The Revolutionary History of Virginia
Edmund Randolph
[1809 / Introduction]
The Richmond Enquirer for 26 December 1809 contained an
editorial notice of a proposed "new history of Virginia"
written by a native of that state who was himself "personally
conversant with most of the public transactions which he relates, from
the beginning of the American Revolution to the close of the History."
The name of the author was not revealed, but according to "The
Plan of the Work" as outlined by him the narrative began as far
back as 1578 when "the charter of discovery was granted to Sir
Humphrey Gilbert by Queen Elizabeth" and embraced the whole
history of Virginia until about the beginning of the nineteenth
century after the adoption of the Constitution upon Virginia and her
general history from the time of its operation in the year 1789."
This is undoubtedly "the manuscript history of Virginia written
by Edmund Randolph" alluded to by Dr. Hugh Blair Grigsby who
states that it "was destroyed by fire in New Orleans some years
ago." Fortunately, however, as Dr. R. A. Brock tells us (Va.
Histor. Collections, new series, X, 208), a copy of this valuable
manuscript, doubtless the original copy, has been preserved in the
archives of the Virginia Historical Society.
Edmund Randolph (1753-1813) was the son of John Randolph (1727-1784)
and the nephew of Peyton Randolph (1721-1775). On the eve of the
Revolutionary War John Randolph, who was king's attorney in the colony
of Virginia, considered that he was bound by his oath to his sovereign
and retired to England; thereby leaving strained relations between
father and son. At that time (1775) Edmund Randolph who had just
reached the age of manhood was an aide-de-camp to General Washington.
A member of the Virginia Convention of 1776, the first attorney
general of the new commonwealth (1776-1786), governor of the state
(1787-1788), the first attorney general of the United States (1789),
and secretary of state in Washington's cabinet (1794), Edmund Randolph
had an unrivalled opportunity of knowing about the eventful days in
which he lived. It would seem that no historian of his own times could
have had higher qualifications.
Edmund Randolph's manuscript History of Virginia, written now more
than a century and a quarter ago, inspired no doubt by the stirring
scenes he himself had witnessed, was a task to which he turned after
his retirement from office near the end of his life. The second volume
covering the revolutionary period from 1774 to 1782 is the part of the
work that is likely to be of greatest value to posterity; ...
J. P. C. S.
INTRODUCTION TO THAT PART OF THE HISTORY, EMBRACING the REVOLUTION
We have seen that until the era of the stamp-act, almost every
political sentiment, every fashion in Virginia appeared to be,
imperfect, unless it bore a resemblance to some precedent in England.
The spirit however, which she had caught from the charters, the
English laws, the English constitution, English theories, at that
time, had diminished her almost idolatrous deference to the mother
country, and taught her to begin to think for herself.
It was no small elevation of character in Virginia, to have learnt to
renounce the idea of parliamentary omnipotence: and from this stand
assumed in the year 1765, she was driven into the contemplation of
higher objects, by injuries, insults and contempt: which, whether real
or supposed, were in the season of general equality, a powerful
ferment, in bringing odium upon the British ministry.
But this first struggle against our ancient prepossessions although
it was of some magnitude, demanded no sacrifice of feelings like that,
which the present conjecture exacted. The remonstrances against the
stamp act, breathed loyalty and prays for the continuance of the
relation of subjects. In former disputes, harmony had been restored
without difficulty; and to state rights with force, did not seem to
verge in the smallest degree towards an opposition, beyond that of
mere words. Now indeed, in the opening of the year 1774, a deeper tone
broke forth. The public mind had been familiarized to an appeal to
arms at first, as only a possible event, which was sincerely
deprecated, and afterwards, as a probable one, which might be imposed
by necessity. It had daily received fresh excitement from brooding
over the causes of discontent and with avidity converted into matter
of inflamation truths, as well as exaggerated rumours.
This new state of things may perhaps be said to have originated more
peculiarly with the people than almost any other of which history
affords an example, and which was not kindled by palpable oppression.
It was cherished it was true by some of the most distinguished
citizens; was opposed by no check from executive influence; and as far
as religion was enlisted into the service, was fostered by most of its
ministerial professors. But that it should have been indulged to the
extent of a revolution, not to reject even force from the catalogue of
the means of redress, will evince to those, who shall understand our
resources the existence of a public sentiment pervading the colony,
which was neither the offspring of transient caprice, nor to be
alarmed by strict calculations of danger: a principle, too, which
upheld order, notwithstanding the relaxation of long established
authority, emanating from the crown and which confined the temper
growing out of public dissensions, within limits of moderation, in the
intercourse between man and man.
The pride of Virginia had so long been a topic of discourse in the
other colonies, that it has almost grown into a proverb. Being the
earliest among the British settlements in North America; having been
soon withdrawn from the humility of proprietary dependence to the
dignity of a government immediately under the crown; advancing rapidly
into wealth from her extensive territory, and the luxuriant production
of her staple commodities; having the sons of the most opulent
families, trained by education and habits acquired in England, and
hence perhaps arrogating some superiority over the provinces, not so
distinguished, she was charged with manifesting a consciousness that
she had more nearly approached the British model, [illegible] of
excellence; and what was claimed as an attribute of character in a
government, readily diffused itself among the individuals who were
members of it. Hence it happened, that the few offices to which the
king or his vicegerent could nominate, conferred a lustre upon their
incumbents, and their connections, and placed them in the attitude of
expecting from the rest of the community an attention which is the
proper tribute of public merit. But as soon as the favor of the
British court generates a suspicion, inconsistent with the purity of
Virginian patriotism; and more particularly when it was foreseen, that
if battles were to be fought, they were to be fought by men, who had
no other stake or hope than their own country, the old standard of
distinction was abolished and a new one substituted on the single
foundation of fitness for the rising exigency. Although therefore many
of those, whom I shall portray as they presented themselves to the
public eye at the present period, either for the purpose of immediate
utility or as affording prognostics of future splendor, (The vanity of
pedigree was now justly sunk in the positive force of character.) were
from their fortune, birth and station, high on the scale of the
aristocracy of the day; they were stripped of every consideration and
attachment, which virtues, talents and patriotism did not beget. It is
not expected that the reader will avoid comparisons between these men,
and the heroes and sages of the old world, whose situation in life can
be deemed in the least degree similar, nor can it be certainly
affirmed, that the correctness and fullness of European annals may not
shed on the latter an effulgence of which the American patriots are
deprived by the loss of the opportunities of discriminating and
recording their separate eloquence and counsel. But it will not be
deemed rash, to enter into any such comparison, assuming which for its
basis this principle, that at this season which tried men's souls (to
use the phrase of a celebrated popular writer,) Virginia produced
public agents suitable to every crisis and service.
No. 7 (a) To Patrick Henry the first place is due, as being the first
who broke the key stone of that aristocracy. Little and feeble as it
was, and incapable of daring to assert any privilege, clashing with
the rights of the people at large, it was no small exertion in him to
surprise them with the fact that a new path was opened to the temple
of honor, besides that which led through the favor of the king. He was
respectable in his parentage, but the patrimony of his ancestors and
of himself was too scanty to feed ostentation or luxury. From
education he derived those manners which belong to the real Virginian
planter, and which were his ornament, in no less disdaining our
abridgment of personal independence, than in observing every decorum,
interwoven with the comfort of society. With his years the unbought
means of popularity increased. Identified with the people, they
clothed him with the confidence of a favorite son. Until his
resolutions on the stamp act, he had been unknown, except to those
with whom he had associated in the hardy sports of the field, and the
avowed neglect of literature. Still he did not escape notice, as
occasionally retiring within himself in silent reflection, and
sometimes discanting with peculiar emphasis on the martyrs in the
cause of liberty. This enthusiasm was nourished by his partiality for
the dissenters from the established church. He often listened to them,
while they were waging their steady and finally effectual war against
the burthens of that church, and from a repetition of his sympathy
with the history of their sufferings, he unlocks the human heart and
transferred into civic discussions many of the bold licences, which
prevailed in their religions. If he was not a constant hearer and
admirer of that stupendous master of the human passions George
Whitfield, he was a follower a devotee of some of his most powerful
disciples at least.
All these advantages he employed by a demeanor inoffensive,
conciliating, and abounding in good humour. For a short time he
practised the law in an humble sphere, too humble for the real height
of his powers. He then took a seat at the bar of the general court,
the supreme tribunal of Virginia, among a constellation of eminent
lawyers and scholars, and was in great request even on questions for
which he had not been prepared by much previous erudition. Upon the
theatre of legislation, he entered regardless of that criticism, which
was profusely bestowed on his language, pronunciation and gesture. Nor
was he absolutely exempt from an irregularity in his language, a
certain homespun pronunciation, and a degree of awkwardness in the
cold commencement of his gesture. But the corresponding looks and
emotions of those whom he addressed, speedily announced, that language
may be some times peculiar and even quaint, while it is at the same
time expressive and appropriate; that a pronunciation which might
disgust in a drawing room, may yet find access to the hearts of a
popular assembly; and that a gesture at first too much the effect of
indolence, may expand itself in the progress of delivery into forms,
which would be above the rule and compass, but strictly within the
prompting of nature. Compared with any of his more refined
contemporaries, and rivals, he by his imagination which painted to the
soul, eclipsed the sparklings of art, and knowing what chord of the
heart would sound in unison with his immediate purpose, and with what
strength or peculiarity it ought to be touched, he had scarcely ever
languished in a minority at the time, up to which his character is now
brought. Contrasted with the most renowned of British orators, the
elder William Pitt, he was not inferior to him in the intrepidity of
metaphor. Like him he possessed a vein of sportive ridicule, but
without arrogance or dictatorial malignity. In Henry's exordium there
was a simplicity and even carelessness, which to a stranger, who had
never before heard him, promised little. A formal division of his
intended discourse he never made: but even the first distance, which
he took from his main ground, was not so remote as to obscure it, or
to require any distortion of his course to reach it. With an eye,
which possessed neither positive beauty, nor acuteness, and which he
fixed upon the moderator of the assembly addressed, without straying
in quest of applause, he contrived to be the focus, to which every
person present was directed, even at the moment of the apparent
languor of his opening. He transferred into the breast of others the
earnestness, depicted in his own features, which ever forbade a doubt
of sincerity. In others rhetorical artifice, and unmeaning expletives
have been often employed as scouts to seize the wandering attention of
the audience: in him the absence of trick constituted the triumph of
nature. His was the only monotony, which I ever heard reconcileable
with true eloquence; its chief note was melodious, but the sameness
was diversified by a mixture of sensations, which a dramatic
versatility of action and of countenance produced. His pauses which
for their length might sometimes be feared to dispel the attention
rivetted it the more, by raising the expectation of renewed
brilliancy. In pure reasoning, he encountered many successful
competitors; in the wisdom of books many superiors; but although he
might be inconclusive, he was never frivolous; and arguments, which at
first seemed strange, were afterwards discovered to be select in their
kind, because adapted to some peculiarity in his audience. His style
of oratory was vehement, without transporting him beyond the power of
self command or wounding his opponents by deliberate offense: after a
debate had ceased, he was surrounded by them on the first occasion
with pleasantry on some of its incidents. His figures of speech when
borrowed, were often borrowed, from the scriptures. His prototypes of
the others were the sublime scenes and objects of nature; and an
occurrence at the instant he never failed to employ with all the
energy, of which it was capable. His lightning consisted in quick
successive flashes, which rested only to alarm the more. His ability
as a writer cannot be insisted on; nor was he fond of a length of
details; but for grand impressions, in the defence of liberty, the
western world has not yet been able to exhibit a rival. His nature had
probably denied to him, under any circumstances, the capacity of
becoming Pitt, while Pitt himself would have been but a defective
instrument in a revolution the essence of which was deep and pervading
in popular sentiment.
In this embryo state of the revolution, deep research into the
ancient treasures of political learning, might well be dispensed with.
It was enough to feel; to remember some general maxims, coeval with
the colony, and inculcated frequently afterwards. With principles like
these, Mr. Henry need not dread to encounter the usurpation,
threatened by parliament; for although even his powerful eloquence
could not create public sentiment, he could apply the torch of
opposition so as fortunately to perceive, that in every vicissitude of
event, he concurred with his country.
No.8. As yet Thomas Jefferson had not attained a marked grade in
politics. Until about the age of twenty-five years he had pursued
general science, with which he mingled the law, as a profession, with
an eager industry, and unabated thirst. His manners could never be
harsh, but they were reserved towards the world at large. To his
intimate friends he shewed a peculiar sweetness of temper, and by
them, was admired and beloved. In mathematics and experimental
philosophy, he was a proficient, assiduously taught by Doctor Small of
William and Mary college, whose name was not concealed among the
literati of Europe. He panted after the fine arts, and discovered a
taste in them, not easily satisfied with such scanty means, as existed
in a colony, whose chief ambition looked to the general system of
education in England, as the ultimate point of excellence. But it
constituted a part of Mr. Jefferson's pride to run before the times in
which he lived. Prudent himself he did not waste his resources in
gratifications, to which they were incompetent; but being an admirer
of elegance and convenience, and venerated by his contemporaries, who
were within the scope of his example, he diffused a style of living
much more refined than that, which had been handed down to them by his
and their ancestors. He had been ambitious to collect a library, not
merely amassing number of books, but distinguishing authors of merit,
and assembling them in subordination to every art and science; and
notwithstanding losses by fire, this library was at this time more
happily calculated, than any other private one, to direct to objects
of utility and taste, to present to genius the scaffolding, upon which
its future eminence might be built, and to approve the restless
appetite which is too apt to seize the mere gatherer of books.
The theories of human rights, he had drawn from Locke, Harrington,
Sidney, the English history, and Montesquieu; he had maturely
investigated, in all their aspects, and was versed in the republican
doctrines and effusions, which conducted the first Charles to the
scaffold. With this fund of knowledge, he was ripe for stronger
measures, than the public voice was conceived to demand. But he had
not gained a sufficient ascendency to quicken or retard the progress
of the popular current. Indefatigable and methodical in whatever he
undertook he spoke with ease, perspicuity and elegance. His style in
writing was more impassioned; and although often incorrect, was too
glowing, not to be acquitted as venial, departures from rigid rules.
Without being an overwhelming orator, he was an impressive speaker,
who fixed the attention. On two signal arguments before the general
court in which Mr. Henry and himself were coadjutors, each
characterized himself. Mr. Jefferson drew copiously from the depths of
the law, Mr. Henry from the recesses of the human heart.
When Mr. Jefferson first attracted notice, Christianity was directly
denied in Virginia only by a few. He was an adept however in the
ensnaring subtleties of deism; and gave it, among the rising
generation, a philosophical patronage; which repudiates as falsehoods
things unsusceptible of strict demonstration. It is believed, that
while such tenets as are in contempt of the gospel, inevitably
terminate in espousing the fullest latitude in religious freedom, Mr.
Jefferson's love of liberty, would itself have produced the same
effects. But his opinions against restraints on conscience ingratiated
him with the enemies of the establishment, who did not stop to
inquire, how far those opinions might border on scepticism or
infidelity. Parties in religion and politics rarely scan with nicety
the peculiar private opinions of their adherents.
When he entered upon the practice of the law, he chose a residence,
and travelled to a distance, which enabled him to display his great
literary endowments, and to establish advantageous connections among
those classes of men who were daily rising in weight.
No. 9. In official rank and ostensible importance, Peyton Randolph
stood foremost in the band of patriots. He held a post of the highest
popular celebrity under the royal dominion, being speaker of the house
of burgesses. But his diffidence prevented him from affecting any
personal preeminence over those, who were hailed for their bustling
activity. He enjoyed without intrigue that portion of general esteem,
to which he thought himself entitled (and more he did not wish). What
he did enjoy was permanent. He had in early life, been chosen into
that branch of the legislature for the college of William and Mary,
and was afterwards the constant member for the city of Williamsburg,
the place of his nativity: although a servant of the crown, as
attorney general, he was so firmly planted in the affections of his
countrymen, that the general assembly deputed him to defend them
before the king in council, against the arbitrary exaction of a
pistole, as a fee for every patent for land granted by Governor
Dinwiddie. We have seen, with what manly fidelity he executed the
mission; with what asperity he was treated by that governor, how his
office under the crown, was wrested from him, and reluctantly
restored, under the impulse of public feelings.
When France was circumvesting our western frontier, he in the
crudeness of military skill, engaged a company of men of opulence and
ease, in a warlike expedition, patriotic in its cause, and useful in
its example, but ineffectual in its result. On the great American
question he halted not for a moment; although it was intimated to him,
that the governor would exercise his prerogative, in refusing to
receive him as speaker, when he should be presented to him according
to ancient usage; at this time a rejection of this sort, might have
been a painful diminution of his annual income. Every measure, deemed
conducive to American success he advocated with zeal. His uniformity
added force to the soundness of his character; and the amiableness of
his demeanor with the steadiness of his friendship, recommended the
suggestions of his judgment however little illuminated by eloquence.
In the quarter of Virginia included in the proprietorship of the
northern neck, Richard Henry Lee had gained the palm of a species of
oratory, rare among a people, backward in refinement. He had attuned
his voice with so much care, that one unmusical cadence could scarcely
be pardoned by his ear. He was reported to have formed before a mirror
his gesture, which was not unsuitable even to a court. His speech was
diffusive, without the hackneyed formulas; and he charmed wheresoever
he opened his lips. In political reading he was conversant, and on the
popular topics, dispersed through the debates of parliament his
recollection was rapid and correct: Malice had hastily involved him in
censure for a supposed inconsistency of conduct upon the stamp-act;
but the vigor and perseverance of his patriotism extorted from his
enemies a confession, that he deserved the general confidence, which
was afterwards conceded to him.
No. 10. The then treasurer of Virginia was Robert Carter Nicholas,
whose popularity, though less effulgent, gave light and heat to the
American cause. He was bred in the bosom of piety, and his youthful
reading, impressed upon his mind a predelection for the established
church, though he selected the law as his profession. The propriety
and purity of his life, were often quoted, to stimulate the old, and
to invite the young to emulation; and in an avocation thickly beset
with seductions, he knew them only as he repelled them with the
quickness of instinct. In speaking of him, I should distrust the
warping of personal affection, if all Virginia were not in some
measure, my witness; and I should unwilling incur the supposition of a
tacit insinuation against the bar in general, by laying so great
stress on his virtue, were it not, that in the hour of temptation the
best men find a refuge and succour in asking themselves how some
individual spotless in morality and sincere in Christianity would act
on a similar occasion. By nature he was of a complacent temper; in all
his actions he was benevolent and liberal. But he appeared to many who
did not thoroughly understand him, to be haughty and austere; because
they could not appreciate the preference of gravity for levity, when
in conversation the sacredness of religion was involved in ridicule or
language forgot its chastity. When upon the death of Mr. John
Robinson, who had been speaker of the house of burgesses and the
treasurer of Virginia, it was intimated to Mr. Nicholas, that the
governor was about to consign the care of the public money to a person
not unexceptionable, merely because no successor better qualified
could be procured; that magistrate was confounded by the unusual
address, but wholesome lecture, which Mr. Nicholas delivered to him: "I
am told sir, that the treasury is likely to be conferred on a man, in
whose hands it would not be safe, and that the reason assigned for
such an appointment is, that an adequate candidate is not within your
knowledge. Of myself I shall say no more, than that if you deem me
equal to the public expectation, I will abandon my profession,
superior as it is in emolution." The dignity of truth and virtue
subdued with awe the royal vicegerent. For many years the official
accounts of Mr. Nicholas had been scrutinized without the detection or
existence of the most minute deficiency.
He was slow in the adoption of expedients, howsoever dazzling with
their novelty, or forced into an undue magnitude by the arts of
enthusiasm. But he lingered not behind the most strenuous in proposing
and pushing measures commensurate with the times.
No. 11. Edmund Pendleton held a high station, as counsel, refuting by
his success every symptom of aristocratic depression even in the sons
of a cottage, where virtue and talents concur. At the bar, his
influence was justly great. In the legislature, he, for many years,
had assisted with his habits of business every burgess, who was a
stranger to parliamentary forms or unacquainted with debate. With a
pen, which scattered no classical decorations, and with an education,
which debarred him from thorough grammatical accuracy, he performed
the most substantial service, by the perspicuity and comprehensiveness
of his numerous resolutions, reports and laws. Labour was his delight,
although vivacity and pleasantry were never suppressed in their due
place. His amiableness bordered on familiarity without detracting from
personal dignity. He lived at home with the unadulterated simplicity
of a republican: from abroad he imported into his family no fondness
for shew. He was not rich because from his own purse he had reared
into respectability a body of collateral relations, without much
regard to the admonitions of a narrow revenue.
If in his public conduct he was ever questionable, it was supposed to
be in prescribing no bounds to his gratitude for his primary patron,
Mr. Robinson, the former speaker and treasurer, whose death, as we
have seen, discovered a chasm in the public coffers. It is true that
Mr. Pendleton's exertions sheltered his memory from much obloquy, but
it is no less true, that he was active and fortunate as one of his
administrators in replacing the deficit.
Mr. Pendleton was master of the principles of opposition to the
ministry, and his heart followed with warmth, what his head thus
suggested.
No. 12. That George Washington has been postponed to this period of
our patriotic catalogue is owing solely to the circumstance, that at
the beginning of the year 1774, to which these sketches of character
are as yet limited, some others were more prominent. It could not have
been then truly foretold that ever those germs of his solid worth,
which afterwards overspread our land with illustrious fruit, would
elevate him very far above many of the friends of the revolution. But
take him, as he even then was.
From various causes the biography of Virginia must be mutilated or
confused in its earliest lives at least, until public records
succeeded to oral tradition. The unlettered state of our society in
general, at the beginning of the last century, the inaptitude of
individuals for the observation of character; the feeble hold which is
taken by the memory, of transactions not striking; the imperfect
talent of combination and inductions; the dispersion of the
inhabitants of a new country; and ignorance of the names of those who
could testify; and the advanced age, at which any Virginian born as
late as the year 1732, could probably deserve a large page even in
colonial story; deprive us of those prognostics, which when referred
to manhood almost create a rule for a kind of prophecy. Hence even
Washington is a partial prey to the corrosion of time.
His youth had developed no flattering symptom of what the world calls
genius; but he had been conspicuous for firmness, for a judgment which
discriminated the materials gathered by others of a quicker and more
fertile invention, and for a prudence which no frivolousness had ever
chequered. He possessed a fund of qualities, which had no specific
direction to any particular calling, but were instruments for any
crisis.
By nature, by his attention to agriculture, in exposure of himself in
the chase, and his occupation of a surveyor of land, he was remarkably
robust and athletic. It had been the lot of Washington, at the age of
nineteen years, as the sequel of his history when resumed will shew,
to have been at the most vigorous era of his life, the only man, whose
total fitness pointed him out for a mission, which first introduced
him to public notice. When France had made some progress in the
completeness of a scheme to surround the British colonies by a line of
posts from the lakes to the river Ohio, the governor of Virginia had
resolved to remonstrate against the encroachments, and to demand the
removal of them. The very journey through a wilderness without a track
opened by civilized man, and infested by Indians not friendly to the
English, was truly formidable from its dangers and fatigues. But the
grandeur of the enterprise animated Washington to commence it on the
very day of receiving his commission and instructions. Among the
lovers of ease, and those, who, in the lap of luxury regarded the
territory, as doomed to a perpetual savage rudeness, Washington was
mentioned as an adventurer, meritorious indeed, but below competition
or envy. In the hands of Washington the expedition did not droop; in
the hands of any other it would probably have perished. With what
applause he fulfilled his errand of defiance is recorded by his
country; and in the journal, which, on short notice, he composed, and
the publication of which, his modesty induced him to desire to be
withheld he evidenced a perspicuity and skill in composition, which
diffused a reverence for his powers of varied utility. It was
impossible to peruse it without emotions like these: the quickness of
his movements, the patience with which he encountered the inclemencies
of the weather; the military acuteness with which he surveyed the
lands in the fork of the Monongahela and Ohio, where Pittsburg has
been since erected, and compared that site with Loggs-loar; his
accuracy in the computation of distances; his success in the
acquirement of the intelligence to be procured; his management in
obtaining secret interviews with the half king, and extracting from
him all that he knew, his discernment in ascertaining when to yield,
and when to resist importunities; his escape from French snares; his
treasuring up the imprudent discoveries, made by the French officers;
his conciliation of respect from those, who were hostile to his
business; his observance of all attention towards even savage princes,
whose favor might be beneficial to his country; and the anxiety which
pervaded his whole journey, to do his duty in everything; all these
traits when brought together, gave reason for the anticipation that no
trial could exhaust such a fund of qualities; but that they would
supply every call.
Being a member of the house of burgesses after his return from the
Ohio, the speaker was charged to express to him the thanks of that
body. That officer by the august solemnity of his manners would
probably have embarrased most men, in their attempt to reply to the
compliments with which he covered Mr. Washington; for while they
soothed, they awed him. When the address from the chair was concluded
he could not articulate without difficulty. This being perceived by
Mr. Robinson, he did honor to himself, and relieved Mr. Washington, by
crying out at the instant, "Sit down Mr. Washington. Your modesty
is equal to your merit, in the description of which words must fall
short." Of a regiment, raised for the defence of the frontiers,
the command had been given to a Mr. Fry, and Mr. Washington had been
appointed lieutenant colonel. Upon the death of Fry, Mr. Washington
succeeded to the command, and was unfortunate at the Great Meadows;
but it is remarkable, that in no adversity had his honor as a soldier
or a man been ever stained.
He was himself a pattern of subordination; for when orders of the
most preposterous and destructive nature were given to him; he
remonstrated indeed, but began to execute them, as far as it was in
his power.
A new arrangement of rank which humiliated the provincial officers of
the highest grade to the command of the lowest commissioned officer of
the crown, rendered his continuance in the regiment too harsh to be
endured. He retired to Mount Vernon, which his brother by the paternal
side, passing by his own full blood, had bequeathed to him. His
economy, without which virtue itself is always in hazard, afforded
nutriment to his character.
But he did not long indulge himself in the occupation of his farm.
General Braddock, who had been sent by the Duke of Cumberland the
commander in chief, to head the forces, employed against the Indians
and French, invited him into his family as a volunteer aid-de-camp.
The fate of that brave but rash general who had been taught a system,
impliant to all reasoning, which could accommodate itself to local
circumstances and exceptions, might have been averted, if Washington's
advice had been received. As it was, he in his debilitated state could
accomplish nothing more than by his valor and to lead from the field
of slaughter into security the remains of the British army.
Washington now was no longer forbidden by any rule of honor to accept
the command of a new regiment raised by Virginia. In his intercourse
with Braddock, and his first and second military officers, he
continued to add to the inferences from the whole of the former
conduct, instances of vigilance, courage, comprehensiveness of
purpose, and delicacy of feeling, and in the enthusiastic language of
a presbyterian minister, he was announced, as a hero, born to be the
future saviour of his country.
It was the custom of the King to enroll in the council of state in
Virginia, men with fortunes, which classed them in the aristocracy of
the colony. The proprietor of the Northern Neck, Lord Fairfax, had
been importunate for the promotion of Colo. Washington to a seat at
that board; and he would have been gratified long before, if four of
his tenants and one of his own name, had not been already in the same
corps. That this honor awaited him, Colo. Washington well knew, but
the probability, that the event was not far distant could not abate
his sympathy with his country's wrongs; and he promptly associated his
name, with every patriotic stress and idea.
No. 13. Richard Bland, who was a general scholar, was noted, as an
antiquary in colonial learning. He had enlightened the people, by a
pamphlet overflowing with historical facts, which reinforced the
opposition to the ministry. He attacked with boldness every assumption
of power, and had combated a very ancient usage of the secretary of
Virginia, to appoint the clerks of the county courts. This was an
earnest of his sincerity in his present career.
No. 14. Another favorite of the day was Benjamin Harrison, with
strong sense, and a temper not disposed to compromise with ministerial
power, he scrupled not to utter any truth. During a long service in
the house of burgesses, his frankness, though sometimes tinctured with
bitterness was the source of considerable attachment.
No. 15. George Wythe is said to have been indebted to his mother, for
the literary distinction which he attained. But it is more probable,
that she was by chance capable of assisting him in the rudiments of
the Latin tongue, and that he became a scholar by the indispensable
progress of his own industry in his closet. Preceptors lay the corner
stone; but the edifice can be finished only by the pupil himself,
under the auspices of good taste. Mr. Wythe not only laboured through
an apprenticeship, but almost through a life in the dead languages. In
his pleadings at the bar, it was a foible to intersperse such frequent
citations from the classics. But he argued ably and profoundly. The
temptations of the law never raised a doubt on his purity; and though
long habituated to the patronage and friendship of royal governors; in
every conflict with them he adhered to his country. He acted upon the
maxim, that genuine riches consisted in having few wants. A natural
instability he held with a tight rein. On an alarm of hostility from
the last British governor, he sallied forth with his hunting shirt and
musket, at an age, when his patriotism would have sustained no shock,
had he remained at home. But his character, rather than his actions
rendered him a valuable resource to the infant revolution. Upon the
death of Peyton Randolph he was called, as the most beloved citizen to
represent the city of Williamsburg.
No. 16. John Blair was born of Scotch parents, educated in Great
Britain, connected in Scotland by marriage, and chief adviser of his
father, who as president of the royal council had been thrice
temporary governor. He was himself the clerk of that council, under
the gift of the governor during pleasure. If the habits of monarchy
could have disqualified him for the part of a republican, he must have
been alienated from the cause of democracy. But without parade he was
steadfast and alert in it. He lived without suspicion in those
precarious days, of having betrayed a syllable of what passed at the
council board. On the other hand he vindicated the rights of man, not
with declamations or in a visionary sense, but in one coinciding with
practical happiness. His suavity of manners, which is often a veil for
hyprocrisy, was with him an affusion of nature. He was an adept in
classical learning, mathematics, divinity, various branches of natural
philosophy, belles lettres and the law. A discerning foreigner once
observed of him that his only fault was, that he was such pure gold,
that a little alloy was necessary to the finishing of him, as a
perfect practical man.
No. 17. Thomas L. Lee, who had been tutored for no department of
public speaking, was by accident banished from the lists of the softer
oratory. A friend of his was assailed in the house of burgesses, and
he rose in his defence: but Lee's sensibility checked his utterance
and extinguished his courage ever again to use on any other occasion
there to be counted. But when the formality of a public body did not
agitate him, he was a real orator. He enraptured with his grace every
private society. In the subordinate committees he struck the point
with a promptness, which excited a wonder how he could ever be
destitute of confidence in himself. By fair reasoning out of the
house, he satisfied political sceptics, and fortified the wavering.
Among the numbers who in their small circles, were propagating with
activity the American doctrines, was George Mason in the shade of
retirement. He extended their grasp upon the opinions and affections
of those, with whom he conversed. How he learned his indifference for
distinction, endowed as he was with ability to mount in any line; or
whence he contracted his hatred for pomp, with a fortune, competent to
any expense, and a disposition not averse from hospitality, can be
solved, only from that philosophical spirit, which despised the
adulterated means of cultivating happiness. He was behind none of the
sons of Virginia, in knowledge of her history and interest. At a
glance he saw to the bottom of every proposition, which affected her.
His elocution was manly sometimes, but not wantonly sarcastic.
No. 18. About this time Charles Lee was greatly admired in Virginia.
He was an officer in the British Army, having brought with him a
reputation for literature and arms. His disgust with the British
government, which had pretermitted him in promotion, had given birth
to various productions from his pen, much to the annoyance of the
ministry. When he came hither, this crime of neglect had not been
expiated, and he arraigned the radical vices of the English
Constitution, the exercise of its power, and the jeopardy of colonial
liberty. Without any restraint from controversial replies, he satiated
his revenge in a new and more fatal shape. With the rough exterior of
a veteran soldier, he was domesticated in most of the principal
families, whom wit and pith of remark could entertain. Eccentric and
anomalous, he was agreeable every where. He well played the part of a
republican, though born under a monarchy, and educated in an army. And
without a particle of religion he simulated an attachment to it. It
was believed however that from a sternness of principle, he would
perform with fidelity, every requisition of duty, or promise in his
profession; and that his rancour against the ministry was
unextinguishable.
No. 19. It has been stated, that Mr. John Mercer was the first in
Virginia who distinctly elucidated upon paper, the principles which
justified the opposition to the stamp act. He shewed them in
manuscript to his friends. They spread rapidly so as to produce a
ground work for and uniformity of popular sentiment.
This selection of characters does not exhaust that store of
faculties, which contributed their proportion to the impending scenes.
From these it may be calculated, how deeply rooted in Virginia must
have been the American cause. Of some others who lived to enforce and
adorn the revolution, a sketch may be exhibited in a future page.
Many circumstances existed favorable to the propogating of a
contagion of free opinion; although every class of men cannot be
supposed to have been aided by extensive literary views
---1. The system of slavery howsoever baneful to virtue, begat a
pride, which nourished a quick and acute sense of the rights of
freemen
---2. Whether there was any peculiar facility in the mutual
intercourse of the people, or a greater frequency of occasion for
public numerous assemblies, the Virginians seem to catch the full
spirit of the theories which at the fountain head, were known only to
men of studious retirement
---3. The hospitality and even convivial circles, which were the
natural offspring of the ease of living:---perhaps a certain fluency
of speech, which marked the character of Virginians, pushed into
motion many adventurous doctrines, which in a different situation of
affairs, might have lain dormant much longer and might have been
limited to a much narrowed sphere.
---4. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that even if the fancied division
into something like ranks, not actually coalescing with each other,
had been really formed, the opinions of every denomination or cast
would have diffused themselves on every side by means of the
professions of priest, lawyer and physician, who visited the houses of
the ostentatious as well as the cottages of the planters
---5. The season too for courting the possessors of the right of
suffrage often returned; and of course afforded opportunities, for
unreserved interchange of ideas between candidates and electors, and
among electors themselves.
---6. Obvious as it was that the dissenters, as they were called,
would be animated with a zeal inferior to that of no partizan of
general liberty, it was yet impracticable for the mother country or
the colony to incorporate religion into the controversy, farther than
as public fasting and prayer might always in the hands of the latter
make an impression against power, branded with the charge of
oppression; and as the Church of England might have been assured, that
the established church as such, could not hope in a revolution for a
better boon, than to retain the status quo of ancient privilege, if
the church and the dissenters could have been brought to such an
issue, that the establishment was in danger, the band of union might
not have been totally free from fracture. But the two sects were
contrasted by some striking circumstances. The Presbyterian clergy
were indefatigable. Not depending upon the dead letter of written
sermons, they understood the mechanism of haranguing, and had often
been whetted in disputes on religious liberty so nearly allied to
civil.
20. Those of the Church of England were planted on glebes, with
comfortable houses, decent salaries, some perquisites, and a species
of rank which was not wholly destitute of unction. To him, who
acquitted himself of parochial functions, those comforts were secure,
whether he ever converted a deist, or softened the pangs of a sinner.
He never asked himself whether he was felt by his audience. To this
charge of lukewarmness there were some shining exceptions, and there
were even a few, who did not hesitate to confront the consequences of
a revolution, which boded no stability to them. The dissenters on the
other hand, were fed and clothed, only as they merited the gratitude
of their congregations. A change or modification of the ancient regime
carried no terrors to their imagination.
21. Notwithstanding these advantages of solid character and religious
votaries on the side of the people, although in so favorable a soil
the spirit of freedom was not obstructed by a weed, which their frown
did not eradicate, and every thwarting movement of government heaped
fresh odium on its head, the British partizans administered some
cautions, which put to the test the principles then inflaming the
colony. Her feelings were wounded by an insinuation that a revolution
was coveted only by those, whose desperate fortunes might be
disencumbered by an abolition of debts. But this was contradicted by a
loyalty without being immoveable, and by the certainty of a general
pecuniary ability which could not be [too obscure to be read] by a
delay of collection for the risque of an untried order of things.
22. It was however clearly foreseen, that sooner or later the sword
of America must be drawn, even to obtain a reconciliation, not
destructive in its sacrifices; but it could not without difficulty be
conceived, how subjects could repel their sovereigns in war, and yet
restrict their triumphs to the literal restoration of their ancient
relations.[] Deprived too of an intercourse with England, the chief
market for her supplies and for the sale of her raw materials, and the
sole nursery of her credit;---with a dearth of manufactures,
occasioned by British prohibitions and regulations; relying on British
bottoms for her navigation;---estranged from the thought of a compact
with foreign nations, as a substitute for the inevitable stoppage of
commerce with Great Britain---without military stores,---without
discipline in the militia, to whom no war was known, except that waged
with the savages in the woods, and even that confined to the western
frontier;--without a man, who had inspired an absolute confidence in
him, as a military leader upon a large or scientific scale;---with a
conviction, that the merciless tomahawk would be uplifted against
her;---and with the anticipation, that a more dangerous, because a
domestic enemy might butcher their masters and their families,
instigated by promises of emancipation;---Virginia, had she been
languid or fluctuating, could not have been unmoved by the menaces of
a government, than extolled as the most formidable in Europe. But from
her nerve, which contemned consequences, she was ready to launch into
an ocean unexplored, provided with no chart of actual experience, and
resting upon general maxims of liberty. Her latest partiality for
great Britain did not exaggerate as too grievous the price of liberty,
nor spread a gloom, too thick to be dissipated by men, resolved to be
free.
These obstacles being overcome, others from the patronage or personal
weight of the chief executive magistrate, were insignificant.
23. It has been stated, that the governor at this time was John, Earl
of Dunmore, a native and peer of Scotland, who once sat in the British
house of Lords. Among the manifold errors of the British government in
their policy towards Virginia, was that of not discerning that soon
without a cessation or relaxation of their principles, a degree of
complacency at least, might have effected much on the public mind, by
the choice of such a governor, as Botetourt had been, in suavity and
frankness of manner, in exemplary virtue, and a warm patronage of
learning and religion. But Dunmore generally preferring the crooked
path, possessed not the genius to conceive, nor temper to seek the
plain and direct way, which nature opens to the human heart, through
those cheap courtesies, which were in the power of the vicegerent, the
fountain of honor to be bestowed. On his translation from the
government of New York to that of Virginia, he was accompanied by
Edward Foy, as his confidential inmate, counsellor and private
secretary. This gentleman exacted for his civil talents the homage due
to his military merit as a captain of artillery at the battle of
Minden in Germany. The consequence was that the imperviousness of the
army officers was added to the arrogace of a pedant and cynick.
The only two offices of value, to which Dunmore could permanently
appoint were the clerkships of the council and of the house of
burgesses. In the appointment to every other of moment, he was
controulable by the advice of the council, or was the mere organ of
recommendation to the pleasure of his royal master. For the clergy of
the Church of England, he had no other allurement, than the employment
of his interest with the bishop of London (to whose diocese Virginia
belonged), for a single commissaryship with an annual salary of an
hundred pounds sterling: a vacancy occurring not much oftener than
once in the usual term of life, and generally conferred on some
minister whose mind, activity and persuasiveness were small, while his
affectation of dignity, was every thing.
Dunmore flattered himself that the devotion of the people to the
mother country, would supply the defect of patronage; but he forgot
that a high sense of personal independence was universal. A governor,
who could withstand a popular current must possess more than ordinary
qualifications. But of those which shed a beam of false lustre, and
certainly of those of an exalted kind, Dunmore was wholly destitute.
In stature he was low; and though muscular and healthful he bore on
his head hoary symptoms of probably a greater age, than he had
reached. To external accomplishment he pretended not; and his manners
and sentiments did not surpass substantial barbarism; a barbarism,
which was not palliated by a particle of native genius, nor regulated
by one ingredient of religion. His propensities were coarse and
depraved.
But it must be confessed, that probably no British Vicegerent, not
Botetourt himself, had he been on earth, could have gained ten
revolters from their country's cause.
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