CHAPTER LXXXVII
.
1776.
Patrick Henry, Delegate to Convention--Convention at Williamsburg--Pendleton, President--Corbin's Petition-- Wormley's Petition--Nelson's Letter urging Independence-- Braxton's Pamphlet--Delegates in Congress instructed to propose Independence--Declaration of Rights--Constitution-- Patrick Henry, Governor--George Mason--Miscellaneous.
IMMEDIATELY upon his return to Hanover, Mr. Henry was elected a delegate to the convention which was soon to meet. In a letter, dated April twentieth, Richard Henry Lee exhorted him to propose a separation from Great Britain.[644:A]
The convention met on the 6th of May, 1776, at Williamsburg. Edmund Pendleton was nominated by Richard Bland, for the post of president, and the nomination was seconded by Archibald Cary; Thomas Ludwell Lee was nominated by Thomas Johnson, of Louisa, and seconded by Bartholomew Dandridge. Mr. Lee's nomination, made by Mr. Henry's warm supporters, indicates the dissatisfaction felt toward Mr. Pendleton. The last mentioned gentleman, who was admirably qualified for the place, was elected; by what vote is not known. In his address he reminded the convention that the administration of justice, and almost all the powers of government, had now been suspended for nearly two years; and he called on them to reflect whether they could in that situation longer sustain the struggle in which they were engaged. Having suggested certain subjects for their consideration, he exhorted them to be composed, unanimous, and diligent.
John Goodrich, Jr., a suspected person, was confined, by order of the convention, to his room, in Williamsburg, under guard. The court of commissioners for Gloucester having found John Wilkie guilty of giving intelligence to the enemy, his estate was confiscated, and Sir John Peyton, Baronet, appointed commissioner to put the proceeds into the treasury. John Tayloe Corbin presented a petition setting forth that in October, 1775, a time when all America, as well in congress as in conventions, was avowing loyalty to the king, he wrote a letter to Charles Neilson, Esq., of Urbanna, who was going to Norfolk, in consequence of which he had been arrested by military warrant, and was now confined in the guard-house. The convention ordered that for the present he should be confined to his room in Williamsburg, under guard. Shortly after he was ordered to be confined to the region between the Matapony and the Pamunkey in Caroline, and give bond in the penalty of ten thousand pounds.
Ralph Wormley, in a petition, apologised for a letter which he had written to Lord Dunmore, communicating his opinions on the state of affairs, and which had excited the indignation of the country against him; declared that he had ever disclaimed parliament's right of taxation over this continent, but that it was his misfortune to differ in sentiments from the mode adopted to obtain a renunciation of that unconstitutional claim, praying to be released from confinement, submitting to the mercy of his country, and promising in future to conduct himself in conformity with the ordinances of the convention. He was ordered to confine himself to Berkley County, and that part of his father's estate which lay in Frederick, and to give a bond with a penalty of ten thousand pounds.
On the eighth Thomas Nelson, Jr., addressed a letter to a member of the convention, in which he says: "Since our conversation, yesterday, my thoughts have been sorely employed on the great question, whether independence ought, or ought not, to be immediately declared? Having weighed the arguments on both sides, I am clearly of opinion that we must, as we value the liberties of America, or even her existence, without a moment's delay, declare for independence. If my reasons appear weak, you will excuse them for the disinterestedness of the author, as I may venture to affirm that no man on this continent will sacrifice more than myself by the separation." He combats the objection that the sentiments of France and Spain should be ascertained previously; because there was reason to hope that their sentiments would be favorable, and because at any rate, in the perilous situation of the colonies, the hazard must be ventured on. France could not fail to understand that the breaking up of the English monopoly of the American trade would enure to her own benefit. The fear that France might be diverted from an alliance by an offer of partition from Great Britain, appeared chimerical, and contrary to the settled policy of the court of Louis the Sixteenth. In any case delay in declaring independence would be ruinous, as without it the soldiers, disheartened, would abandon their colors. Mr. Nelson in conclusion adds: "I can assure you, sir, that the spirit of the people, (except a very few in these lower parts, whose little blood has been sucked out by mosquitoes,) cry out for this declaration. The military in
## particular, men and officers, are outrageous on the subject; and a man
of your excellent discernment need not be told how dangerous it would be in our present circumstances to dally with the spirit, or disappoint the expectations of the bulk of the people."
About this time there was published, at Philadelphia, a pamphlet, by Carter Braxton, entitled "An Address to the Convention of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia on the subject of Government." It was looked upon as expressing the views of "the little junto from whence it proceeded," and was denounced in a letter by Richard Henry Lee as exhibiting "confusion of ideas, aristocratic pride, contradictory reasoning with evident ill design."
On the fifteenth of May Archibald Cary reported, from the committee of the whole house, a preamble and resolutions which were unanimously adopted. The preamble recited how all the efforts of the colonies to bring about a reconciliation with Great Britain, consistently with the constitutional rights of America, had produced only additional insults and new acts of oppression; and it recapitulated these acts. The first resolution instructed the Virginia delegates in congress to propose to that body "to declare the United Colonies free and independent states;" the second ordered the appointment of a committee to prepare "a declaration of rights," and a plan of government. The preamble and resolutions were drawn up by Edmund Pendleton, offered in committee of the whole house by Thomas Nelson, Jr., and supported by the eloquence of Patrick Henry.[647:A] On the next day the resolutions were read to the troops quartered at Williamsburg, under command of General Andrew Lewis; a _feu de joie_ was fired amid the acclamations of the people, and the union flag of the American States waved from the capitol, and in the evening Williamsburg was illuminated.
Patrick Henry in a letter, dated at Williamsburg, May twentieth, wrote to Richard Henry Lee: "The grand work of forming a constitution for Virginia is now before the convention, where your love of equal liberty and your skill in public counsels might so eminently serve the cause of your country. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I fear too great a bias to aristocracy prevails among the opulent. I own myself a democratic on the plan of our admired friend, J. Adams, whose pamphlet I read with great pleasure. A performance from Philadelphia is just come here, ushered in, I'm told, by a colleague of yours, B----, and greatly recommended by him. I don't like it. Is the author a whig? One or two expressions in the book make me ask. I wish to divide you and have you here to animate, by your manly eloquence, the sometimes drooping spirits of our country, and in congress to be the ornament of your native country, and the vigilant, determined foe of tyranny. To give you colleagues of kindred sentiments is my wish. I doubt you have them not at present. A confidential account of the matter to Colonel Tom,[647:B] desiring him to use it according to his discretion, might greatly serve the public and vindicate Virginia from suspicions. Vigor, animation, and all the powers of mind and body must now be summoned and collected together into one grand effort. Moderation, falsely so called, hath nearly brought on us final ruin. And to see those who have so fatally advised us still guiding, or at least sharing our public councils, alarms me."[647:C]
There was an apprehension felt by some at this time lest England, in order to prevent France from assisting the colonies, should offer to divide them with her. Patrick Henry in the same letter wrote to Richard Henry Lee: "Ere this reaches you our resolution for separating from Britain will be handed you by Colonel Nelson. Your sentiments as to the necessary progress of this great affair correspond with mine. For may not France, ignorant of the great advantages to her commerce we intend to offer, and of the permanency of that separation which is to take place, be allured by the partition you mention? To anticipate, therefore, the efforts of the enemy by sending instantly American ambassadors to France, seems to me absolutely necessary. Delay may bring on us total ruin. But is not a confederacy of our states previously necessary?" His comprehensive eye glanced from the fisheries of the north to the Mississippi and western lands. "Notwithstanding solicitations from every great land company to the west, I've refused to join them. I think a general confiscation of royal and British property should be made. The fruits would be great, and the measure in its utmost latitude warranted by the late act of parliament."
In the convention a committee of thirty-four, Archibald Cary being chairman, were appointed to prepare a declaration of rights and a plan of government. The declaration was reported and adopted on the fifteenth of June, and the plan of government on the twenty-ninth, (five days in advance of the declaration of independence of the United Colonies,)--both by a unanimous vote. The declaration of rights and constitution were draughted by George Mason.
George Mason, first of the family in Virginia, had been a member of parliament in England, and, at the breaking out of the civil wars, had sided with King Charles the First, although, like Falkland, not wholly approving his course, organized a military corps, and fought on the royal side until the overthrow at Worcester. After this catastrophe he came over to Virginia and landed in Norfolk County, (1651,) and was soon followed by his family. He removed to Acohick Creek, on the Potomac. He commanded (1676) a volunteer force against the Indians, and in the same year represented the County of Stafford in the assembly, being a colleague of the author of "T. M.'s Account of Bacon's Rebellion," who was probably Thomas Matthews, son of Samuel Matthews, some time Governor of Virginia. The County of Stafford had been carved out of Westmoreland in the preceding year, and was so called by Colonel Mason in honor of his native county of Staffordshire, England. His eldest son, George, married Mary, daughter of Gerard Fowke, of Gunston Hall, in that English county. Their eldest son, George Mason, third of the name, also lived in Acohick, and lies buried there. George Mason, fourth in descent, and eldest son of George, last named, married a daughter of Stevens Thomson, of the Middle Temple, attorney-general of Virginia in the reign of Queen Anne. He resided at Doeg Neck, on the Potomac, then in Stafford, now in Fairfax, and was[649:A] lieutenant and chief commander of Stafford. He was drowned by the upsetting of a sail-boat in the Potomac. He left two sons and a daughter. One of the sons was George, author of the constitution of Virginia, and the other, Thomson Mason, a member of the house of burgesses, an eminent lawyer, and true patriot. He was elected one of the judges of the first general court. He suffered from the gout, and one of Governor Tazewell's earliest recollections is the having seen him carried into court when laboring under that disease. His son, Stevens Thomson Mason, was a member of the Virginia Convention of 1788, and United States Senator, and his son, Armistead Thomson Mason, was also a Senator of the United States from Virginia. George Mason, fifth of the name, was born at Doeg's Neck in 1726; he married Ann Eilbeck, of Charles County, Maryland, and built a new mansion on the high banks of the Potomac, and called it Gunston Hall.
George Mason was, in 1776, fifty years of age. His complexion was swarthy, his face grave, with a radiant dark eye, his raven hair sprinkled with gray; his aspect rather foreign; nearly six feet in stature, of a large athletic frame, and active step.[649:B] His presence was commanding, his bearing lofty. He was fond of hunting and angling. He was a systematic, wealthy, and prosperous planter; indifferent to the temptations of political ambition; devoting his leisure to study. Mr. Madison pronounced him the ablest man in debate that he had ever seen.
Although a warm adherent of the house of Hanover, and at the first averse to independence, yet he assumed the boldest position and maintained it. In the year 1766 he concluded a letter to the London merchants, on the repeal of the stamp act, thus: "These are the sentiments of a man who spends most of his time in retirement, and has seldom meddled in public affairs; who enjoys a moderate but independent fortune, and, content with the blessings of a private station, equally disregards the smiles and the frowns of the great." His pamphlet entitled "Extracts from the Virginia Charters, with some Remarks upon them," was considered a masterly exposition of the rights of the colonies.[650:A]
Of Mr. Mason's sons, George, the eldest, sixth of the name, was captain in the Virginia line of the Revolution, and inherited Gunston Hall. The fourth son was the late General John Mason, of Analostan Island, near Washington City. The Honorable James Murray Mason, United States Senator for Virginia, is a son of the last named.[650:B]
The preamble to the constitution, containing a recital of wrongs, was from the pen of Mr. Jefferson, who was at that time attending the session of congress at Philadelphia.[650:C] George Mason, the author of the first written constitution of a free commonwealth ever framed, was pre-eminent in an age[650:D] of great men for his extensive information, enlarged views, profound wisdom, and the pure simplicity of his republican principles.[650:E] As a speaker he was devoid of rhetorical grace, but earnest and impressive.
Immediately upon the adoption of the constitution, the salary of the governor was fixed at one thousand pounds per annum, and Patrick Henry, Jr., was elected the first republican Governor of Virginia, he receiving sixty votes, and Thomas Nelson, Sr., forty-five.
Mr. Henry received an address from the two regiments which he had recently commanded, congratulating him upon his "unsolicited promotion to the highest honors a grateful people can bestow," and they declared, as they had been once happy under his military command, they hoped for more extensive blessings from his civil administration.
The newly-appointed governor closed his reply by saying: "I trust the day will come when I shall make one of those that will hail you among the triumphant deliverers of America." The first council appointed under the new constitution consisted of John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe, John Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Thomas Nelson, Sr., and Charles Carter, of Shirley. Mr. Nelson declining the appointment on account of infirm old age, his place was supplied by Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon. It is a remarkable instance of the vicissitudes of fortune, that "a certain Patrick Henry, Jr.," against whom Governor Dunmore had so lately fulminated his angry proclamation, now came to be the occupant of the palace at Williamsburg as governor and commander-in-chief. Although the leaders of the conservative party looked at the contest with Great Britain in a very different light from that in which it was viewed by the movement and popular party, and although the animating motives of the two were so different, yet in the face of imminent common danger they conspired with extraordinary unanimity in the common cause. So the mainmast of a ship of the line, though composed of several pieces banded together, is stronger than if made of a single spar.[651:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[644:A] Convention of '76, p. 8, in note.
[647:A] These facts were stated by Edmund Randolph in his address at the funeral of Pendleton. (_Grigsby's Convention of '76_, p. 203.)
[647:B] Thomas Nelson, Jr.
[647:C] _S. Lit. Messenger_, 1842, p. 260.
[649:A] 1719.
[649:B] His portrait is preserved, and a copy of it is in the hall of the Historical Society in Richmond.
[650:A] Convention of '76, p. 157.
[650:B] Ibid., 156, in note.
[650:C] Journal of Convention of 1776; Wirt's Henry, 195; Grigsby's Convention of '76, p. 19.
[650:D] Patrick Henry in a letter to Richard Henry Lee, dated December 18th, 1777, quoted in Grigsby's Convention of 1776, p. 142, in note, states that there was opposition; but the vote appears unanimous on the journal. The persons who opposed it were known, but were so few they did not think fit to divide the house, or contradict the general voice. Ibid., 161, in note. The same persons subsequently opposed the confederation.
[650:E] His statue is to stand on the monument in Richmond.
[651:A] Extract from Orderly Book:--
"WILLIAMSBURG, May, 14th, 1776.
"Parole--Liberty.
"The many applications for furloughs make it necessary for Brigadier-General Lewis to mention in orders as improper in our critical situation, and hopes that no request of this kind for the future, until circumstances will admit, will be made.
"Officer for day to-morrow, Lieutenant-Colonel McClenahan. Officers for guard, Lieutenant Garland, Ensign Barksdale. For guard, 8 p. 1 s. 1 c."
"WILLIAMSBURG, May 17th, 1776.
"Parole--Convention.
"Let it not be forgot that this day is set apart for humiliation, fasting, and prayer: the troops to attend divine service."
## CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
1776.
Richard Henry Lee moves a Resolution for a Separation--Seconded by John Adams--Declaration of Independence--Jefferson--General Orders--Thomas Nelson, Jr., and the Nelsons--Benjamin Harrison, Jr., and the Harrisons--George Wythe.
ON the 7th day of June, 1776, a resolution in favor of a total and immediate separation from Great Britain was moved in congress by Richard Henry Lee, and seconded by John Adams. On the twenty-eighth a committee was appointed to prepare a declaration of independence, the members being Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert R. Livingston. Richard Henry Lee being compelled, by the illness of Mrs. Lee, to leave congress on the day of the appointment of the committee, and to return to Virginia, his place was filled by Roger Sherman. The declaration, adopted on the 4th day of July, 1776, was composed, in committee, mainly by Mr. Jefferson, but much modified by congress. The Virginia delegates who subscribed it were George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Jr., of Berkley, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Carter Braxton.[652:A]
Thomas Nelson, Jr., eldest son of the Honorable William Nelson, some time president of the council of Virginia, was born at York, in December, 1738. His mother was of the family of Burwell. After having been under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Yates, of Gloucester, he was sent at the age of fifteen to England, where he remained seven years, for the completion of his education. He enjoyed the superintending care of Dr. Porteus,[653:A] and was at the school of Dr. Newcome, at Hackney, at Eton in 1754, and at Cambridge. While on his voyage returning to Virginia he was elected (1774) a member of the house of burgesses, being then just twenty-one years of age.[653:B] He was a member of the conventions of 1774 and 1775, and displayed extraordinary boldness in opposing the British tyranny. He was afterwards appointed colonel of a Virginia regiment. In 1775 and 1776 he was a member of Congress. There is a fine portrait of him still preserved, taken, it is said, while he was a student at Eton, (by an artist named Chamberlin, London, 1754,) the only portrait of him for which he ever sat.[653:C]
The first of the Nelsons of Virginia was Thomas, son of Hugh and Sarah Nelson, of Penrith, Cumberland County, England. This Thomas Nelson was born in February, 1677, and died in October, 1745, aged sixty-eight. He married, first, a Miss Reid, secondly, a widow Tucker. Coming from a border county, he was styled "Scotch Tom." He was an importing merchant. Yorktown was in his day, and for a long time, the chief sea-port town of Virginia. Of his two sons, Thomas being long secretary of the council, was known as Secretary Nelson. Three of his sons were officers in the army of the Revolution.
William, the other son of the first Thomas Nelson, imported goods not only for Virginia, but at times for Baltimore, and even Philadelphia. Negroes were a principal subject of importation; merchants and planters of chief note, some of them leading men in the colony, and patrons of the church, engaged in it; and no odium appears to have been attached to a business in which British capital was so largely interested, which was so constantly encouraged and protected by the British government, and which had been so long an established feature of the colonial system, and so generally concurred in. John Newton, while personally engaged in the slave-trade on board of a Guinea ship, appears to have entertained at the time no scruples whatever on the subject of his employment. It is no matter of surprise that a Virginia consignee of slaves should have received them with a like indifference.
William Nelson married a Miss Burwell, a granddaughter of King Carter. Having been long president of the council, and at one time acting governor, he came to be known by the title of President Nelson. He died in November, 1772, aged sixty-one, leaving an ample estate. His sons were Thomas, Hugh, William, Nathaniel, and Robert. A daughter, Betsy, married, in 1769, Captain Thompson, of his majesty's ship Ripon, which brought over Lord Botetourt. The portion descending to Thomas, oldest son of President Nelson, and who had been associated in business with him, was estimated at forty thousand pounds.
Benjamin Harrison, Jr., of Berkley, was descended from ancestors who were among the early settlers of Virginia. Hermon Harrison came to Virginia in the second supply, as it was called. One of the name was governor of Bermuda. John Harrison was governor of Virginia in 1623. The common ancestor of the Harrisons of Berkley and of Brandon, was Benjamin Harrison, of Surrey. He lies buried in the yard of an old chapel near Cabin Point, in that county.[654:A]
It was long believed that the Harrisons of Virginia were lineally descended from Colonel John Harrison, the regicide and friend of Cromwell, and one of the noblest spirits in a heroic age. This tradition, however, appears to be erroneous. The first of the family in Virginia, of whom we have any particular record, was the Honorable Benjamin Harrison, of Surrey, who was born in that county in 1645, during the civil war in England. It is certain that he could not have been a son of Colonel Harrison, the regicide. He may have been a collateral relation.
The first Benjamin Harrison (of Surrey) had three sons, of whom Benjamin, the eldest, settled at Berkley. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Louis Burwell, of Gloucester; was a lawyer, and speaker of the house of burgesses. He died in April, 1710, aged thirty-seven, leaving an only son, Benjamin, and an only daughter, Elizabeth.
Benjamin Harrison, Jr., of Berkley, was educated at William and Mary; married a daughter of Robert Carter, of Corotoman;[655:A] and was for many years a burgess for his native county, Charles City. In 1764 he was one of the committee chosen to prepare an address to the king, a memorial to the lords, and a remonstrance to the commons, in opposition to the stamp act. Like Pendleton, Bland, and others, he opposed Henry's resolutions of the following year. He was a member of the committee of correspondence, and of all the conventions held before the organization of the republican government. He opposed Henry's resolutions for putting the colony in a posture of defence, but was appointed one of the committee chosen to carry them into effect. He was elected, in 1774, a delegate to the first congress, of which his brother-in-law, Peyton Randolph, (who married Elizabeth Harrison,) was president. In February, 1776, he remarked in that body: "We have hobbled on under a fatal attachment to Great Britain. I felt it as much as any man, but I feel a stronger for my country." As chairman of the committee of the whole house, Mr. Harrison, on the 10th of June, 1776, introduced the resolution declaring the independence of the colonies, and on the fourth day of July he reported the Declaration of Independence, of which he was a signer. He was six feet in stature, corpulent, and of a florid complexion. He was practical, energetic, frank, epicurean, gouty, good-humored, fearless, and patriotic.[656:A]
The sons of the first Benjamin Harrison, of Berkley, were Benjamin, signer of the Declaration; Charles, a general of the Revolution; Nathaniel, Henry, Collier, and Carter H. From the last-mentioned are descended the Harrisons of Cumberland. Benjamin Harrison, Jr., the signer, married a Miss Bassett. Their children were Benjamin, Carter, Bassett, member of congress, and William Henry, President of the United States. One daughter married a Mr. Richardson, a second married first William Randolph, of Wilton, and then Captain Richard Singleton; a third married David Copeland, and a fourth married John Minge, of Weyanoke, afterwards of Sandy Point. So far the Berkley branch of the Harrisons.
The second son of Benjamin Harrison, of Surrey, was Nathaniel. His eldest son was of the same name, and his only son was Honorable Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon, of the council at the same time with his relative and namesake of Berkley at the commencement of the Revolution. This Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon, was father of the late George Harrison, and of William B. Harrison, of Brandon.
George Wythe was born in 1726, in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, on the shore of the Chesapeake. From his maternal grandfather, Keith, a Quaker, he inherited a taste for letters. His ancestor, Thomas Wythe, was burgess for that county in 1718. The father of George was a prudent farmer of estimable character.[656:B] George, the second son, losing his father at an early age, enjoyed but limited advantages of school education, and his early tuition was principally directed by his mother; and it is related that he acquired a knowledge of the Latin classics from her instructions.[656:C] Mr. Jefferson mentions that while young Wythe was studying the Greek Testament, his mother held an English one to aid him in the translation. It has been since inferred, from an examination of his manuscripts, that this last was the only kind of assistance that he received from her in the Latin and Greek. He studied law under his uncle, John Lewis, of Prince George; but, upon the death of his elder brother and his mother, becoming master of a competent fortune, he fell into habits of idleness and dissipation. Like Swift, however, he was not one who, having wasted part of his life in indolence, was willing to throw away the remainder in despair; and in the society of Governor Fauquier and Professor Small he imbibed their love of learning; and at the age of thirty applied himself unremittedly to study. He became, eventually, distinguished by his attainments in classical literature; and he pursued other studies with a like success. But he often deplored the loss of so many early golden years. His learning, judgment, and industry soon raised him to eminence at the bar. A member of the house of burgesses as early as 1758, he continued in it until the Revolution. At its dawn Mr. Wythe, in common with Thomas Jefferson and Richard Bland, assumed the ground that the crown was the only connecting link between the colonies and the mother country. In 1764 Mr. Wythe was a member of a committee of the house of burgesses appointed to prepare a petition to the king, a memorial to the lords, and a remonstrance to the commons, on the subject of the stamp act. He prepared the remonstrance in conformity with his radical principles; but it was greatly modified by the assembly. In May, 1765, he, in common with Nicholas, Pendleton, Randolph, and Bland, opposed Henry's resolutions as premature. Mr. Wythe likewise voted (March, 1775,) against Henry's resolutions for putting the colony in a posture of defence; but he was in favor of the scheme of Colonel Nicholas for raising a large regular force. Early in 1775 Mr. Wythe joined a corps of volunteers as a private soldier; in August he was elected a member of congress. He was returned by the City of Williamsburg to the convention of that year; but being in attendance on congress his place was filled by Joseph Prentis. Mr. Wythe signed the Declaration of Independence, which he had strenuously supported in debate.[657:A] Mr. Wythe married first a Miss Lewis, and secondly a Miss Taliaferro.[658:A] He died childless. He is described as being distinguished for integrity, patriotism, and disinterestedness; temperance and regular habits gave him good health; engaging and modest manners endeared him to every one; his bow was one of most expressive courtesy. His elocution was easy, his language chaste, his arrangement lucid; his frequent classic quotations, smacking a little of pedantry; his style, which aimed at the antique, was deficient in elegance and rhythm. Learned, urbane, logical, he was not quick and ready, but solid and profound. He was of middle size, well-formed, his forehead ample, nose aquiline, eye dark gray, expression manly and engaging. His religious opinions were supposed to be skeptical; but the closing scene of his life is said to have been that of a sincere professor of the Christian faith.
FOOTNOTES:
[652:A] Extracts from Orderly Book:--
"SPRING FIELD, July 17th, 1776.
"General Lewis hopes that the reports of some of the officers gaming to excess is without foundation: he begs that the field-officers will make diligent enquiry into it, and if true, to arrest such officers, that a total stop may be put to so infamous practices.
"Officer for the day LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WEEDON."
"SPRING FIELD, July 24th, 1776.
"The Declaration of Independency is to be proclaimed to-morrow in the City of Williamsburg, by order of the council, when all the troops off duty are to attend."
"WILLIAMSBURG, July 26th, 1776.
"Parole--Stephen.
"A fatigue of one captain, two subalterns, two sergeants, and sixty rank and file, to be warned from the College Camp, to carry on the work intended to be thrown up on the road to Jamestown.
"Colonel Buckner will please to order a fatigue proportioned to his number of men, to work on the road from Burwell's Ferry to Williamsburg, at such a place as he shall judge proper to fortify. One company of the second regiment to take post to-morrow at Mr. Burwell's, to erect a work at the mouth of King's Creek. The rest of the second regiment to march to-morrow to Mr. Digges's, to fortify there."
[653:A] He afterwards sent, by Parson Bracken, a volume of his sermons, a present to young Nelson. The parson liked them so well that he preached them all before he delivered the book.
[653:B] Old Churches, of Va., i. 207.
[653:C] His statue is to stand on the monument in Richmond.
[654:A] The following is his epitaph:--
"Here lyeth the body of the HON. BENJAMIN HARRISON, ESQ., who did justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God; was always loyal to his prince, and a great benefactor to his country. He was born in this parish the 20th day of September, 1645, and departed this life the 30th day of January, 1712-13."
[655:A] Two daughters of this union were killed at Berkley by the same flash of lightning: a third married a Randolph, of Wilton.
[656:A] Convention of 1776, p. 96; Allen's Biog. Dictionary.
[656:B] Grigsby's Convention of 1776, p. 125.
[656:C] Wirt's Patrick Henry, 65.
[657:A] Convention of '76, p. 122. On his return to Virginia toward the close of the session of the convention then sitting, he was appointed one of a committee to prepare devices for a seal of the commonwealth.
[658:A] Pronounced "Tolliver," originally an Italian name, Tagliaferro.
##