Volume I Part 30 (1/2)

[726] Journal, H.D., 52.

[727] In order to group subjects such as British debts, extradition, and so forth, it is, unfortunately, essential to bring widely separated dates under one head.

[728] Journal, H.D. (1st Sess., 1784), 11-12.

[729] Journal, H.D. (1st Sess., 1784), 37.

[730] _Ib._, 81; also, Hening, xi, 388.

[731] ”The white people who inhabited the frontier, from the constant state of warfare in which they lived with the Indians, had imbibed much of their character; and learned to delight so highly in scenes of crafty, b.l.o.o.d.y, and desperate conflict, that they as often gave as they received the provocation to hostilities. Hunting, which was their occupation, became dull and tiresome, unless diversified occasionally by the more animated and piquant amus.e.m.e.nt of an Indian skirmish.” (Wirt, 257.)

[732] Madison to Jefferson, Jan. 9, 1785; _Writings_: Hunt, ii, 110-11.

[733] Jay to Jefferson, Dec. 14, 1786; _Jay_: Johnston, iii, 224.

[734] Hening, xi, 471; and Henry, ii, 217.

[735] Madison to Jefferson, Jan. 9, 1785; _Writings_: Hunt, ii. 111.

[736] Article VIII, Const.i.tution of Virginia, 1776.

[737] Madison to Jefferson, Jan. 9, 1785; _Writings_: Hunt, ii, 111.

[738] _Ib._

[739] Journal, H.D. (2d Sess., 1784), 34-41.

[740] ”The measure was warmly patronized by Mr. Henry.” (Madison to Jefferson, Jan. 9, 1785; _Writings_: Hunt, ii, 111.) The reason of Henry's support of this extradition bill was not its Nationalist spirit, but his friends.h.i.+p for the Indians and his pet plan to insure peace between the white man and the red and to produce a better race of human beings; all of which Henry thought could be done by intermarriages between the whites and the Indians. He presented this scheme to the House at this same session and actually carried it by the ”irresistible earnestness and eloquence” with which he supported it. (Wirt, 258.)

The bill provided that every white man who married an Indian woman should be paid ten pounds and five pounds more for each child born of such marriage; and that if any white woman marry an Indian they should be ent.i.tled to ten pounds with which the County Court should buy live stock for them; that once each year the Indian husband to this white woman should be ent.i.tled to three pounds with which the County Court should buy clothes for him; that every child born of this Indian man and white woman should be educated by the State between the age of ten and twenty-one years, etc., etc. (_Ib._)

This amazing bill actually pa.s.sed the House on its first and second reading and there seems to be no doubt that it would have become a law had not Henry at that time been elected Governor, which took him ”_out of the way_,” to use Madison's curt phrase. John Marshall favored this bill.

[741] Journal, H.D. (2d Sess., 1784), 41.

[742] _Ib._

[743] See note 5, p. 239, _ante_.

[744] Marshall to Monroe, Dec., 1784; MS. Monroe Papers, Lib. Cong.; also partly quoted in Henry, ii, 219.

[745] See _infra_, chap. IX.

[746] One of the curious popular errors concerning our public men is that which pictures Was.h.i.+ngton as a calm person. On the contrary, he was hot-tempered and, at times, violent in speech and action. It was with the greatest difficulty that he trained himself to an appearance of calmness and reserve.

[747] Story, in Dillon, iii, 338, 343.

[748] Journal, H.D. (Oct. Sess., 1787), 7.