1776.
Patrick Henry, Delegate to Convention--Convention at
Williamsburg--Pendleton, President--Corbin's Petition--
Wormley's Petition--Nelson's Letter urging Independence--
Braxton's Pamphlet--Delegates in Congress instructed to
propose Independence--Declaration of Rights--Constitution--
Patrick Henry, Governor--George Mason--Miscellaneous.
IMMEDIATELY upon his return to Hanover, Mr. Henry was elected a delegate
to the convention which was soon to meet. In a letter, dated April
twentieth, Richard Henry Lee exhorted him to propose a separation from
Great Britain.[644:A]
The convention met on the 6th of May, 1776, at Williamsburg. Edmund
Pendleton was nominated by Richard Bland, for the post of president, and
the nomination was seconded by Archibald Cary; Thomas Ludwell Lee was
nominated by Thomas Johnson, of Louisa, and seconded by Bartholomew
Dandridge. Mr. Lee's nomination, made by Mr. Henry's warm supporters,
indicates the dissatisfaction felt toward Mr. Pendleton. The last
mentioned gentleman, who was admirably qualified for the place, was
elected; by what vote is not known. In his address he reminded the
convention that the administration of justice, and almost all the powers
of government, had now been suspended for nearly two years; and he
called on them to reflect whether they could in that situation longer
sustain the struggle in which they were engaged. Having suggested
certain subjects for their consideration, he exhorted them to be
composed, unanimous, and diligent.
John Goodrich, Jr., a suspected person, was confined, by order of the
convention, to his room, in Williamsburg, under guard. The court of
commissioners for Gloucester having found John Wilkie guilty of giving
intelligence to the enemy, his estate was confiscated, and Sir John
Peyton, Baronet, appointed commissioner to put the proceeds into the
treasury. John Tayloe Corbin presented a petition setting forth that in
October, 1775, a time when all America, as well in congress as in
conventions, was avowing loyalty to the king, he wrote a letter to
Charles Neilson, Esq., of Urbanna, who was going to Norfolk, in
consequence of which he had been arrested by military warrant, and was
now confined in the guard-house. The convention ordered that for the
present he should be confined to his room in Williamsburg, under guard.
Shortly after he was ordered to be confined to the region between the
Matapony and the Pamunkey in Caroline, and give bond in the penalty of
ten thousand pounds.
Ralph Wormley, in a petition, apologised for a letter which he had
written to Lord Dunmore, communicating his opinions on the state of
affairs, and which had excited the indignation of the country against
him; declared that he had ever disclaimed parliament's right of taxation
over this continent, but that it was his misfortune to differ in
sentiments from the mode adopted to obtain a renunciation of that
unconstitutional claim, praying to be released from confinement,
submitting to the mercy of his country, and promising in future to
conduct himself in conformity with the ordinances of the convention. He
was ordered to confine himself to Berkley County, and that part of his
father's estate which lay in Frederick, and to give a bond with a
penalty of ten thousand pounds.
On the eighth Thomas Nelson, Jr., addressed a letter to a member of the
convention, in which he says: "Since our conversation, yesterday, my
thoughts have been sorely employed on the great question, whether
independence ought, or ought not, to be immediately declared? Having
weighed the arguments on both sides, I am clearly of opinion that we
must, as we value the liberties of America, or even her existence,
without a moment's delay, declare for independence. If my reasons appear
weak, you will excuse them for the disinterestedness of the author, as I
may venture to affirm that no man on this continent will sacrifice more
than myself by the separation." He combats the objection that the
sentiments of France and Spain should be ascertained previously; because
there was reason to hope that their sentiments would be favorable, and
because at any rate, in the perilous situation of the colonies, the
hazard must be ventured on. France could not fail to understand that the
breaking up of the English monopoly of the American trade would enure to
her own benefit. The fear that France might be diverted from an alliance
by an offer of partition from Great Britain, appeared chimerical, and
contrary to the settled policy of the court of Louis the Sixteenth. In
any case delay in declaring independence would be ruinous, as without it
the soldiers, disheartened, would abandon their colors. Mr. Nelson in
conclusion adds: "I can assure you, sir, that the spirit of the people,
(except a very few in these lower parts, whose little blood has been
sucked out by mosquitoes,) cry out for this declaration. The military in
particular, men and officers, are outrageous on the subject; and a man
of your excellent discernment need not be told how dangerous it would be
in our present circumstances to dally with the spirit, or disappoint the
expectations of the bulk of the people."
About this time there was published, at Philadelphia, a pamphlet, by
Carter Braxton, entitled "An Address to the Convention of the Colony and
Ancient Dominion of Virginia on the subject of Government." It was
looked upon as expressing the views of "the little junto from whence it
proceeded," and was denounced in a letter by Richard Henry Lee as
exhibiting "confusion of ideas, aristocratic pride, contradictory
reasoning with evident ill design."
On the fifteenth of May Archibald Cary reported, from the committee of
the whole house, a preamble and resolutions which were unanimously
adopted. The preamble recited how all the efforts of the colonies to
bring about a reconciliation with Great Britain, consistently with the
constitutional rights of America, had produced only additional insults
and new acts of oppression; and it recapitulated these acts. The first
resolution instructed the Virginia delegates in congress to propose to
that body "to declare the United Colonies free and independent states;"
the second ordered the appointment of a committee to prepare "a
declaration of rights," and a plan of government. The preamble and
resolutions were drawn up by Edmund Pendleton, offered in committee of
the whole house by Thomas Nelson, Jr., and supported by the eloquence
of Patrick Henry.[647:A] On the next day the resolutions were read to
the troops quartered at Williamsburg, under command of General Andrew
Lewis; a _feu de joie_ was fired amid the acclamations of the people,
and the union flag of the American States waved from the capitol, and in
the evening Williamsburg was illuminated.
Patrick Henry in a letter, dated at Williamsburg, May twentieth, wrote
to Richard Henry Lee: "The grand work of forming a constitution for
Virginia is now before the convention, where your love of equal liberty
and your skill in public counsels might so eminently serve the cause of
your country. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I fear too great a bias to
aristocracy prevails among the opulent. I own myself a democratic on the
plan of our admired friend, J. Adams, whose pamphlet I read with great
pleasure. A performance from Philadelphia is just come here, ushered in,
I'm told, by a colleague of yours, B----, and greatly recommended by
him. I don't like it. Is the author a whig? One or two expressions in
the book make me ask. I wish to divide you and have you here to animate,
by your manly eloquence, the sometimes drooping spirits of our country,
and in congress to be the ornament of your native country, and the
vigilant, determined foe of tyranny. To give you colleagues of kindred
sentiments is my wish. I doubt you have them not at present. A
confidential account of the matter to Colonel Tom,[647:B] desiring him
to use it according to his discretion, might greatly serve the public
and vindicate Virginia from suspicions. Vigor, animation, and all the
powers of mind and body must now be summoned and collected together into
one grand effort. Moderation, falsely so called, hath nearly brought on
us final ruin. And to see those who have so fatally advised us still
guiding, or at least sharing our public councils, alarms me."[647:C]
There was an apprehension felt by some at this time lest England, in
order to prevent France from assisting the colonies, should offer to
divide them with her. Patrick Henry in the same letter wrote to Richard
Henry Lee: "Ere this reaches you our resolution for separating from
Britain will be handed you by Colonel Nelson. Your sentiments as to the
necessary progress of this great affair correspond with mine. For may
not France, ignorant of the great advantages to her commerce we intend
to offer, and of the permanency of that separation which is to take
place, be allured by the partition you mention? To anticipate,
therefore, the efforts of the enemy by sending instantly American
ambassadors to France, seems to me absolutely necessary. Delay may bring
on us total ruin. But is not a confederacy of our states previously
necessary?" His comprehensive eye glanced from the fisheries of the
north to the Mississippi and western lands. "Notwithstanding
solicitations from every great land company to the west, I've refused to
join them. I think a general confiscation of royal and British property
should be made. The fruits would be great, and the measure in its utmost
latitude warranted by the late act of parliament."
In the convention a committee of thirty-four, Archibald Cary being
chairman, were appointed to prepare a declaration of rights and a plan
of government. The declaration was reported and adopted on the fifteenth
of June, and the plan of government on the twenty-ninth, (five days in
advance of the declaration of independence of the United
Colonies,)--both by a unanimous vote. The declaration of rights and
constitution were draughted by George Mason.
George Mason, first of the family in Virginia, had been a member of
parliament in England, and, at the breaking out of the civil wars, had
sided with King Charles the First, although, like Falkland, not wholly
approving his course, organized a military corps, and fought on the
royal side until the overthrow at Worcester. After this catastrophe he
came over to Virginia and landed in Norfolk County, (1651,) and was soon
followed by his family. He removed to Acohick Creek, on the Potomac. He
commanded (1676) a volunteer force against the Indians, and in the same
year represented the County of Stafford in the assembly, being a
colleague of the author of "T. M.'s Account of Bacon's Rebellion," who
was probably Thomas Matthews, son of Samuel Matthews, some time Governor
of Virginia. The County of Stafford had been carved out of Westmoreland
in the preceding year, and was so called by Colonel Mason in honor of
his native county of Staffordshire, England. His eldest son, George,
married Mary, daughter of Gerard Fowke, of Gunston Hall, in that English
county. Their eldest son, George Mason, third of the name, also lived in
Acohick, and lies buried there. George Mason, fourth in descent, and
eldest son of George, last named, married a daughter of Stevens Thomson,
of the Middle Temple, attorney-general of Virginia in the reign of Queen
Anne. He resided at Doeg Neck, on the Potomac, then in Stafford, now in
Fairfax, and was[649:A] lieutenant and chief commander of Stafford. He
was drowned by the upsetting of a sail-boat in the Potomac. He left two
sons and a daughter. One of the sons was George, author of the
constitution of Virginia, and the other, Thomson Mason, a member of the
house of burgesses, an eminent lawyer, and true patriot. He was elected
one of the judges of the first general court. He suffered from the gout,
and one of Governor Tazewell's earliest recollections is the having seen
him carried into court when laboring under that disease. His son,
Stevens Thomson Mason, was a member of the Virginia Convention of 1788,
and United States Senator, and his son, Armistead Thomson Mason, was
also a Senator of the United States from Virginia. George Mason, fifth
of the name, was born at Doeg's Neck in 1726; he married Ann Eilbeck, of
Charles County, Maryland, and built a new mansion on the high banks of
the Potomac, and called it Gunston Hall.
George Mason was, in 1776, fifty years of age. His complexion was
swarthy, his face grave, with a radiant dark eye, his raven hair
sprinkled with gray; his aspect rather foreign; nearly six feet in
stature, of a large athletic frame, and active step.[649:B] His presence
was commanding, his bearing lofty. He was fond of hunting and angling.
He was a systematic, wealthy, and prosperous planter; indifferent to the
temptations of political ambition; devoting his leisure to study. Mr.
Madison pronounced him the ablest man in debate that he had ever seen.
Although a warm adherent of the house of Hanover, and at the first
averse to independence, yet he assumed the boldest position and
maintained it. In the year 1766 he concluded a letter to the London
merchants, on the repeal of the stamp act, thus: "These are the
sentiments of a man who spends most of his time in retirement, and has
seldom meddled in public affairs; who enjoys a moderate but independent
fortune, and, content with the blessings of a private station, equally
disregards the smiles and the frowns of the great." His pamphlet
entitled "Extracts from the Virginia Charters, with some Remarks upon
them," was considered a masterly exposition of the rights of the
colonies.[650:A]
Of Mr. Mason's sons, George, the eldest, sixth of the name, was captain
in the Virginia line of the Revolution, and inherited Gunston Hall. The
fourth son was the late General John Mason, of Analostan Island, near
Washington City. The Honorable James Murray Mason, United States Senator
for Virginia, is a son of the last named.[650:B]
The preamble to the constitution, containing a recital of wrongs, was
from the pen of Mr. Jefferson, who was at that time attending the
session of congress at Philadelphia.[650:C] George Mason, the author of
the first written constitution of a free commonwealth ever framed, was
pre-eminent in an age[650:D] of great men for his extensive information,
enlarged views, profound wisdom, and the pure simplicity of his
republican principles.[650:E] As a speaker he was devoid of rhetorical
grace, but earnest and impressive.
Immediately upon the adoption of the constitution, the salary of the
governor was fixed at one thousand pounds per annum, and Patrick Henry,
Jr., was elected the first republican Governor of Virginia, he receiving
sixty votes, and Thomas Nelson, Sr., forty-five.
Mr. Henry received an address from the two regiments which he had
recently commanded, congratulating him upon his "unsolicited promotion
to the highest honors a grateful people can bestow," and they declared,
as they had been once happy under his military command, they hoped for
more extensive blessings from his civil administration.
The newly-appointed governor closed his reply by saying: "I trust the
day will come when I shall make one of those that will hail you among
the triumphant deliverers of America." The first council appointed under
the new constitution consisted of John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe,
John Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Thomas
Nelson, Sr., and Charles Carter, of Shirley. Mr. Nelson declining the
appointment on account of infirm old age, his place was supplied by
Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon. It is a remarkable instance of the
vicissitudes of fortune, that "a certain Patrick Henry, Jr.," against
whom Governor Dunmore had so lately fulminated his angry proclamation,
now came to be the occupant of the palace at Williamsburg as governor
and commander-in-chief. Although the leaders of the conservative party
looked at the contest with Great Britain in a very different light from
that in which it was viewed by the movement and popular party, and
although the animating motives of the two were so different, yet in the
face of imminent common danger they conspired with extraordinary
unanimity in the common cause. So the mainmast of a ship of the line,
though composed of several pieces banded together, is stronger than if
made of a single spar.[651:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[644:A] Convention of '76, p. 8, in note.
[647:A] These facts were stated by Edmund Randolph in his address at the
funeral of Pendleton. (_Grigsby's Convention of '76_, p. 203.)
[647:B] Thomas Nelson, Jr.
[647:C] _S. Lit. Messenger_, 1842, p. 260.
[649:A] 1719.
[649:B] His portrait is preserved, and a copy of it is in the hall of
the Historical Society in Richmond.
[650:A] Convention of '76, p. 157.
[650:B] Ibid., 156, in note.
[650:C] Journal of Convention of 1776; Wirt's Henry, 195; Grigsby's
Convention of '76, p. 19.
[650:D] Patrick Henry in a letter to Richard Henry Lee, dated December
18th, 1777, quoted in Grigsby's Convention of 1776, p. 142, in note,
states that there was opposition; but the vote appears unanimous on the
journal. The persons who opposed it were known, but were so few they did
not think fit to divide the house, or contradict the general voice.
Ibid., 161, in note. The same persons subsequently opposed the
confederation.
[650:E] His statue is to stand on the monument in Richmond.
[651:A] Extract from Orderly Book:--
"WILLIAMSBURG, May, 14th, 1776.
"Parole--Liberty.
"The many applications for furloughs make it necessary for
Brigadier-General Lewis to mention in orders as improper in
our critical situation, and hopes that no request of this kind
for the future, until circumstances will admit, will be made.
"Officer for day to-morrow, Lieutenant-Colonel McClenahan.
Officers for guard, Lieutenant Garland, Ensign Barksdale. For
guard, 8 p. 1 s. 1 c."
"WILLIAMSBURG, May 17th, 1776.
"Parole--Convention.
"Let it not be forgot that this day is set apart for
humiliation, fasting, and prayer: the troops to attend divine
service."