Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/442

 418 SKETCHES OF THE

roaring torrent. When it is remembered too^ that lie was then yoimg and obscure, and of course without per- sonal influence — that this step was the result of his own solitary reflection, and that he was perfectly aware of the personal danger which must attend it — we can re- quire nothing farther to satisfy us^, that he was a bold, original, independent politician, who thought for him- self, and pursued the dictates of his own judgment, wholly regardless of personal consequences.

2. Again, in the spring of 1775, that upper circle, which still headed the revolution, were disposed to acquiesce in the plunder of the magazine, and exerted their utmost efforts to allay the ferment which it had excited. They had, in fact, succeeded; and the people were every where composed, save within the immediate sphere of Mr. Henry's influence. The reader has al- ready seen, that it was he who on that occasion excit- ed the people, not who was excited by them ; that he put them into motion, and avowed to his confidential friends, at the time, the motives of policy by which he was actuated; that he placed himself at the head of an armed band, which he had himself convened for the pui^pose: and in spite of the entreaties and supplications of the patriots at Williamsburg, and in defiance of the threats of Dunmore and his myrmidons, pressed firmly and in- trepidly on, until the object of his expedition was com- pletely obtained.

3. So also in the state convention, the same year, the old patriotic leaders were disposed still to rely on the efficacy of petitions, memorials, and re- monstrances; it was Mr. Henry who proposed, and in spite of their opposition (which was of so strenuous and serious a character, that one of them in making it, is said to have shed tears most profusely) carried the

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