Reviewed in Brief.

In 1763 Henry was retained to defend the “collectors” of Hanover County against a suit for damages of the Reverend James Maury for arrears of salary. After a fumbling beginning which left his friends disconcerted, he suddenly caught fire and launched into that fervid style which was to make him one of the great orators of the age. By the end of the first twenty minutes the audience was hanging forward in “deathlike silence,” and many afterwards testified to having felt “bereft of their senses” by the force of his eloquence. For two generations thereafter the highest compliment that could be paid to a speaker in Virginia was, “He is almost equal to Patrick when he pleaded against the parsons.” The jury awarded damages of one penny, and Henry was immediately recognized as the boldest champion of colonial rights.

Two years later Henry, now a member of the House of Burgesses, offered a set of resolutions on the Stamp Act. The first four of these were relatively mild declarations, but the fifth, which branded anyone who denied the exclusive right of the General Assembly to levy taxes an enemy of American freedom, brought on a “most bloody debate.” It was here that Henry, rising to heights in defense of the resolution, declared: “Tarquin and Caesar had each his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their example.” To cries of “Treason! Treason!” he made the famous reply, “If this be treason, make the most of it.”

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In 1763 Henry was retained to defend the “collectors” of Hanover County against a suit for damages of the Reverend James Maury for arrears of salary. After a fumbling beginning which left his friends disconcerted, he suddenly caught fire and launched into that fervid style which was to make him one of the great orators of the age. By the end of the first twenty minutes the audience was hanging forward in “deathlike silence,” and many afterwards testified to having felt “bereft of their senses” by the force of his eloquence. For two generations thereafter the highest compliment that could be paid to a speaker in Virginia was, “He is almost equal to Patrick when he pleaded against the parsons.” The jury awarded damages of one penny, and Henry was immediately recognized as the boldest champion of colonial rights.

Two years later Henry, now a member of the House of Burgesses, offered a set of resolutions on the Stamp Act. The first four of these were relatively mild declarations, but the fifth, which branded anyone who denied the exclusive right of the General Assembly to levy taxes an enemy of American freedom, brought on a “most bloody debate.” It was here that Henry, rising to heights in defense of the resolution, declared: “Tarquin and Caesar had each his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their example.” To cries of “Treason! Treason!” he made the famous reply, “If this be treason, make the most of it.”