The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1873-04-29
Patrick Henry in Court.


arraigned as "disturbers of the peace be-
fore magistrates 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 speeeh--on that occasion.
He entered the court house while the
prosecuting attorney was reading the in
dictment. He was stranger to most of
the spectators, and being dressed in coun-
try manner, his entrance excited no re-
mark When the prosecutor had finished
his brief opening, the new conner took the
indictment, and glancing at it with an ex-
preston of puzzled incredulity, began to
speak in the tone of man who had heard
something too astonishing for belief.
"May it please your worships, think
heard read by the prosecutor, as / entered
the house, the paper l now hold in my
hand. If I have rightly understood, the
Kings attorney has framed an indictment
for the purpose Of arraigning and punish
ing by imprisonment these three inoffen-
sive persons 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 hear
it distinctly, or was it mistake of my
own? Did l hear an expression as of
crime, these men, whom your worships are
about to try for misdemeanor, and charged
with-with what?"
Hayinrr daliuarad ithaca xxordo in n b,lt
ing, broken manner, as, if his mind was
staggering under the weight of mon
strous idea, he lowered his voice to the
deepest bass, and assuming the profound
est solemnity of manner, answered his own
question Preaching the Gospel of the
Son of God ~
Then he paused. Every eye was now
riveted upon him, and every mind into it
for all this was executed as q Kean or
Siddons would have performed it on the
stage-eye, voice, attitude, gesture, all in
accord to produce the utmost possibility of
effect. Amid a 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 to Heaven, and
in tone of pathetic energy wholly inde-
scribable exclaimed, "Great God ~
At this point, such was the power of his
delivery, the audience relieved their feeling
by burst of sighs and tears. The orator
continued
"May it please your worshps, in day
like this, when truth is about to burst her
fetters, when mankind are about to be arous-
ed to claim their natural and inalienable
rights, when the yoke of oppression that
has reached the wilderness of America, and
the unnatural alliance of ecclesiastical and
civil power are about to be discovered-at
such a. period, when liberty, liberty Of con-
science, is about to wake from her slumber-
ings, and inquire into the reason of such
charges as l find exhibited here to-day, in
this indictment" Here occurred another
of his appalling pauses, during which he
cast piercing looks at the judges and at the
three clergymen arraigned. Then resum-
ing, he thrilled every hearer by his favorite
device Of repetition "If am not deceiv-
ed-according to the paper now hold in
my hand, these men are accused of preach
ing the Gospel of the Son of Godp He
waved the document three times around his
head as though still lost in wonder, and
then with the same electric attitude of
appeal to Heaven, he gasped, "Great
Godp'
This was followed by another burst of
feeling from the spectators and again this
master of effect plunged into the tide of his
discourse
"May it please your worships, there are
periods in the history of man when corrup-
tion and depravity have SO long debased
the human character, that man sinks under
the weight of the oppressor's hand, become
his servile, his abject slave. He licks the
hand that smites him. He bows in passive
obedience to the mandates OF the despot;
and, in this state of servility he receives his
please your worships, such day has pass
ed From that period when our fathers
left their nativity for these American wilds,
from the moment they placed their feet
upon the American continent from that
moment despotism was crushed, the fetters
of darkness were broken, and Heaven de-
creed that man should be free free to
worship God according to the Bible. In
vain were all their sufferings and blood
shed to subjugate this New World, if we,
their offsprings, must still be oppressed
and prosecuted. But, may it please your