representatives as the Assembly, and had as good a right
to our confidence. He had seen with regret the unlimited
power over the purse and sword consigned to the general
government; but ... he had been overruled, and it was now
necessary to submit to the constitutional exercise of that
power. 'If,' said he, 'I am asked what is to be done, when a
people feel themselves intolerably oppressed, my answer is
ready,--Overturn the government. But do not, I beseech you,
carry matters to this length without provocation. Wait at
least until some infringement is made upon your rights, and
which cannot otherwise be redressed; for if ever you recur
to another change, you may bid adieu forever to
representative government. You can never exchange the
present government but for a monarchy.... Let us preserve
our strength for the French, the English, the Germans, or
whoever else shall dare to invade our territory, and not
exhaust it in civil commotions and intestine wars.' He
concluded by declaring his design to exert himself in the
endeavor to allay the heart-burnings and jealousies which
had been fomented in the state legislature; and he fervently
prayed, if he was deemed unworthy to effect it, that it
might be reserved to some other and abler hand to extend
this blessing over the community."[472]

The outline thus given may be inaccurate in several particulars: it is
known to be so in one. Respecting the alien and sedition acts, the
orator expressed no opinion at all;[473] but accepting them as the law
of the land, he counselled moderation, forbearance, and the use of
constitutional means of redress. Than that whole effort, as has been
said by a recent and a sagacious historian, "nothing in his life was
nobler."[474]

Upon the conclusion of the old man's speech the stand was taken by a
very young man, John Randolph of Roanoke, who undertook to address the
crowd, offering himself to them as a candidate for Congress, but on
behalf of the party then opposed to Patrick Henry. By reason of
weariness, no doubt, the latter did not remain upon the platform; but
having "requested a friend to report to him anything which might
require an answer," he stepped back into the tavern. "Randolph began
by saying that he had admired that man more than any on whom the sun
had shone, but that now he was constrained to differ from him '_toto