Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/405

 while the only contest seemed to be who should make the most noise/^ If there be any bachelor so cold of heart as to be offended at this anecdote, I can only remind him of the remark of the great Agesilaus to the friend who found him riding on a stick among his children, " don't mention it, till you are yourself a fa- therJ'

Such were the scenes of domestic and social bliss, such the delicious tranquillity, in which Mr. Henry passed the first years of his retirement. Yet this re- treat, which so well deserved to have been considered as sacred, was doomed in a few years to be disturbed by the bickerings of political party.

Since Mr. Henry's retirement from pubhc life, new parties had arisen in the United States, whose animosi- ties had been carried to an alarming height. The fede- ralists, who supported the measures of the new govern- ment, throughout, were accused by their adversaries of a disposition to sti'ain the constructive powers of the constitution to their highest possible pitch; of a secret wish to convert the government into a substantial mo- narchy, at least; to which purpose, the assumption of state debts, the establishment of the funding system, and of the national bank, the alarming increase of the public debt, the imposition of a heavy load of internal taxes, the establishment of an army and a navy, with all their consequences of favouritism and extensive executive patronage, were alleged to have been intro- duced. They were branded with the name of aristo- crats, a name of reproach borrowed from the parties in France; and were charged with being inimical to the cause of human liberty, as was said to be proven by their hostility to the progress of the French revolution,

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