liament, by playing before them the image of a revenue to be raised in this country. Then was the theory laid down in Mr. Grenville's act, that it was just and necessary to raise a revenue in America, and the attempt to carry this system into practice by the stamp duty bill, sounded an alarm that awoke all the colonies. But to Mr. Lee the consequences were evident, from the first glimmering of that new light system of taxation, which was to be independent of the consent of those from whom the taxes were to be levied. Then every feeling of his mind merged in the love of his country, and this he exhibited in his domestic arrangements, in his private conversation, in his familiar correspondence and in his public conduct. Arguments from reason, justice, and the spirit of the British constitution, were sufficient to overturn the assumption in the declaratory act, and these Mr. Lee furnished to his friends in London and in the colonies, one month after the passage of that odious

measure.

Would any rational being risk his life, and renounce his liberty, to obtain the unenviable state of an oppressed slave? Yet such would be the purchase and such the price paid by the first settlers in America, if the principle of Mr. Grenville's act has a foundation in reason. Was it just to repay those who, by many sacrifices and great dangers, had enlarged the territory and increased the wealth of Britain, by rendering their property insecure, putting it all or in part into the hands of men, over whom they had no con

trol and by depriving them of their most valuable birth-right? The right to be governed by laws made by their representatives, and the consequent illegality of taxation without consent, are essential principles of the British constitution; is it not then matter of wonder that such a declaratory act could be made by men professing to maintain such principles? The conclusion of Mr. Lee's letter, written on the thirty-first of May, 1764, contains a sentence which may serve to show his thorough acquaintance with the spirit of his fellow countrymen, and to fix the point to which all his patriotic exertions were to tend. "Possibly this step (speaking of the declaratory act) though intended to oppress and keep us low, in order to secure our dependance, may be subversive of this end. Poverty and oppression, among those whose minds are filled with ideas of British liberty, may introduce a virtuous industry, with a train of generous and manly sentiments, which, when in future they become supported by numbers, may produce a fatal resentment of parental care converted into tyrannical usurpation. I hope you will pardon so much on this subject; my mind has been warmed and I hardly know when to stop."

Even absolute princes seldom hazard the assertion of a bare abstract principle, offensive to their slaves; hence it would have been blindness not to perceive, that the declaratory act of the British parliament would only present an alternative of evils, humiliation or resistance. But the address to the king, the memorial

VOL. IX.-D

and the remonstrance to both houses of parliament, proclaimed to the British ministry the feelings of the colony of Virginia. The whole subject was brought before the house of burgesses by Richard Henry Lee, and he was on the committee to prepare these documents; for the two first his country is indebted to his pen, as the manuscripts in possession of his family prove.

Early in the session of 1765, Patrick Henry proposed his celebrated resolutions against the stamp act, before the arrival of Mr. Lee at the seat of government. He came however, in time to support them in in the discussion; and it was by their united exertions that these resolutions were carried, in opposition to the timidity of some and the resistance of others, whom corruption or perverted judgment blinded to their country's welfare.

The boldness, and enterprising spirit of these great men were equal, their application to business and indefatigable industry were not (as they too often are) the handmaids of ambition, or the result of their lust of power with equal lustre, these twin brothers of liberty shone amid the darkness of danger, and the horrors of war, cheering and guiding their country through seas of difficulty and peril, to freedom and to glory. Men knew not which most to admire in the debate, the overwhelming might of the one, or the resistless persuasion of the other; nor would it be possible now to fix with precision the amount of the

debt of gratitude, which is due to them, not only from their native state but from the whole union.

In the arduous task which Mr. Lee proposed to himself, of breaking down that wall of proud and perfect separation, which in Virginia had hitherto divided the patricians from the people, and which seemed as lofty and as strong, as that which in the Roman republic prevented these classes from intermarrying, and the latter from aspiring to situations for which in all things, save birth, they might be qualified, means as diversified as the species of opposition were necessary. None more effectual offered, than to unite his fellow citizens in one association, bound together by their hatred of the chain which tyrannical power had cast around them. This he performed; and men of all parties in Westmoreland county united to oppose the stamp act, binding themselves to each other, to God, and their country, to resist that abject and detestable slavery, to reduce them into which attempts foreign and domestic were daily made. To shew what patriotism will dare, when opposed to arbitrary power, the third article of this, the first formed association in the colony, is recorded. "As the stamp act does absolutely direct the property of the people to be taken from them, without their consent expressed by their representatives, and as in many cases it deprives the British American subject of his right to be tried by jury, we do determine, at every hazard, and paying no regard to death, to exert every faculty to prevent the execu

tion of the stamp act, in every instance, within the colony."

But their opposition was not confined to words, for, soon after the formation of this society, Mr. Lee having heard that one of his fellow citizens was sufficiently abandoned in principle to accept an office under such an act, so offensive to the people, so destructive of their rights, summoned the association, and leading them to the residence of the collector, compelled him to give up the stamped paper in his possession, to destroy his commission, and to swear that thenceforth he would not be instrumental in the distribution of stamps.

Such active and persevering resistance was thus excited against the arbitrary measure, that it was believed there was then but one person who would dare to show his attachment to the British government by the use of stamped paper. He was a man of wealth and influence. The temptation to violate the rules of the association of resistance was strong, as the power was ready to support and reward those who would dare to transgress, and one instance of unpunished violation would be of dangerous tendency. To prevent that, which if done, could not have been remedied, Mr. Lee (under the signature of a Virginia planter) addressed the good people of the colony, holding up to the guilty the terrors of a people's vengeance, and pointing out to the citizens in language, clear and simple as truth, the danger of permitting such an example. This address shows