l than ever before, and pleaded their cause in strains of eloquence
that shall ring in our ears, and dwell in our hearts, till history
shall tell us we have ceased to be a nation.

And well indeed they might admire and praise; for what with the
eloquence of such men as Henry and Rutledge, the learning of such men
as Hancock and Adams, the wisdom of such men as Washington, and the
pure and exalted character of them all, it was a body of men, the like
of which had never before assembled together in any age or country.

Patrick Henry, upon being asked who was the greatest man in the
Congress, replied, "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South
Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; but, if you speak of solid
information and sound judgment, Col. Washington is, beyond all
question, the greatest man on that floor." Had Mr. Rutledge been asked
the same question, he would as readily have pronounced Patrick Henry
the greatest orator, as indeed he was.

Bent on one common object, encompassed by dangers that threatened all
alike, and glowing with the same ardent and heroic spirit, they seemed
for the time to have quite forgotten that they were the natives and
representatives of many different and widely separated provinces, and
to think that they were, as Patrick Henry happily expressed it, not
Carolinians, not Pennsylvanians, not Virginians, so much as that they
were Americans; and had been sent there, not so much to represent the
will and wishes of the people of their respective provinces, as of
those of the whole American people. Thus Union became the watchword
throughout the Colonies. And by union alone were they able to make a
stand against tyranny; by it alone came off victorious in the end; by
it alone won for themselves a place among the nations; and by it alone
can their posterity hope to hold that place as a powerful, free, and
happy people.

Having done all that could be done for the present, the Congress was
adjourned, and the members returned to their homes to await the result
of the petitions and remonstrances they had sent on to the king and
parliament. Although these were couched in moderate and respectful
terms, expressing their unaltered attachment to the king and his
family, deploring that there should be aught but peace and good-will
between them, and entreating him not to drive his children to the
dreadful alternative of taking up arms in their defence, yet, like
those that had gone before them,