“Yes, oh yes, indeed! I’ve seen it; when we were in Philadelphia not very long ago, Papa took me to the State House or Independence Hall—it gets both names—and showed me the old bell (it isn’t in use, because it has a large crack in it: but they keep it for people to see), and the Declaration—the very paper those brave men signed—and the pen they wrote their names with, and a great many other things connected with revolutionary and colonial times. Did you ever hear of Patrick Henry?”
“No, never. Who was he?”
“I think you will like to hear about him because, though born in America, he was the son of a Scotchman. He lived in the times we’ve been talking about, and was one of our very patriotic men and greatest orators. He was a Virginian, and in 1765—ten years before the Revolutionary War began, and when George the Third was oppressing the colonies so, and had the Stamp Act passed—he belonged to the House of Burgesses.
“They were debating about the Stamp Act, and Patrick Henry was wanting resolutions passed declaring that no one but the House of Burgesses and the governor had a right to lay taxes and imposts on that colony.
“Some of the other members were very much opposed to his resolutions and grew very angry and abusive toward him; but he wouldn’t give up to them; he went on with his speech and said some brave words that startled even the patriots and have been famous words ever since. They were:
“‘Cæsar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third’—just there he was interrupted by cries of ‘Treason! treason!’—‘may profit by their example,’ he added. ‘If this be treason, make the most of it.’”
“That was fine!” Marian exclaimed, her eyes shining. “I’m thinking he was a worthy descendant of some of our Scotch heroes. But did they pass his resolutions?”
“Yes; by a majority of one.”
“Ten years after that—just a few weeks before the battle of Lexington, that began the war—he was talking in a convention at Richmond, in Virginia. He wanted to organize the militia and make the colony ready for defence against Great Britain; but some of the others were very much opposed.
“He made a grand speech to them, trying to convince them that what he wanted done was the wisest thing they could do, and in it he said some brave words which I admire so much that I learned them by heart,—committed them to memory, I suppose would be the more proper expression.”