Patrick Henry Part 16

P. HENRY.[283]

After a perusal of this n.o.bly written letter, the gentle reader will have no difficulty in concluding that, if indeed the author of it was then lying in wait for an opportunity to set up a despotism in Virginia, he had already become an adept in the hypocrisy which enabled him, not only to conceal the fact, but to convey an impression quite the opposite.

FOOTNOTES:

[255] Burk, _Hist. Va._ iv. 154.

[256] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 1602, 1603, note.

[257] 5 _Am. Arch._ i. 631.

[258] 5 _Am. Arch._ i. 905, 906.

[259] George Rogers Clark's _Campaign in the Illinois_, 11.

[260] Spencer Roane, MS.

[261] _Jour. Va. House Del._ 32.

[262] _Ibid._ 57-59.

[263] _Writings of Washington_, iv. 138.

[264] See Letters from the president of Va. Privy Council and from General Lewis, in 5 _Am. Arch._ i. 736.

[265] Burk, _Hist. Va._ iv. 229.

[266] Compare _Jour. Va. House Del._ 8.

[267] 5 _Am. Arch._ ii. 1305-1306.

[268] Randall, _Life of Jefferson_, i. 363, 413; and _Hist. Mag._ i.

52.

[269] _Writings of Jefferson_, viii. 368-371; also Phila. ed. of _Notes_, 1825, 172-176.

[270] Burk, _Hist. Va._ iv. Pref. Rem. vi.

[271] See Jefferson's explicit endors.e.m.e.nt of Girardin's book in his own _Writings_, i. 50.

[272] Burk, _Hist. Va._ 189, 190.

[273] Wirt, _Life of Henry_, 204-205.

[274] Elliot's _Debates_, iii. 160.

[275] Cited by William Wirt Henry, _Hist. Mag._ for 1873, 349.

[276] _Jour. Va. House of Del._ 106-108.

[277] _Jour. Va. H. Del._ 75; and Randall, _Life of Jefferson_, i.

205.

[278] William Wirt Henry, _Hist. Mag._ for 1873, 350.

[279] 5 _Am. Arch._ iii. 1425-1426.

[280] I refer, for example, to his letters of Oct. 11, 1776; of Nov.

19, 1776; of Dec. 6, 1776; of Jan. 8, 1777; of March 20, 1777; of March 28, 1777; of June 20, 1777; besides the letters cited in the text.

[281] _Writings of Washington_, iv. 330.

[282] Sparks, _Corr. Rev._ i. 361, 362.

[283] _Jour. Va. House Del._ 61.

CHAPTER XIV

GOVERNOR A SECOND TIME

Patrick Henry's second term as governor extended from the 28th of June, 1777, to the 28th of June, 1778: a twelvemonth of vast and even decisive events in the struggle for national independence,--its awful disasters being more than relieved by the successes, both diplomatic and military, which were compressed within that narrow strip of time.

Let us try, by a glance at the chief items in the record of that year, to bring before our eyes the historic environment amid which the governor of Virginia then wrought at his heavy tasks: July 6, 1777, American evacuation of Ticonderoga at the approach of Burgoyne; August 6, defeat of Herkimer by the British under St. Leger; August 16, Stark's victory over the British at Bennington; September 11, defeat of Washington at Brandywine; September 27, entrance of the British into Philadelphia; October 4, defeat of Washington at Germantown; October 16, surrender of Burgoyne and his entire army; December 11, Washington's retirement into winter quarters at Valley Forge; February 6, 1778, American treaty of alliance with France; May 11, death of Lord Chatham; June 13, Lord North's peace commissioners propose to Congress a cessation of hostilities; June 18, the British evacuate Philadelphia; June 28, the battle of Monmouth.

The story of the personal life of Patrick Henry during those stern and agitating months is lighted up by the mention of his marriage, on the 9th of October, 1777, to Dorothea Dandridge, a granddaughter of the old royal governor, Alexander Spotswood,--a lady who was much younger than her husband, and whose companionship proved to be the solace of all the years that remained to him on earth.

The pressure of official business upon him can hardly have been less than during the previous year. The General a.s.sembly was in session from the 20th of October, 1777, until the 24th of January, 1778, and from the 4th of May to the 1st of June, 1778,--involving, of course, a long strain of attention by the governor to the work of the two houses. Moreover, the prominence of Virginia among the States, and, at the same time, her exemption from the most formidable a.s.saults of the enemy, led to great demands being made upon her both for men and for supplies. To meet these demands, either by satisfying them or by explaining his failure to do so, involved a copious and laborious correspondence on the part of Governor Henry, not only with his own official subordinates in the State, but with the president of Congress, with the board of war, and with the general of the army.

The official letters which he thus wrote are a monument of his ardor and energy as a war governor, his attention to details, his broad practical sense, his hopefulness and patience under galling disappointments and defeats.[284]

Perhaps nothing in the life of Governor Henry during his second term of office has so touching an interest for us now, as has the course which he took respecting the famous intrigue, which was developed into alarming proportions during the winter of 1777 and 1778, for the displacement of Washington, and for the elevation of the shallow and ill-balanced Gates to the supreme command of the armies. It is probable that several men of prominence in the army, in Congress, and in the several state governments, were drawn into this cabal, although most of them had too much caution to commit themselves to it by any doc.u.mentary evidence which could rise up and destroy them in case of its failure. The leaders in the plot very naturally felt the great importance of securing the secret support of men of high influence in Washington's own State; and by many it was then believed that they had actually won over no less a man than Richard Henry Lee. Of course, if also the sanction of Governor Patrick Henry could be secured, a prodigious advantage would be gained. Accordingly, from the town of York, in Pennsylvania, whither Congress had fled on the advance of the enemy towards Philadelphia, the following letter was sent to him,--a letter written in a disguised hand, without signature, but evidently by a personal friend, a man of position, and a master of the art of plausible statement:--

YORKTOWN, 12 January, 1778.

DEAR SIR,--The common danger of our country first brought you and me together. I recollect with pleasure the influence of your conversation and eloquence upon the opinions of this country in the beginning of the present controversy. You first taught us to shake off our idolatrous attachment to royalty, and to oppose its encroachments upon our liberties with our very lives. By these means you saved us from ruin.

The independence of America is the offspring of that liberal spirit of thinking and acting, which followed the destruction of the sceptres of kings, and the mighty power of Great Britain.

But, Sir, we have only pa.s.sed the Red Sea. A dreary wilderness is still before us; and unless a Moses or a Joshua are raised up in our behalf, we must perish before we reach the promised land. We have nothing to fear from our enemies on the way. General Howe, it is true, has taken Philadelphia, but he has only changed his prison. His dominions are bounded on all sides by his out-sentries.

America can only be undone by herself. She looks up to her councils and arms for protection; but, alas! what are they?

Her representation in Congress dwindled to only twenty-one members; her Adams, her Wilson, her Henry are no more among them. Her councils weak, and partial remedies applied constantly for universal diseases. Her army, what is it? A major-general belonging to it called it a few days ago, in my hearing, a mob. Discipline unknown or wholly neglected.

The quartermaster's and commissary's departments filled with idleness, ignorance, and peculation; our hospitals crowded with six thousand sick, but half provided with necessaries or accommodations, and more dying in them in one month than perished in the field during the whole of the last campaign.

The money depreciating, without any effectual measures being taken to raise it; the country distracted with the Don Quixote attempts to regulate the price of provisions; an artificial famine created by it, and a real one dreaded from it; the spirit of the people failing through a more intimate acquaintance with the causes of our misfortunes; many submitting daily to General Howe; and more wishing to do it, only to avoid the calamities which threaten our country. But is our case desperate? By no means. We have wisdom, virtue and strength enough to save us, if they could be called into action. The northern army has shown us what Americans are capable of doing with a General at their head. The spirit of the southern army is no way inferior to the spirit of the northern. A Gates, a Lee, or a Conway, would in a few weeks render them an irresistible body of men. The last of the above officers has accepted of the new office of inspector-general of our army, in order to reform abuses; but the remedy is only a palliative one. In one of his letters to a friend he says, 'A great and good G.o.d hath decreed America to be free, or the [General] and weak counsellors would have ruined her long ago.' You may rest a.s.sured of each of the facts related in this letter. The author of it is one of your Philadelphia friends. A hint of his name, if found out by the handwriting, must not be mentioned to your most intimate friend. Even the letter must be thrown into the fire. But some of its contents ought to be made public, in order to awaken, enlighten, and alarm our country. I rely upon your prudence, and am, dear Sir, with my usual attachment to you, and to our beloved independence,

Yours sincerely.

How was Patrick Henry to deal with such a letter as this? Even though he should reject its reasoning, and spurn the temptation with which it a.s.sailed him, should he merely burn it, and be silent? The incident furnished a fair test of his loyalty in friendship, his faith in principle, his soundness of judgment, his clear and cool grasp of the public situation,--in a word, of his manliness and his statesmanship.