Richard Henry Lee--Congress at Philadelphia--Henry--Proceedings
of Congress--Washington--Military Spirit in Virginia.
RICHARD HENRY LEE was born at Stratford, on the Potomac, January 20th,
1732, his father being Thomas Lee, and his mother, Hannah, daughter of
Colonel Ludwell, of Greenspring, near Jamestown. Richard, second son of
Richard Lee, was of the council, and an adherent of Sir William Berkley;
and Thomas Lee, third son, was some time president of the council. He
was one of the majority of that body who persecuted the dissenters.
Richard Henry Lee's maternal relations were conspicuous for their
wealth, influence, and public stations. Colonel Ludwell, the father of
Mrs. Lee, was of the council, as also was a son of his. Her grandfather
was a collector of the customs, (having succeeded in that office Giles
Bland, who was executed during Bacon's rebellion,) and afterwards
governor of North Carolina. The Ludwells were staunch supporters of Sir
William Berkley and the Stuart dynasty. Richard Henry Lee's mother, one
of the high-toned aristocracy of the colony, confined her care chiefly
to her daughters and her eldest son, and left her younger sons pretty
much to shift for themselves. After a course of private tuition in his
father's house, Richard Henry was sent to Wakefield Academy, Yorkshire,
England, where he distinguished himself by his proficiency in his
studies, particularly in the Latin and Greek. Having completed his
course at this school, he travelled through England, and visited London.
He returned when about nineteen years of age to his native country, two
years after his father's death, which occurred in 1750. Young Lee's
patrimony rendering it unnecessary for him to devote himself to a
profession, he now passed a life of ease, but not of idleness; for he
indulged his taste for letters, and diligently stored his mind with
knowledge. In 1755, being chosen captain of a company of volunteers
raised in Westmoreland, he marched with them to Alexandria, and offered
their services to General Braddock; but the offer was declined. In his
twenty-fifth year Mr. Lee was appointed a justice of the peace, and
shortly afterwards elected a burgess for his county. Naturally
diffident, and finding himself surrounded by able men, for one or two
sessions he took no part in the debates. One of his early efforts was in
support of a resolution "to lay so heavy a tax on the importation of
slaves as effectually to put an end to that iniquitous and disgraceful
traffick within the colony of Virginia." On this question he argued
against the institution of slavery as a portentous evil, moral and
political.[578:A] When the defalcations of Treasurer Robinson came to be
suspected, Mr. Lee insisted with firmness, in the face of a proud and
embittered opposition, on an investigation of the treasury. In November,
1764, when the stamp act was first heard of in America, Mr. Lee, at the
instance of a friend, wrote to England, making application for a
collector's office under that act. He alleged that at that time neither
he, nor, as he believed, his countrymen, had duly reflected on the real
nature of that act. Observing soon, however, the growing dissatisfaction
with that measure, and bestowing more deliberate reflection upon it, he
became convinced of its pernicious character, and of the impropriety of
his application; and from that time he became one of the most strenuous
opponents of the stamp act. In the year 1766 he brought to the
consideration of the assembly the act of parliament claiming a right to
tax America; and he draughted the address to the king, and the memorial
to the commons. His accomplishments, learning, courtesy, patriotism,
republican principles, decision of character and eloquence, commanded
the attention of the legislature. Although a member at the time of the
introduction of Henry's resolutions, in 1765, Mr. Lee happened not to be
present at the discussion; but he heartily concurred in their adoption.
Shortly afterwards he organized an association in furtherance of them in
Westmoreland. He vigorously opposed the act laying a duty on tea, and
that for quartering British troops in the colonies. He was now residing
at Chantilly, his seat on the Potomac, a few miles below Stratford, in
Westmoreland. The house at Chantilly is no longer standing. On the 25th
of July, 1768, in a letter to John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Lee
suggested "that not only select committees should be appointed by all
the colonies, but that a private correspondence should be conducted
between the lovers of liberty in every province." In the year 1773 the
Virginia assembly, at the suggestion of Mr. Lee, appointed the first
committee of intercolonial correspondence, consisting of six members, of
whom he was one.
Washington was joined at Mount Vernon by Henry and Pendleton, and they
proceeded together to Philadelphia. Here the old Continental Congress,
consisting of fifty-five delegates, representing all the colonies except
Georgia, assembled on the 5th day of September, 1774.[579:A]
Upon the motion of Mr. Lynch, of South Carolina, Peyton Randolph, of
Virginia, was unanimously elected president, and Charles Thomson,
secretary. At the opening of the session, on the second day, the
prolonged silence was at length broken by Patrick Henry. Reciting the
grievances of the colonies, he declared that all government was
dissolved, and that they were reduced to a state of nature; that the
congress which he was addressing was the first in a perpetual series of
congresses. A few sentences roughly jotted down in John Adams'
diary[579:B] are all that survive of this celebrated speech.
Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee towered supereminent in debate; yet
it soon came to be remarked that in composition and the routine of
actual business they were surpassed by many.[579:C] But "the egotism of
human nature will seldom allow us to credit a man for one excellence,
without detracting from him in other respects; if he has genius, we
imagine he has not common sense; if he is a poet, we suppose that he is
not a logician."[580:A] It has been seen that George Mason considered
Henry "the first man on this continent in ability as in public virtues."
A great man only can adequately appreciate a great man. Henry was
capable of being no less efficient in the committee-room than on the
floor of debate.[580:B] There was no test of intellectual excellence too
severe for him. The state-papers of Richard Henry Lee are sufficient
proofs of his capacity.
The proceedings were conducted in secret session. Intelligence which was
received from Boston riveted more closely the union of the North and
South; minor differences were lost sight of in view of the portentous
common danger. The congress made a declaration of rights. Dickinson
composed the petition to the king, and the address to the inhabitants of
Quebec; Jay an address to the people of Great Britain; and Richard Henry
Lee a memorial to the inhabitants of the British colonies. The congress,
after a session of fifty-one days, adjourned in October.
Mr. Henry, on his return home, being asked, "Who is the greatest man in
congress?" replied, "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South
Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid
information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the
greatest man on that floor." John Adams, the eloquent and indomitable
advocate of independence, mentions Lee, Henry, and Hooper as the orators
of that body. Washington, in a letter addressed to Captain Mackenzie,
who had formerly served under him, and was now among the British troops
at Boston, gave it as his opinion, that it was neither the wish nor
the interest of Massachusetts, nor of any of the colonies, to set up
for independence; yet they never would submit to the loss of their
constitutional rights. The same opinion was avowed by Jefferson,
Franklin, and other leading men; yet there was undoubtedly then, and
long had been, a strong undercurrent, a heavy ground-swell in the
direction of independence, it being evident that England would never
restore the colonies to their condition previous to 1763. A declaration
of war is usually preceded by a hypothetical denial of hostile designs:
it is the lull whose mysterious silence heralds in the approaching
storm.
Patrick Henry stood foremost among the statesmen of Virginia, from the
beginning of the contest, in favor of independence; he was on this point
ten years in advance of them;[581:A] standing out in bold relief the
prominent and pre-eminent figure on the canvas. Samuel Adams, in
Massachusetts, was a patriot of the same stamp.
The danger of an outbreak of hostilities between the people of Boston
and the British troops growing daily more imminent, the spirit of
warlike preparation, by a sort of contagion, pervaded the colonies. It
had long been a custom in Virginia to form independent military
companies; and several of these now solicited Colonel Washington to
review them and take command; and he consented; and in the apprehension
of war, all eyes involuntarily turned to him as the first military
character in the colony. At Mount Vernon he occasionally saw his former
companions in arms, Dr. James Craik, and Captain Hugh Mercer, also a
physician, both natives of Scotland, and with them talked over the
recollections of former years, and discussed the prospects of the
future. Washington was visited during the year also by General Charles
Lee and Major Horatio Gates, natives of England, who had distinguished
themselves in the British army, and destined to become conspicuous in
the American war of revolution. They had recently purchased estates in
Berkley County, Virginia.
FOOTNOTES:
[578:A] Life of Richard Henry Lee, 17.
[579:A] Carpenter's Hall, instituted in 1721 by the Company of
Carpenters, is in a court a little back from Chestnut Street. There is
in the Hall the following inscription: "Within these walls Henry,
Hancock, and Adams inspired the delegates of the colonies with nerve and
sinew for the toils of war resulting in our national independence." Two
high-backed arm-chairs are preserved, marked "Continental Congress,
1774."
[579:B] See his Life and Works, ii. 366.
[579:C] Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry.
[580:A] Lord Brougham.
[580:B] Grigsby's Va. Convention of 1776, p. 150.
[581:A] Grigsby's Va. Convention of 1776, p. 148.