P. Henry.[303]
On the first of June, Thomas Jefferson was elected to succeed him in office, but by a majority of only six votes out of one hundred and twenty-eight.[304] On the following day Patrick Henry, having received certain resolutions from the General Assembly[305] commending him for his conduct while governor, graciously closed this chapter of his official life by the following letter:—
Gentlemen,—The House of Delegates have done me very great honor in the vote expressive of their approbation of my public conduct. I beg the favor of you, gentlemen, to convey to that honorable house my most cordial acknowledgments, and to assure them that I shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of the high honor they have now conferred on me.[306]
[Pg 269] In the midst of these frank voices of public appreciation over the fidelity and efficiency of his service as governor, there were doubtless the usual murmurs of partisan criticism or of personal ill-will. For example, a few days after Jefferson had taken his seat in the stately chair which Patrick Henry had just vacated, St. George Tucker, in a letter to Theophilus Bland, gave expression to this sneer: “Sub rosa, I wish his excellency’s activity may be equal to the abilities he possesses in so eminent a degree.… But if he should tread in the steps of his predecessor, there is not much to be expected from the brightest talents.”[307] Over against a taunt like this, one can scarcely help placing the fact that the general of the armies who, for three stern years, had been accustomed to lean heavily for help on this governor of Virginia, and who never paid idle compliments, nevertheless paid many a tribute to the intelligence, zeal, and vigorous activity of Governor Henry’s administration. Thus, on the 27th of December, 1777, Washington writes to him: “In several of my late letters I addressed you on the distress of the troops for want of clothing. Your ready exertions to relieve them have given me the highest satisfaction.”[308] On the 19th of February, 1778, Washington again writes to him: “I address myself to you, convinced that our alarming distresses will engage your most serious consideration, and that the full force of that zeal and vigor you have manifested [Pg 270] upon every other occasion, will now operate for our relief, in a matter that so nearly affects the very existence of our contest.”[309] On the 19th of April, 1778, Washington once more writes to him: “I hold myself infinitely obliged to the legislature for the ready attention which they have paid to my representation of the wants of the army, and to you for the strenuous manner in which you have recommended to the people an observance of my request.”[310] Finally, if any men had even better opportunities than Washington for estimating correctly Governor Henry’s efficiency in his great office, surely those men were his intimate associates, the members of the Virginia legislature. It is quite possible that their first election of him as governor may have been in ignorance of his real qualities as an executive officer; but this cannot be said of their second and of their third elections of him, each one of which was made, as we have seen, without one audible lisp of opposition. Is it to be believed that, if he had really shown that lack of executive efficiency which St. George Tucker’s sneer implies, such a body of men, in such a crisis of public danger, would have twice and thrice elected him to the highest executive office in the State, and that, too, without one dissenting vote? To say so, indeed, is to fix a far more damning censure upon them than upon him.
FOOTNOTES:
[293] Clark’s Campaign in the Illinois, 95-97, where Governor Henry’s public and private instructions are given in full.
[294] MS.
[295] Jour. Va. House Del. 30, 36, 66; also Hening, ix. 474-476; 477-478; 530-532; 584-585.
[296] MS.
[297] Sparks, Corr. Rev. ii. 261-262.