Part 7 (1/2)
Having thus got through with the anization, which must have taken a considerable time, James Duane, of New York, ulations for this Congress” To this several gentle that Duane's purpose ht have been misunderstood, ”asked leave of the president to request of the gentleman from New York an explanation, and that he would point out soulations which he had in his mind” In reply to this request, Duane ”, whether it should be by colonies, or by the poll, or by interests”[107] Thus Duane laid his finger on perhaps the e; but as he sat down, the discussion of the subject which he had mentioned was interrupted by a rather curious incident This was the return of the doorkeeper, having under his escort Mr Charles Tho opposite to the president, said, with a bow, that he awaited his pleasure The president replied: ”Congress desire the favor of you, sir, to take theirhis acquiescence, the secretary took his seat at his desk, and began those modest but invaluable services froress of the Confederation was ed into that of the Union
The discussion, into which this incident had fallen as a momentary episode, was then resumed ”After a short silence,” says the man as thus inducted into office, ”Patrick Henry arose to speak I did not then know hiray, and froy the people He observed that ere here reat difficulty and distress; that our public circumstances were like those of a man in deep eether to devise as best to be done for his relief;--one would propose one thing, and another a different one, whilst perhaps a third would think of so better suited to his unhappy circumstances, which he would embrace, and think noto do”[108]
Such is the rather iven by one ear-witness, of Patrick Henry's first speech in the Congress of 1774 From another ear-witness we have another account, likewise very , probably, a somewhat more adequate idea of the drift and point of what he said:--
”Mr Henry then arose, and said this was the first general congress which had ever happened; that no forress could be a precedent; that we should have occasion for ht to be established now; that it would be a great injustice if a little colony should have the sareat one; and therefore he was for a co about both these accounts is that they agree in showing Patrick Henry's first speech in Congress to have been not, as has been represented, an irievances,” but a plain and quiet handling of a mere ”detail of business” In the discussion he was followed by John Sullivan, who merely observed that ”a little colony had its all at stake as well as a great one” The floor was then taken by John Adau any possible conclusion to which theyAt the end of his speech, apparently, the House adjourned, to resu day[110]
Accordingly, on Tuesday th than on the previous day; the first speaker being Patrick Henry hione into the subject far ht, than in his first speech
”'Government,' said he, 'is dissolved Fleets and arovernment is dissolved Where are your landmarks, your boundaries of colonies? We are in a state of nature, sir I did propose that a scale should be laid down; that part of North America which was once Massachusetts Bay, and that part which was once Virginia, ought to be considered as having a weight
Will not people cohed one thousand others?”
”'I will submit, however; I aentleman neara es will quote our proceedings with applause It is one of the great duties of the democratical part of the constitution to keep itself pure It is known in my province that some other colonies are not so nu all the satisfaction in inians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no inian, but an American
”'Slaves are to be thrown out of the question; and if the free to their numbers, I ath by Lynch, Rutledge, Ward, Richard Henry Lee, Gadsden, Bland, and Pendleton, when Patrick Henry again rose:--
”'I agree that authentic accounts cannot be had, if by authenticity is o upon the supposition that government is at an end All distinctions are thron All America is thrown into one mass We must aim at the minutiae of rectitude'”
Patrick Henry was then followed by John Jay, who seems to have closed the debate, and whose allusion to what his iives us some hint of the variations in Revolutionary opinion then prevailing a the members, as well as of the advanced position always taken by Patrick Henry:--
”'Could I suppose that we ca to correct the faults in an old one, I can't yet think that all government is at an end The measure of arbitrary power is not full; and I think it must run over, before we undertake to frame a new constitution To the virtue, spirit, and abilities of Virginia e much I should always, therefore, froinia its full weight I ah ever so ser worthy of consideration'”[111]
Of this entire debate, the e from the journal for Tuesday, the 6th of Septe questions in this Congress, each colony or province shall have one vote; the Congress not being possessed of, or at present able to procure, properthe importance of each colony”[112]
So far as it is now possible to ascertain it, such was Patrick Henry's part in the first discussion held by the first Continental Congress,--a discussion occupying parts of two days, and relating purely to rievance between the colonies and Great Britain We have a right to infer so as to the quality of the first impression made upon his associates by Patrick Henry in consequence of his three speeches in this discussion, from the fact that when, at the close of it, an order was taken for the appointhts of the colonies,” the other ”to examine and report the several statutes which affect the trade and manufactures of the colonies,” Patrick Henry was chosen to represent Virginia on the latter committee,[113]--a position not likely to have been selected for a man who, however eloquent he may have seemed, had not also shown business-like and lawyer-like qualities
The Congress kept steadily at work from Monday, the 5th of September, to Wednesday, the 26th of October,--just seven weeks and two days
Though not a legislative body, it reseislative bodies then in existence, in the fact that it sat with closed doors, and that it gave to the public only such results as it chose to give Upon the difficult and exciting subjects which caes of debate; and we cannot doubt that in all these discussions Patrick Henry took his usually conspicuous and powerful share Yet no official record was kept of as said by any member; and it is only froues that we are able to learn anythingPatrick Henry's participation in the debates of those seven weeks
For exaress, one of its most critical meave some capital sketches of his more prominent associates there, especially those froton, Pendleton, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry The latter he describes as ”a lawyer, and the completest speaker I ever heard If his future speeches are equal to the siven us, they will be worth preserving; but in a letter I can give you no idea of the ance of his style and manner”[114]
It was on the 28th of Septeht forward his celebrated plan for a permanent reconciliation between Great Britain and her colonies This was simply a scheme for e should now call home rule, on a basis of colonial confederation, with an Aislatures of the several colonies, and with a governor-general to be appointed by the crown The plan came very near to adoption[115]
The reat influence; it was supported by Jae to be ”almost a perfect plan;” and in the final trial it was lost only by a vote of six colonies to five
Could it have been adopted, the disruption of the British empire would certainly have been averted for that epoch, and, as an act of violence and of unkindness, would perhaps have been averted forever; while the thirteen English colonies would have re to be free