Part 1 (1/2)

Patrick Henry

by Moses Coit Tyler

PREFACE

In this book I have tried to embody the chief results derived from a study of all theto Patrick Henry,-- now used for the first time in any forreat popular interest attaching to the name of Patrick Henry, he has hitherto been the subject of but one ation, and that, of course, is the Life by William Wirt When it is considered, however, that Wirt's book was finished as long ago as the year 1817,--before the time had fairly come for the publication of the correspondence, diaries, personalthe great period covered by Patrick Henry's career,--it will be easy to infer so as to the quantity and the value of those printedupon the subject, which are now to be had by us, but which were not within the reach of Wirt Accordingly, in his lack of much of the detailed testimony that then lay buried in inaccessible docuinative traditions concerning Patrick Henry which he found floating in the air of Virginia; and especially to the supposed recollections of old people,--recollections which, in this case, were nearly always vague, not always disinterested, often inaccurate, and generally made up of emotional impressions rather than of facts Any one ill take the trouble to ascertain the enores under which Wirt wrote, and which, as , gave hieood a book, rather than to bla a better one

It is proper for me to state that, besides the copious printed materials noithin reach, I have been able tototo Cornell University, written by a great-grandson of Patrick Henry, the late Rev Edward Fontaine, and giving, areat orator, as told to the writer by his own father, Colonel Patrick Henry Fontaine, asthe later years of his life I h the kindness of the Hon William Wirt Henry of Richmond, I have had access to the manuscripts which were collected by Wirt for the purposes of his book, but were only in part used by hienerosity, Mr Henry likewise placed in randfather, which, during the past thirty years or ether, either from different branches of the family, or from other sources A portion of the manuscripts thus accumulated by him consists of copies of the letters, now preserved in the Departovernor of Virginia, to General Washi+ngton, to the president of Congress, to Virginia's delegation in Congress, and to the Board of War

In the very front of this book, therefore, I record enerosity of which I have just spoken, but for another sort, also, which is still more rare, and which I cannot so easily describe,--his perfect delicacy, while pro my more difficult researches by his invaluable help, in never once encument, or to sway it froht lead

Finally, it gives me pleasure to mention that, in the preparation of this book, I have received courteous assistance froht and Mr S M Hamilton of the library of the Departhes, of Hobart College; and from the Rev Stephen H Synnott, rector of St John's, Ithaca

M C T

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 3 June, 1887

PREFACE

TO REVISED EDITION

I have gladly used the opportunity afforded by a new edition of this book to give the text ato end, and to es both in its substance and in its for the eleven years that have passed since it first came from the press, considerable additions have been made to our documentary materials for the period covered by it, thethe publication, for the first time, of the correspondence and the speeches of Patrick Henry and of George Mason, the former with a life, in three volumes, by William Wirt Henry, the latter also with a life, in two volu for es whatever benefit I could draw fro over very frequently the writings of Patrick Henry's contemporaries, to be always on the watch for thehim, whether as to fact or as to opinion

In this work of rectification I have likewise been aided by suggestions froht Rev Joseph Blount Cheshi+re, Jr, D D, Bishop of North Carolina, and Mr William Wirt Henry

M C T

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 31 March, 1898

PATRICK HENRY

CHAPTER I

EARLY YEARS