what at first may seem a profane oath. John Adams, upon whose very
fallible memory in old age the story rests, declares that he did not
at the time regard Patrick Henry's words as an oath, but rather as a
solemn asseveration, affirmed religiously, upon a very great occasion.
At any rate, that asseveration proved to be a prophecy; for from it
there then leaped a flame that lighted up for an instant the next
inevitable stage in the evolution of events,--the tragic and bloody
outcome of all these wary lucubrations and devices of the assembled
political wizards of America.

It is interesting to note that, at the very time when the Congress at
Philadelphia was busy with its stern work, the people of Virginia were
grappling with the peril of an Indian war assailing them from beyond
their western mountains. There has recently been brought to light a
letter written at Hanover, on the 15th of October, 1774, by the aged
mother of Patrick Henry, to a friend living far out towards the
exposed district; and this letter is a touching memorial both of the
general anxiety over the two concurrent events, and of the motherly
pride and piety of the writer:--

"My son Patrick has been gone to Philadelphia near seven
weeks. The affairs of Congress are kept with great secrecy,
nobody being allowed to be present. I assure you we have our
lowland troubles and fears with respect to Great Britain.
Perhaps our good God may bring good to us out of these many
evils which threaten us, not only from the mountains but
from the seas."[135]

FOOTNOTES:

[102] _Washington's Writings_, ii. 503.

[103] _Works of John Adams_, ii. 357.

[104] Meade, _Old Churches and Families of Va._ i. 220, 221.

[105] _Works of John Adams_, ii. 361.

[106] _Works of John Adams_, ii. 357-364.

[107] _Works of John Adams_, ii. 365.

[108] _Am. Quarterly Review_, i. 30, whence it is quoted in _Works of
John Adams_, iii. 29, 30, note. As regards the value of this testimony
of Charles Thomson, we should note that it is something alleged to
have been said by him at the age of ninety, in a conversation with a
friend, and by the latter reported to the author of the article above
cited in the _Am. Quart. Rev._

[109] _Works of John Adams_, ii. 365.

[110] It seems to me that the second paragraph on page 366 of volume
ii. of the _Works of John Adams_ must be taken as his memorandum of
his own speech; and that what follows on tha