The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-01-27
Patrick Henry vs. intolerance.

1 = Patrick Henry %. intolerance
+ Soon after Patrick Henry's noted case
| of Tobacco and Preserves. as it was
called, he heard of case of oppression
| for conscience sake. The church of
England having been established by law
in Virginia, became, as such establish
ments are wont to do, exceedingly intol-
Grant towards other seets. In the pros
ecution Of this system of conversion, three
Baptist elergymen had been indicted at
Fredericksburg for preaching the gospel
ofthe Son of God contrary to the statute.
Henry, hearing of this, rode some fifty
miles to volunteer his services in defense
of the oppressed. He entered the court,
being unknown to all present save the
bench and the bar, while the indictment
was being read by the clerk. He sat
within the bar, until the reading was
finished and the kings attorney had con-
cluded some remarks in support of the
paper, and without more ceremony pro-
ceeded with the following speech:
"May it please your worships, think
| heard read by the prosecutor, as l en-
tered the house. the paper l now hold in
my hand If | have rightly understood,
the kings attorney of the colony has
framed an Indictment for the purpose of
arraigning and furnishing by imprison-
ment, three inofensiye persons before the
bar of this court, for a crime of great
magnitude, as disturbers of the peace
May it please the court, what did l hear
read? Did l hear distinctly, or was it
mistake of my own? Did | hear an
expression as of crime that these men
whom your worships are about to try. for
misdemeanor are charged with--what ?''
and continuing in low, solemn, heavy
voice, preaching the gospel of the Son
of God p - ~
Pausing amid the most profound silence
and breathless astonishment, he slowly
waved the paper three times around his
head, when lifting his hands and eyes to
heaven, with peculiar and expressive
energy, he exclaimed /:
aGreat God !',s The exclamation,
the burst of feeling from the audience,
were all overpowering. Mr.. H. resumed
:" May it please your worships, in day
| like this, when truth is about to claim
It's natural and inalienable rights when
the yoke of oppression that has reached
the wilderness of America, and the un-
natural alliance of ecclesiastical and civil
power are about to be discovered, at such
period, when liberty of conscience is
about to break from her slumberings, am
| to inquire into the reason of such charges
as I find exhibited here to-day in this in
dictment ?''
Another fearful pause, while the speaker
alternately cast his sharp, piercing eyes
on the court and the prisoners, and re-
sumed ~
elf am not now deceived, according
to the account of this paper now hold
in my hand, these men are accused OF
preaching the gospel of the Son of God
Great God ~ ~
Another long pause while he waved
the Indictment around his head-while a
deeper impression was made ON the audi
ence. Resuming his speech
"May it please your worships, there are
periods in the history of men, when cor
ruption and depravity have so long debas-
ed the human character, that man sinks
under the weight of the oppressor's hand,
becomes his servile, abject slave-he licks
the hand that smites him, he bows in pas
sive obedience to the mandates of the
despot and in this state of servility re-
ceives his fetters of perpetual bondage
But, may it please your worships, such a
day has passed away.
"From the period when our fathers left
the land of their nativity for settlement
in the American wilds, for liberty, for
civil and religious liberty, for liberty of
conscience, and to worship their Creator
according to their own conception ofheav-
len' s revealed will, from the moment they
placed their feet upon the American con-
tinent, and in the deeply imbedded. forest
sought an asylum from tyranny and per
secuion-from that moment despotism
waserushed : the fetters of darkness were
broken, and the heavens decreed that man
should be free to worship God according
to the Bible ftr5
"Were it not for this, in vain were all
this suffering and bloodshed to sabju-
gate this new world, if we, their offspring
must be. oppressed and prosecuted. But
may it please your worships, permit mt
1 to inquire once more, for what are thess
mon about to be tried? This paper say
for preaching the Gospel of the Savioro
! Adams fallen race. i - p .gif1
"Wnat laws have they violated ?''
i While the third time in slow, dignif
ed manner, he lifted bis eyes to- heaven
and waved the Indictment around hi
4 head, the court and the audience wer'
wrought up to the most intense pitch o
excitement. The face of the prosecu
ting attorney was pailid and ghastly, ant
he appeared unconscious that his whof
frame was agitated with alarm-whil'
the Judge, in tremuIous voice. put al
T end TO the scene, now become intensel,
painful, by the authoritative declaration
:. Sheriff, discharge those men "
T" Great Is Truth, ana 1t WIN Prevail" ]"
; Truth may be despised-m be op
: slposed but it contains an isnperishabi
: germ of greatness and of empire. Tn
fal1s