FIRST GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA
On Friday, the 5th of July, 1776, Patrick Henry took the oath of
office,[255] and entered upon his duties as governor of the
commonwealth of Virginia. The salary attached to the position was
fixed at one thousand pounds sterling for the year; and the governor
was invited to take up his residence in the palace at Williamsburg. No
one had resided in the palace since Lord Dunmore had fled from it; and
the people of Virginia could hardly fail to note the poetic
retribution whereby the very man whom, fourteen months before, Lord
Dunmore had contemptuously denounced as "a certain Patrick Henry of
Hanover County," should now become Lord Dunmore's immediate successor
in that mansion of state, and should be able, if he chose, to write
proclamations against Lord Dunmore upon the same desk on which Lord
Dunmore had so recently written the proclamation against himself.
Among the first to bring their congratulations to the new governor,
were his devoted friends, the first and second regiments of Virginia,
who told him that they viewed "with the sincerest sentiments of
respect and joy" his accession to the highest office in the State, and
who gave to him likewise this affectionate assurance: "our hearts are
willing, and arms ready, to maintain your authority as chief
magistrate."[256] On the 29th of July, the erratic General Charles
Lee, who was then in Charleston, sent on his congratulations in a
letter amusing for its tart cordiality and its peppery playfulness:--
"I most sincerely congratulate you on the noble conduct of
your countrymen; and I congratulate your country on having
citizens deserving of the high honor to which you are
exalted. For the being elected to the first magistracy of a
free people is certainly the pinnacle of human glory; and I
am persuaded that they could not have made a happier choice.
Will you excuse me,--but I am myself so extremely
democratical, that I think it a fault in your constitution
that the governor should be eligible for three years
successively. It appears to me that a government of three
years may furnish an opportunity of acquiring a very
dangerous influence. But this is not the worst.... A man who
is fond of office, and has his eye upon reelection, will be
courting favor and popularity at the expense of his duty....
There is a barbarism crept in among us that extremely shocks
me: I mean those tinsel epithets with which (I come in for
my share) we are so beplastered,--'his excellency,' and 'his
honor,' 'the honorable president of the honorable congress,'
or 'the honorable convention.' This fulsome, nauseating
cant may be well enough adapted to barbarous monarchies, or
to gratify the adulterated pride of the 'magnifici' in
pompous aristocracies; but in a great, free, manly, equal
commonwealth, it is quite abominable. For my own part, I
would as lief they would put ratsbane in my mouth as the
'excellency' with which I am daily crammed. How much more
true dignity was there in the simplicity of address amongst
the Romans,--'Marcus Tullius Cicero,' 'Decimo Bruto
Imperatori,' or 'Caio Marcello Consuli,'--than to 'his
excellency Major-General Noodle,' or to 'the honorable John
Doodle.' ... If, therefore, I should sometimes address a
letter to you without the 'excellency' tacked, you must not
esteem it a mark of personal or official disrespect, but the
reverse."[257]
Of all the words of congratulation which poured in upon the new
governor, probably none came so straight from the heart, and none
could have been quite so sweet to him, as those which, on the 12th of
August, were uttered by some of the persecuted dissenters in Virginia,
who, in many an hour of need, had learned to look up to Patrick Henry
as their strong and splendid champion, in the legislature and in the
courts. On the date just mentioned, "the ministers and delegates of
the Baptist churches" of the State, being met in convention at Louisa,
sent to him this address:--
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY,--As your advancement to the
honorable and important station as governor of this
commonwealth affords us unspeakable pleasure, we beg leave
to present your excellency with our most cordial
congratulations.
Your public virtues are such that we are under no temptation
to flatter you. Virginia has done honor to her judgment in
appointing your excellency to hold the reins of government
at this truly critical conjuncture, as you have always
distinguished yourself by your zeal and activity for her
welfare, in whatever department has been assigned you.
As a religious community, we have nothing to request of you.
Your constant attachment to the glorious cause of liberty
and the rights of conscience, leaves us no room to doubt of
your excellency's favorable regards while we worthily demean
ourselves.
May God Almighty continue you long, very long, a public
blessing to this your native country, and, after a life of
usefulness here, crown you with immortal felicity in the
world to come.
Signed by order: JEREMIAH WALKER, _Moderator_.
JOHN WILLIAMS, _Clerk_.
To these loving and jubilant words, the governor replied in an
off-hand letter, the deep feeling of which is not the less evident
because it is restrained,--a letter which is as choice and noble in
diction as it is in thought:--
TO THE MINISTERS AND DELEGATES OF THE BAPTIST CHURCHES, AND
THE MEMBERS OF THAT COMMUNION.
GENTLEMEN,--I am exceedingly obliged to you for your very
kind address, and the favorable sentiments you are pleased
to entertain respecting my conduct and the principles which
have directed it. My constant endeavor shall be to guard the
rights of all my fellow-citizens from every encroachment.
I am happy to find a catholic spirit prevailing in our
country, and that those religious distinctions, which
formerly produced some heats, are now forgotten. Happy must
every friend to virtue and America feel himself, to perceive
that the only contest among us, at this most critical and
important period, is, who shall be foremost to preserve our
religious and civil liberties.
My most earnest wish is, that Christian charity,
forbearance, and love, may unite all our different
persuasions, as brethren who must perish or triumph
together; and I trust that the time is not far distant when
we shall greet each other as the peaceable possessors of
that just and equal system of liberty adopted by the last
convention, and in support of which may God crown our arms
with success.
I am, gentlemen, your most obedient and very humble servant,
P. HENRY, JUN.[258]
August 13, 1776.
On the day on which Governor Henry was sworn into office, the
convention finally adjourned, having made provision for the meeting of
the General Assembly on the first Monday of the following October. In
the mean time, therefore, all the interests of the State were to be in
the immediate keeping of the governor and privy council; and, for a
part of that time, as it turned out, the governor himself was disabled
for service. For we now encounter in the history of Patrick Henry, the
first mention of that infirm health from which he seems to have
suffered, in some degree, during the remaining twenty-three years of
his life. Before taking full possession of the governor's palace,
which had to be made ready for his use, he had likewise to prepare for
this great change in his life by returning to his home in the county
of Hanover. There he lay ill for some time;[259] and upon his recovery
he removed with his family to Williamsburg, which continued to be
their home for the next three years.
The people of Virginia had been accustomed, for more than a century,
to look upon their governors as personages of very great dignity.
Several of those governors had been connected with the English
peerage; all had served in Virginia in a vice-regal capacity; many had
lived there in a sort of vice-regal pomp and magnificence. It is not
to be supposed that Governor Henry would be able or willing to assume
so much state and grandeur as his predecessors had done; and yet he
felt, and the people of Virginia felt, that in the transition from
royal to republican forms the dignity of that office should not be
allowed to decline in any important particular. Moreover, as a
contemporary observer mentions, Patrick Henry had been "accused by the
big-wigs of former times as being a coarse and common man, and utterly
destitute of dignity; and perhaps he wished to show them that they
were mistaken."[260] At any rate, by the testimony of all, he seems to
have displayed his usual judgment and skill in adapting himself to
the requirements of his position; and, while never losing his
gentleness and his simplicity of manner, to have borne himself as the
impersonation, for the time being, of the executive authority of a
great and proud commonwealth. He ceased to appear frequently upon the
streets; and whenever he did appear, he was carefully arrayed in a
dressed wig, in black small-clothes, and in a scarlet cloak; and his
presence and demeanor were such as to sustain, in the popular mind,
the traditional respect for his high office.
He had so far recovered from the illness which had prostrated him
during the summer, as to be at his post of duty when the General
Assembly of the State began its first session, on Monday, the 7th of
October, 1776. His health, however, was still extremely frail; for on
the 30th of that month he was obliged to notify the House "that the
low state of his health rendered him unable to attend to the duties of
his office, and that his physicians had recommended to him to retire
therefrom into the country, till he should recover his strength."[261]
His absence seems not to have been very long. By the 16th of November,
as one may infer from entries in the journal of the House,[262] he was
able to resume his official duties.
The summer and autumn of that year proved to be a dismal period for
the American cause. Before our eyes, as we now look back over those
days, there marches this grim procession of dates: August 27, the
battle of Long Island; August 29, Washington's retreat across East
River; September 15, the panic among the American troops at Kip's Bay,
and the American retreat from New York; September 16, the battle of
Harlem Plains; September 20, the burning of New York; October 28, the
battle of White Plains; November 16, the surrender of Fort Washington;
November 20, the abandonment of Fort Lee, followed by Washington's
retreat across the Jerseys. In the midst of these disasters,
Washington found time to write, from the Heights of Harlem, on the 5th
of October, to his old friend, Patrick Henry, congratulating him on
his election as governor of Virginia and on his recovery from
sickness; explaining the military situation at headquarters; advising
him about military appointments in Virginia; and especially giving to
him important suggestions concerning the immediate military defence of
Virginia "against the enemy's ships and tenders, which," as Washington
says to the governor, "may go up your rivers in quest of provisions,
or for the purpose of destroying your towns."[263] Indeed, Virginia
was just then exposed to hostile attacks on all sides;[264] and it was
so plain that any attack by water would have found an easy approach to
Williamsburg, that, in the course of the next few months, the public
records and the public stores were removed to Richmond, as being, on
every account, a "more secure site."[265] Apparently, however, the
prompt recognition of this danger by Governor Henry, early in the
autumn of 1776, and his vigorous military preparations against it,
were interpreted by some of his political enemies as a sign both of
personal cowardice and of official self-glorification,--as is
indicated by a letter written by the aged Landon Carter to General
Washington, on the 31st of October, and filled with all manner of
caustic garrulity and insinuation,--a letter from which it may be
profitable for us to quote a few sentences, as qualifying somewhat
that stream of honeyed testimony respecting Patrick Henry which
commonly flows down upon us so copiously from all that period.
"If I don't err in conjecture," says Carter, "I can't help
thinking that the head of our Commonwealth has as great a
palace of fear and apprehension as can possess the heart of
any being; and if we compare rumor with actual movements, I
believe it will prove itself to every sensible man. As soon
as the Congress sent for our first, third, fourth, fifth,
and sixth regiments to assist you in contest against the
enemy where they really were ... there got a report among
the soldiery that Dignity had declared it would not reside
in Williamsburg without two thousand men under arms to guard
him. This had like to have occasioned a mutiny. A desertion
of many from the several companies did follow; boisterous
fellows resisting, and swearing they would not leave their
county.... What a finesse of popularity was this?... As soon
as the regiments were gone, this great man found an interest
with the council of state, perhaps timorous as himself, to
issue orders for the militia of twenty-six counties, and
five companies of a minute battalion, to march to
Williamsburg, to protect him only against his own fears; and
to make this the more popular, it was endeavored that the
House of Delegates should give it a countenance, but, as
good luck would have it, it was with difficulty
refused.[266] ... Immediately then, ... a bill is brought in
to remove the seat of government,--some say, up to Hanover,
to be called Henry-Town."[267]
This gossip of a disappointed Virginian aristocrat, in vituperation of
the public character of Governor Henry, naturally leads us forward in
our story to that more stupendous eruption of gossip which relates, in
the first instance, to the latter part of December, 1776, and which
alleges that a conspiracy was then formed among certain members of the
General Assembly to make Patrick Henry the dictator of Virginia. The
first intimation ever given to the public concerning it, was given by
Jefferson several years afterward, in his "Notes on Virginia," a
fascinating brochure which was written by him in 1781 and 1782, was
first printed privately in Paris in 1784, and was first published in
England in 1787, in America in 1788.[268] The essential portions of
his statement are as follows:--
"In December, 1776, our circumstances being much distressed,
it was proposed in the House of Delegates to create a
dictator, invested with every power legislative, executive,
and judiciary, civil and military, of life and death, over
our persons and over our properties.... One who entered into
this contest from a pure love of liberty, and a sense of
injured rights, who determined to make every sacrifice and
to meet every danger, for the reestablishment of those
rights on a firm basis, ... must stand confounded and
dismayed when he is told that a considerable portion of" the
House "had meditated the surrender of them into a single
hand, and in lieu of a limited monarchy, to deliver him over
to a despotic one.... The very thought alone was treason
against the people; was treason against man in general; as
riveting forever the chains which bow down their necks, by
giving to their oppressors a proof, which they would have
trumpeted through the universe, of the imbecility of
republican government, in times of pressing danger, to
shield them from harm.... Those who meant well, of the
advocates of this measure (and most of them meant well, for
I know them personally, had been their fellow-laborer in the
common cause, and had often proved the purity of their
principles), had been seduced in their judgment by the
example of an ancient republic, whose constitution and
circumstances were fundamentally different."[269]
With that artistic tact and that excellent prudence which seem never
to have failed Jefferson in any of his enterprises for the
disparagement of his associates, he here avoids, as will be observed,
all mention of the name of the person for whose fatal promotion this
classic conspiracy was formed,--leaving that interesting item to come
out, as it did many years afterward, when the most of those who could
have borne testimony upon the subject were in their graves, and when
the damning stigma could be comfortably fastened to the name of
Patrick Henry without the direct intervention of Jefferson's own
hands. Accordingly, in 1816, a French gentleman, Girardin, a near
neighbor of Jefferson's, who enjoyed "the incalculable benefit of a
free access to Mr. Jefferson's library,"[270] and who wrote the
continuation of Burk's "History of Virginia" under Jefferson's very
eye,[271] gave in that work a highly wrought account of the alleged
conspiracy of December, 1776, as involving "nothing less than the
substitution of a despotic in lieu of a limited monarch;" and then
proceeded to bring the accusation down from those lurid generalities
of condemnation in which Jefferson himself had cautiously left it, by
adding this sentence: "That Mr. Henry was the person in view for the
dictatorship, is well ascertained."[272]
Finally, in 1817, William Wirt, whose "Life of Henry" was likewise
composed under nearly the same inestimable advantages as regards
instruction and oversight furnished by Jefferson, repeated the fearful
tale, and added some particulars; but, in doing so, Wirt could not
fail--good lawyer and just man, as he was--to direct attention to the
absence of all evidence of any collusion on the part of Patrick Henry
with the projected folly and crime.
"Even the heroism of the Virginia legislature," says Wirt,
"gave way; and, in a season of despair, the mad project of a
dictator was seriously meditated. That Mr. Henry was thought
of for this office, has been alleged, and is highly
probable; but that the project was suggested by him, or even
received his countenance, I have met with no one who will
venture to affirm. There is a tradition that Colonel
Archibald Cary, the speaker of the Senate, was principally
instrumental in crushing this project; that meeting Colonel
Syme, the step-brother of Colonel Henry, in the lobby of the
House, he accosted him very fiercely in terms like these: 'I
am told that your brother wishes to be dictator. Tell him
from me, that the day of his appointment shall be the day of
his death;--for he shall feel my dagger in his heart before
the sunset of that day.' And the tradition adds that Colonel
Syme, in great agitation, declared that 'if such a project
existed, his brother had no hand in it; for that nothing
could be more foreign to him, than to countenance any office
which could endanger, in the most distant manner, the
liberties of his country.' The intrepidity and violence of
Colonel Cary's character renders the tradition probable; but
it furnishes no proof of Mr. Henry's implication in the
scheme."[273]
A disinterested study of this subject, in the light of all the
evidence now attainable, will be likely to convince any one that this
enormous scandal must have been very largely a result of the extreme
looseness at that time prevailing in the use of the word "dictator,"
and of its being employed, on the one side, in an innocent sense, and,
on the other side, in a guilty one. In strict propriety, of course,
the word designates a magistrate created in an emergency of public
peril, and clothed for a time with unlimited power. It is an extreme
remedy, and in itself a remedy extremely dangerous, and can never be
innocently resorted to except when the necessity for it is
indubitable; and it may well be questioned whether, among people and
institutions like our own, a necessity can ever arise which would
justify the temporary grant of unlimited power to any man. If this be
true, it follows that no man among us can, without dire political
guilt, ever consent to bestow such power; and that no man can, without
the same guilt, ever consent to receive it.
Yet it is plain that even among us, between the years 1776 and 1783,
emergencies of terrific public peril did arise, sufficient to justify,
nay, even to compel, the bestowment either upon the governor of some
State, or upon the general of the armies, not of unlimited power,
certainly, but of extraordinary power,--such extraordinary power, for
example, as was actually conferred by the Continental Congress, more
than once, on Washington; as was conferred by the legislature of South
Carolina on Governor John Rutledge; as was repeatedly conferred by the
legislature of Virginia upon Governor Patrick Henry; and afterward, in
still higher degree, by the same legislature, on Governor Thomas
Jefferson himself. Nevertheless, so loose was the meaning then
attached to the word "dictator," that it was not uncommon for men to
speak of these very cases as examples of the bestowment of a
dictatorship, and of the exercise of dictatorial power; although, in
every one of the cases mentioned, there was lacking the essential
feature of a true dictatorship, namely, the grant of unlimited power
to one man. It is perfectly obvious, likewise, that when, in those
days, men spoke thus of a dictatorship, and of dictatorial power, they
attached no suggestion of political guilt either to the persons who
bestowed such power, or to the persons who severally accepted it,--the
tacit understanding being that, in every instance, the public danger
required and justified some grant of extraordinary power; that no more
power was granted than was necessary; and that the man to whom, in any
case, the grant was made, was a man to whom, there was good reason to
believe, the grant could be made with safety. Obviously, it was upon
this tacit understanding of its meaning that the word was used, for
instance, by Edmund Randolph, in 1788, in the Virginia Constitutional
Convention, when, alluding to the extraordinary power bestowed by
Congress on Washington, he said: "We had an American dictator in
1781." Surely, Randolph did not mean to impute political crime, either
to the Congress which made Washington a dictator, or to Washington
himself who consented to be made one. It was upon the same tacit
understanding, also, that Patrick Henry, in reply to Randolph, took up
the word, and extolled the grant of dictatorial power to Washington on
the occasion referred to: "In making a dictator," said Henry, "we
followed the example of the most glorious, magnanimous, and skilful
nations. In great dangers, this power has been given. Rome has
furnished us with an illustrious example. America found a person for
that trust: she looked to Virginia for him. We gave a dictatorial
power to hands that used it gloriously, and which were rendered more
glorious by surrendering it up."[274]
Thus it is apparent that the word "dictator" was frequently used in
those times in a sense perfectly innocent. As all men know, however,
the word is one capable of suggesting the possibilities of dreadful
political crime; and it is not hard to see how, when employed by one
person to describe the bestowment and acceptance of extraordinary
power,--implying a perfectly innocent proposition, it could be easily
taken by another person as describing the bestowment and acceptance of
unlimited power,--implying a proposition which among us, probably,
would always be a criminal one.
With the help which this discussion may give us, let us now return to
the General Assembly of Virginia, at Williamsburg, approaching the
close of its first session, in the latter part of December, 1776. It
was on the point of adjourning, not to meet again until the latter
part of March, 1777. At that moment, by the arrival of most alarming
news from the seat of war, it was forced to make special provision for
the public safety during the interval which must elapse before its
next session. Its journal indicates that, prior to the 20th of
December, it had been proceeding with its business in a quiet way,
under no apparent consciousness of imminent peril. On that day,
however, there are traces of a panic; for, on that day, "The Virginia
Gazette" announced to them the appalling news of "the crossing of the
Delaware by the British forces, from twelve to fifteen thousand
strong; the position of General Washington, at Bristol, on the south
side of the river, with only six thousand men;" and the virtual flight
of Congress from Philadelphia.[275] At this rate, how long would it be
before the Continental army would be dispersed or captured, and the
troops of the enemy sweeping in vengeance across the borders of
Virginia? Accordingly, the House of Delegates immediately resolved
itself into "a committee to take into their consideration the state of
America;" but not being able to reach any decision that day, it voted
to resume the subject on the day following, and for that purpose to
meet an hour earlier than usual. So, on Saturday, the 21st of
December, the House passed a series of resolutions intended to provide
for the crisis into which the country was plunged, and, among the
other resolutions, this:--
"And whereas the present imminent danger of America, and the
ruin and misery which threatens the good people of this
Commonwealth, and their posterity, calls for the utmost
exertion of our strength, and it is become necessary for the
preservation of the State that the usual forms of government
be suspended during a limited time, for the more speedy
execution of the most vigorous and effectual measures to
repel the invasion of the enemy;
"_Resolved, therefore_, That the governor be, and he is
hereby fully authorized and empowered, by and with the
advice and consent of the privy council, from henceforward,
until ten days next after the first meeting of the General
Assembly, to carry into execution such requisitions as may
be made to this Commonwealth by the American Congress for
the purpose of encountering or repelling the enemy; to order
the three battalions on the pay of this Commonwealth to
march, if necessary, to join the Continental army, or to the
assistance of any of our sister States; to call forth any
and such greater military force as they shall judge
requisite, either by embodying and arraying companies or
regiments of volunteers, or by raising additional
battalions, appointing and commissioning the proper
officers, and to direct their operations within this
Commonwealth, under the command of the Continental generals
or other officers according to their respective ranks, or
order them to march to join and act in concert with the
Continental army, or the troops of any of the American
States; and to provide for their pay, supply of provisions,
arms, and other necessaries, at the charge of this
Commonwealth, by drawing on the treasurer for the money
which may be necessary from time to time; and the said
treasurer is authorized to pay such warrants out of any
public money which may be in his hands, and the General
Assembly will, at their next session, make ample provision
for any deficiency which may happen. But that this departure
from the constitution of government, being in this instance
founded only on the most evident and urgent necessity, ought
not hereafter to be drawn into precedent."
These resolutions, having been pressed rapidly through the forms of
the House, were at once carried up to the Senate for its concurrence.
The answer of the Senate was promptly returned, agreeing to all the
resolutions of the lower House, but proposing an important amendment
in the phraseology of the particular resolution which we have just
quoted. Instead of this clause--"the usual forms of government should
be suspended," it suggested the far more accurate and far more prudent
expression which here follows,--"additional powers be given to the
governor and council." This amendment was assented to by the House;
and almost immediately thereafter it adjourned until the last Thursday
in March, 1777, "then to meet in the city of Williamsburg, or at such
other place as the governor and council, for good reasons, may
appoint."[276]
Such, undoubtedly, was the occasion on which, if at any time during
that session, the project for a dictatorship in Virginia was under
consideration by the House of Delegates. The only evidence for the
reality of such a project is derived from the testimony of Jefferson;
and Jefferson, though a member of the House, was not then in
attendance, having procured, on the 29th of the previous month,
permission to be absent during the remainder of the session.[277] Is
it not probable that the whole terrible plot, as it afterward lay in
the mind of Jefferson, may have originated in reports which reached
him elsewhere, to the effect that, in the excitement of the House over
the public danger and over the need of energetic measures against that
danger, some members had demanded that the governor should be invested
with what they perhaps called dictatorial power, meaning thereby no
more than extraordinary power; and that all the criminal accretions to
that meaning, which Jefferson attributed to the project, were simply
the work of his own imagination, always sensitive and quick to take
alarm on behalf of human liberty, and, on such a subject as this,
easily set on fire by examples of awful political crime which would
occur to him from Roman history? This suggestion, moreover, is not out
of harmony with one which has been made by a thorough and most candid
student of the subject, who says: "I am very much inclined to think
that some sneering remark of Colonel Cary, on that occasion, has given
rise to the whole story about a proposed dictator at that time."[278]
At any rate, this must not be forgotten: if the project of a
dictatorship, in the execrable sense affirmed by Jefferson, was,
during that session, advocated by any man or by any cabal in the
Assembly, history must absolve Patrick Henry of all knowledge of it,
and of all responsibility for it. Not only has no tittle of evidence
been produced, involving his connivance at such a scheme, but the
Assembly itself, a few months later, unwittingly furnished to
posterity the most conclusive proof that no man in that body could
have believed him to be smirched with even the suggestion of so horrid
a crime. Had Patrick Henry been suspected, during the autumn and early
winter of 1776, of any participation in the foul plot to create a
despotism in Virginia, is it to be conceived that, at its very next
session, in the spring of 1777, that Assembly, composed of nearly the
same members as before, would have reelected to the governorship so
profligate and dangerous a man, and that too without any visible
opposition in either House? Yet that is precisely what the Virginia
Assembly did in May, 1777. Moreover, one year later, this same
Assembly reelected this same profligate and dangerous politician for
his third and last permissible year in the governorship, and it did so
with the same unbroken unanimity. Moreover, during all that time,
Thomas Jefferson was a member, and a most conspicuous and influential
member, of the Virginia Assembly. If, indeed, he then believed that
his old friend, Patrick Henry, had stood ready in 1776, to commit
"treason against the people" of America, and "treason against mankind
in general," why did he permit the traitor to be twice reelected to
the chief magistracy, without the record of even one brave effort
against him on either occasion?
On the 26th of December, 1776, in accordance with the special
authority thus conferred upon him by the General Assembly, Governor
Henry issued a vigorous proclamation, declaring that the "critical
situation of American affairs" called for "the utmost exertion of
every sister State to put a speedy end to the cruel ravages of a
haughty and inveterate enemy, and secure our invaluable rights," and
"earnestly exhorting and requiring" all the good people of Virginia to
assist in the formation of volunteer companies for such service as
might be required.[279] The date of that proclamation was also the
date of Washington's famous matutinal surprise of the Hessians at
Trenton,--a bit of much-needed good luck, which was followed by his
fortunate engagement with the enemy near Princeton, on the 3d of
January, 1777. On these and a very few other extremely small crumbs of
comfort, the struggling revolutionists had to nourish their burdened
hearts for many a month thereafter; Washington himself, during all
that time, with his little army of tattered and barefoot warriors,
majestically predominating over the scene from the heights of
Morristown; while the good-humored British commander, Sir William
Howe, considerately abstained from any serious military disturbance
until the middle of the following summer. Thus the chief duty of the
governor of Virginia, during the winter and spring of 1777, as it had
been in the previous autumn, was that of trying to keep in the field
Virginia's quota of troops, and of trying to furnish Virginia's share
of military supplies,--no easy task, it should seem, in those times of
poverty, confusion, and patriotic languor. The official correspondence
of the governor indicates the unslumbering anxiety, the energy, the
fertility of device with which, in spite of defective health, he
devoted himself to these hard tasks.[280]
In his great desire for exact information as to the real situation at
headquarters, Governor Henry had sent to Washington a secret messenger
by the name of Walker, who was to make his observations at Morristown
and to report the results to himself. Washington at once perceived the
embarrassments to which such a plan might lead; and accordingly, on
the 24th of February, 1777, he wrote to the governor, gently
explaining why he could not receive Mr. Walker as a mere visiting
observer:--
"To avoid the precedent, therefore, and from your character
of Mr. Walker, and the high opinion I myself entertain of
his abilities, honor, and prudence, I have taken him into my
family as an extra aide-de-camp, and shall be happy if, in
this character, he can answer your expectations. I sincerely
thank you, sir, for your kind congratulations on the late
success of the Continental arms (would to God it may
continue), and for your polite mention of me. Let me
earnestly entreat that the troops raised in Virginia for
this army be forwarded on by companies, or otherwise,
without delay, and as well equipped as possible for the
field, or we shall be in no condition to open the
campaign."[281]
On the 29th of the following month, the governor wrote to Washington
of the overwhelming difficulty attending all his efforts to comply
with the request mentioned in the letter just cited:--
"I am very sorry to inform you that the recruiting business
of late goes on so badly, that there remains but little
prospect of filling the six new battalions from this State,
voted by the Assembly. The Board of Council see this with
great concern, and, after much reflection on the subject,
are of opinion that the deficiency in our regulars can no
way be supplied so properly as by enlisting volunteers.
There is reason to believe a considerable number of these
may be got to serve six or eight months.... I believe you
can receive no assistance by drafts from the militia. From
the battalions of the Commonwealth none can be drawn as yet,
because they are not half full.... Virginia will find some
apology with you for this deficiency in her quota of
regulars, when the difficulties lately thrown in our way are
considered. The Georgians and Carolinians have enlisted [in
Virginia] probably two battalions at least. A regiment of
artillery is in great forwardness. Besides these, Colonels
Baylor and Grayson are collecting regiments; and three
others are forming for this State. Add to all this our
Indian wars and marine service, almost total want of
necessaries, the false accounts of deserters,--many of whom
lurk here,--the terrors of the smallpox and the many deaths
occasioned by it, and the deficient enlistments are
accounted for in the best manner I can. As no time can be
spared, I wish to be honored with your answer as soon as
possible, in order to promote the volunteer scheme, if it
meets your approbation. I should be glad of any improvements
on it that may occur to you. I believe about four of the six
battalions may be enlisted, but have seen no regular
[return] of their state. Their scattered situation, and
being many of them in broken quotas, is a reason for their
slow movement. I have issued repeated orders for their march
long since."[282]
The General Assembly of Virginia, at its session in the spring of
1777, was required to elect a governor, to serve for one year from the
day on which that session should end. As no candidate was named in
opposition to Patrick Henry, the Senate proposed to the House of
Delegates that he should be reappointed without ballot. This,
accordingly, was done, by resolution of the latter body on the 29th of
May, and by that of the Senate on the 1st of June. On the 5th of June,
the committee appointed to inform the governor of this action laid
before the House his answer:--
GENTLEMEN,--The signal honor conferred on me by the General
Assembly, in their choice of me to be governor of this
Commonwealth, demands my best acknowledgments, which I beg
the favor of you to convey to them in the most acceptable
manner.
I shall execute the duties of that high station to which I
am again called by the favor of my fellow-citizens,
according to the best of my abilities, and I shall rely upon
the candor and wisdom of the Assembly to excuse and supply
my defects. The good of the Commonwealth shall be the only
object of my pursuit, and I shall measure my happiness
according to the success which shall attend my endeavors to
establish the public liberty. I beg to be presented to the
Assembly, and that they and you will be assured that I am,
with every sentiment of the highest regard, their and your
most obedient and very humble servant,
P. HENRY.[283]
After a perusal of this nobly 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 endorsement 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.