Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/257

 pretty generally a signal for a coat of tar and feathers; a signal which was not very often disobeyed. Mr. Henry's proposition in favour of a class of people so odious, could not fail to excite the strongest surprise; and was, at first, received with a repugnance apparently insuperable. The late judge Tyler, then the speaker of the house, opposed it in the committee of the whole, with great warmth; and in the course of the discussion, turn- ing from the chairman to Mr. Henry, he asked him^ " how he, above all other men, could think of inviting into his family, an enemy, from whose insults and inju- ries he had suffered so severely?" To this Mr. Henry answered, "that the personal feelings of a politician, ought not to be permitted to enter those walls. The question (he said) was a national one, and in deciding it, if they acted wisely, nothing would be regarded but the interest of the nation. On the altar of his country^'s good, he was willing to sacrifice all personal resentments, all private wrongs — and he flattered himself, that he was not the only man in the house, who was capable of making such a sacrifice. We have, sir, (said he) an extensive country, mthout population — what can be a more obvious policy than that this country ought to be peopled? — people, sir, form the strength and constitute the wealth of a nation. I want to see our vast forests filled up, by some process a little more speedy than the ordinary course of nature. I wish to see these states rapidly ascending to that rank which their natural advantages authorize them to hold among the nations of the earth. Cast your eyes, sir, over this extensive country — observe the salubrity of your climate; the variety and fertility of your soil — and see that soil inter- sected in every quarter, by bold navigable streams, flow-

�� �