possession,! ready to enter the wilderness in pur
suit of fortune, to that later day when, with all his honors fresh
upon him, the successor of the Bishop of London as Chancellor of
the College, he led your annual convocations. I see, too, pass
from your Board of Examiners which met in this building, bearing
their warrants of Surveyor with thera, William Maj-o, just arrived
from his home in the Antilles, and destined to run that line which
stlU raarks the boundary of two sovereign States ; Thomas Lewis,
* By the seventeenth section of the charter of William and Mary granted in
1692, it is declared that the lands of the College shall be held by the trustees
by fealty, in free and common socage, they paying to the king and his succes
sors two copies of Liilin verses ycai-ly, on every fi'l'th day of Kovember, at the
house of the governor or lieutenant governor for the time being, in full dis
charge of all quitrents &,c.
I The office of Surveyor General was conferred on the Faculty ofthe College
by the sixteenth section ofthe charter which enjoins that the professors " shall
nominate and substitute such and so many particular surveyors for the particular
counties of our Colony of Virginia, as on'r governor in chief, and the council of
our said Colony, shall think fit and necessary ;" for which service they were to
receive " the profits and appurtenances of the office," which were already es
tablished by law.

CONCLUSION. 197
the first surveyor of Augusta, and Thoraas Read, the first surveyor
ofthe patriotic county in which I reside, whose services and sacri
fices on the altar of their country I have dwelt upon elsewhere ;
and Zachary Taylor, the father of that heroic raan wbo inscribed
the names of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palraa, Monterey, and Buena
Vista by the side of those of Princeton, Trenton and York. I can
see Wythe and Sraall in earnest conversation as they leave your
lecture-roora, accompanied by that tall red-haired boy whom with
prophetic sagacity they had singled out araong his fellows as their
compeer and friend, and wbo, while they were yet living, was to
preside in the governraent of a nation which had received its bap
tism at his hands. I see that generous band of students wbo at the
beginning of the Revolution hurriedly cast aside the gown, and
saUied forth to fight the battles of the United Colonies. The Boi
lings, the Burwells, the Byrds, the Carters, the Cockes, the Clai-
bornes, the Dades, the Digges', the Egglestons, the Harrisons, the
Lj'ons', the Mercers, tbe Monroes, the Nelsons, the Pages, the
Randolphs', and the Saunders', appear before rae almost with the
distinctness of real life. And when the struggle was pa.st, I see
two tall and gallant youths, "who had been classraates in early youth,
and whose valor had shone on many a field, enter their naraes on
your hsts, and after an abode beneath your roof depart once raore to
serve their country in the senate and in the most celebrated courts
of Europe, crowning their public career by filling, one of them tbe
Chief Magistracy of the Union, the otber the highest office of tbe
Federal Judiciary. I see another tall and graceful youth, who, I
rejoice to say, is still living — and long raay he live tbe bulwark of
his own and the adrairation of other lands — as he leaves this build
ing on his errand of patriotisra, and I can almost hear the shouts of
his successors in this hall as in due time he connected with your
history and with the history of the age the magic words of Chippewa
and Lundy's Lane, and I bear those shouts redoubled as the names
of Vera Cruz, the King's Bridge, Cerro Gordo, Cherubusco, Molino
del Rey, Chapultepec and the city of Mexico are borne to thera in
close array on the wings of the Southern breeze. I see a host of
young men departing from you year after year, sorae of whom are
now among the brightest ornaments of their country, and who have
shed a new lustre on the name of WUliara and Mary. I ascend
your stairway worn by the tread of a century, and another pano-

198 CONCLUSION.
raraa is unroUed to the eye. I enter your Blue Roora, the scene of
your early convocations, and inspect with surpassing interest your
charter filling a score of sheets of parchment with its details, and
the books of your ancient records; and 1 gaze with unutterable emo
tions on the portraits which depend from its cornice. The image
of your Founder, side by side with that of his duteous wife, who
shared with hira his early hardships and who sustained hira stag
gering beneath the weight of those responsibilities civil as well as
religious which for near two-thirds of a century devolved upon him,
there finds its fitting habitation. The face of the philosophic Boyle,
drawn by no common hand and yet untouched by time, one of your
earliest and most liberal benefactors, who, undazzled by a fame
which filled the ear of Europe, sought by the assistance of your
predecessors to bring the untutored Indian v.'ithin the pale of Chris
tianity and letters, and whose name is inseparably connected with
your CoUege, still beams with all that mild beneficence which so
tenderly appealed to the hearts of our fathers. There tbe face of
the lamented Dew, the friend of other days, justly your pride and
the pride of his country, while we weep to think that his ashes are
far away on the banks of the Seine, greets us with his wonted
smile in the heart of his home and in the home of bis heart. I enter
your library and the collective wisdom of centuries look down upon
me from its shelves. I open with reverence your raagnificent edi
tion of Chrysostom, and I read on its frontispiece in his own hand
writing that it was presented to our fathers more than a century ago
by the first peer of the British realm — a gift so fit for an Archbishop
of Canterbury to bestow and for our fathers to receive. I open
another m'agnificent volurae, and the arms of Louis the Sixteenth,
who gave us the aid of his fleets and armies in the war of indepen
dence, proclaim its story. The names of Blair, Spotswood, Din
widdle, Fauquier, Botetourt, are seen everywhere in those votive
books. Guard, Mr. President, guard with more than vestal care
those sacred memorials which connect your institution so intimately
and so honorably with the good and the great of past a2;es. Let
no profane band touch them. Let no impious innovator re
move them frora the spot where our honored fathers in the
fulness of their hearts dehghted to place them. But it is not
the symbols of departed genius alone that touch me. There
is one spectacle in this CoUege more grateful still. In your Faculty

CONCLUSION. 199
I behold men 'worthj'^ to wear tbe mantles of their illustrious prede
cessors, and, above all, do I behold a large number of generous
young men, filling the rooms which their fathers filled before them,
and ready to go forth, like their fathers, in tbe fulfilment of those
duties which Virginia exacts from her educated sons, and to earn
new trophies to be placed at her feet. These are cheering signs
and fill the heart of the patriot with joy. Go on, sir, with your ac
complished associates, in the course which you have so handsomely
beo'un, and the aspirations of the pious, the patriotic, and the learned
will haUow your path.

NOTE

It may be said that many of the members of the Convention of 1776 attained
a good old age. Madison outlived all his associates in that body, having sur
vived the adjournment sixty years, and dying on the 28th of June, 1836, aged
85 years, three months and fourteen days ; and Paul Carrington died on the
21st of June, 1818 aged 85 years, three months, and twenty-five days, thus at
taining a greater age than Madison by eleven days. Carrington died of a diar-
rhcea which he neglected too long. Jefferson died on the fourth of July 1826,
aged 83 years, three months and three days. Pendleton died in his 83rd year,
and Wythe by poison on the eighth of June 1806, aged 80. Col. Thomas Lewis
died of a cancer in his face in his 72d year, and Col. Thomas Read of an affec
tion of the bladder in his 76th year. Col. Arthur Campbell died in Knox
county, Kentucky, of a cancer on the face in his 74th year. George Mason
died on the seventh of October, 17S2, aged 66. Col. Richard Bland died in
his 69th year in October 1776 of an apoplectic fit which came upon him while
walking the streets of Williamsburg. I ought to have stated in the notice of
Bland that he was attending the session of the General Assembly at the time,
and was chairman of the select committee which reported Mr. Jefferson's cele
brated bill " to enable tenants in faille to convey their lands in fee simple."
He was the first member of the Convention who died, having departed within
four months after the adjournment. Judge Blair died in Williamsburg on the
thirty-first of August 1800, aged 69. Col. Archibald Cary died at Ampthill
in 1786 between 60 and 70, and Col. Nicholas at his seat in Hanover where he
was spending the summer in 1780 in or near his 65th year. The date of the
birth of Cary and Nicholas I have sought in vain, and it is probable that I have
made Nicholas older than he was. Benjamin Watkins died about 1780, it is
believed, between 60 and 70. Patrick Henry died on the sixth of June, 1799,
aged 63 years and ten days, of a disease of the bladder which modern science
might probably have relieved. Richard Henry Lee died in his sixty-second
year. His brother Thomas Ludwell, a member of the Convention from the
county of Stafford, and one of the Revisors, died in his 47th year. Judge
Tazewell died in Philadelphia in 1799 in his forty-sixth year. James Mercer
died in 1793 beyond middle life. Thomas Nelson died in 1789, aged 50. W.
R. Wilson Curie died before the close of the war somewhat beyond middle age.
Merriwether Smith, and Henry Lee of Prince William (not Legion Harry)

202 NOTE.
died at an age considerably advanced. Edmund Randolph died on the twelfth
of September 1813 in the county of Frederic, now Page, aged 60 years, one
month and three days. He was stricken with palsy, the disease of his race,
his son having been stricken with the same disease in the life-time of his father.
Peyton Randolph, the president of the Convention until July 1775, also died of
palsy in his 52nd year, " having been seized while dining at Mr. Harry Hall's
in Philadelphia, and dying before nine the same night." (Washington's Writ
ings Vol. Ill, 140, note.) The father of Peyton died in his 44th year, and
the brother of Peyton, John, the Atorney General, died in England about his
56th year as near as I can determine.
In another place I have alluded to the lofty stature of the members of the
early Conventions. Washington who was a member of the Conventions of
August 1774 and of March 1775, the Lewises, the Randolphs, George Mason,
Pendleton, the Cabells, the Carringtons, Henry, Bland, the Lees, Jefferson, the
Campbells, Blair, Tazewell, were nearly all fully six feet, and some of them
above that mark. Wythe and Madison were small ; although Mr. Jefferson
represents Wythe as of middle size in early manhood. He appeared small in
old age. Madison was probably the only very small man in the Convention of
1776. Of a later date, Marshall and Monroe were tall. Innis was probably the
largest man in the Union. The Conqueror of Mexico overtops his fellow-mor
tals in stature as well as in military fame. It was for a long time believed in
England that the Virginians approached the gigantic. When a British offi
cer who was taken by Manning at Eutaw, reached England, he reported that
he was seizTed by " a huge Virginian." Manning, however, as I was told by
one who knew him, was rather below than above the middle stature.
Red hair was another peculiarity of the Virginians. One who saw the
Virginia troops pass through Petersburg on their way to join the army of
Greene, told my informant that two-thirds of the officers had red hair. Jef
ferson, Campbell, the hero of King's Mountain, Arthur Campbell, John Taylor
of Caroline, many of the valiant race of Green, had red hair. It would seem
that the red hair flamed more in the field than in the cabinet. Jhe hair
of Patrick Henry was sandy I am inclined to think, although no member of
his family could remember its color, as he was bald in early life, wearing a wig
abroad and a linen cap at home. George Mason in early life was as swarthy and
had as black eyes and black hair as Charles the Second whom his ancestor sus
tained in the bloody field of Worcester. Carrington, I am disposed to believe,
had sandy hair, approaching to red.
The following counties are called in honor of members of the Convention
of 1776 :
Harrison, Jefferson, Madison, Mason, Nelson, Patrick and Henr}% (after
Patrick Henry,) Pendleton, Randolph, (after Edmund,) Russell, Tazewell, and
Wood. The following counties bear the names of members of tlie Convention but
are called as follows :
Cabell after the late Judge W. H. Cabell, Campbell after Gen. Wm. Campbell,
Lewis after Col. Charles Lewis who fell at Point Pleasant, the brother of

NOTE. 203
Thomas and Andrew, Mercer after Gen. Hugh Mercer, Page, after Gov. John
Page, Scott after Gen. Winfield Scott, Lee after Gen. Henry Lee, and Taylor
after John Taylor of Caroline, or Gen. Robert B. Taylor of Norfolk, or, if I
remember the debate on the name rightly, after both. Neither Peyton Ran
dolph nor Richard Henry Lee have been commemorated in our Ust of counties.
In dispatching this last proof to the press, it may be well enough to inform
the reader that much of this discourse was passed over in the delivery. The
debatable parts, as the Mecklenburg Declaration, the North Carolina resolution
of independence, and the peculiar views respecting the Cavalier, were either
explicitly stated in substance or in full ; but most of the biographical details
were necessarily omitted. I regret on looking back that I have passed over
so many names which merit a lasting remembrance. The gallant services of
Col. Arthur Campbell deserves a deliberate record. His position in the Con
vention was most commanding. Col. Christian, who was a member of the
March and July Conventions of 1775 had retired to lead the expedition against
the Cherokees, and Col. Campbell was the best informed man in the body on
Indian affairs — a subject of the highest importance when it was known that
the great object of the British Government was to kindle an Indian war on our
frontiers. Col. Campbell afterwards succeeded Col. Christian in the command
of the army against the Indians. At the close of the war he removed to Ken
tucky, then a part of Virginia, where he spent the remainder of his life. It
was his son who commanded the right wing of the army under Gen. Scott at
the battle of Chippewa, where he fell. The names of Gen. William Russell,
of Gov. Wood, of Samuel McDowell, of Harvie and Simms, of Bowyer and
Lockart, and of others who came from the Valley and from the Peidmont re
gion, merit a fuller notice than I have been able fo give them. In many cases
I knew not who was their representative, to whom I might write; for books
afforded very little information respecting any of my subjects ; and the time
for the delivery of the discourse was rapidly drawing near. A list of the
members will be found in the Appendix, and I particularly request that the de
scendant or representative, or friend of any one of them will consider this notice
as a letter expressly addressed to him with an earnest solicitation for the details
of the lives and characters of the members. As this discourse will probably be
republished with the discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1829-30 al
ready delivered, and with the discourse on the Convention of 1788, which I
have been requested by the Virginia Historical Society to prepare, it would
afi'ord me great pleasure to publish as full details of the lives of the members
as my limits will allow. I would also make the same request of those who
represent the members of the Convention of 1788. My address from the
first of November to the first of June is Norfolk, and from the first of June
to the first of November Charlotte C. H. Va.
December 12, 1856. — It is due to the reputation of Pendleton, Henry, and
Nelson, to state a fact which I accidentally discovered some days ago in the
Virginia Gazette of Nov. 2, 1803. It is there reported that Edmund Randolph
in his address at the funeral of Pendleton stated that the resolution instructing

204

NOTE.

our Delegates in Congress to declare independence was drawn by Pendleton,
was ofl^ered in Convention by Nelson, and was advocated on the floor by Henry.
In a note on page 68, John Nicholas is inadvertently stated to have repre
sented New York in Congress. He did not re-enter Congress after leaving
Virginia.

APPENDIX.

.A list of the members of the Convention of Virginia which begun its sessions in ilie
City of Williamsburg on Monday the sixth of May, 1776, as copied from ilie
Journal :
AccoMAc, Southey Simpson and Isaac S,mith, Esquires.
Albemahle, Charles Lewis Esquire, and George Gilmer for Thomas Jefferson,
Esquire.
Amelia, John Tabb and John Winn, Esquires.
Augusta, Thomas Lewis and Samuel McDowell, Esquires.
' West Augusta, John Harvie and Charles Simms, Esquires. '
Amherst, WiUiam Cabell and Gabriel Penn, Esquires.
Bedford, John Talbot and Charles Lynch, Esquires.
Botetourt, John Bowyer and Patrick Lockhart, Esquires.
Brunswick, Frederic Maclin and Henry Tazewell, Esquires.
Buckingham, Charles Patteson and John Cabell, Esquires.
Berkeley, Robert Rutherford and William Drew, Esquires.
Caroline, the Hon. Edmund Pendleton and James Taylor, Esquires.
Charles City, William Acrill, Esquire, and Sam. Harwood, Esquire, for B.
Harrison, Esquire.
Charlotte, Paul Carrington and Thomas Read, Esquires.
Chesterfield, Archibald Cary and Benjamin Watkins, Esquires.
Culpeper, Henry Field and French Strother, Esquires.
Cumberland, John Mayo and WiUiam Fleming, Esquires.
DiNwiDDiE, John Banister and Boiling Starke, Esquires.
Dunmore, Abraham Bird and John Tipton, Esquires.
Elizabeth City, Wilson Miles Cary and Henry King, Esquires.
Essex, Meriwether Smith and James Edmondson, Esquires.
Fairfax, John West, jun. and George Mason, Esquires.
Fauquier, Martin Pickett and James Scott, Esquires.
Frederick, James Wood and Isaac Zane, Esquires.
FiNCASTLE, Arthur Campbell and WiUiam RusseU, Esquires.
Gloucester, Thomas Whiting and Lewis Burwell, Esquires.
Goochland, John Woodson and Thomas M. Randolph, Esquires.
Halifax, Nathaniel Terry and Micajah Watkins, Esquires.
Hampshire, James Mercer and Abraham Hite, Esquires.

206 APPBNDLX.
Hanover, Patrick Henry and John Syme, Esquires.
Henrico, Nathaniel Wilkinson and Richard Adams, Esquires.
James City, Robert C. Nicholas and WiUiam Norvell, Esquires.
Isle of Wight, John S. Wills and Charles Fulgham, Esquires.
King George, Joseph Jones and William Fitzhugh, Esquires.
King and Queen, George Brooke and William Lyne, Esquires.
King William, WiUiam Aylett and Richard Squire Taylor, Esquires.
Lancaster, James Selden and James Gordon, Esquires.
Loudoun, Francis Peyton and Josias Clapham, Esquires.
Louisa, George Meriwether and Thomas Johnson, Esquires.
Lunenburg, David Garland and Lodowick Farmer, Esquires.
Middlesex, Edmund Berkeley and James Montague, Esquiers.
Mecklenburg, Joseph Speed and Bennett Goode, Esquires.
Nansemond, Willis Riddick and and William Cowper, Esquires.
New Kent, William Clayton and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esquires.
Norfolk, James Holt and Thomas Newton, Esquires.
Northumberland, Rodham Kenner and John Cralle, Esquires.
Northampton, Nathaniel L. Savage and George Savage, Esquires.
Orange, James Madison and William Moore, Esquires.
Pittsylvania, Benjamin Lankford and Robert Williams, Esquires.
Prince Edward, William Watts and WiUiam Booker, Esquires.
Prince George, Richard Bland and Peter Poythress, Esquires.
Princess Anne, WiUiam Robinson and John Thoroughgood, Esquires.
Prince William, Cuthbert BuUittand Henry Lee, Esquires.
Richmond, Hudson Muse and Charles McCarty, Esquires.
Southampton, Edwin Gray and Henry Taylor, Esquires.
Spottsylvania, Mann Page and George Thornton, Esquires.
Stafford, Thomas Ludwell Lee and WiUiam Brent, Esquires.
Surry, Allen Cocke and Nicholas Faulcon, Esquires.
Sussex, David Mason and Henry Gee, Esquires.
Warwick, William Harwood and Richard Cary, Esquires.
Westmoreland, Richard Lee, Esquire ; Richard Henry Lee, Esquire ; and
John A. Washington, Esquire.*
York, Dudley Digges, Esquire; Thomas Nelson, jr. Esquire; and WUUam
Digges, Esquire.
Jamestown, Champion Travis, Esquire.
Williamsburg, Edmund Randolph, Esquire, for George Wythe, Esquire.
Norfolk Borough, William Roscow Wilson Curie, Esquire.
College of William and Mary, John Blair, Esquire.
* John A. Washington was probably tlie altornate of K. II. I.or.

RICHMOND BOOKSTORES

J. W. RANDOLPH,
^ttMis|tr, '§00lisdla; ^iHiioiter
AND
DEALER IN^ M:XJSIC,
121 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, Va.
In addition to the best assortment of La^w, Medical, Theo
logical, Historical, Classical, Agricultural, School and Mis
cellaneous Books in Virginia, offers the following for sale
in any quantities :
Quarterly La-w Journal, Svo. paper, per year, $5.
¦ffythe's Virginia Reports, new aud only complete edition, Svo.
sheep, S4.
Jefferson's Virginia Reports, Svo. half calf, $2.
Hening and Munford's Virginia Reports, new edition, 4 vols., 8vo.,
sp. S20.
Munford's Virginia Reports, 6 vols. Svo. sp. $30.
Randolph's Virginia Reports, 6 vols. Svo. sp. $24.
Gilmer's Virginia Reports, 8to. cf. §2.
Leigh's Virginia Reports, 12 vols. Svo. cf. $48.
Grattan's Virginia Reports, 11 vols. Svo. cf. $44.
Cases, criminal, etc., by Judges Brockenbrough and Holmes, ne-w edi
tion, with notes, 2 vols, in 1, Svo. sp. $6.
Acts of Assembly of Va., various years, Svo. bf. sh. 75 to $1 25.
Hening and Shepherd's Statutes of Va., 16 vols. Svo. sp. $13.
Hening's Lawyer's Guide and American Pleader, 2 vols. Svo. sp. $8.
HaU's Digested Index to the Virginia Reports, 2 vols. Svo. sp. |3.
Mathews' Guide to Commissioners in Chancery, 8to. sp. $2 50.

J. W. Eandolph's List of Boohs.

Rules of the Court of Appeals of Va., Svo. pa. 12c.
Mayo's Magistrate's Guide, 8vo. sp. $3.
Virginia Laws on Corporations, Svo. pa. 50c.
Trial of T. Ritchie, Jr., for killing J. H. Pleasants, Svo. pa. 25c.
Justice's Record Book of Judgments, cap, hf. sp. $1 and 1 50.
Tucker's Lectures on Natural Law and Government, 12mo. mus
lin, 75c.
Tucker's Lectures on Constitutional Law, 12mo. mus. 75c.
Virginia Pay and Muster RoUs, 2 vols, in 1, 8vo. sp. $15.
Virginia House of Delegates Journals, various years.
Journals of Virginia Conventions of 1776, 4to. hf. sp. and 1850; Svo.
hf. sp. 2 50.
Journals and Debates of Virginia Convention of 1829-30, Svo. cf. S2.
Debates in Virginia Convention of 1788, Svo. sp. S5-
Virginia Debates and Resolutions 1798-9, Svo. hf. cf. 1 50.
Statistics of Virginia to 1850, 8vo. cf. 2 50.
Constitution of 'Virginia, 1851, Svo. pa. 12c.
Progress of the United States, with Census of 1850, 4to. mus. $6.
Statistics of United States Census of 1850, 4to. mus. 1 00.
Smith's History of Virginia, 2 vols. Svo. sp. 5 00.
Smith's News from Virginia, Svo. pa. 25c.
Campbell's History of "Virginia, Svo. mus. 1 50.
Beverley's History of Virginia, new edition, edited by C. Campbell,
with Plates, Svo. mus. 2 50.
Martin aud Brockenbrough's History of Virginia, Svo. sp. 2 00.
Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, new edition, with map and plates, and
new matter never before printed, Svo. mus. 2 50.
Virginia Historical Register, 6 vols. Svo. pa. at 1 00.
Virginia Historical Society Addresses, Svo. pa. at 25c.
Jefferson's Memoir, Correspondence aud Miscellanies, 4 vols. Svo.
boards, 5 00.
Lee's Remarks on the Writings of Jefferson, Svo. mus. 1 25.
Byrd's Westover Manuscripts, Svo. bds. 1 25.
Bland's Papers and Memoir, Svo. hf. sp. 1 25.
Dr. Moorman's Guide to Virginia Springs, ISmo. mus. 1 00.
Dr. Burke's Guide to Virginia Springs, 12mo. mus. 1 25.
Dr. Goode's Guide to Virginia Hot Springs, 48mo. pa. 12c.
Maury's Gulf Stream aud Currents of the Sea, Svo. pa. 25c.
Smith's View of British Possessions in America, 48mo. sp. 2oc.
Southern Literary Messenger, 20 vols, complete, n, handsome set
bound, 75 00, any year or number supplied.
Life and Sermons of Rev. Wm. Duval, by Rev. C. Walker, 12mo
mus. 1 00.
Sermons by Rev. J. D. Blair, Svo. sp. 75c.
Fletcher's Studies on Slavery, Svo. sp. 2 00.
Dew's Ess.ay on Slavery, Svo. pa. 50c.
Lays of Ancient Virginia, and other poems, by J. A. Bartley, 12mo.
mus. 75o.
Gertrude, a, novel, by Judge Tucker, Svo. pa. 37c.
Southern and South-Western Sketches, Fun, Sentiment aud Adven
ture, 12mo. pa. 87c.

121 Main Street, Richmond, Va.

Uncle Robin in his Cabin in Virginia, and Tom 'without one in Boston,
by J. W. Page, with plates, second edition 12mo. mus. 1 00.
Garnett's Lectures on Female Education, 32mo. sp. 50c.
Vaughan's Speller, Reader and Definer, No. 1, 12mo. sp. back, 18c.
A'aughan's Speller, Reader aud Definer, No. 2, 12mo. sp. bk. 25c.
Life of the Hon. Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, 12mo mus. 75c.
Rogers' Virginia Geological Reports, Svo. pa. 1 00.
Wiuckler's Hints to Piano-Forte Players, 12mo. bds. 25c.
Laws of Trade, by Charles Ellett, 8vo. mus. 1 50.
Industrial Resources of the South, 3 vols. Svo. mus. 6 00.
Family Receipt Book, 12mo. pa. 25.
A collection of the Early Voyages to America, by Conway Robinson,
8to. mus. 3 00.
Edgar's Sportsman's Herald and Stud Book, 8vo. sp. 1 50.
Plantation and Farm Book, Record, Inventory and Account Book, by
a Southern Planter, 4to. hf. sp. 2 00.
EufEn's Farmer's Register, 10 vols. Svo. bf. sp. 30 00.
Euffin's Essay on Agricultural Education, Svo. pa. 12c.
RufBn's Essay on Calcareous Manures, 12mo. mus. 1 25.
Euffin's Agricultural Essays and Notes, 12mo. mus. 1 25.
Euffin's Agricultural Works, 2 vols, library binding, 12mo. 3 00.
Transactions of Virginia Agricultural Society to 1853, Svo. pa. 50c.
Randolph's Pocket Daily Memoranda, 24mo. sp. bk. 37o.
Cottom's Edition of Richardson's Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland
and District of Columbia Almanac, 24mo. pa. 6o. each ; 25c. per
dozen, or 2 50 per gross.
Flavel's Balm of the Covenant, View of tbe Soul of Man, &c., Svo.
hf. sp. 50c.
WilUams and others on Water-Cure and Bathing, with notes by J. H.
Timberlake, 12mo. bds. 50o.
Dove's Masonic Constitutions, 12mo. mus. 75c.
Dove's New Masonic Text Book, 12mo. mus. 1 25.
Dove's Virginia Royal Arch Text Book, 12mo. mus. 1 25.
Robinson's Description of the Oregon Territory, Svo. pa. 50c.
Prose and Verse, by St. Leger L. Carter, 24mo. mus. 50c.
Com. EUiott's Address to his Early Companion, Svo. pa. 37c.
Arator, by John Taylor, of Caroline, 12mo. sp. 1 00.
Taylor's Constitution Construed, Svo. bf. sp. 3 00.
Virginia State Directory, Svo. bds. 50c.
Edith Allen, or Sketches of Life ia Virginia, by Lawi-ence Neville,
12mo. mus. 1 00.
Laws of Etiquette, 12mo. pa. 12c.
Self Instructor, or Learning Made Easy, 16mo. pa. 12c.
Hunnicutt's Doctrine of the Union Baptists, 12mo. pa. 12o.
Select and Classified Latin Words, 8vo. pa. 25.
Eiego, or the Spanish Martyr, a Tragedy in five Acts, 12mo. pa. 6ic.
Magruder and Orvis' Debate, 12mo. mus. 125.
Grigsby's Sketch of Virginia Convention, 1776, Svo. mus. 1 /!b.

NOW PRINTING.
Matthews' Digest of the Laws of Virginia, Svo. sp.

iv tT. W. Mandolph's List of Books.

1¥YTME'S VIUCJIilflA REPORTS.
Decisions of Cases 'in Virginia, by the High Court of Chan
cery, with remarks upon decrees by the Court of Appeals
reversing some of those decisions, by George Wythe,
Chancellor of said court. Second and only complete edition.
With a Memoir of the .Author, Analysis of the Cases, and
an Index, by B. B. Minor, L.B. And with an Appendix,
containing references to cases in Pari Materia, an Essay on
Lapse, Joint Tenants and Tenants in Common, &c., &c., by
Wm. Green, Esq. Svo. sheep, $4.
.Judge Lomax, iu the second edition of his Digest, (vol. 1, p. 618,
note*,) says: "See, in the Appendix to Minor's edition of Wythe's
Reports, a most learned and elaborate consideration of the origin,
and nature, and principles of ihe doctrine of survivorship in joint-
tenancy, and the extent to which, unrepealed by the Virginia statutes,
it remains still applicable in practice, by Wm. Green, Esq., of the
Virginia Bar." Other notices of the same Appendix occur ihii. 432,
note 6 ; 527, note * ; 536, text and note.
"This Appendix, from the pen of Wm. Green, Esq., of Culpeper,
contains, among other useful essays, a learned, elaborate, and
thorough discussion of the subject of foreclosure of mortgages in
Virginia." — Sands' Suit in Equity, 493.
Chief Justice Taylor, in Orr's heirs v. Irving's heirs and devisees,
2 Carolina Law Repository, 465, delivering the opinion of the court,
says: "To these [English] cases may be added a decision made by
the late Chancellor Wythe, in Virginia, which may be cited as equal
in point of authority, if not superior, to any of tlie British decisions,
from the luminous and conclusive reasoning on which that upright
and truly estimable judge founds it — clarum et venerabile nomen."
Mr. Wallace, Editor of "The Reporters Chronologically Ar
ranged," says, in histhird edition of that work, page 346: ".I very
greatly improved edition of Wythe, edited by B. B. Minor, Esq., of
the Richmond Bar, with a memoir by the editor, and an .ippendix,
containing many very learned notes, by Mr. Green, appeared in 1852.
No American Reporter has ever been so learnedly aud carefully
edited." All of tbe old editions of this work are imperfect, and yet copies
have been sold at auction as high as $10, such has been the demand
fur it.
New and only complete edition.
Published by
J. W. RANDOLPH.

121 Main Street, Richmond, Va.

MATTHEWS' GUIDE.
A Guide to Cotnmissioners in Chancery, vt'iih practical forms
for the discharge of their duties; adapted to the new Code
of Virginia, by James M. Matthews, Attorney at Law,
author of "Digest of the Laws of Virginia." Svo. sheen'
$2 50. ^'
" Mr. Matthews has in this publication furnished a valuable addi
tion to the small stock of Virginia Law Books. The work is not only
of essential service to the Commissioner, it is also a valuable vade
meeum to the Chancery Lawyer. The following opinion is expressed
of it by a legal friend: 'I have had occasion to use Mr. Matthews'
Guide to Commissioners as a book of reference in the course of my
practice at the bar. I have uniformly found it to be correct, and it
materially aided me while attending the settlement of accounts before
the Commissioner.'
The following table of contents may be acceptable to our legal
readers in the country :
Chapter I. Of the origin of Commissioners in Chancery, their ap
pointment, the reference of accounts to them, and the proceedings
thereupon. — Chap. II. Of fiduciaries generaUy, and the settlement
of their accounts by Commissioners in Chancery. — Chap. III. Of
Guardians and Wards. — Chap. IV. Proceedings under decrees and
orders in the Commissioner's Office, and herein: — Of References and
Eeports ; The examination of parties upon interrogatories ; Admis
sions of parties; 01 the onus probajidi; Thc examination of witnesses
upon interrogatories; Enquiries as to heirs-at-law, next of kin, &c. :
Production of documents ; Of scandal and impertinence ; Of the
principles on which accounts of executor or administrator should be
stated; When interest not to be involved in administration account;
When account of executor or administrator should be closed ; 'What
payments not to enter into the general account; When annual rests
are to be made; Formula in stating account of executor or adminis
trator; Principles on which guardians' accounts should be stated
How to state the account of one who is in name an executor, but is
in fact a guardian or trustee ; How to ascertain value of life-estate
or annuity; Table of longevity; Adjournment by Commissioner; Re
port aud exceptions: Review of report. — Chap. V. Of surcharge and
falsification. — Chap. VI. Of notices. — Chap. VII. Of evidence. —
Chap. VIII. Of means for compelling debtor to discover and surren
der his estate. — Chap. IX. Of fees of Commissioner in Chancery. —
Chap. X Of descents and distributions. — Chap. XI. Of the payment
of debts according to their priority. — Chap. XII. For preventing
Commission of crimes.
Every Commissioner should have a copy of this work." l^Republican.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

vi J. W. Randolph's List of Books.

EUFFIN'S AGMCULTUHAL ESSAYS.
Essays and Notes on Agriculture. By Edmund Ruffin.
12mo. muslin. $1 25.
Containing articles on the Theory and Practice of Draining (iu all
its branches) — Advantages of Ploughing Flat Land iu Wide Beds — on
(jlover Culture and the Use and Value of the Products — Management
of Wheat Harvests — Harvesting Corn Fodder — on the manner of pro
pagation and habits of the Moth or Weevil, and means to prevent its
ravages — Inquiry into the causes of the existence of Prairies, Savan
nas and Deserts, and the pecuUar condition of Soils which Favor or
Prevent the Growth of Trees — Depressed condition of Lower Vir
gini — Apology for "Book Farmers" — Fallow — Usefulness of Snakes —
Embanked Tide Marshes and iUill Ponds as Causes of Disease — On
the Sources of Malaria, or of Autumnal Diseases, and means of pre
vention — On the Culture, Uses and Value of the Southern Pea. (Ruf-
tin's Prize Essay of November, 1854,) and especially as a Manuring
Crop. This volume consists of didactic and principally, also strictly prac
tical pieces, in part selected from the Farmer's Register, or still more
that have either not been published in Virginia or entirely new mat
ter, in addition to and extensions of former publication, and the re
cent Prize Essay on the Pea Culture, &c.
"The essays of no man of this day in Virginia, upon the subject
of Agriculture, can command the attention that will be paid to those
from the pen of the venerable farmer, Edmund Ruffin ; a man whose
long experience, whose close observation and incessant efforts to im
prove the system of Agriculture, have placed him at the head of that
noble profession — Tiller of the Soil." — Richmond Dispatch.
"In a country like ours, the pursuits of Agricultui-e are the foun
dation of prosperity, and their improvement is connected with every
step of its advancement. Its study is, therefore, of prime importance,
and every contributor is a benefactor. It is one of the blessings of
the age, that this department of industry has commenced a new epoch,
from tho applications of science and the systematized results of obser
vation and experience. For this latter class of improvements, Mr.
Piuffin stands pre-eminent. He is deeply and enthusiastically versed
in all the questions of practical farming, and with a generosity which
entitles him to the highest credit, gives the benefit of his enlightened
views to the world. The volume, before us, comprises his most ma
tured convictions on a variety of agricultural topics of acknowledged
importance to all who cultivate the soil. It is a treasury of that kind
of information of which thousands in the country stand" in need and
for want of which their actual labor does not receive half of its re
ward. Buy Mr. Buffin's book, gentlemen, and the earth herself will
return tho compliment with a smile." — Quarterly Review.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

121 Main Street, Richmond, Va. vii

RUFFIN ON MANURES.
An Essay on Calcareous Manures, by Edmund Ruffin a
practical Farmer of Virginia from 1812 ; Founder and sole
Editor of the Farmers' Register; Member and secretary
of the former State Board of Agriculture ; formerly Agri
cultural Surveyor of tbe State of South Carolina ; and pres
ident of tbe Virginia State Agricultural Society. Fifth
edition, amended and enlarged. Fine edition, Svo., printed
on good paper, and strongly bound, library style, 12 ; cheap
edition, 12mo., muslin, $ 1 25.
A large proportion of this publication consists of new matter not
embraced iu the preceding editions. The new additions or amend
ments serve to present all the new and important lights on the gen
eral subject of the work, derived from the author's later observation
of facts, personal experience, and reasoning founded on these prem
ises. By such new additions the present edition is increased more
than one-third in size, notwithstanding the exclusion of much of the
least important matter of the preceding edition, and of all portions
before included, that were not deemed essential to the argument, and
necessary to the utility of the work.
Prof. Johnson, of London, author of "Agricultural Chemistry,"
"Chemistry of Common Life," and many other valuable Works,
speaking of the influence of man upon the productions of the Soil
and the application of Marl to worn-out Lands, says, "for examples
of both the results, sse Essay on Calcareous Manures, by Edmund
Ruffin, the pubUcation of which in Virginia, marks an epoch in the
Agricultural history ofthe Slave States of North America."
"Mr. Ruffin -with an ingenuity, an energy and a logic, which be
long only to the order of great inteUects, has demonstrated, both by
analysis and synthesis, the disease and the cure ; the disease, the
want of Carbonate of Lime in our soils, and their consequent acidity
and sterility ; the cure, the application of this necessary element of
aU good lands, in the form of marl, which is generally diffused
throughout the tide-water section of this State and the adjacant
States."- — Richmond Whig.
The Southern Planter says : "We commend it to every farmer in
the State. To the tide-water farmers it is a necessary of agricultu
ral Ufe."
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH, Richmond Va.

J. W. Randolph's List of Books.

PLANTATION BOOK.
Plantation and Farm Instruction, Regulation, Record, Inven
tory and Account Book, for the use of Managers of Estates
and for the better ordering and management of plantation
and farm business in every particular. By a Southern
Planter. "Order is Heaven's first law." 4to. bf. roan, §2.
This Book is by one of the best and most systematic farmers in
Virginia, and experienced farmers have expressed the opinion that
those who use it will save hundreds of dollars.
" This is a most admirable work, one which every planter aud far
mer should not only possess, but carry out its objects and aims, both
in the letter and in the spirit, for they all tend to the introduction of
system in the managment of landed estates. The Book purports to
have been gotten up as a guide to overseers aud managers; but is so
filled, so arranged, that the proprietors of such estates would them
selves be equally benefited by personally carrying out its numerous
plans, hints and suggestions ; for after carefully looking through and
studying its details, we most conscientiously say, that they are
founded in wisdom, and, if practiced upon, would be promotive alike
of economy and humamty — economy in the management of the farm
or plantation — and humanity in providing for the comfort and health
of slaves, as well as stock.
It contains a chapter explanatory of the manager's duty — shows
how his journal or daily record should be kept. Upon this head, as
well as upon the employment and treatment of negroes aud manage
ment of the plantation, the remarks are alike copious and judicious ;
so also are those upon the manner in which the stock of all kinds are
to be cared for. Its observations upon the saving and application of
manure, the cultivation of the plantation or farm, as well as upon
the proper rotation of crops, are sensible, and show an acquaintance
with the several subjects on the part of the author. The tables, illus
trative of the three, four and five field system of rotation, are full of
instruction, and may be studied with decided advantage.
It also contains many useful ' tables,' showing tbe number of spaces
contained in an acre of land at various given distances, which will
be found useful in fixing the proper distances to place marl, lime or
other manure, so as to give any desired quantity to the acre," &c.
Besides which, there are ruled blanks for recording all the details of
farm and plantation duties, from the beginning to the end of the
year, so arranged as to make the labor so plain and easy, that if
anything can induce farmers and planters to record the operations of
their estates, this work will lure them to it. That it may find a
ready sale wc most fervently wish, as it is pregnant with much
good." — American Farmer.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

121 Main Street, Richmond, Va.

IX

JEFFERSON'S NOTES.
Notes on the State of Virginia. By Thomas Jefferson
Illustrated with a Map of A'irginia, Maryland, Delaware
and Pennsylvania. A New Edition, prepared by the Au
thor, containing many Notes and Plates never before pub
lished. Svo. muslin, $2 50.
It is printed from President Jefferson's Copy (Stockdale's London
edition of 1,87) of the Notes on Virginia, with his last additions
(they are numerous) and corrections in manuscript, and four maps of
Caves, Jlounds, Fortifications, &c.
Letters from Gen. Dearborn and Judge Gibson, relating to the Mur
der of Logan, &c.
Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Penn
sylvania—very valuable on account of the Public Places and Private
Residences, which are not to be found on any other map.
A Topographical Analysis of Virginia, for 1790 — a curious and use
ful sheet for historical reference.
Translations of all Jefferson's Notes in Foreign Languages, by Prof
Scheie de Vere, of the University of Virginia.
"The recent publication of Mr. Jefferson's well kno'wn and interest
ing Notes on the State of Virginia, renders a special and most accepta
ble service. The work, which was nearly out of print, has been
enriched with the manuscript notes of the illustrious author; and
where these have been quoted from foreign languages, they have been
translated in the Appendix by the learned Prof. Scheie de Vere. It
is unnecessary to praise a book which has always been highly
esteemed." — Richmond Examiner.
"As the production of one of our most eminent statesmen and
writers, abounding iu profound thoughts and philosophical deductions,
it will ever be deemed an indispensable volume in a well chosen
library." — Religious Herald.
"A new edition of the famous work has just been published. The
paper, print and binding are all in excellent taste, and do credit
to Mr. R. This edition has the advantage of the author's last notes
and emendations, and has been carried through the press with great
care and caution, by a gentleman every way equal to the task, who
is, moreover, a near relative of the author. Every Virginian who
wishes to know as much as possible about his own State, will of course
buy it, for Mr. Jefferson was by many degrees the best Virginian anti
quary that has yet been known to the public." — Richmond Dispatch.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

J. W. Randolph's List of Books.

BEVERLEY'S VIRGINIA.
The History of Virginia, in four parts. I. The history of
the settlement of Virginia, and the government thereof, to
tbe year 1706. II. The natural productions and conve
niences of the country, suited to trade and improvement.
III. Tbe native Indians, their religion, laws and customs,
in war and peace. IV. The present state of the country,
as to the polity of the government, and the improvements
of the land, to 10th of June, 1720. By Robert Bever
ley, a native of tbe place. Reprinted from the author's
second revised London edition of 1792, with an introduc
tion by Chas. Campbell, author of the " Colonial History
of Virginia." Svo. muslin, $2 50.
" Mr. Randolph deserves the thanks of the people of Virginia for
rescuing her early literature from the oblivion into which it is so
rapidly falling. His recent re-publication of Jefferson's Notes, with
the author's latest autograph corrections, was not more gratifying to
the Virginia scholar and statesman, than the re-publication of this
rare volume — as precious in Virginia history as any genuine old
painting of Raphael or Rembrandt iu Art — will prove to the Virginia
historian and student. Beverley is the very best authority of all
early Virginia "writers upon the particular subjects delineated in his
quaint and agreeable pages ; and his work affords the most "vivid,
comprehensive, instructive aud entertaining picture of Virginia at
the date of his writing that is to be found. The reprint is iUustrated
precisely after the manner of the original, by engravings executed in
lithograph with remarkable truthfulness and iJeauty. The typo
graphical execution of the book is very chaste and neat. We are
sure that no Virginia gentleman of taste and learning "will fail to add
so valuable a volume to his library." — Richmond Examiner.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

MARTIN AND BROCKENBROUGH'S VIRGINIA.
A Comprehensive Descrijttion of Virginia and the District of Columbia,
containing a copious collection of Geographical, Statistical, Political,
Commercial, Religious, Moral and jMiscellaneous information, chiefly
from original sources, by Joseph Martin; to which is added A His
tory of Virginia, from its first settlement to the year 1754, with an
abstract of the principal events from that period to the Independence
of Virginia, by W. H. Bbockenbbough, formerly Librarian at the
University of Virginia, and afterwards Judge of the United States
Court iu Florida. 8vo. sheep, $2.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH

121 Main Street, Richmond, Va. xi

YIRGINIA DEBATES OF 1798.
The Virginia Report of 1799-1800, touching the Alien and
Serlition Laws, together with the Virginia Resolutions of
December 21, 1798, the debate and proceedings thereon in
the House of Delegates of Virginia, and several other doc
uments illustrative of the Report and Resolutions. New
edition. Svo. half calf, $1 50.
"We have received a neat and well printed copy of the 'Virginia
Report on the Resolutions of '98-99, concerningithe Alien and Sedi
tion Laws.' We -were struck with the truth of the remark of thc
editpr of the first mentioned volume, that this 'report had been more
praised than read.' Every statesman should be familiar with its
contents. It is certainly a valuable commentary on the Federal Con
stitution, and both parties may find here some of the strongest argu
ments in support of their several theories." — Richmond Republican.
Published by
J. W. RANDOLPH.

DEW ON SLAYERY.
An Essay on Slavery, by Thomas E. Dew, late President of
William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va. Second
edition. Svo. paper, 50c.
" This Essay has peculiar claims to thc attention of the Virginian,
and is not wanting in interest to the statesman every where. We do
not think we err in saying, that it is the clearest and ablest defence
of the institution to be found in the English language The writer
views that institution in its historical and its scriptural aspects and
discusses at large the plans for the abolition of negro slavery. While
we cannot accord with all the views he has expressed m regard to
the colonization movement, we yet think the facts he arrays, and the
principles he urges, are entitled to the gravest consideration, as the
results of unwearied labor, and of a mind weU balanced and well
trained. We believe that all parties are agreed as to the evil of
emancipation, without removal. The painting of the scenes which
would ensue such an event, is drawn with a master h^-aH-.-Repubhcan.
Published by ^^^
J. W. RANDOLPH.

J. W. Randolph's List of Books.

GUIDE TO THE SPRINGS.
The Virginia Springs. Containing an account of all the
Principal Mineral Springs in Virginia, with remarks on the
nature and medical applicability of each. By J. J. Moor
man, M.D. Second edition, greatly enlarged, with a synopsis
and maps of the routes and distances, and plates. Also, an
appendix, containing an account of the natural curiosities of
the State. ISmo. muslin, ?1.
"Visitors to the Springs, for health or relaxation, ¦will find it
greatly to their advantage to procure such a valuable vade mecum as
this; and those who, like ourselves, remain at home, can also appre
ciate th'! work, if they can appreciate anything which bears upon
Physical Geography in its combination with the healing art. The
¦work is gotten up in capital style, aud the public may be assured that
it is no catch-penny production." — Watchman and Observer.
"The work contains much valuable information to persons in search
either of health or pleasure, presented in an agreeable shape. The
more celebrated of the watering places are lithographed, and maps
ofthe various routes and localities furnished." — Lynchburg Virginian.
"The author of this publication was for many years resident physi
cian at the White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, and from his knowledge
and experience of the mineral qualities of the various springs in that
region, is amply qualified to give a correct description and accurate
analysis of their several waters. This is an admirable directory for
the use of visitors and invalids who resort, during the summer "sea
son, to the invigorating and healthful waters of the Virginia moun
tains." — Journal of Useful Knowledge.
"Every person visiting the Virginia Springs should be supplied
with this little volume." — Fredericksburg Democratic Recorder.
"It is just such a book as the public have needed much for some
time, and supplies a desideratum which is every year becoming more
necessary  Dr. Moorman's book is written iu an agreeable
style, and his long aud intimate experience at the Springs "m.aking
him thoroughly acquainted with the subject he treats, renders it
valuable to the searcher after health." — Cotton Plant.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

SOUTHERN SCHOOL BOOKS.
Vaughan's Spellers, Definers and Readers.
First Book, for beginners, 19c.
Second Book, for more advanced pupils, 25c.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

121 Main Street, Richmond, Va. xiii

CITY MISSIOIVARY.
The Memoir and Sermons of the Rev. WiUiam Duval, City
Missionary. By the Rev. C. Walker, with a portrait.
12mo. mushn, $1. ^
" We noticed the Memoir of the Rev. Mr. Duval, at the time of its
pubUcation, but we are induced again to refer to it, from the inter
est which a more careful perusal than we are generally able to give
to the favors of pubUshing houses, has afforded us. We had feared,
upon first opening it, that it might prove one of those common-place,
stereotyped religious eulogies, with which the world is so often bored,
when good men die, and with which the shades of the good men
themselves, if they are aware of what is going on in their old haunts,
must be purgatorially afflicted. But having glanced at a few chap
ters in this memoir of young Mr. Suval, and having known the man,
we were tempted to read farther, and found in the simple and unam
bitious record of a simple and unambitious life, and in the extracts
from the diary of the subject of the memoir, a delineation of char
acter which is well culculated to awaken more interest in the mind
than the most eloquent formal eulogy." — Richmond Dispatch.
"For the subject of this memoir we entertained a high personal
regard — esteeming him a zealous and faithful herald of the cross.
His connection was with the Episcopal church ; and at one time he
was the Editor of a Temperance paper in this city. He had been in
the Ministry only a few years when called to his rest ; but those were
years of unceasing activity. As to the mechanical execution of thc
work, we can say it is well done, and when we say well done, we mean,
as well as similar works are usually gotten up at the North."
[ Watchman and Observer.
" Wm. Duval, one of the most efficient, as well as devoted among
the younger clergy of our own day, graduated at the Alexandria The
ological Seminary in 1845  In the beginning of 1849, he died,
in the full assurance of Christian hope, and the fruition of Chris
tian exertion. And if his life teaches no other lesson, it teaches
this : the immense influence which even four years entire devotion to
the Christian cause can bring to bear. In point of literary merit,
the biography with which Mr. "Walker has presented us, stands very
high, both for grace of style, for loveliness of spirit, and for discrim
ination of thought." — Episcopal Recorder.
"The subject of this Memoir was a most exceUent man, a devoted
self-sacrificing christian and an ardent and zealous philanthropist.
The records of a life, such as are here related of Mr. Duval, cannot
fail to be interesting to every one who has a sympathy for the poor
and the fraUties which are often attendant upon poverty."
[Charlottesville Jeffersonian.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.

xiv . J. W. Randolph's List of Books.

SCHOOIiER'S GEOlttETRY.
Elements of Descriptive Geometry. — The Point, the Straight
Line and tbe Plane — Samuel Schooler, M. A., instructor in
Mathematics at Hanover Academy, Va. 4to. hf. roan, $2.
The Paper, Type and Plates are in the finest style of the arts, and
the book altogether has been pronounced equal if not superior to any
English, French or American work on the subject.
From Albert E. Chuech, M. A. Professor of Mathematics in the
TJ. S. Military Academy, West Point :
" My Deae Sie: — I have examined your work with great interest
and pleasure. The detailed explanations of all the elementary
principles of this useful branch of mathematics are so lucid, and the
illustrations so beautiful and correctly drawn, that, with this book in
his hand, I do not see that any pupil familiar with the elements of
Geometry, can find difficulty in acquiring a knowledge of the funda
mental principles of Descriptive Geometry. The work does you
great credit, and I trust that you will find sufficient encouragement
in its success, to carry out your design of publishing further on the
subject. I admire much the manner in which the plates are gotten
up, and have seen no work in which the printing of figures on a black
ground has been so successful."
From Lieut. M. F. Mauet, Superintendent of the National Observa
tory, Washington:
" Deae Sie: — Pray accept my thanks for the copy of your work on
Descriptive Geometry. I am glad to see you are moving in this di
rection with school books, and congratulate you heartily. I hope
you will meet with the encouragement, and your work with the
success which it deserves ; for all your demonstrations, as far as,
from a hasty examination one can judge, are neat, clear and mathe
matical." From Wm. B. Rogebs. LL. D., late Professor of Natural Philos
ophy in the University of Virginia :
"My Deae Sie: — Yours is the first original pubUcation of a sys
tematic i^ind, on any mathematical subject, which has vet emanated
from Virginia, and I take pride in the thought that its' author is an
alumnus of the University, and one of mv own esteemed pupils. It
is no common merit, to have pursued with ardor the difficult mathe
matical studies in which you were initiated at the University, aud to
have thus early shown the fruits, not only of enlarged reading, but
of original thought upon such subjects. From what I have seen of
your work, I am much pleased with its clearness and conciseness of
statement and demonstration, and I think that it must prove a valua
ble text for students."
Pubhshed by J. W. RANDOLPH.

121 Main Street, Richmond, Va. xv

UWTCIiE ROBIIV.
Unde Robin in his Cabin in Virginia, and Tom ivithout one
in Boston. By J. W. Page. Second edition, with plates.
12mo. muslin, $1 00.
"Its object appears to be to disprove statements made in Northern
romances, touching the evUs of Slavery, as weU as to show that what
ever iUs attend the Ufe of a Southern Negro, their ills are produced
by the imprudent sympathy of self-styled philanthropists like Garri
son, PiUsbury, Abby Kelly, and Beecher Stowe. We have examined
the volume but cursorily, and are inclined to think it well worth a
perusal. It is written in a plain, substantial style, and with an earn
estness, though in the shape of a coUoquy among the characters
introduced, which is strongly marked." — Church's Bizarre, Phila.
"The author is a pious and intelligent layman of the Church of
Virginia, who, for many years has sustained the relation of master
with Christian fidelity and benevolence. His opportunities of observ
ing the actual condition of slaves in Virginia, have extended through
a long life and over a large portion of the State. The book is called
forth, as many similar productions have been, by that clever, but
false and pernicious work. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Unlike some others,
however, it presents the subject with great calmness and moderation,
presenting slavery as it is known really to exist iu the Southern
States. Its evils, and even its horrors, are faithfully portrayed ;
whilst the institution is successfully defended against the calumnious
reproaches with which Northern abolitionists have assailed it. The
principal negro characters are such as we occasionally meet with
among slaves, whilst the diversity of conduct on the part of masters,
faithfully and truly represent that much vilified class of Southern
men. The style of the book is very modest and unpretending, and
perhaps would suffer under the criticism of a severe reviewer. It is,
nevertheless, neat and perspicuous, conveying much sound argument
and truthful history." — Southern Churchman.
"I have looked over Mr. Page's book lately. It is an exceUent
little work. Too much cannot be said of its true and correct picture
of the slave holders of Virginia. The design and influence of such a
book are good; and it is worthy a place on every book-shelf in the
Stata. The appetite of the age seems to require something marvel
lous and exciting, not to say a vivid and indelicate exhibition of
crime, and books of an opposite character seem flat and stale. But
I trust a new era has commenced, when wholesome truth will be
received in place of the highly spiced and inflammatory nonsense
which has for years poured like a flood upon us." — Winchester Virg.
Published by
J. W. RANDOLPH.

A QUARTERLY LAW JOURNAL.

Edited by A. B, GUIGON, of the Richmond Bar.
Contributors: — Wm. Geeen, of Culpeper; Judge J. W. Beocken-
BEOUGH, of Lexington ; Prof. J. B. Mince, University of Virginia ;
W. T. JoYNES, author of "Essay on Limitations;" J. M. Matthews,
author of "Guide to Commissioners in Chancery," and "Digest of
the Laws of Virginia; " A. H. Sands, author of " History of Suit in
Equity," and other professional gentlemen of well-known ability and
learning, have agreed to contribute to the columns of the Journal.
The undersigned will commence, ou the 1st of January, 1856, the
publication of a Law Journal.
It is designed to furnish reports of decisions made by the Federal
Courts held in this City— by the District and Circuit Courts of the
State, and reports of decisions made by the Special Court of Appeals,
and by the Supreme Court of Appeals in cases of interest and impor
tance. The earlier numbers will contain also a complete digested
index of the reports of Grattan. Tate's Index of the cases decided
m the Court of Appeals of Va., reaches the 2d volume of Grattan,
and since that time nine volumes have already been published, which
the lawyer must burrow through when searching for any of the decis
ions contained in them. This supplement to Tate's Analytical Index
¦will relieve the professional man of this labor, and this part of the
contents of the Journal will be so printed and paged that it may be
bound up in a separate form.
Each number of the Journal wiU contain a chapter or more of thc
Revisors' Reports, with their notes, and such alterations of the Code
of Va. as have been made by statutory enactments since the year 1849.
This companion to the Code will also be so paged and printed that it
may be bound up uniform with the Code. The importance of these
Reports is well known by members of the profession who have had
occasion to consult them, as shedding Ught upon the provisions of
the Code.
There will be occasionally introduced forms, of utiUty to practi
tioners. Clerks of Courts, Conveyancers and others.
For the rest, the Journal will contain the usual matter of such pub
lications : — the latest reports of new and important decisions in other
States, (especially the Southern and Western.) essays on interesting
legal subjects, and occasional biographies of those distinguished
members of the bar, now deceased, who, in their day and generation,
won for it merited distinction and honor, and whose memories, cul
pably neglected by their descendants, live only in tradition.
The work will be published quaeteely, on good white paper, each
number containing over 125 pages, Svo.
All who are disposed to favor this enterprise, will please forward
their names immediately.
New books, when forwarded to tho Publisher, will be noticed ac
cording to their merits.
Teems— $5 per year; six copies for $25. Liberal commission
allowed to all who will act as agents.
Published by J. W. RANDOLPH.