leges, to which they are entitled by the constitution and laws, there must have been some great and palpable injury offered by them to the society of which they are a part. But did this happen in the case of the first settlers of America? or did they, by any treasonable combination against, or by any violation offered to, the laws of their country, make it proper, in their country, to deprive them of their birth right? It remains, therefore, that we cannot be deprived of English liberty, though it may appear expedient that we should be despoiled of it. But after all, my dear friend, the ways of Heaven are inscrutable; and frequently, the most unlooked-for events have arisen from seemingly the most inadequate causes. Possibly this step of the mother country, though intended to oppress and keep us low, in order to secure our dependence, 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 being converted into tyrannical usurpation. I hope you will pardon so much on this subject. My mind has been warmed, and I hardly know where to stop," &c.

Mr. Lee was again elected in the spring of 1764, to the House of Burgesses; and being determined to make an effort to induce the house to express its opinion of the declaratory act, by some solemn and efficient measure, he brought forward the subject soon after the meeting of the Assembly. The passage of the act had been made known to the House of Burgesses, by the colonial agent, Mr. Arthur Lee, a brother of R. H. Lee. After great deliberation, a special committee was appointed to draught an address to the king, a memorial to the House of Lords, and a remonstrance to the House of Commons. Mr. Lee was placed on this committee, and selected to prepare the address to the king, and the memorial to the lords; and these are the first public productions from his pen, so far as it can be ascertained. The author has

the original manuscripts of these documents, with which the journals of the House of Burgesses correspond, as may be seen from the journals of the House of Burgesses, November, 1764, p. 38, &c. They contain the genuine principles of the revolution, and abound in the firm and eloquent sentiments of freemen. The successful vindication of these principles has rendered our revolutionary struggle glorious. They form the basis of our free institutions, and adorn their superstructure.

In one who so clearly perceived the gross fallacy of the principle of the declaratory act, and the consequences which would result from it in practice, it was not strange, that it should have produced a feeling of deep concern, mixed with indignation, against those who had devised a scheme so adverse to the rights, and so threatening to the prosperity of his country. Mr. Lee constantly and vehemently denounced it; and expressed on all public occasions the opinion, that the colonies were no longer free. So strongly was this opinion impressed upon his mind, and so certainly did he foresee the practical injury which was to be attempted, that he declared his fellow-citizens to be in a state of more than "Egyptian bondage"-and maintained that liberty, British liberty, could not co-exist with the assertion of a principle, contrary to the constitution. He was too well versed in the nature and forms of other governments, and too well acquainted with the actual condition of their inhabitants, to compare with them the real situation of the colonies, and the political privileges yet possessed by them. But this comparative freedom did not satisfy him, whose mind was stored with historic recollections of the exertions of his English ancestors, for what they termed their "birth-rights," and animated with the love of liberty.

The declaratory act of 1764, was followed by the practical application of the principle it asserted, and the famous stamp act, passed by the British Parliament in the winter session of 1765, was to take effect at the beginning of the following November. Mr. Lee considered this

act "a fatal blow" to the liberty of America; but his opinions and sentiments will be best illustrated by the following letters written about that period.

CHANTILLY, Va.

JULY 4, 1765.

"MY DEAREST SIR-By Captain Talman, I was favoured with your obliging letter of April last, before the receipt of which, I had been informed of the fatal blow given to American liberty, by the ever to be detested stamp act. I am greatly obliged to you, my best friend, for your design of helping me to that collection;* but it is very well that the appointment has passed me, since, by the unanimous suffrage of his countrymen ...... is regarded as an execrable monster, who with parricidal heart and hands, hath concern in the ruin of his native country. The light in which our Assembly viewed that act, may be collected from their resolves at the last meeting, which occasioned their dissolution. I would have sent you a copy, had I not been persuaded that some of your numerous friends had done so already.

"Have you read a pamphlet said to be written by George Grenville, in which he has, in vain, laboured to prove the legislative right of Britain to tax America? If no better arguments can be produced in support of the measures he contends for, it proves the intrinsic vileness of his scheme; and shows indeed, that systems calculated to destroy public liberty, can be maintained only by idle sophistry and a poor affectation of wit. It is most clear, that such doctrines are as far remote from true policy as they are apparently the production of a futile dealer in expedients, who understands not to draw the necessary supplies of government from such sources only

* Mr. Lee, by the persuasion of some of his friends, had been induced, on the first mention of the stamp act, to apply for a collector's office. He, however, quickly discerned the design and principle of the act, and stopped the application. See his vindication presently.

as are consistent with the end of all government, the safety, ease, and happiness of the people.

"Yours affectionately,

"RICHARD HENRY LEE."

The same day on which the above letter was written, Mr. Lee wrote to his brother Mr. Arthur Lee, then in London, who had consulted him on the propriety of making that city his permanent residence. He strongly dissuades his brother from such a step, and urges the claims which his native land had to all its sons, particularly to such as had acquired a knowledge of arts and science. In this letter, written so early in Mr. Lee's political life, may be seen his estimation of the importance of knowledge and learning, to the true and lasting welfare of a nation. These enlightened sentiments he never ceased to enforce, not only by all the power of his eloquence, but also by his example, throughout a useful and bright career. After writing on matters of private concern, he thus introduces the subject which seemed ever near his heart, the cause of his country:

Every man in America hath much reason to lament with you, the loss of American liberty. As bad indeed as Egyptian bondage, is now become the fate of every inhabitant of America, by the mother country being converted into an arbitrary, cruel, and oppressive stepdame. But this most unjust proceeding (the stamp act) against us, should instruct every American, that as liberty can never be supported without arts and learning, a diligent attention to those should be the ruling object, with every thinking man. But then, my brother, when these, or either of these are acquired, should not their possessor import them into his native country; which, if forsaken by the best of her sons, must fall into barbarous ignorance, and of course, become a fit subject for tyrannical natures to impose arbitrary and injurious acts upon. Should America make the same progress in the arts and sciences, as she infallibly must do in numbers of people, despotism will quickly learn, that her friend

ship is on no other terms to be obtained than by a free intercourse and equal participation of good offices, liberty and free constitution of government.

America, then, has a parent's claim to her descendants, and a right to insist that they shall not fix in any place, where, by so doing, they may add strength to cruel and tyrannical oppression.

I am, my dear brother, ever your affectionate, faithful friend,

RICHARD HENRY LEE.

Mr. Lee did not confine his exertions in opposition to the stamp act to letters to distant correspondents; but, very soon after it became a law, he determined to exert all his powers in open and direct attempts to defeat its operations in Virginia. In a paper that follows, will be seen the bold and efficient means he took to effect this object. When we reflect upon the state of the laws of the colony at this period, we cannot but admire the adventurous spirit manifested by this ardent patriot. The laws were still in the hands of the officers of the crown, and Mr. Lee exposed himself to their pains and penalties. But no considerations of personal safety or convenience appear to have had any weight with him, when his country claimed his services. The same intrepid spirit, which, in 1765, led him to place himself in the front of opposition, actuated him throughout the momentous struggle that followed. In the course of this Memoir, the reader will remark, that his firmness and intrepidity never forsook him. In the gloomiest period of the revolution, when nearly all hearts began to faint, and the boldest asserters of freedom to despond, Mr. Lee exhibited the same firm and unshaken fortitude in council, which distinguished his friend and fellow citizen, Washington, in the field.

Among the various methods which Mr. Lee took to prevent the operations of the stamp act, the most promiment was to form an association for the purpose of deterring all persons from accepting the office of vender of

VOL. I.-E