The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1904-12-07

A-4 rcgued the assembly on the
pretext of popular excitement. The
burgesses submitted with a bow, and
the fiddles played in their town houses.
Dunmore thought himself diplomat
and went ON wining his Tory favor
ties at the palace. But under the music
was mn ominous mutter;ng
News came of tho kings speech on
the opening of parliament. The colo
MES protests were ''unwarranted at
tempts to obstruct the commerce Of this
Kingdom by unlawful combinations"
and showed "a most dahhg spirit Of re-
sistance and disobediencc to the law"
This pronouncement was received In
williamsburg with an intense astonish-
ment.
And what, meantime, had Henry been
doang2
Restless, eager, he had ridden hither
and thither like sallow shadow-at
courthouses calling the minutemen,
overseeing the election of the commit
tees recommended by the congress, at
Alberti's poring over lists with Jeifcr-
son, uniting north and south in Il net
work OF nerves, laboring, tireless and
convincing.
1t is thing to note, since rebellion
commonly springs from the people
rather than from the quality. that it
was contrary in Virginia There the
aristocracy was not Tory. There were
few enough, like my Lord Fairfax,
who, born noble, held nobly 10 their
loyalty. Those who held with the king,
besides the toad eaters, We're for the
most part the lower classes, o.ficehold-
ers, tradesmen who looked for sales,
lawyers just over from London. The
stanchest rebels We're the great landed
planters. Sedition was In the club room
and the Darlor. One must to the tav-
ern bar for toasts to the king.
And so came about this strange
thing: That Williamsburg, tie minia-
ture copy of the court of st. James,
aping the manners OF the royal palace,
its old church graveyard and college
chapel standing for Westminster abbey
and st. Paul's-that this spot should
prove "thc heart of the rebellion" If
this fact alone remained 1t might we'll
make the world wonder at the enduring
blindness of the kings ministers and
whether God had not indeed covered
their eyes because he would have 1T so.
1t was little George cared for the ac-
uons Of the first congress, halting in
effectual, or for the petitions of British
merchants. He had set his jaw. In
vain the Earl of Chatham moved In
the house of lords to withdraw the
troops from Boston. Instead the col
onies received bill Offering pardon to
inf 1,n1c
virginia heard with shocked surprise
that this excepted Patrick Henry!
On the day this news was printed in
the Williamsburg Gazette Henry and
Jefferson met ut Alberti's and set out
on horseback for Richmond. There, in
st. Johns church, the new Virginia
convention, mindful Of the bloody
threats of the sinister governor had
elected to meet, and thither had gone
half of Williamsburg, leaving Dun
more with his troops at his palace to
bite his nails in impotent anger.
The 23d Of March dawned over Rich
mond's unwonted hustle in n uuivering
wizard haze of intense blue, where cloud
puffs swan like lazily pluming swans
Anne had arrived the night before at
Goochland and drove in that morning
In the Payne chariot. Spring was up,
the earth quick with it, All along the
way wild crab apple boughs droncd
with cllnging bees, and by the snake
fence rows of peach trees had pitched
their tents Of bloom
She met Henry in front of the Indian
Queen inn and walked with him up to-
ward the churchyard, now filling with
a vast thronS.
Tell me-" she questioned eagerly.
"Will it come todayf'
He looked down at her with that rare
smile Which seemed to be the higher
part Of him, gliding and transfiguring
his other so.f. What faith you have in
me!' he said.
II know" she answered. II have
seen it in your face. No one in Nir-
gina can do it save you-none of them.
1T must be the voice before the arm"
"The spark before the explosion" he
muttered, "and the train is nearly laid"
His hands moved restlessly.
"I have longed-prayed-for some
new overt act of Dunmore's that should
be spark to powder. But he lies low.
And it must come from us. You were
right when you said that last fall at
Winchester. Boston is trodden on, but
Rhe lies quiet. The colonies look to US.
It is the voice of the south, of Virginia,
that Is wanting"
He stopped. Jefferson was hasting
toward them. He bowed to Anne.
"Have you heard the buzz from Lon
donp he asked Henry hurriedly. otis
all among the delegates. 'Tis declared
that our petitions to the king are gra-
ciously received, that all the acts will
be repealed save the admiralty and de-
claratory and that North and Dart
mouth Will be replaced"
aye" burst Henry fercely. "An-
other Tory talel And they will waver
again. Tom, Tom, 1t must be now or
neverw
He stopped abruptly and strode across
the churchyard over the matted ivy
on the shrunken mounds and, threading
his way between the old slate tomb
stones, upright like black lichened cof-
An lids, entered the ediAce.
From her seat in the west gallery,
whittier Jefferson had taken her, Anne
surveyed the scene below.
The first proceedings interested heT
little - the reading Of Jamaica's late
memorial to the king-and her gaze
wandered. Through the open windows
she could hear the hum OF the great