t had
never been forfeited, nor in any other way given up, but had been
constantly recognized by the King and people of Great Britain.

Such was the declaration of colonial rights adopted at his instance by
the Assembly of Virginia. It followed from these resolutions--and
Patrick Henry so expressed it in a fifth supplementary one--that the
General Assembly of the whole colony have the sole right and power to
lay taxes on the inhabitants of the colony, and that any attempt to vest
such power in any other persons whatever tended to destroy British as
well as American freedom. It was still further set forth, yet not by
Henry, in two resolutions, which, though they were not officially
produced, equally embodied the mind of the younger part of the Assembly,
that the inhabitants of Virginia were not bound to yield obedience to
any law designed to impose taxation upon them, other than the laws of
their own General Assembly, and that anyone who should, either by
speaking or writing, maintain the contrary, should be deemed an enemy to
the colony.

A stormy debate arose and many threats were uttered. Robinson, the
speaker, already a defaulter; Peyton Randolph, the King's attorney, and
the frank, honest, and independent George Wythe, a lover of classic
learning, accustomed to guide the House by his strong understanding and
single-minded integrity, exerted all their powers to moderate the tone
of "the hot and virulent resolutions"; while John Randolph, the best
lawyer in the colony, "singly" resisted the whole proceeding. But, on
the other side, George Johnston, of Fairfax, reasoned with solidity and
firmness, and Henry flamed with impassioned zeal. Lifted beyond himself,
"Tarquin," he cried, "and Caesar, had each his Brutus; Charles the First,
his Cromwell; and George the Third----" "Treason!" shouted the speaker,
"treason, treason!" was echoed round the house, while Henry, fixing his
eye on the first interrupter, continued without faltering, "may profit
by their example!"

Swayed by his words, the committee of the whole showed its good-will to
the spirit of all the resolutions enumerated; but the five offered by
Patrick Henry were alone reported to the House, and on Thursday, May
30th, having been adopted by small majorities, the fifth by a vote of
twenty to nineteen, they became a part of the public record. "I would
have given five hundred guineas for a single vote," exclaimed the
attorney-general, aloud, as he came out past