he conduct
of our members in Congress, because, in refusing to raise
money for the purposes of the British treaty, they, in
effect, would have surrendered our country bound, hand and
foot, to the power of the British nation.... The treaty is,
in my opinion, a very bad one indeed. But what must I think
of those men, whom I myself warned of the danger of giving
the power of making laws by means of treaty to the President
and Senate, when I see these same men denying the existence
of that power, which, they insisted in our convention, ought
properly to be exercised by the President and Senate, and by
none other? The policy of these men, both then and now,
appears to me quite void of wisdom and foresight. These
sentiments I did mention in conversation in Richmond, and
perhaps others which I don't remember.... It seems that
every word was watched which I casually dropped, and wrested
to answer party views. Who can have been so meanly employed,
I know not, neither do I care; for I no longer consider
myself as an actor on the stage of public life. It is time
for me to retire; and I shall never more appear in a public
character, unless some unlooked-for circumstance shall
demand from me a transient effort, not inconsistent with
private life--in which I have determined to continue."[464]

In the autumn of 1796 the Assembly of Virginia, then under the
political control of Jefferson, and apparently eager to compete with
the Federalists for the possession of a great name, elected Patrick
Henry to the governorship of the State. But the man whose purpose to
refuse office had been proof against the attractions of the United
States Senate, and of the highest place in Washington's cabinet, and
of the highest judicial position in the country, was not likely to
succumb to the opportunity of being governor of Virginia for the
sixth time.

FOOTNOTES:

[434] Spencer Roane, MS.

[435] _Hist. Mag._ for 1867, 93; 369-370.

[436] Howe, _Hist. Coll. Va._ 221.

[437] Spencer Roane, MS.

[438] Cited in Wirt, 380-381.

[439] Spencer Roane, MS.

[440] Fontaine, MS.

[441] Fontaine, MS.

[442] Fontaine, MS.

[443] Bancroft, ed. 1869, vi. 416-417.

[444] Elliot, _Debates_, iii. 455-456; 590-591.

[445] Spencer Roane, MS.

[446] Fontaine, MS.

[447] J. W. Alexander, _Life of A. Alexander_, 193; Howe, _Hist. Coll.
Va._