1775.
Lord Dunmore--Second Convention--St. John's Church--Henry's
Resolutions--His Speech--Measures adopted.
In the beginning of 1775 the people of Virginia were in a state of
anxious suspense, expecting an outbreak of civil war. Dunmore remained
in gloomy solicitude in his palace, tenacious of authority, but fearful
of resisting the popular will. Intelligence was now continually received
of commotions among the people; resolutions, essays, and speeches added
new fuel to the excitement.
The second Virginia convention assembled at Richmond, on Monday, the
twentieth day of March. St. John's Church, in which the sessions were
held, stands on Richmond Hill, commanding a panorama of Richmond, (then
a few straggling houses,) hills, and fields, and woods, and the James,
with its rocks and islands, flashing rapids and murmuring falls, and
poetic mists. The convention approved of the proceedings of congress,
and of the conduct of the Virginia delegates. Resolutions were adopted
thanking the assembly of Jamaica[599:A] for their petition and memorial
to the king in behalf of the colonies; and expressing Virginia's ardent
wish for "a speedy return of those halcyon days when they lived a free
and happy people." The too abject tone of these resolutions aroused the
patriotic indignation of Patrick Henry, and he introduced resolutions
for putting the colony immediately into a state of defence against the
encroachments of Great Britain, and for embodying, arming, and
disciplining a force of well-regulated militia for that purpose. They
were supported by Henry, the mover, Jefferson, the Lees, Pages, Mason,
and others; but many of the members recoiled with horror from this
startling measure; and it was strenuously resisted by Bland, Harrison,
Pendleton, Nicholas, and Wythe, who held such a step premature, until
the result of the last petition to the king should be more fully known.
They still flattered themselves with the hope that the breach might yet
be repaired in some way, either by the influence of the opposition in
England, of the manufacturing interests, or the relenting of the king.
They urged that Virginia was unmilitary, unprovided for war, weak, and
defenceless, and insisted that desperate measures should not be resorted
to, until hope herself had fled. Henry replied: "What has there been in
the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify
hope? Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and
reconciliation? These are the implements of subjugation sent over to
rivet upon us the chains which the British ministry have been so long
forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? We
have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to
offer? Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? We have
petitioned--we have remonstrated--we have supplicated; and we have been
spurned from the foot of the throne. In vain may we indulge the fond
hope of reconciliation. There is no longer room for hope. If we wish to
be free we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to
arms, and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us!
"They tell me that we are weak; but shall we gather strength by
irresolution? We are not weak. Three millions of people armed in the
holy cause of liberty, and in such a country, are invincible by any
force which our enemy can send against us. We shall not fight alone. A
just God presides over the destinies of nations, and will raise up
friends for us. The battle is not to the strong alone; it is to the
vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, we have no election. If we
were base enough to desire it, it is too late to retire from the
contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery. The war is
inevitable--and let it come! let it come!
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."
Henry's voice, calm in his exordium, rose gradually to a higher and yet
higher pitch, until the very walls of the church seemed to rock and
tremble, as if conscious of the tremendous vibrations. The listeners,
forgetful of order and of themselves, leaned forward in their seats,
magnetized by the voice and look of the speaker, whose pale face and
glaring eye assumed an appearance of preternatural emotion. His last
exclamation, "Give me liberty, or give me death," sounded like the shout
of the warrior in the tempest of battle.[601:A] When Mr. Henry sat down
every eye remained still fixed on him, entranced and spell-bound.[601:B]
Richard Henry Lee supported Mr. Henry in a masterly review of the
resources of the colonies and their means of resistance, exhorting the
convention to remember that "the race is not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong, and that he is thrice armed whose cause is just."
"But," says Wirt, "his melody was lost amid the agitations of that ocean
which the master-spirit of the storm had lifted up on high." It would,
however, be a wide mistake to believe that a melodious voice was Mr.
Lee's highest qualification as a speaker. Plain, solid, common sense was
the distinguishing characteristic of his mind as it was of Mr. Henry's.
The overweening caution of those who opposed Henry's resolutions perhaps
served the purpose of the breaks in a train of railroad cars--while they
endeavored to retard the movement, they made it eventually safer. The
resolutions were carried, and a committee was appointed to prepare a
plan of defence.[601:C]
In conformity with a plan reported by the committee, the convention
unanimously determined on the establishment of a well-regulated militia,
by forming in every county one or more volunteer companies and troops
of horse, to be in constant training and ready to act at a moment's
warning, and hence called "minute-men." Mr. Nicholas, hitherto an
extreme conservative, now proposed to raise an army of ten thousand
regulars; the proposition evinced his enthusiasm in the cause; but the
kind of force which he recommended still displayed his distrust in means
of defence resting immediately on the body of the people. Measures were
adopted by the convention to promote the raising of wool, cotton, flax,
and hemp, and to encourage domestic manufactures of gunpowder, salt,
iron, and steel; and the members agreed to make use of home-made
fabrics, and recommended the practice to the people. The former
delegates to congress were re-elected, with the substitution of Mr.
Jefferson in lieu of Peyton Randolph, in case of his non-attendance. Mr.
Randolph, being speaker of the house of burgesses, did not attend that
congress, and Mr. Jefferson accordingly took his place.
FOOTNOTES:
[599:A] Jamaica and New York were acquired by conquest.
[601:A] Randall's Life of Jefferson, i. 101.
[601:B] The expression, "after all, we must fight," had been used four
months before by Joseph Hawley, of Massachusetts, in a letter to John
Adams, which he showed to Patrick Henry while they were together in the
first congress. Henry, upon reading the words, raised his hand, and with
an oath exclaimed, "I am of that man's mind."
[601:C] The committee consisted of Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee,
Robert C. Nicholas, Benjamin Harrison, Lemuel Riddick, George
Washington, Adam Stephen, Andrew Lewis, William Christian, Edmund
Pendleton, Thomas Jefferson, and Isaac Zane.