had no suspicion of it. He devised, therefore, with his friends in the assembly, a plan for a public loan-office, to a certain amount, from which moneys might be lent on public account, and on good landed security to individuals.

"I find, in Royle's Virginia Gazette of the seventeenth of May, seventeen hundred and sixty-five, this proposition for a loan-office presented, its advantages detailed, and the plan explained. It seems to have been done by a borrowing member, from the feeling with which the motives are expressed, and to have been preparatory to the intended motion. Between the seventeenth and thirtieth, (the latter being the date of Mr. Henry's resolutions on the stamp-act,) the motion for a loanoffice was accordingly brought forward in the house of burgesses; and had it succeeded, the debts due to Robinson on these loans would have been transferred to the public, and his deficit thus completely covered.

"This state of things, however, was not yet known: but Mr. Henry attacked the scheme on other general grounds, in that style of bold, grand, and overwhelming eloquence, for which he became so justly celebrated afterward. I had been intimate with him from the year seventeen hundred and fiftynine and sixty, and felt an interest in what concerned him; and I can never forget a particular exclamation of his in the debate, which electrified his hearers. It had been urged, that, from certain unhappy circumstances of the colony, men of substantial property had contracted debts, which, if exacted suddenly, must ruin them and their families, but with a little indulgence of time, might be paid with ease.

"What, sir!' exclaimed Mr. Henry, in animadverting on this, is it proposed then to reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and extravagance, by filling his pockets with money? These expressions are indelibly impressed on my memory. He laid open with so much energy the spirit of favouritism, on which the proposition was founded, and the abuses to which it would lead, that it was crushed in its birth. He carried with him all the members of the upper counties, and left a minority composed merely of the aristocracy of the country. From this time his popularity swelled apace; and Mr. Robinson dying the year afterward, his deficit was brought to light, and discovered the true object of the proposition."

In reply to this communication, I stated my surprise that no evidence of this motion was to be found on the journals of the day, and begged my correspondent to explain it, which he does very satisfactorily in the following terms: "Abortive motions are not always entered on the journals, or rather they are rarely entered. It is the modern introduction of yeas and nays which has given the means of placing a rejected motion on the journals: and it is likely

The exclamation above quoted by my correspondent as having electrified Mr. Henry's hearers, is a striking specimen of one of his great excellences in speaking; which was, the power of condensing the substance of a long argument, into one short pithy question. The hearer was surprised, in finding himself brought so suddenly and so clearly to a just conclusion. He could scarcely conceive how it was effected; and could not fail to regard, with high admiration, the power of that intellect which could come at its ends by so short a course; and work out its purposes with the quickness and certainty of magic.

The aristocracy were startled at such a phenomenon from the plebeian ranks. They could not be otherwise than indignant at the presumption of an obscure and unpolished rustic, who, without asking the support or countenance of any patron among themselves, stood upon his own ground, and bearded them even in their den. That this rustic should have been able, too, by his single strength, to baffle their whole phalanx and put it to rout, was a mortification too humiliating to be easily borne. They affected to ridicule his vicious and depraved pronunciation, the homespun coarseness of his language, and his hypocritical canting in relation to his humility and ignorance.

But they could not kelp admiring and envying his wonderful gifts; that thorough knowledge of the human heart which he displayed; that power of throwing his reasoning into short and clear aphorisms; which, desultory as they were, supplied, in a great degree, the place of method and logic; that imagination so copious, poetic, and sublime; the irresistible power with which he caused every passion to rise at his bidding; and all the rugged might and majesty of his eloquence. From this moment, he had no friends on the aristocratic side of the house. They looked upon him with envy and with terror. They were forced at length to praise his genius; but that praise

case.

that the speaker, who, as treasurer, was to be the loan-officer, and had the direction of the journals, would choose to omit an entry of the motion in this This accounts sufficiently for the absence of any trace of the motion on the journals. There was no suspicion then, (so far at least as I knew,) that Mr. Robinson had used the public money in private loans to his friends, and that the secret object of this scheme was to transfer those debtors to the public, and thus clear his accounts. I have diligently examined the names of the members on the journals of seventeen hundred and sixty-four, to see if any were still living, to whose memory we might recur on this subject; but I find not a single one now remaining in life." This debate must have been in seventeen hundred and sixty-five instead of seventeen hundred and sixty-four. The only surviving member of that year is Paul Carrington, sen., esq., who took his seat in the house after the debate in question.

was wrung from them, with painful reluctance. They would have denied it if they could. They would have overshadowed it; and did at first try to overshadow it, by magnifying his defects; but it would have been as easy for them to have eclipsed the splendour of the sun, by pointing to his spots.

If, however, he had lost one side of the house by his undaunted manner of blowing up this aristocratic project, he had made the other side his fast friends. They had listened with admiration, unmixed with envy. Their souls had been struck with amazement and rapture, and thrilled with unspeakable sensations which they had never felt before. The man, too, who had produced these effects, was one of themselves. This was balm to them; for there is a wide difference between that distant admiration, which we pay as a tax, due to long-standing merit, in superior rank, and that throbbing applause which rushes spontaneously and warm from the heart, toward a new man and an equal.

There is always something of latent repining, approaching to resentment, mingled with that respect which is exacted from us by rank; and we feel a secret gratification in seeing it humbled. In the same proportion, we love the man who has given us this gratification, and avenged, as it were, our own past indignities. Such was precisely the state of feeling which Mr. Henry produced, on the present occasion. The lower ranks of the house beheld and heard him with gratitude and veneration. They regarded him as a sturdy and wide-spreading oak, beneath whose cool and refreshing shade they might take refuge from those beams of aristocracy that had played upon them so long, with rather an unpleasant heat.

After this victorious sally upon their party, the former leaders of the house were not very well-disposed to look with a favourable eye on any proposition which he should make. They had less idea of contributing to foster the popularity and pamper the power of a man, who seemed born to be their scourge, and to drag down their ancient honours to the dust. It was in this unpropitious state of things, after having waited in vain for some step to be taken on the other side of the house, and when the session was within three days of its expected close, that Mr. Henry introduced his celebrated resolutions on the stamp-act.

I will not withhold from the reader a note of this transaction from the pen of Mr. Henry himself. It is a curiosity, and highly worthy of preservation. After his death, there was found among his papers one sealed, and thus endorsed: "Enclosed are the resolutions of the Virginia assembly in seventeen hundred and sixty-five, concerning the stamp-act. Let my execu

tors open this paper." Within was found the following copy of the resolutions, in Mr. Henry's handwriting:

"Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this, his majesty's colony and dominion, brought with them, and transmitted to their posterity, and all other his majesty's subjects, since inhabiting in this, his majesty's said colony, all the privileges, franchises, and immunities, that have at any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of Great Britain.

"Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by King James the first, the colonists, aforesaid, are declared entitled to all the privileges, liberties, and immunities of denizens and natural-born subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within the realm of England.

Resolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, and the easiest mode of raising them, and are equally affected by such taxes themselves, is the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and without which the ancient constitution cannot subsist.

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Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this most ancient colony, have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of being thus governed by their own assembly, in the article of their taxes and internal police, and that the same hath never been forfeited, or any other way given up, but hath been constantly recognised by the king and people of Great Britain.

"Resolved, therefore, That the general assembly of this colony have the sole right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this colony; and that every attempt to vest such power in any person or persons whatsoever, other than the general assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom."

On the back of the paper containing those resolutions, is the following endorsement, which is also in the handwriting of Mr. Henry himself: "The within resolutions passed the house of burgesses in May, seventeen hundred and sixty-five. They formed the first opposition to the stamp-act, and the scheme of taxing America by the British parliament. All the colonies, either through fear, or want of opportunity to form an opposition, or from influence of some kind or other, had remained silent. I had been for the first time elected a burgess, a few days before, was young, inexperienced, unacquainted with the forms of the house, and the members that composed it. Finding the men of weight averse to opposition, and the commencement of the tax at hand, and that no person was likely to step

forth, I determined to venture, and alone, unadvised, and unassisted, on a blank leaf of an old law-book* wrote the within.

"Upon offering them to the house, violent debates ensued. Many threats were utte: ed, and much abuse cast on me, by the party for submission. After a long and warm contest, the resolutions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of one or two only. The alarm spread throughout America with astonishing quickness, and the ministerial party were overwhelmned. The great point of resistance to British taxation was universally established in the colonies. This brought on the war, which finally separated the two countries, and gave independence to .ours. Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a anation.

"Reader! whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere, practise virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.P. HENRY."

Such is the short, plain, and modest account which Mr. Henry has left of this transaction. But other interesting particulars have been handed down by tradition, and live still in the recollection of one, at least, now in life, as the reader will presently see by his own statement.

The resolutions having been prepared in the manner which has been mentioned, were shown by Mr. Henry to two members only, before they were offered to the house; these were John Fleming, a most respectable member for the county of Cumberland, and George Johnston, for that of Fairfax.t

The reader will remark that the first four resolutions, as left by Mr. Henry, do little more than reaffirm the principles advanced in the address, memorial, and remonstrance of the preceding year; that is, they deny the right assumed by the

* Judge Tyler says

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an old Coke upon Littleton."

† Judge Winston, on the authority of Mr. Henry himself. The report of the day, that Mr. Johnston drew the resolutions, is certainly unfounded. Mr. Johnston, now only known from the circumstance of his having seconded Mr. Henry's resolutions, is one of those many friends of liberty who are sliding fast from the recollection of their country, and who deserve to be rescued from oblivion, by a more particular notice than it is in my power to bestow upon them. Of Mr. Johnston, I can learn only, that he was a lawyer in the Northern Neck, highly respectable in his profession; a scholar, distinguished for vigour of intellect, cogency of argument, firmness of character, love of order, and devotion to the cause of rational liberty-in short. exactly calculated by his love of the cause, and the broad and solid basis of his understanding, to uphold the magnificent structure of Henry's eloquence.