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Show Give Me Liberty or Give Me Deatk" THE orator had a definite place In the building of America. In the Eighteenth century oratory ora-tory was a fine art and not the lost one that it is today. Therefore, writes Elizabeth Ellicott Poe, in the Washington Post, the place that Patrick Henry held and holds in the affections of the people for the most f part he played before and during T 1 the American Revolution is one that cannot be too highly estimated. esti-mated. Hanover county, coun-ty, Virginia, which has given many notable men and women to the Old Dominion's Do-minion's Hall of Fame, has every ritrht to be nroud of the achievements of this Henry of Studley. As early as 1763 he was sounding the keynotes of freedom free-dom in unmistakable tones. He was a country lawyer who had made an early marriage rather foolishly fool-ishly and was struggling to keep a growing family in the necessities of life when, in 1703, he became aroused in behalf of what was known as "The Parsons' Cause," concerning the right of the clergy to receive the same price for their tobacco as other colonists. In 1765 Henry was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. From the time he took his seat he introduced act after act defining the rights of the coiyny, especially in tue matter oi the obnoxious stamp tax, and, against great opposition, carried all of his resolutions through the sheer force of his logic and his eloquence. This made Patrick Henry the leader of the colony, In many senses of the word. Patrick Henry came right by his love of freedom, his historical sense and power of oratory. For he was a cousin of the historian, William Robertson, of Scotland, nnd of the mother of Lord Brougham. His hiother was a Winston of that noted English family and his father saw to It that he had a classical education edu-cation and every possible advantage advan-tage In the way of proper learning. In 1774 nenry was foremost In the call to form a Continental congress. con-gress. George Mason, author of the Bill of Rights, himself an orator ora-tor and patriot of more than usual ability, said of Henry: "He is by far the most powerful speaker I ever heard. Every word he says not only engages, but commands the attention, nnd your passions are no longer your own when he addresses them. But his eloquenco Is the smallest part of his merit, "e Is. In my opinion, the first man upon this continent, ns well Inabilities Inabil-ities as In public virtues, and hai he lived In Rome about the time of the first Punic war, when thp Roman people hail arrived at theli meridian glory, and tbetr virtues not tarnished, Henry's talents niusl have put him at the head of thai glorious coniinonwealth." Of course, It was In his great speech, familiar to every oehool-loy, oehool-loy, In which . honied for all to hear kings and coiiiiiionei's nllk "Give me liberty or give me death' that he rose to his miprcuie height! of eloquence. |