The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-11-28

4,
our rights and liberties will be reserved
for tho conclusion of the session. Matters
of this sort here arc conducted and pre-
pared with a great deal of privacy, and by
very few members, of whom Patrick
Henry is the principal. lie Is oy
far the most powerful speaker ever
| heard. Every word he says not only en-
| cages but commands the attention, and
your passions are no longer your own
when he addresses them. But his clio.
oucncc is the smallest part Of his merit
He is, in my opinion, the first man upon
this continent, as we'll in abilities as public
virtues and had he lived in Rome about
The time of the first Punic war, when the
Roman people had arrived at their mcri.
dian glory, and their virtue not furnished,
Mr.. Henry talents must have put him at
the head of that glorious commonwealth"
Mr.. Jefferson informs liz that after hi>
service as Governor, succeeding Mr.. Henry
he had no further personal knowledge OF
him. And yet his most serious charges as
to personal conduct refer to subsequent
periods. 1t will be remembered also that
Mr.. Jefferson never met with him until
Mr.. Henry was twenty-lour years Of age
That Mr.. Henry commenced life in very
| Straitened circumstances is without
doubt; but that he ever acted as a bar.
keeper is denied by Mr.. Writ P. BY, who
obtained his information from the com
panions Of Mr.. Hcnry's youth.
! am entirely satisfied, also, that Mr.
Jefferson has misrcpresented Mr.. Henry:
attainments and conduct as lawyer. DC
represents him as too lazy to acquire OF
practice law, never undertaking TO draw
plcadings if he could avoid it, engaging
very unwillingly, but as an assistant, to
speak in the cause, making the fee al
indispensable preliminary, keeping no ac-
counts, requiring large fees for his ser
vices, Unsuitable in money, and dong SO
little business in the general court otncr
than criminal that it would not pay TIRE
expenses Of his attendance. ] have II my
possession Mr.. Uenry's fec books, COM
mencing in the latter part Of l1CO, "heli
he first came to the bar, and coming down
! to I'LL, more than one year after nc came
to the general court. Sixteen pages o.
these books have been cut out ana 1851 ;
! but estimating that the fees char2co eT'''
them average i'll numbers with ln"Se "p"H
! The remaining pages, and l una 'h"1 Nj :
| Henry charges fees IL $50 SUITS, if''n y,
TENDER. l7G0, the commencement u i'io
practice to the 3lst December, 1905, De-
sides many fees for preparing papers out
of court. In November, lN3, he was en-
allowed in. and in December following lie
ARMED the celebrated parsons cause
w5icb gave him so great a rcpntItion. AL
forwards his business Increased rapidly; oil
wL;ch however, only small portion was
criminal, the great bulk being the ord'-
nary suits of the country, plain actions OF,
debt. exc. In these it is prcpoStcrCnS to
suppose he appeared only as an assistant,
to speak. So far from his being Unsuitable,
his books show the usual moderate charges
Of the day, such as have been long since
discarded by the profession; and many OF
his fees appear never to have been col
lected. Randall, in his Life of Jefferson,
(vol l, p. 47,) gives the number OF causes
in which he (Jeffersou) was employed IN
the earlier years of his practice, as evil
dence OF his great success; but Judging
Mr.. Henry by the same rule, his success
was much greater before he had made
what is usually represented in his first
speech. How he acquired or retained a
practice so large, and continually incrcas-
ing, SO perfectly unfit for it as MIR. Jellcr-
son represents him. am at a loss to un-
derstand.
Nor can reconcile with Mr.. Jclarson'S
statement another fact, mentioned by mir.
Writ and by Mr.. Randall: mean the pub
lie advertisement Of Robert G. Nicholas,
after he was made treasurer, committing
his unfinished business to Mr.. Henry. Mr..
Nicholas was one of the examiners who
signed Mr.. Henry's license, and enjoyed
the first practice at the bar, according TO
Mr.. Writ; and Mr.. Randall thinks (rol. !,
p. 40, Life of Jcilerson1 that he committed
| his practice to Mr.. Henry upon the advice
of Mr.. Jefferson.
| The insinuation that Mr.. Henry paid for
the Leatherwood lands purchased of. Mr..
Lomax in discreditable manner-discre-
dtabe, as is alleged, because Of the de-
preciated money used in payments en-
tircly unjust. The interest of Mr.. Lomax
was subject of litigation, and the sworn
answer of Mr.. Henry in the case is before
me, together with the answer Of his widow
in a suit brought to divide Mr.. Henry $
estate after his death. BY these papers it
appears that the purchase was made in
l77S for paper money, and that Mr.. Hen
~ sold other lands Of equal value III order
to pay the purchase money. AT the time
of the purchase, paper money had depre-
ciated SO as to be worth only one-tith OF
specie, and that it would further depreci-
ate must have been apparent to all.
find two receipts given by Mr.. IAomaX, one
Tor five half johannes at 46s., each dated
3Oth May, ITS; and the other for $500,
cash, dated October l778, showing that q
large portion of the purchase money was
paid during the year Of the purchase, aud
at times when the depreciation OF the cur
rency had increased but little. What
were the dates Of the deferred payments
have not ascertained but whatever they
NAV have been, no stigma can attach to
Mr.. Henry for paying for land II the very
currency he had contracted TO pay, and
which he was receiving for lands sold by
him to meet the purchase.
Mr.. Jefferson has endeavored TO connect
the name of Mr.. Henry with The infamous
Yazoo speculation. He asserts that, about
the close of the war, Mr.. Henry engaged
in this speculation, and bought up a great
deal of deprecated paper at Is. and g.
I'd. in the pound TO pay for it; that the
Georgia Legislature having declared that
transaction fraudulent and void, the de-
precated paper which he had bought up
was likely to remain on his hands worth
nothing, but that Hamilton's funding sys-
TEN came most OPPORTUNITY to his relief,
and raised his paper from IS. Cd. to27s, Cd.
the pound. The facts arc simply us fol,
lows:
On the 7th February, 1895, the Georgia
Legislature passed an act selling TO four