Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/161

 force should enter the colony; that that habitual de- ference and subjection which the people were accus- tomed to feel towards the governor, as^the representa- tive of royalty, and which bound their spirits in a kind of torpid spell, should be dissolved and dissipated; that the military resources of the country should be de- veloped; that the people might see and feel their strength, by being brought out together; that the revo- lution should be set in actual motion in the colony; that the martial prowess of the country, should be awaken- ed, and the soldiery animated by that proud and reso- lute confidence, which a successful enterprise in the commencement of a contest never fails to inspire. These sentiments were then avowed by him to two confidential friends;* to whom he farther declared that he considered the outrage on the magazine as a most for- timate circumstance; and as one which would rouse the people from north to south. " You may in vain talk to them,^^ said he, " about the duties on tea, &c. These things will not affect them. They depend on principles, too abstracted for their apprehension and feeling. But tell them of the robbery of the magazine, and that the next step will be to disarm them, you bring the subject home to their bosoms, and they will be ready to fly to arms to defend themselves. ^^

To make of this circumstance all the advantage which he contemplated, as soon as the intelligence reached him from Williamsburg, he sent express riders to the members of the Independent Company of Ha- nover, who were dispersed and resided in different parts of the country, requesting them to meet him in arms, at New Castle, on the second of May, on business of the

Mr. Dabney.
 * Col. Richard Morris and captain Georg-e Dabney; on the authority of

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