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 RICHARD HENRY LEE 291 under the proposed stamp act. That this step was the mere result of hasty and momentary impulse is abundantly proved by the whole tenor of his subsequent career. The small tory party, exasperated by the energy with which he opposed the government, denounced him as a popular demagogue, bent only on re- venging his disappointment in procuring the collectorship. The people of his county treated this accusation with contempt ; but to satisfy the inhabitants of the colony at large, who did not know him, he published in the " Virginia Gazette " a statement of the facts. He had written to England by the advice of a friend, who no more than himself, "nor perhaps a single person in this country, had at that time reflected the least on the nature and tendency of such an adt." Reflection had opened his eyes, and he had soon determined to exert every fac- ulty in opposition to the measure. He joined heart and hand with the opponents of the pro- posed tax ; and when a special committee w T as appointed by the burgesses to draught an ad- dress to the king, a memorial to the lords, and a remonstrance to the commons against taxation without representation, Lee was placed upon the committee, and deputed by his associates to prepare two of the three papers. His literary and political acquirements well fitted him for the task, and the papers proved genuine and eloquent utterances of the spirit of resistance. He was absent from Williamsburg when Pat- rick Henry introduced, in the ensuing year (1765), his celebrated resolutions against the stamp act ; but he warmly concurred in them, and originated an association in Westmoreland in accordance with their spirit. The articles of this association, which were written by Lee, and are still preserved in his own hand writing, go beyond Henry's resolutions, and indicate in a very striking manner the advance of public opinion from May, 1765, to February, 1766. They pledged its members, " at every hazard, and paying no regard to danger or to death, to exert every faculty to prevent the execution of the stamp act." That the association was in earnest is shown by the prompt arrest of a per- son who had accepted the place of collector. Lee and his friends proceeded to his house, burned his commission and supply of stamps, and compelled him to take an oath not to offend in future. At the winter session of the bur- gesses in 1766, Lee openly took his stand with the extreme party for reform, at the head of which stood Patrick Henry, by making a mo- tion that the offices of speaker of the burgess- es and treasurer of the colony should thence- forth be separate. It is difficult at this dis- tance of time to imagine the profound sensa- tion and the bitter resistance which this propo- sition aroused. The explanation may however be given in a few words. The death of Speak- er Robinson, who also held the post of trea- surer, had exposed an enormous deficit in the public accounts. This arose from the fact that Mr. Robinson, a gentleman of great wealth and the most amiable disposition, had lent to promi- nent members of the house, who were his friends, large amounts in government bills re- turned to the treasury, and directed by law to be burned. This had long been suspected, and as early as 1763 Lee had moved that a commit- tee should be appointed to inquire into the state of the treasury. The speaker had " fixed his eyes with a dark and terrible frown " upon the youthful reformer, and the recipients of the loans had " turned their faces from him with haughty and disdainful airs;" but he had persevered. Nothing came of the motion, however, and the subject slept till 1766, when, as has been seen, Lee renewed his motion. It Was powerfully opposed by the "aristocratic " party, many of whom had the strongest rea- sons for desiring its defeat ; and by others, like Edmund Pendleton, who had been strongly attached to the deceased speaker. Henry, how- ever, came to Lee's assistance, and their united eloquence carried the motion. Mr. Robinson's ample estate, upon which he had relied to make good the deficit, satisfied the public claim, and the colony lost nothing ; but a pow- erful engine of corruption was broken to pieces by the success of the measure. In 1767 Lee spoke with great ability against the acts levy- ing duties upon tea and other commodities, and for quartering British troops upon the colonies. In 1768 he wrote from Chantilly, where he was then residing, to John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, suggesting a plan of private correspondence between the friends of liberty ; and this scheme was enlarged and perfected by the appointment in 1773 of a committee of cor- respondence, to communicate with all the colo- nies. Lee was one of the five or six burgesses who in private meeting devised this plan, and is said to have originated the idea. The house promptly appointed the committee, and Lee was placed upon it. The great value of such a body was immediately shown. Acting under instructions from the house, the committee wrote to the sister colonies proposing a gen- eral congress. The proposition was almost uni- versally acceded to ; and the " first congress " met at Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1774. Lee was one of the delegates from Virginia, and his voice was the second which was heard upon the floor. Patrick Henry preceded him in a much admired speech, of which the tradition only remains ; and little more has been retained of Lee's. It is said, however, that the congress was even more impressed by his comprehensive views and political knowledge than by the "fire and splendor " of his eloquence, of which great accounts had reached them. He imme- diately took the prominent position to which his great talents and zeal entitled him, and was placed upon all the more important commit- tees : those to prepare addresses to the king, the people of England, and the colonies; to state the rights and grievances of the colonies ; and to carry out the resolutions of non-inter- course with Great Britain. Lee was chairman