"After the convention of citizens they are to make proclamation at the C: House, after which the Bells at the Church, College, & Capitol are to ring in peal.
"From the Ct House the Citizens are to proceed to the College, and make proclamation at that place, from whence they are to proceed to the Capitol and make proclamation there and from thence Proceed to the Raleigh (Tavern) & pass the rest of the day."
A frequent visitor to the Williamsburg Courthouse was the brilliant lawyer Patrick Henry, whose reputation as an orator was made long before he delivered his "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech at St. John's Church, Richmond.
Some years before the Williamsburg Courthouse was erected, this orator made his first public speech, at Hanover Courthouse, a building that dates from 1735, in the celebrated suit of the clergy demanding the payment of their stipends in tobacco, according to law. In consequence of a short crop the price had increased, and they insisted that it was their right to have the advantage of the increase. Their case had been tried once and won. The attorney of the people thereupon withdrew, and Henry was engaged to appear for them in court.
When the case was called, Rev. Patrick Henry was present, to the regret of his nephew. The lawyer sought his uncle and said that he feared he would be too much overawed by his presence to do his duty to his clients, and added that he would be compelled to say some "very hard things of the clergy." The minister thereupon entered his carriage, and drove away.
William Wirt describes the scene at the opening of the case:
"On the bench sat more than twenty clergymen, the most learned men in the Colony, and the most capable, as well as the severest critics before whom it was possible for him to have made his début. The Court House was crowded with an overwhelming multitude, and surrounded with an immense and anxious throng, who, not finding room to enter, were endeavoring to listen without, in the deepest attention. But there was something still more awfully disconcerting than all this; for in the chair of the presiding magistrate, sat no other person than his own father....
"And now came on the first trial of Patrick Henry's strength. No one had ever heard him speak, and curiosity was on tiptoe. He rose very awkwardly, and faltered much in his exordium. The people hung their heads at so unpromising a commencement; the clergy were observed to exchange sly looks with each other, and the father is described as having almost sunk with confusion, from his seat. But these feelings were of short duration, and soon gave place to others, of a very different character.... The spirit of his genius awakened all his features.... His action became graceful, bold, and commanding; and in the tones of his voice, but more especially in his emphasis, there was a peculiar charm, a magic, of which any one who ever heard him will speak as soon as he is named, but of which no one can give any adequate description....
"The people, whose countenances had fallen as he arose, had heard but very few sentences before they began to look up; then to look at each other with surprise, as if doubting the evidence of their own senses.... In less than twenty minutes, they might be seen in every part of the house, on every bench, in every window, stooping forward from their stands, in deathlike silence.... The mockery of the clergy was soon turned into alarm; their triumph into confusion and despair; and at one burst of his rapid and overwhelming invective, they fled from the bench in precipitation and terror. As for the father, such was his surprise, such his amazement, such his rapture, that, forgetting where he was, and the character which he was filling, tears of ecstasy streamed down his cheeks without the power or inclination to restrain them."
The case was won. As soon as the verdict was announced the people seized the orator at the bar and bore him out of the courthouse. Then, raising him on their shoulders, they carried him about the yard.