Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/678

 HENRY says Irving, "by any public assembly." The deputies accordingly assembled on Aug. 1, sub- scribed a new and more thorough non-impor- tation agreement, and appointed delegates to a general congress, to meet at Philadelphia in September. Among these delegates was Pat- rick Henry, and his voice was the first to break the silence of the august assembly. His fame had preceded him. He was recognized and greeted as the great champion of constitutional liberty the man who, more than any other, had aroused public sentiment in, and directed the councils of, the great province of Virginia. His extraordinary eloquence astonished all lis- teners. It was " Shakespeare and Garrick com- bined." "When he took his seat, there was no longer a doubt in any mind that he was the greatest orator of America, and one of the greatest of any land or age. A petition to the king, and an address and memorial to the in- habitants of Great Britain, were the chief re- sults of the congress, which adjourned in Octo- ber. Henry returned home with his brother delegates, and, when asked who was " the great- est man in congress," replied that Mr. Rut- ledge of South Carolina was the greatest orator, but Col. George Washington the greatest man an instance of his powers of penetrating into the depths of human character. With the spring of the next year, 1775, all things ad- vanced rapidly toward the dividing line be- tween peace and war. In March the second convention met in Richmond, and here again Henry assumed a position very far in advance of his associates. He rose and moved that the militia should be organized, and the " colony be immediately put in a state of defence." The resolutions met with strong opposition, as had been the case with his stamp act resolutions ten years before in the house of burgesses. The leading and greatest patriots warmly opposed them as precipitate and ill advised. Henry's speech in reply was one of extraordinary elo- quence and power. With the vision of a prophet almost, he exclaimed: "There is no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston. . . . The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. . . . I know not what course others may take ; but as for me give me liberty or give me death ! " The resolutions were passed without a dissenting voice, and the convention rose. Ere long arrived the news of the battles of Lexington and Concord. The contest was not to be long delayed on the soil of Virginia. In compliance with general orders from England, Lord Dunmore had on the night of April 20 removed clandestinely from the magazine in Williamsburg all the powder of the colony. The alarm spread rapidly throughout the prov- ince, and the people flew to arras. Seven hun- dred men assembled at Fredericksburg, but, receiving an assurance that the powder would be restored, were disbanded. Patrick Henry saw the favorable moment thus about to pass. He determined to act boldly. Summoning the militia of Hanover, he placed himself at their head, despatched a troop to arrest the king's receiver general, and marched upon Williamsburg. Lord Dunmore's agent met him on the way, and paid 330 for the pow- der ; and on his return home Henry found himself and his friends denounced in a pub- lic proclamation as " deluded " arousers of sedition. But the whole province, indeed all the land, was equally deluded. The defiance had been given by Henry ; the authority of the king, in the person of his representative, men- aced with an armed force. There was no choice thenceforth but between submission and open resistance. In June Lord Dunmore fled with his family from Williamsburg on board a man- of-war, and in July a convention met at Rich- mond which organized a committee of safety, consisting of 11 gentlemen, endowed with al- most dictatorial powers. Two regiments were directed to be immediately raised, and Patrick Henry was elected colonel of the first and com- mander of all forces to be enrolled ; William Woodford, colonel of the second. Lord Dun- more at this time was ravaging the shores of the Chesapeake and threatening Norfolk, and the committee of safety were compelled to act promptly. They detached Col. Woodford at the head of the greater portion of the forces against the enemy, and the result was the bat- tle of Great Bridge, in which the raw Virginia recruits drove back the best trained English grenadiers and gained a victory, sending Dun- more back to his ships. The action of the committee in passing over Henry was violent- ly inveighed against by his friends, and the venerable Edmund Pendleton, the president, was especially assailed. The censure seems to have been wholly unjust. The right of the committee to assign a separate command to Col. Woodford was formally stated in Henry's commission, and Woodford's military experi- ence determined the action of the committee in selecting him for this critical undertaking. The ardent feelings of Henry and his disap- pointment doubtless betrayed him into re- signing his commission, which he speedily did, though between Pendleton and himself there was never any quarrel. He was a dele- gate to the convention which met in May, 1776, and instructed the Virginia deputies to the general congress to propose to that body to " declare the united colonies free and independent states." In the same year he was elected the first republican governor of Virginia, and from this time his career was rather that of the statesman and minister of public affairs, than the ardent, imposing, almost dazzling orator of revolution. He filled the office of governor by successive reflections till 1779, when he was no longer eligible. During this trying period he was eminently serviceable in sustaining public spirit and seconding the efforts of the great leaders of the revolution.