g once
aroused, was not likely to take a languid or a hesitating part; and of
the importance then attached to the part which he did take, we catch
frequent glimpses in the correspondence of the period. Thus, on the
19th of February, 1788, Madison, still at New York, sent this word to
Jefferson: "The temper of Virginia, as far as I can learn, has
undergone but little change of late. At first, there was an enthusiasm
for the Constitution. The tide next took a sudden and strong turn in
the opposite direction. The influence and exertions of Mr. Henry,
Colonel Mason, and some others, will account for this.... I am told
that a very bold language is held by Mr. Henry and some of his
partisans."[367] On the 10th of April, Madison, then returned to his
home in Virginia, wrote to Edmund Randolph: "The declaration of Henry,
mentioned in your letter, is a proof to me that desperate measures
will be his game."[368] On the 22d of the same month Madison wrote to
Jefferson: "The adversaries take very different grounds of opposition.
Some are opposed to the substance of the plan; others, to particular
modifications only. Mr. Henry is supposed to aim at disunion."[369] On
the 24th of April, Edward Carrington, writing from New York, told
Jefferson: "Mr. H. does not openly declare for a dismemberment of the
Union, but his arguments in support of his opposition to the
Constitution go directly to that issue. He says that three
confederacies would be practicable, and better suited to the good of
commerce than one."[370] On the 28th of April, Washington wrote to
Lafayette on account of the struggle then going forward; and after
naming some of the leading champions of the Constitution, he adds
sorrowfully: "Henry and Mason are its great adversaries."[371]
Finally, as late as on the 12th of June, the Rev. John Blair Smith, at
that time president of Hampden-Sidney College, conveyed to Madison, an
old college friend, his own deep disapproval of the course which had
been pursued by Patrick Henry in the management of the canvass against
the Constitution:--

"Before the Constitution appeared, the minds of the people
were artfully prepared against it; so that all opposition
[to Mr. Henry] at the election of delegates to consider it,
was in vain. That gentleman has descended to lower artifices
and management on the occasion than I thought him capable
of.... If Mr. Innes has shown you a speech of Mr. Henry to
his con