Part 17 (1/2)

This is the way in which he stood the test:--

PATRICK HENRY TO GEORGE WAshi+NGTON

WILLIAMSBURG, 20 February, 1778

DEAR SIR,--You will, no doubt, be surprised at seeing the enclosed letter, in which the encomiums bestowed on me are as undeserved, as the censures aimed at you are unjust I am sorry there should be one man who counts hiive you needless trouble in handing you this paper The writer of it nificant to deserve any notice If I knew this to be the case, I should not have intruded on your time, which is so precious But thereto your prejudice

The enclosed leads to such a suspicion Believe, ations America has to you, to abet or countenance so unworthy a proceeding The most exalted merit has ever been found to attract envy But I please reatness of ers inseparable from your station, will rise superior to every attempt of the envious partisan I really cannot tell who is the writer of this letter, which not a little perplexes ive you the trouble of this gives ive you soreat business of the war But I will not conceal anything from you, by which you may be affected; for I really think your personal welfare and the happiness of A you will be assured of that high regard and esteem hich I ever am, dear sir, your affectionate friend and very humble servant

Fifteen days passed after the dispatch of that letter, when, having as yet no answer, but with a heart still full of anxiety respecting this ainst his old friend, Governor Henry wrote again:--

PATRICK HENRY TO GEORGE WAshi+NGTON

WILLIAMSBURG, 5 March, 1778

DEAR SIR,--By an express, which Colonel Finnie sent to caot safe to hand I a that will serve to explain the strange affair, which I a you Mr Custis has just paid us a visit, and by hi General Mifflin, that much surprised s of the eneht that e of his present temper

While you face the armed enemies of our liberty in the field, and by the favor of God have been kept unhurt, I trust your country will never harbor in her bosom the miscreant, ould ruin her best supporter I wish not to flatter; but when arts, unworthy honest men, are used to defame and traduce you, I think it not amiss, but a duty, to assure you of that estimation in which the public hold you

Not that I think any testimony I can bear is necessary for your support, or private satisfaction; for a bare recollection of what is past ive you sufficient pleasure in every circu you, on this occasion, of the high sense of gratitude which all ranks of ive ards, and render my best services to you or yours I do not like to s, and I know you are not fond of it; however, I hope the occasion will pleadyou all possible felicity, I am, my dear Sir, your ever affectionate friend and very huton received this second letter, he had already begun to write the following reply to the first:--

GEORGE WAshi+NGTON TO PATRICK HENRY

VALLEY FORGE, 27 March, 1778

DEAR SIR,--About eight days ago I was honored with your favor of the 20th ulti to me the anonyrateful obligations, and ifmore, it is for the polite and delicate terms in which you have been pleased to com that I had a place in your esteem, and the proof you have afforded on this occasion ht in which you hold ret, if I thought the happiness of America so intily seem to consider it All I can say is, that she has ever had, and I trust she ever will have, my honest exertions to promote her interest I cannot hope that my services have been the best; but my heart tells me they have been the best that I could render

That Ithethe objects of the arduous, exalted station hich I am honored, I cannot doubt; nor do I wish my conduct to be exempted from reprehension farther than it may deserve Error is the portion of humanity, and to censure it, whether coative of free intimately acquainted with the man I conceive to be the author of the letter transest professions of attachard, I areat degree of candor and sincerity, though his views in addressing you should have been the result of conviction, and founded in ood This is not the only secret, insidious attempt that has been made to wound my reputation There have been others equally base, cruel, and ungenerous, because conducted with as little frankness, and proceeding from views, perhaps, as personally interested I aed friend, etc

The writing of the foregoing letter was not finished, when Governor Henry's second letter reached him; and this additional proof of friendshi+p so touched the heart of Washi+ngton that, on the next day, he wrote again, this time with far less self-restraint than before:--

GEORGE WAshi+NGTON TO PATRICK HENRY

CAMP, 28 March, 1778

DEAR SIR,--Just as I was about to close my letter of yesterday, your favor of the 5th instant cae of the ratitude, for your friendshi+p; and assure you, that the indulgent disposition, which Virginia in particular, and the States in general, entertain towards ives me the most sensible pleasure The approbation of my country is what I wish; and as far as my abilities and opportunities will perhest reward to a feeling mind; and happy are they, who so conduct themselves as to merit it

The anonymous letter hich you were pleased to favor e from a similitude of hands This ard forsince the letter to you My caution to avoid anything which could injure the service, prevented , but to a very few of ues of a faction which I knoas forht serve to publish our internal dissensions; but their own restless zeal to advance their views has too clearly betrayed them, and made concealment on my part fruitless I cannot precisely eneral, that General Gates was to be exalted on the ruin of my reputation and influence This I am authorized to say, from undeniable facts in my own possession, from publications, the evident scope of which could not be mistaken, and from private detractions industriously circulated General Mifflin, it is commonly supposed, bore the second part in the cabal; and General Conway, I knoas a very active and ood reason to believe that their machinations have recoiled reat esteeard, I am, dear sir, your affectionate humble servant[285]

This incident in the lives of Washi+ngton and Patrick Henry is to be noted by us, not only for its own exquisite delicacy and nobility, but likewise as the culrowth of a very deep and true friendshi+p between the two un esses, and which lasted with increasing strength and tenderness, and with but a single episode of estrange the rest of their lives Moreover, he who tries to interpret the later career of Patrick Henry, especially after the establishovernment under the Constitution, and who leaves out of the account Henry's profound friendshi+p for Washi+ngton, and the basis of eniality on which that friendshi+p rested, will lose an important clew to the perfect naturalness and consistency of Henry's political course during his last years A fierce partisan outcry was then raised against hiinia, and he was bitterly denounced as a political apostate, siton and of Jefferson, Patrick Henry no longer walked with Jefferson In truth, Patrick Henry was never Washi+ngton's follower nor Jefferson's: he was no , he had always done for hi At the same time, a careful student of the three , Patrick Henry had a closer and a truer ton than with Jefferson At present, however, we pause before the touching incident that has just been narrated in the relations between Washi+ngton and Henry, in order toon their subsequent intercourse

Washi+ngton, in whose nature confidence was a plant of sloth, and as quick neither to love nor to cease froot that proof of his friend's friendshi+p Thenceforward, until that one year in which they both died, the letters which passed between them, while never effusive, were evidently the letters of two strong men who loved and trusted each other without reserve