Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/172

 148 SKETCHES OF THE

��SECTION VI.

I CANNOT learn that Mr. Henry distinguished himself peculiarly, at this session of congress. The spirit of resistance was suiFiciently excited; and nothing remain- ed but to organize that resistance, and to plan and execute the details which were to give it effect. In business of this nature, JNIr. Henry, as we have seen, was not efficient. It has been already stated, that he vi^as unsuccessful in composition, of which much was done, and eminently done, at this session; and the lax habits of his early life, had implanted in him an insu- perable aversion to the drudgery of details. He could not endure confinement of any sort, nor the labour of close and solitary thinking. His habits were all social, and his mind delighted in unlimited range. His conclu- sions were never reached by an elaborate deduction of thought; he gained them as it were per saltum; yet with a certainty not less infallible than that of the driest and severest logician. It is not wonderful therefore, that he felt himself lost amid the operations in which congress was now engaged; and that he enjoyed the relief which was afforded him, by a military appointment from his na- tive state. It will be proper, however, to explain particu- larly the proceedings which led to this incident in the life of Mr. Henry.

Shortly after the affair of the gunpowder, lord North^s conciliatory proposition, popularly called the Olive Branch, arrived in America. Hereupon, the governor of Virginia called a meeting of the house of burgesses; and as if the quarrel were now completely over, lady

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