Hero Tales from History — Patrick Henry, The "Firebrand of the Revolution"
“Pat Henry’s a good-for-nothing fellow.
Just lounges about his father-in-law’s tavern telling stories and fiddling.
” This was the verdict of the people of Hanover Court House, Virginia, when Patrick Henry was a young man.
When he was but a youth he had married the tavern-keeper’s daughter.
He had tried farming and failed, people said, because he was “too lazy to do anything but go a-fishing.
” But he was a great reader and had studied law in a random, listless way.
The door of opportunity opened one day before this young man of whom the neighbors had so little good to say.
There was a case in court called “the Parsons’ Cause.
” This famous lawsuit arose in the following way: An old law required each church in Virginia to pay its minister sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco as his yearly salary.
Later the legislature of Virginia passed another law which permitted each parish to pay its minister a smaller salary in money.
The King of England set this law aside and then the “parsons,” as the clergy were called, brought a lawsuit to collect the unpaid parts of their salaries.
Young Patrick Henry’s sympathies were with the men who were sued and he offered his services in their defense.
When the people of Hanover Court House heard of this, they laughed as if it were a huge joke.
[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY DELIVERING HIS CELEBRATED SPEECH, MAY, 1765. ] “The good-for-nothing!
What can _he_ do, with his low, tavern talk?
” they asked in scorn.
“His stories may do for a bar-room, but for such a fellow to speak in such an important case will be an insult to the court.
” The courtroom was well filled on the day of the trial.
The opposing lawyers had promised to make short work of Patrick Henry, and teach him a lesson he would not soon forget.
There was a strange stillness when the young man rose to speak.
At first he seemed unable to control his voice, and some of those present nudged each other and whispered: “He’s going to break down!
I told you so.
He ought to have known better than attempt a big case like this.
” Then young Henry’s will seemed to come to his rescue.
He straightened up.
His face flushed eagerly.
His eyes blazed with indignation.
His words soon came in a torrent of eloquence.
He declared that the people of Virginia had the right to make their own laws and that if the King interfered he was no longer the father of his people, but a tyrant whom they need not obey.
The jury, carried away by the young lawyer’s fiery appeal, decided that the parsons should have only one penny more money.
The people who had come to sneer now began to cheer.
They carried the young lawyer out of the courthouse on their shoulders.
That success showed that the “ne’er-do-well” was really a great lawyer.
After that Patrick Henry spent his time in his law office instead of going fishing or loafing about the hotel.
He studied to improve his mind, and practiced in correcting his errors of speech, while learning to make good use of his new-found gift of speaking in public.
Honors were showered, thick and fast, on the fiery lawyer.
Other cases were brought to him and he won them right and left.
Soon he was sent to the House of Burgesses, or the legislature of Virginia.
When other leaders hesitated to take the steps necessary to obtain their rights, Patrick Henry did not falter.
He seemed to see farther than other men into the future.
He made the halls of the lawmakers ring for liberty, beginning his great liberty speeches ten years before the colonies were prepared to meet and declare their independence.
When Virginians were sent to the first Congress of the United Colonies in Philadelphia, Patrick Henry was one of those chosen to go with George Washington and Richard Henry Lee.
Here, in a fiery speech, Patrick Henry exclaimed: “I am not a Virginian--I am an American!
” He had to leave Congress before signing the Declaration of Independence; but soon after he became the first governor of Virginia, which was now no longer a British colony but a new state.
He was four times elected governor of the state.
Patrick Henry was “the firebrand of the Revolution”; that is, his burning words spread like a prairie fire from south to north, and inspired the people with a burning zeal for liberty which could not be quenched till all thirteen colonies had gained their independence and had become the United States of America.
It has been said that Patrick Henry “rocked the world with his voice.
” The best known of his speeches was made just a few weeks before the battle of Lexington, which was the first skirmish of the Revolution.
Here are the closing words of that great speech: “Gentlemen may cry, ‘Peace!
Peace!
’--but there is no peace.
The war is actually begun.
The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!
Our brethren are already in the field.
Why stand we here idle?
What is it the gentlemen wish?
What would they have?
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God!
I know not what course others may take; but, as for me, _give me Liberty or give me Death!
_” NATHAN HALE, WHO SPOKE THE BRAVEST WORDS IN HISTORY
Nathan Hale was a country boy, the sixth of ten children.
When he was twelve his mother died.
It had been her wish that Nathan should study to be a minister.
So the lad entered Yale College when he was only fourteen.
Young as he was, Nathan became president of the debating society.
He was a big, strong, handsome fellow, full of fun and fond of sports.
He was best at what was known as the broad jump.
For many years “the Hale jump” made the record for the college.
He was a strong swimmer and excelled in shooting at the mark.
In going about the college grounds, Hale was often seen placing one hand on top of a six-foot fence and vaulting over it with ease.
One of his chums has told how Nathan would stand in one hogshead, with his hands on his hips, and jump up out of that into the second hogshead; then, in the same manner, leap into the third hogshead and from there out on the ground--“all without touching.
” His athletic feats were so wonderful that the boys used to boast of the things “Young Hale” did for “Old Yale.
” When he was seventeen, the young athlete also showed himself such a ready and eloquent speaker that he was chosen for the highest honors of the debating society.
One address of his is still kept in the records of Yale University.
One of the questions he proposed and took part in debating was: “Is it right to enslave the Africans?
” Right after his graduation, at the age of eighteen, young Hale began to teach school and do tutoring besides, to pay his way while studying to be a minister.
But early in 1775, when he had been teaching less than two years, the news of the first battles in the War for Independence fired the fervent soul of the young patriot, and he joined the army.
Nathan Hale was appointed lieutenant in a company sent by Connecticut, his native state, to become part of General Washington’s army which was trying to take the city of Boston, then in the hands of the British.
The army then was without uniforms, proper arms, or training.
During the summer Lieutenant Hale “turned” twenty-one and was promoted to the rank of captain.
