Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-04-11
ANECDoTE OF PATRICK HENRY.

preaching luc OOSpcl VI Iuc DOu VI OOus
contrary to the statute in that case prOvid
ed, and therefore disturbers of the peace
The clerk was reading the indictment in ;
, slow and formal manner, and he pronounced
the crime with emphasis, For preaching
the Gospel of the Son of God" when ;
plainly dressed man dismounted from hi,
horse, entered the courthouse, and took hi
scat within the bar. lie was known to the
court and lawyers, but stranger to the
mass of spectators who had gathered on the
occasion. This was Patrick Henry, who
on hearing of this prosecution, had rode
some fifty or sixty mites from his residence
in Hanover county, to volunteer his services
in the defence of the prisoners. He elisten-
ed to the further reading of the indictment
with marked attention, the first sentence Of
which that had caught his ear was, "For
preaching the Gospel of the Son of God -
When the indictment had been read, and
the prosecuting attorney had submitted a
few remarks, Henry arose, stretched out his
hand and received the paper, and then ad-
dressed the court:
"May it please your wOrships: think
l heard read by the prosecutor as l entered
this house, the paper 1 now hold in my
hand. If have rightly understood, the
kings attorney of this colony has framed
an indictment for the purpose of arraigning
and furnishing by imprisonment three inOf-
fensive persons before the bar of this court,
for a crime of great magnitude-as distur-
bers of the peace. May it please the court,
what did hear read? Did l hear it dis
tinetly, or was it mistake of my own
Did l hear an expression, as Of a crime, that
these men, whom your worships are about
to try for misdemeanor, are charged with
-what?" and continued in a low, solemn,
heavy tone, "FOr preaching the Gospel of
the Son of Godr" Pausing amidst the
most profound silence and breathless aston
ishment of his hearers, he slowly waved the
paper three times around his head, then
lifting up his hands aud eyes to heaven with
extraordinary and impressive energy he ex-
claimed, "GREAT GoDi' The exclamation,
the action, the burst of feeling from the au-
dience, were all OyerpOweTing Mr.. Henry
MAY it please your worships In q day
like this, when truth is about to burst her
mankind are about to be
raised to claim their natural and inalienabIe /
rights-when the yoke of oppression which /
has reached the wilderness of America, and
the unnatural alliance of ecclesiastical and
civil power is about to be dissevered-at
such period when liberty-iberty of con-
about to awake from her slum-
behring's and inquire into the reason of such
charges as find exhibited here to-day in
his Indictment Another fearful pause,
While the speaker alternately cast his sharp.
piercing eyes on the court and the prisoners,
md resumed: ''If l am not deceived. ac-
'Ording to the contents of the paper l now I
lold in my hand, these men are accused of {
preaching the Gospel of the Son of God
treat God" Another long pause, during
Thich he again waved the Indictment around
is head, while deeper impression was :
lade on the auditory. Resuming his speech:
May it please your worships: There are
eriods in the history Of man, when corrup-
ION and depravity have so long debased :
ne human character, that man sinks under
ne weight of the Oppressor's hand, and be- !,
'mes his servile-his abject slave he licks !.
le hand that strikes him; he bows in pas
We obedience to the mandates of the des- !;
ot, and in this state of serviIity he receives :
is letters of perpetual bondage. But, may
please your wOrships, such day has
lssed aWayl From the period when our
thcrs left the land of their nativity for Sc
ttlement in these American wilds-for 10
lberty-for civil and religious liberty ca
r liberty Of conscience-to worship their IN
'eatOr according to their conceptions of J'
aven's revealed will; from the moment VI
ey placed their feet on the American con- CO
lent, and in the deeply embedded forests IN
ught an asylum from persecution and tyr 10
ny-from that moment despotism was IN
ushed, her fetters of darkness were bro Gu
n, and heaven decreed that man should VI
free-free to worship God according to W
e Bible. Were it not for this, in vain
We been taken the efforts and sacrifices of
e colonists; in vain were all their suffer ~
gs and blOodshed to subjugate this new 81
'rld, if we, their offspring, must still be Dl
pressed and prosecuted. But, may it ue
ease your wOrships, permit me to inquire y
ce mOre-for what are these men about sh
be tried? This paper says. For preach Tn
9 the Gospel of the Son of God Great III
preaching the Savior to Adams eh
len race" eli
After another pause, in tones of thunder Sp
inquircd-"What law have they viola an
l?'' Then, for the third time, in a slow, wa
,nifed manner, he lifted his eyes to hea-
4 and waved the indictment around his
I'd. The court and the audience were mi
" wrought up to the most intense pitch bl;
excitement. The face of the prosecuting "B
Orney was pale and ghastly, and he ap CHI
lred unconscious that his whole frame tru
s agitatcd with alarm; and the judge in hi