Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/85

 vailed. The last, however, and strongest resolution was carried but by a single vote. The debate on it was most bloody. I was then but a student, and stood at the door of communication between the house and the lobby (for as yet there was no gallery,) during the whole debate and vote; and I well remember that, after the numbers on the division were told and declared from the chair, Peyton Randolph (the attorney general) came out at the door where I was standing, and said as he en- tered the lobby, ' by God I would have given 500 guineas for a single vote:' for one vote would have divided the house, and Robinson was in the chair, who he knew would have negatived the resolution. Mr. Henry left town that evening; and the next morning before the meetmg of the house, col. Peter Randolph, then of the council, came to the hall of burgesses, and sat at the clerk's table till the house bell rang, thumbing over the volumes of journals, to find a precedent of expunging a vote of the house, which he said, had taken place while he was a member or clerk of the house, I do not recol- lect which. I stood by him at the end of the table, a considerable part of the time, looking on, as he turned over the leaves; but I do not recollect whether he found the erasure. In the mean time, some of the timid mem- bers who had voted for the strongest resolution, had become alarmed; and as soon as the house met, a mo- tion was made and carried to expunge it from the jour- nals. There being at that day but one printer, and he entirely under controul of the governor, I do not know that this resolution ever appeared in print. I ^vrite this from memory: but the impression made on me at the time was such as to fix the facts indelibly in my mind. I suppose the original journal was among those destroy- ed by the British, or its obliterated face might be ap-

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