For God’s sake, my dear sir, quit not the councils of your country, until you see us forever disjoined from Great Britain. The old leaven still works. The fleshpots of Egypt are still savory to degenerate palates. Again we are undone, if the French alliance is not religiously observed. Excuse my freedom. I know your love to our country,—and this is my motive. May Heaven give you health and prosperity.
I am yours affectionately,
Patrick Henry.[289]
Before coming to the end of our story of Governor [Pg 256] Henry’s second term, it should be mentioned that twice during this period did the General Assembly confide to him those extraordinary powers which by many were spoken of as dictatorial; first, on the 22d of January, 1778,[290] and again, on the 28th of May, of the same year.[291] Finally, so safe had been this great trust in his hands, and so efficiently had he borne himself, in all the labors and responsibilities of his high office, that, on the 29th of May, the House of Delegates, by resolution, unanimously elected him as governor for a third term,—an act in which, on the same day, the Senate voted its concurrence. On the 30th of May, Thomas Jefferson, from the committee appointed to notify the governor of his reëlection, reported to the House the following answer:—
Gentlemen,—The General Assembly, in again electing me governor of this commonwealth, have done me very signal honor. I trust that their confidence, thus continued in me, will not be misplaced. I beg you will be pleased, gentlemen, to present me to the General Assembly in terms of grateful acknowledgment for this fresh instance of their favor towards me; and to assure them, that my best endeavors shall be used to promote the public good, in that station to which they have once more been pleased to call me.[292]
FOOTNOTES:
[284] Of the official letters of Governor Henry, doubtless many have perished; a few have been printed in Sparks, Force, Wirt, and elsewhere; a considerable number, also, are preserved in manuscript in the archives of the Department of State at Washington. Copies of the latter are before me as I write. As justifying the statement made in the text, I would refer to his letters of August 30, 1777; of October 29, 1777; of October 30, 1777; of December 6, 1777; of December 9, 1777; of January 20, 1778; of January 28, 1778; and of June 18, 1778.
[285] Writings of Washington, v. 495-497; 512-515.
[286] Jour. Va. House Del. 131.
[287] Given in Grigsby, Va. Conv. of 1776, 142 note.
[288] Jour. Va. House Del. 27, 33.