Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/228

204 were performed. To enter upon a detail of them, would be to write the history of Virginia during this period, instead of the life of Mr Henry; a work wholly unnecessary, since it has been already executed with minuteness and fidelity by an elegant writer, whose work will probably see the light before these sketches. I shall confine myself to a few prominent incidents of Mr. Henry's administration, on account of some of which, a degree of censure has been unjustly I think, attached to his character.

The fall of the year 1776 was one of the darkest and most dispiriting periods of the revolution. The disaster at Long Island had occurred, by which a considerable portion of the American army had been cut off—a garrison of between three and four thousand men had been taken at fort Washington—and the American general, with the small remainder, disheartened and in want of every kind of comfort, was retreating through the Jersies before an overwhelming power, which spread terror, desolation, and death, on every hand. This was the period of which Payne in his crisis used that memorable expression—"these are the times which try the souls of men!" For a short time the courage of the country fell. Washington alone remained erect, and surveyed with godlike composure the storm that raged around him. Even the heroism of the Virginia legislature gave way; and, in a season of despair, the mad project of a dictator was seriously meditated. That Mr. Henry was thought of for this office, has been alleged, and is highly probable; but that the project was suggested by him, or even received his countenance, I have met with no one who will venture to affirm.