Omaha daily bee., 1914-09-26


Henry plucked the veil from the shrine
OF parliamentary omnipotence'; and a
great American historian, writing of
Henry's resolutions, said: They were
the first words OF the resolution. and no
man ever thought the same after he had
read them"
When the inspiring words of the elo-
qrent Virginian were published and their
fire had touched mems hearts, every
where the people began singing:
With the beasts OF the wood
We will ramble for food,
And lodge in wild deserts and caves;
We Will live poor as Job,
On the skirts of the globe
Before Wen submit 70 be slaves"
Lord Brougham's words may seem TO
be monstrously extrAvaEant and yet,
when all things are duly considered, It
may not be too much to say that no
other speech ever delivered was followed
by such tremendous consequences
IL one can even approximately estimate
the political and moral significance
among men of the United States of
America-what the influence of the great
republic has already been, what it is to-
a
steadily enlarging way, throughout the
ages and generations to come-he can
for some sort of idea of the Importance
of Patrick Henry's speech before the Vir-
ginia assembly on that famous May day
one hundred and forty-nine years ago.
Quite aside from the inconceivably
great speech itself, taken in connection
with its whole setting. II will ever re-
main one of the most remarkable pictures
in the gallery of history.
Tall, spare, raw-boned. stopping in the
shoulders sallow In complexion and
attired in his plain suit OF Virginia home
spun, the orator rises in the midst of the
old aristocratic members who are still
intensely loyal" to tho king
Presently the dropping head of the
orator is lifted and thrown back in, proud
defiance, the eyes flash fire, the calm
voice becomes IKE unto the blast of a.
trumpet. The storm is now fairly on,
and 1t carries everything before it! There
Is no resisting II! The resolutions are
put and carried, and the members, rush
ing out OF doors, ask one another in
amazement, What did he say They
had been completely taken off their feet
by HenrS's preternatural eloquence and
borne along as the tempest sweeps away
the leaves that lie in its path.
This crowning achievement came with
out any premonition. At the age of
eighteen Henry had married and settled
down to farming, but proved to be a
failure in that ancient and honorable oc-
cupation.
From agriculture he turned to the mer-
h,,N a1afV OUT
that he was the round peg in the square
hole, and at the end OF his three years
trial at selling salt. sugar and calico. he
found himself a bankrupt.
Then he tried doing nothing, 'loafing
and inviting his soul" but he was a
failure even as a loafer.
One day the thought struck Henry that
he would study law, and, borrowing a
copy of Coke Upon Llttleton," he began
preparing himself for admission TO the
bar. There is a conflict OF opinion about
his success as a lawyer but it is fairly
we'll established that the success was far
from being a "howling one up to the
celebrated Parsons Case" in the fall of
1853. In that noted cause the ministers
had on their side the law and the right,
but the vestries, with ''unadorned
rascalty," decided to fisht the parsons,
and employed as their champion the
young lawyer from Hanover
1t was a desperate case-almost for
lorn hope-but the psychological moment
in the struggling young lawyers life was
at hand, the hour and the man were about
10 meet, and Henrys fame was close at
hand With that wonderful voice OF his.
which could make love in a corner or
call hound a mile off" he pitched into
parliament, pr,vy council and king, aud
gave the young democracy OF the west
it's first war cry against British oppres-
sion."
From the parsons case and the little
brick court house in Williamsburg II was
but step to Richmond, to st. Johns
church, and to the speech that every
Il know not what others may do, but as
school boy was soon to know by heart.
for me, give me liberty or give me death
Titles and Taxes In spain.
In Spain titles of nobility are taxed in
NnVa