The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1856-12-04
ruE DAILY GAZETTE.
,erFERsON's ACCOUNT OF PAT
RICK HENRY

" ,eFFERSON'S ACCOUNT OF PAT
RICK HENRY.
Patrick Henry was originally bar,
Il kaeper lie was married very young
\ and going into some business, on his
4 ngn account, was bankrupt before the
j ysor was out. When | was aboutthe
4 sge of fifteen | left the school here, to
a 90 to the college at Williamsburg |
/ Stopped few days at a friends in the
y county of Louisa. There | first saw
Y and became acquainted with Patrick
q Henry. Having spent the Christmas
4 HOLIDAYS there, / proceeded to VII.
u Iansburg. Some question arose
& about my admission, as my Prepara-
i tory studies had not been pursued at
i the school connected with that lnstl
4 tntion. This delayed my admission
i about a fortnight, at which time Hen.
j ~ appeared at williamsburg, and ap
8 plied or license to practice law, hav
4 ipp commenced the study OF it at or
q subsequently to the time OF my meet
I Inc him in Louisa. There were four
4 essminers-Wythe, Pendleton, Pey-
4 ton Randolph and John Randolph
I Wythl ami Pendleton at once rejected
4 hisapplication. The tw Randolphs,
i By his importantly, were prevailed
4 upon to Sign the license and having
q obtained their signatures, he applied
i again to Pendleton, and after much
4 entreaty and many promises OF future
i study, succeeded in obtaining his
n He then turned out for practicing
4 LAWYER. The first case which brought
y him into notice was a contested eiec.
Il ton, In which he appeared as counsel
II before the committee Of the House Of
4 Bargesaes. His second was the Par
sons cause, already known. These
! aud similfr efforts soon obtained for
him so much reputation, that he was
elected member of TIE Legislature.
lie was as well suited 10 the times as
any man ever was, and il is not now
easy to say what we should have done
without Patrick Henry. He vas far
before all in maintaining the spirit Of
the Revolution. His influence was
most extensive with the members
from the upper counties, and his bold,
uess and their votes oveTawed and
controlled the more cool or more tim.
il aristocratic gentlemen OF the lower
part of the State. His eloquence was
peculiar. ifindeed il should be called
eloquence, tor it was impres siye and
sublime beyond what can be imagin-
ID Although it was difficult, when
he had spoken. 10 tell what he had
said, yet, while he was speaking, it al
ways seemed directly to the point
When he had spoken in opposition to
my opinion--had produced great
effect, and | myself been highly de.
lighted and moved, have asked my
self when he ceased What the
devil has he saidi" | could never an
swer the inquiry. His person was OF
lull size, and his manner and voice
free and manly. His utterance nei
ther very fast nor very slow. His
speeches very short--trom q quarter
q half an hour, His pronuncia.
ton was vulgar and vicious, but it
was forgotten while he was speaking,
lie was & man Of very little knowl-
edge OF any sort; he read nothing and
had no books. Returning ose No
yember from Albemarle court, he bor-
:owed of me Hums's Essays in two
volumes, saying he should have leis.
ure in the winter for reading, In the
Spring he returned them, and declar-
ed he had not been able to 60 further
than twenty or thirty pages in the
first volume. He wrote almost moth
ing--he could not write. The reso,
lutons Of rs, which havebaen ascrib-
ed 10 him. have by many supposed TO
have been written by Mr.. johnson,
Who acted us his second on that oc-
cssion; but ii they were written by
Henry himself, they are not such as
% prove any power Of composition
Neither in politics nor in his protes
s.on was he man VI business; he
Was man Tor debate only, His bio,
grapher says that he read PIutarch
every year. ] doubt whether he ever
read volume OF it in his lie. His
temper was excellent, ani h. goner-
ally observed decorum in debate On
one or two occasions | have seen him
angry and his anger was terrible
fhpSa ~ ~ rr;tpoccol - ,rara not lio
posed to rouse it again. In his opin-
ion he was yielding and practicable
and not disposed to differ from his
friends. In private conversation he
was 7greeable and iacetious, and, while
IN enteel society, appeared TO under.
stan all the decencies and proprieties
o'it; but, in his heart he preferred
low society, and sought it as often rs
possible. He would hunt in the pine
woods Of Fluvanna, with ov erseers,
and people of that description, living
IN camp for fortnight at a time
without change Ornament. | have
often been astonished at his command
ol proper language how he attained
knowledge OF it never could lind
out, as he read so little and conversed
little with educated men, After all,
II must be allowed that he was our
Leader in the measures Of the Revolu-
uon, in Virginia. In that respect
more was due to him than any other
person. II we had not had him we
should probably have got on pretty
we'll, as you did, by a number Of men
Of nearly equal talents, but he left Us
all lar behind. His biographer sent
The sheets Of his work to me as they
were printed, and at the end asked for
my opinion. told him it would be
question hereafter, whether his work
should be placed on the shelf of history