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Show M WriiE story or tiie first pbesikekxSOv CIZIL BY THE PRESIDENT'' ftTz? tocrary of the colony. Good Hoot blood ran In bis veins, milrkened by the lively strain of an old t Uh stock Ills father came of a ruco of m-bulur. and, food (hurchinau though h was, knew his l.lvy and hit llorucc better than his Itlbl. Ill nuitlier came of a vivacious line of euay going w its and talkers, which hud a touch inort of stcadlueas and energy might any day have mudn tamuus Ills father had served his county of Hanover very capably and acceptably as surveyor, colonel, magistrate, and his uncle had been beloved as tho faithful pastor of quiet parUhes. Uut they had been no long time In the colony; col-ony; (hey lived back from the tidewater tide-water counties where the real aristocracy aristoc-racy had Us strength and supremacy; they were of that middle cluits of yeomen-gentlemen who love liberty, but do not affect rank. "A vigorous aristocracy favors the growth of personal eminence even In those who are not of It, but only near It," and these plain men of the middle mid-dle counties were the more excellent and Individual In the cultivation of their powers by reason of the contact. Hut there was a touch, of rusticity, a neglect of polish, a rough candor of speech about them which set them apart and distinguished them sharply enough when they came Into the presence pres-ence of the courtly and formal gentlemen gentle-men who practiced the manners of London In the river counties. A Rustle Figure In the Home. Patrick Henry, at any rate, must have seemed a very rustle figure to the llurgesses when he first came to take his seat amongst them on a May day In 17C3. He was known, Indeed, to many. This was the man; they must have known, who had won so strange a ver- Carpenter's Hall. dirt from a jury two years ago In the celebrated parsons' case iUno court riiouae, against the XJw-eniJ- the evidence. Uut his careless dress and manner, Ms loose, ungainly figure, his listless, absent bearing, must have set many a courtly member staring. For such men as Wsshlngton, Indeed, In-deed, there can have been nothing either strange or unattractive In the rough exterior and unstudied ways of the new member. Punctilious though he wss himself In every point of dress and bearing, Washington's life bad most of It been spent with men who looked thus, snd yet were stuff of true courage and rich capacity within. The manner of a man could count as no test of quality with him. HU experience had coverid the whole variety of Virginian life. He was an aristocrat by taste, not by principle. prin-ciple. And Patrick Henry bad. In fact, come to the same growth as he In essential quality and principle, though by another way. Henry's life had been wilful, capricious, a bit haphazard, hap-hazard, Washington's all the while subject to discipline; but both men bud touched and seen the whole energy en-ergy of the commonwealth, knew Its hope, could divine Its destiny. There u but one Virginia, and they were her children. It could not take long to bring them to an under standing and comradeship In affairs. A Winner In Debste. It was characteristic cf the new member that be should step at once and unhesitatingly to a place of leadership lead-ership when debate of the Stamp Act stirred the house, and that he should Instantly sweep the majority Into bis following with a charm and dah of eloquence that came like a revelatloo upon the quiet assembly. (TU UK CONTINUED.) Old Documents Problem. What to dnstroy and what to have In the way of old documents, newspapers, newspa-pers, and other publications has given rise to the organization of committees of congress bearing theae peculiar titles: "Disposition of Useless Papers In the Executive Depsrtments" and "Kxamlnatlon and Disposition of Ikh-u-menta." The names of the committees indicate the duties devolving upon tbelr members. Moreover, not only public officers, but the directors of libraries and museums, to say nothing of private collectors, are often poxiled by the accumulation of matter Isso-Ing Isso-Ing from modern printing preasea. A bill waa not long ago introduced In psrllament to enable the trustees of the Drltlsh museum to distribute or destroy "valueless printed mstter In their possession." Immedlstely a Shakespearean scholsr of prominence objected. He argued that no one could dlsriimlnste betweon what may be valuable and what valueless for the historical Investigator of the future. fu-ture. "Who knows." be asked, "but that the trade circular, the rountr) newspsper, or the street song may throw a most Important light several hundred years hence upon some mooted queatlon of our present llfef Harper's Weekly. Such Is Fame. Wiseman What, to your mind, meat clearly represents the epheme-. rallty of fame and the vanity of he-man he-man wishes? CjratcMS Biasing elecfle letters spelling the same of the proprietor ver the portal to a bar. Judge. Installment 8 It would. In any event, be whole-tome, whole-tome, now the colonies were likely to grow lusty as kingdoms In their roomy c ntlnent, to assert a mother's power to use and restrain a power by no means lost because too long unexercised un-exercised and neglected. It was with such wisdom the first stepwas taken. In March, 1764, parliament par-liament voted It "Just and necessary that revenue be raised In America," passed an act meant to secure duties on wines and sugars, and took measures meas-ures to Increase the efficiency of the revenue service In America. George Qrenvllle vas prime minister. minis-ter. He lacked neither official capacity nor acquaintance with affairs. He thought It Just the colonists should psy their quota Into the national treasury, seeing they were so served by the national power; and he declared de-clared that In the next session of parliament par-liament be should p-oposfl certain direct di-rect taxes In sddltlon to the Indirect already In force. He aaw no sufflel n reason, to doubt that the colcnlet would acquiesce, ac-quiesce, If not without protest, at least without tumult or dangerous resistance. re-sistance. A Serious Blunder. It was a sad blunder. Virginia resented re-sented threat and execution alike In s ch a matter as deeply as did litigious litigi-ous Massachusetts. A long generation ago. In the quiet year 1732, when bluff Sir Robert was prime minister, there had been an Incident In-cident which Governor Keith, maybe, had forgotten. The mlnls'.ry had demanded de-manded of Massachusetts that she should establish a fixed salary for her governors by a standing grant; but she had refused, and the ministers had receded. The affair had not been lost upon the other colonies. That sturdy onetime one-time royal governor, Alexander Spots-wood, Spots-wood, In Virginia, bad noted It very particularly, and spoken of It very bluntly, diligent servant of the crown as he was. to Col, William Dyrd, when be came his wsy on bis ''progress to the mines' He declared "that If the assembly In New England would stand bluff, he did not see how they could be forced to rslse money against their will, for If they should direct It to be done b;' act of parliament, which they have threatened to do (though It be against the right of Englishmen to be taxed but by their representatives), yet they would find It no easy matter to put such an act In execution." No observing man could so much as travel In Virginia without finding very promptly what It was that gave point and polgnuncy to such an opinion. A Level-Headed Parson. That quiet gentleman, ftev. Andrew Ilurnahy, vicar of Greenwich, was In Virginia In 1759, and saw plainly enough how matters stood. "The public pub-lic or political character of the Virginians," Vir-ginians," be ssld, "corresponds with their private one; they are haughty and jealous of the liberties, Impatient Impa-tient of restraint, and can sesreely besr the thought of being controlled by any superior power. Many of them consider the colonies as Independent Inde-pendent slates, not connected with Great Flrltaln otherwise than by having hav-ing the same common king and being bound to her with natural affection." Not only so, but "they think It a hardship hard-ship not to have an unlimited trade to every part of the world." All this, and rtore, Grenvill might have learned by the simple pains of inquiry. One bad but to open his eyes and look to se ho" Imperious a race had been b-td In the almost feudal south; and. for all they had never heard revolutionary talk thence, ministers ought to have dremlrd the leisure men had there to think, the provocation to be proud, the necessity neces-sity to be masterful and individual, Suite as much as they had ever dreaded the stubborn temper and the quick capacity for united action they bad once and again seen excited In New England. Lavs a Dead Letter. It wa- not necessary to try new Is-s to see what the colonies would do If provoked. The difficulty already encountered In enforcing the laws of trsde was object-lesson enough; and the trouble In that matter had grown acute but yesterday. Fo long. Indeed, no one In the colonies questioned the right o' parliament to regulate their trsde; but It was notorious that the laws actually enacted In tnat matter bad gone smoothly off In America only because they were not seriously enforced. en-forced. "The trade hither la engrossed by th Saints of New F.ngland," laughed Colore Ilyrd. "who carry if a great d' of tcbicco without troubling themselves with paying that Impertinent Imperti-nent duty of a renny a pound " The acta of trade practically forbade for-bade direct commerce with foreign countries for their dependencies, especially In foreign bottoms; but ships from France, Spain, aod the Canary Isles came and went very freely, notwithstanding. In colonial porta; for royal officials liked to enjoy a comfortable peace and the esteem of their neighbors, and very genially winked at such tracsgree-tlon. Cargoes without number were tent to the Dutch and Spanish West Indies every year, aud as many brought thence, which were undoubtedly forfeit for-feit under the navigation laws parliament parlia-ment had been at such pains to elaborate elabor-ate and enforce; and privateering as well as smuggling had for long afforded af-forded the doughty seamen of Hoston, Salem, Charleston, and New York a genteel career of profit. , Indulge In Illegal Trade. Things had come to tucb a pats that where business went briskly the people of the colonial ports demanded as of right "a full freedom of illegal trade," and broke sometimes Into riot when it was denied them. The Boa-ton Boa-ton News Letter had been known very courteously to mo'trn the death of a worthy collector of his majesty's customs cus-toms because, "with much humanity," be had been used to take "pleasure In directing masters of vessels bow they ought to avoid the breach of tlu acts of trade." Sea captains grew .tccustomed to very confidential relations with own-era own-era and consignees,' and knew very well, without official counsel, how to take the advice "not to declare at the customhouse;" and things went very easily and cordially wltb all parties to the understanding. In 1761 that understanding was of a sudden rudely broken and the trouble trou-ble began, which Grenvllle bad the folly to add to. The board of trade determined to collect the duties on tugar, molasses and rum, so long and so systematically evaded In the trade between New England and the West Ir.dles, at whatever cost of suit and scrutiny, and directed their agents In Hoston to demand "writs of assistance" assist-ance" from the courts, giving them lerve to enter what premises they would In search of smuggled goods. Colonists Resist 8arch Warrants. Thre were ' Instant exasperation and resistance. General search war-1 rants, opening every man's door to the officers of the law, with or without Just and explicit ground of suspicion against him, so English subject any- where would submit to; and yet these writs authorized nothing less. Issued under a questionable extension exten-sion to America of an exceptional power of the court of exchequer, they violated every precedent of the common law, no less than every principle prin-ciple of prudent admlr..tratlon; and the excitement wbl'-h they provoked was at once deep and ominous. Sharp resistance was made In tha courts, and no officer ever vsnt irid to serve one of the obnoxious writs. Such challenge of the recess was uttered by colonial counsel i:pon trial of the rlgr' moreover, that ministers would be without excuse should they ignore the warning, so eip"clt and so eloqjent of revolutionary purpose. It was Jamea Otis who utterd It. He had but the other day carried the royal commission In his pocket as sd-vocate sd-vocate general In his majesty's court of admiralty; but be would not have STupled, even as his majesty's servant, ser-vant, he said, to oppose the exercise of a power which had already cost one king bis head anu another bis throne. To oppose In such a case wss to defend the very constitution under un-der which the king wore his crown. Tbat constitution secured to Englishmen English-men every a here the rights of freemen; free-men; the colonists hsd, besides, the plan guarantees of tbelr own charters; chart-ers; If constitution and cbsrters failed, or were gainsaid, the principles prin-ciples of natursl rwason sufficed for def use against measures so arrogant and so futile. No lawyer could justify these extraordinary writs; no king with an army at als back couKd ever force them to execution. Protest not only, but defiance, rang very clear la these fearless words; and ministers must avow themselves very Ignorsnt, should they pretend they did not know how Mr. Otis bsd kindled fire fron. one end of the colonies to the other. Hut Grenvllle waa resolute to take all risks and pusl this policy. The Obnoxious Stamp Act. He did aot flinch ro.n the enforcement enforce-ment of the measures of 17(4, and la the aMSlon of 17CS calmly fulfilled his promise of further taxation. He pro posed that the colonists ihould be required re-quired to use revenue stamps upon all their commercial paper, legal documents, docu-ments, pamphlets, sntl newspapers, and that, at ouce as a general measure meas-ure of convenience snd a aalutary ex-h ex-h oltlon of authority. Ills majesty's troops stationed In the plantsUons thoull be billeted on the people. Parliament reallly e-qulesced. It was thui Crenvllle -irposed "defraying "defray-ing the expenses of defending, protecting, protec-ting, and securing" the colonies; but he can- near losing them Instesd. T-e) act was passed In March; it was not to go lit' effect until November; Novem-ber; but the cnlonlsta did not keep him waiting until November for their protests. It was the voice of a veritable verita-ble tempest that presently came over sea to the ear of the startled minister. min-ister. And It as not the general court of turbulent Massachusetts, but the house of burgesaes of loyal Virginia Vir-ginia that first spoke the general Indignation. In-dignation. A Polite Protest A. ready In the autumn f 1764. upon up-on the mere threat of what was to come, that house had spoken very urgently ur-gently against the measures proposed, in a memorial to king and parliament, which, amidst every proper phrase of loyalty and affection, hud plainly declared It the opinion of his majesty's ma-jesty's subjects in Virginia that such acts would be In flat violation of their undoubted rights and liberties; and thi committee by hlch that memorial mem-orial was drawn up had contained almost al-most every man of chief consequence In the counsels of the colony, the king's attorney general Mmaslf not excepted. ex-cepted. Put It was one thing to protest tfalnst measures to come and quite another to oppose their execution when enacted Into laws. The cne wss constitutional agitation; the other, flat "oe!ion lUOa less. It was very ominous to read the words of the extraordinary resolutions passed by the burgesses on the Snth ot May, 1765, after the stamp act had become law, and rjote the tone of restrained re-strained passion that ran through them. Plain Speech From the Burgesses. u They declared that from the first the settlers of "his majesty's colony and domain" of Virginia had possessed pos-sessed and enjoyed all the privileges, franchises, and Immunities at any lime enjoyed by the people of Great I rltaln Itself; and that this their freedom, free-dom, had been explicitly secured to them by their charters, "to all Intents and purposes as If they had been abiding abid-ing and born within the realm of England;" Eng-land;" "that the taxation of the people peo-ple by themselves or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them" wss "a distinguishing characteristic char-acteristic of Iirlllsh freedom without which the ancient constitution" of the realm Itself could not subsist; "and that bis majesty's liege people of this most ancient colony" had "uninterruptedly "uninterrup-tedly enjoyed the right of being ths governed by their assemblies In the article of their taxes and Internal police," had never forfeited r relinquished relin-quished It. and had seen It ";onstantly recognised by the kings and people of Great Britain." An Uncompromliing Conclusion. Spoken as It was in protest against actual legislation aln ady adopted by parliament In direct despite of alt such privileges snd Immunities, this declaration of rlhts seemed to lack Ita conclusion. The constitutional rlghta of Virginians had been Invaded. In-vaded. What then? Resolved, therefore, there-fore, "that his majesty's lieg people, the Inhabitants of this colony, are not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance whatever designed to Impose Im-pose any taxation whatsoever upon tl em, other than the laws or ordinances ordi-nances of the genersl assembly aforesaid," afore-said," and "tbat any person who shall,' by speaking or writing, assert or maintain" te tontrary "shall be deemed an enemy of his majeity's colony." col-ony." Such had been the uncompromising uncompromis-ing conclusion drawn by the mover of the resolutions. What other conclusion could any man draw If be deemed the colonists tn( t, and proud men at that? The Burgesses feared to speak treason; they were content to pro-teat pro-teat of tbelr rights, and let the Issue bring conclusions to light It bad been hot fighting to get even that much said. The men hitherto accepted always as leadera In the bouse bad wished to bold it bark from rash aod heated action, and there had been bitter debates before evrn those significant premises for a revolutionary revolution-ary conclusion hsd been forced to adoption. Old leaders and new, young men and old alike, bad willingly united la the memorial of 1764 ; but now that the Stamp Act wss law, conservative members shrank from doing what mast look so like a flat defiance of parliament Only young men would have bad the audacity to urge such action; only very extraordinary young ma would have bad the capacity to Induce the house to take It But tucb young men wtr at band, their leader at veritable Democrat aa bad ever fakea the Coor la that assembly. Patrick Henry waa aot of tha arts- |
