Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/409

 " Red Hill, August 20th, 1796.

" My dear Betsy,

" Mr. William Ayletf s arrival here, with your letter, gave me the pleasure of hearing of your welfare, and to hear of that, is highly gratifying to me, as I so seldom see you, &c. (the rest of tliis paragraph relates to family affairs.)

" As to the reports you have heard of my changing sides in politics, I can only say they are not true. — I am too old to exchange my former opinions, which have gro^vn up into fixed habits of thinking. True it is, I have condemned the conduct of our members in congress, because in refusing to raise money for the purposes of the British treaty, they in effect, would have surrendered our country bound, hand and foot, to the power of the British nation. This must have been the consequence, I think; but the reasons for thinking so, are too tedious to trouble you with. The treaty is, in my opinion, a very bad one indeed. But what must I think of those men, whom I myself warned of the danger of giving the power of making laws by means of treaty, to the president and senate, when I see these same men denying the existence of that power, which they insisted in our convention, ought properly to be exercised by the president and senate, and by none other .^ The pohcy of these men^ both then and now, appears to me quite void of wisdom and foresight. These sentiments I did mention in conversation iti Richmond, and perhaps others which I don't remember; but sure I am, my first principle is, that from the British we have every thing to dread, when opportunities of oppressing us shall offer.

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