to cheer and animate the timid band of followers, that were trembling, fainting, and drawing back, below him. It was an occasion that called upon him to put forth all his sti'ength, and he did put it forth, in such a manner, as man never did before. The cords of argu- ment, with which his adversaries frequently flattered themselves they had bound him fast, became pack- threads in his hands. He burst them, with as much ease, as the unshorn Sampson did the bands of the Phihstines. He seized the pillars of the temple, shook them terribly, and seemed to threaten his opponents with ruin. It was an incessant storm of lightning and thunder, which struck them aghast. The faint-hearted gathered courage from his countenance, and cowards became heroes, while they gazed upon his exploits.
It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, that he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god, "Cæsar had his Brutus — Charles the first, his Cromwell — and George the third — ('Treason,' cried the speaker — ' treason, treason,' echoed from every part of the house. — It was one of those trying moments which is decisive of character. — Henry faultered not for an instant; but rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis) may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.'[1]
- ↑ I had frequently heard the above anecdote of the cry of treason, by it with such variations of the concluding words, that I began to doubt whether the whole might not be fiction. With a view to ascertain the truth, therefore, I submitted it to Mr. Jefferson, as it had been given to me by judge Tyler, and this is his answer. " I well remember the cry of treason, the pause of Mr. Henry at the name of George the III. and the presence of mind with which he closed his sentence, and baffled the charge vociferated." The incident, therefore, becomes authentic history.
