The suburban citizen., 1902-02-22
OUR CARY OF AMPTHILL
COMPARED WITH HIM 8RUTUS WAS
A VAlNcLoRloUS WEAKLINC.


occasion TO mention Cary of Ampthlll,
in connection with his remarkable mes
sage to Patrick Henry concerning
dictatorship AS this historical incl
dent is probably unknown to many Of
our readers and attention, so far as
we know, has never been called to its
historical significance, we may be par
doned for unfolding somewhat our re-
cent allusion to it.
The period was one of extreme de-
preston in the affairs of the colonies
perhaps the most depressing in the war
of the Revolution. A writer sketching
the situation, says:
''The British held the city Of New
York. Fort Washington had fallen.
The American Commander-in-Chief,
pressed by overwhelming numbers,
was flying through the Jerseys"
The moral situation, if anything, was
more deplorable than the military. In
these circumstances, the question up
permost in the minds Of patriots was:
"What shall we do to be savedp to
which it is not surprising that some
answers were given less adapted to
save us than to complete our ruin. or
these the most dangerous was the
scheme Of dictatorship, That it
was proposed in the House of Dele
gates of Virginia we have Jefferson's
authority. That it was strongly sup
ported may be inferred from the fact,
also authenticated by Jefferson, that
renewal of the proposition few years
later under conditions less critical,
and when Cthe tide having been in
gloriously "omitted" at the food its
voyage was bound in shadows"
wanted nevertheless "a few votes only
Of being passed. Jefferson's biogra-
pher tells us that for some cause not
explained jefferson preserved an al
most impenetrable reserve in regard
to this project Of a dictatorship in all
it's stages. Apparently the motive was
more formidable, and its supporters
of greater name, than loyal Virginians
have cared to admit. When originally
proposed, Patrick Henry was Gov
ernor Of the Commonwealth, and no.
body has ever disputed that he was
the dictator contemplated by the adj
vocates of the measure, though he him
self made no sign. it would appear
The feeling excited by the proposition
ran high. THE members who favored
it, and those who opposed it," accord
ing to one authority, "walked the
streets on different sides" At this
crisis Colonel Archibald Cary, the
Speaker Of the Senate, and q Virgin
ian Of note in every relation, meeting
in the lobby Of the Senate Colonel
Syme, Henrys step-brother, accosted
him in these terms:
"Sir, I am told your brother wishes
to be dictator; tell him from me that
the day Of his appointment shall be the
day of his death, for he shall find my
dagger in his heart before the sunset
OF that day"
Colonel Syme is represented as hav-
ing replied in great agitation" to the
effect that IL such a project existed
his brother had no hand in il, for
nothing could be more foreign to him
than to countenance any Office which
could endanger, in the most distant
manner, the liberties Of his country.
This in itself signified little or moth
ing, since those who espoused die
tatorship though misguided, We're pa
triots, looking upon the Office as not
endangerlng the liberties of the coun-
try, but as the only means Of preserv-
ing them. In "Notes ON Virginia" JEFF
fersOn declares that most of these
men (none Of whom he names) "meant
well" avOWing that ne "knew them
personally, had been their fellow-la-
borer in the cause, and had often
proved the purity of their principles"
The excited protest of Colonel Syme,
however, though itself irrelevant, was
followed by an express disclaimer
from Patrick Henry, supported by the
uniform declarations of his friends,
and opposed by no evidence that has
reached the public. His disclaimer ap-
pears to have been accepted by his
tory; which no doubt is as it should be.
Be this as 1t may it is certain that
dictatorship was proposed in the Vir-
ginia House of Delegates; that it was
advocated, in and out of that body
by some Of the purest and most infu-
entail patriots of Virginia, and that
Patrick Henry, the most popular man
In theNCommonwealth, was the dictator
upon whom the friends Of the scheme
had fixed in their conclaves. The grav-
ity Of this state Of things it is not easy
to overestimate. Had the movement
thus begun, and growing stronger
daily, been allowed to run it's course
unchecked, it is impossible to say who
would OF who would not have been
drawn into it. Patrick Henry, yield
Ing to the despair and delusion of the
juncture, might actually have placed
himself at its head. Jefferson and Mad |
ison themselves, influenced by like mo-
tives deeply as both abhOrred the prin- |
ciple involved might have lent it their |
support, actively or passively. Nor is !
1t possible to say that, If Virginia had |
formally proposed the measure, the |
a. hA