The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1913-05-02


bors in a way that made judges stare
and juries surrender at discretion. IN
everything he had seemed to read the
passions of men Books no less than
men, the chance company OF an old
author no less than the constant talk
of the neighborly land he lived in,
seemed to fill him with the quick prin-
ciples of the people and polity to which
he belonged, and to lend him an In.
evitably every living phrase in which
to utter them.
His Power Over Men.
The universal sympathy and insight
which made his pleasantly 80 engag-
ing to men Of every stamp rendered
his power no less than terrible when
he turned to play upon their passions.
He was not conscious OF any audaclty
when he sprang to his feet upon the
instant he saw the house resolved IN
to committee to consider the Stamp
Act. It was of the ardor Of his nature
to speak when conviction moved him
strongly, without thought Of propriety
or precedence; and it was like him
to stand there absorbed, reading his
resolutions from q fy-leaf torn from
an old law-book.
It seemed no doubt a precious piece
of audac1ty in the eyes of the pre-
scriptive leaders of the house to hear
this almost unknown man propose his
high recital of Virginia's liberties and
his express defiance of parliament
in tones which rang no less clear ana
confident upon the clause which de-
clared his majesty's liege people OF
the colony in no way bound to yield
obedience, than in the utterance OF
the accepted matter of his premises.
Astounds the Old Leaders.
Debate famed up at once, hot, even
passionate The astounding, moving
elouquence of the young advocate, his
instant hold upon the house, the dl-
rectness with which he purposed and
executed action in so grave matter
stirred the pulses of his opponents
and his followers with an equal power,
and reused those who would nave
checked him to a vehemence as great
as his own.
The old leaders of the house, with
whom he now stood face to face IN
this critical business, were the more
formidable because of the strong rea-
son of their position. No one could
Justly doubt that they wished to see
the Old Dominion keep and v1ndlcate
her liberty, but they deemed 1T FOLLY
to be thus Unexpectedly beforehand
with the ISSUE Almost to man they
were sprung of families who had come
to Virginia with the great mlgratlon
that had brought the Washingtons, IN
the evil day when so many we're nee
ing England to be quit of the Puritan
tyranny-royalists all, and touched 10
the quick with the sentiment OF 10y
atty.
Twas now a long long time since
CromwelPs day, indeed; generations
had passed, and deep passion for
Virginia had been added to that old
reverence for the wearer of the crown
in England. But these men prided
themselves still upon their loyalty;
made it a point of honor to show
themselves no agitators, but constltu'
tional statesmen.
1t made them grave and deeply anx-
ious to see the privileges that were
most dear to them thus violated and
denied. but it did not make them hasty
to quarrel with the parliament OF the
realm. They had intended opposition,
but they feared to throw their cause
away by defiance. Twas as little wise
as dienified, to fiout thus at the sover-
eign power before all means had been
exhausted to win it to forbearance.
The Speaker of the House.
It was not the least part Of the diff
Guilty to face the veterans speaker John
Robinson, so old in affairs, so stately
in his age, so gravely courteous, and
vet with such threat of good man
ners against those who should make
breach OF the decorous traditions OF
the place. But the men chiefly to be
feared were on the floor.
There was Richard Bland, wary
old, experienced, with something OF
the look" Virginian wit said, "of old
musty parchments, which he handleth
and studieth much" author OF a
treatise against the Quakers on
water-baptism; with none of the gifts
of an orator, but veritable antiquar
ian in law and the precedents of pub
lie business, very formidable man in
counsel. Quiet men trusted him, and
thought his prudence very wise.
George Wythe was no less learned
and no less influential Men knew him
g. man of letters, bringing the knowl
edge of many wise books to the prac'
tice of affairs, and set great store by
his sincerity, as artless as it was hui
man, and sweetened with good feeling
The Elder Orators.
1t made Randolph and Pendleton
and Nicholas, the elder orators of the
house, seem the more redoubtable that
they should have such men as these
at their elbows to prompt and steady