The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1872-07-23
Patrick Henry.


when Jefferson having resigned his
seat in Congress and having declined
the mission to France with Franklin
and Deane, set himself to the work of
reform in his own State-"a slovenlv,
slatternly old England in the woods,
where the abuses and absurdities of |
the old country were exaggerated"
There is clear account of the abuses |
which Jefferson and his friends sought |
to do away, and prominent among
these was the intolerance of the estab-
lished church, which Mr.. Parton illus
trates by the case Of three Baptist |
preachers who were arraigned as "dis-
turbers of the peace" before magis-
trates who were determined to convict
them. Patrick Henry rode fifty miles
to defend them, and the following ac-
count is given of his performance-it
was more than speech-on that oc-
casion:
"He entered the court house while
the prosecuting attorney was reading
the Indictment. He was stranger to
most of the spectators, and, being
dressed in a country manner, his en-
trance excited no remark. When the
prosecutor had finished his brief open
ing, the newcomer took the indict-
ment, and glancing at it with an ex-
preston of puzzled incredulity, began
to speak in the tone of man who
hal heard something too astonishing
for belief;
"May it please your worships, 1
think l heard read by the prosecutor,
as l entered the house, the paper now
hold in my hand. If l have rightly
understood, the Kings attorney has
framed an indictment for the purpose
of arraigning and Furnishing by i'm
prisonment these three inoffei.sive per-
sons before the bar of this Court for
crime of great magnitude-as dis
turbers of the peace. May it please
the Court, what did hear read? Did
l hear it distinctly, or was it a mis-
take of my own? Did hear an ex-
preston as of crime, that these men,
whom your worships are about to try
for misdemeanor, are charged with
with-with wHAT?'
Having delivered these words in a
halting, broken manner, as if his mind
was staggering under the weight of a
monstrous idea, he lowered his voice
to its deepest base; and, assuming the
profoundest solemnity of manner, an
swered his own question: Preaching
the gospel of the Son of God J
"Then he paused. Every eye was
now riveted upon him, and every mind
intent; for all this was executed as a
Kean or Siddons would have perform.
ed it on the stage-eye, voice, attitude
gesture, all in-accord to produce the
utmost possibility of effect. Amid q
silence that could be felt, he waved
the indictment three times round his
head, as though still amazed, still un'
able to comprehend the charge.
, "Then he raised his hands and eyes
to heaven and in tone of pathetic en-
ergy wholly indescribable, exclaimed
Great God!
"At this point, such was the powe
> of his delivery, the audience relieved
G their feelings by a burst of sighs an(
4 tears. The orator continued:
"'May it please your worships, in {
day like this, when Truth is about t,
burst her fetters, when mankind ar
about to be aroused to claim their nat
> ural and inalienable rights, when tn
yoke of oppression that has reaches
> the wilderness of America, and tn
unnatural alliance of ecclesiatica
and civil power, are about to be dis
: severed-at such period when Libel
ty, Liberty of Conscience, is about t
wake from her slumberings, and in
quire into the reason of such charge
as find exhibited here to-day in thi
e. Indictment Here occurred anothe
r Of his appalling pauses, during whic
IS he cast piercing looks at the judge
Z I. and at the three clergymen arraigneC
IS Then resuming, he thrilled every heal
N er by his favorite device Of repetition
Y IF | am not Notwithstanding t
rs the contents of the paper now hol
a in my hand-these men are accuse
= of preaching the Gospel Of the Son {
n, God! He waved the document thrt
Of times round his head as though sti
is lost in wonder; and then, with I'll
n same electric attitude of appeal
r Heaven, he gasped, Great Godp
y "This was followed by another bur
a. of feeling from the spectators an
again this master of effect plunged il
to the tide Of his discourse:
"May it please your worships, the
are periods in the history of ms
= when corruption and depravity ha'
so. long debased the human characte
that man sinks under the weight of Il
Cd oppressor's hand-becomes his able
'st slave. He licks the hand that smit
him. He bows in passive obedience
the mandates of the despot; and,
!. this state of servility, he receives
fetters of perpetual bondage. b
- NAV IL 0laaSa VOurS WOrShiDS such