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rians of the adjacent States, all silent. When Mr. Henry's resolutions, far short of independence, flew like lightning through every paper, and kindled both sides of the Atlantic, this flaming declaration of the same date, of the independence of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, absolving it from the British allegiance, and abjuring all political connection with that nation, although sent to Congress, too, is never heard of. It is not known even a twelvemonth after, when a similar proposition is first made in that body. Armed with this bold example, would you not have addressed our timid brethren in peals of thunder on their tardy fears? Would not every advocate of independence have rung the glories of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, in the ears of the doubting Dickinson and others, who hung so heavily on us? Yet the example of independent Mecklenburg County, in North Carolina, was never once quoted. The paper speaks, too, of the continued exertions of their delegation (Caswell, Hooper, Hughes) in the cause of liberty and independence.'

"Now, you remember as well as I do, that we had not a greater Tory in Congress than Hooper; that Hughes was very wavering, sometimes firm, sometimes feeble, according as the day was clear or cloudy; that Caswell, indeed, was a good Whig, and kept these gentlemen to the notch, while he was present; but that he left us soon, and their line of conduct became then uncertain until Penn came, who fixed Hughes and the vote of the State.

"I must not be understood as suggesting any doubtfulness in the State of North Carolina. No State was more fixed or forward. Nor do I affirm positively that this paper is a fabrication; because the proof of a negative can only be presumptive. But I shall believe it such until positive and solemn proof of its authenticity be produced. And if the name of McKnitt be real, and not a part of the fabrication, it needs a vindication by the production of such proof. For the present I must be an unbeliever in the apocryphal gospel.

"I am glad to learn that Mr. Ticknor has safely returned to his friends; but should have been much more pleased had he accepted the professorship in our university, which we should have offered him in form. Mr. Bowditch, too, refuses us; so fascinating is the vinculum of the dulce natale solum. Our wish is to procure natives, where they can be found, like these gentlemen, of the first order of requirement in their lines; but, preferring foreigners of the first order to natives of the second, we shall certainly have to

go for several of our professors, to countries far more advanced in science than we are.

"I set out within three or four days for my other home, the distance of which, and its cross mails, are great impediments to epistolary communications. I shall remain there about two months; and there, here, and everywhere, I am, and shall always be, affectionately and respectfully yours."

CHAPTER VII.

MR. JEFFERSON IN THE CONGRESS-REAL ORIGIN OF THE SENTIMENTS OF THE DECLARATION-PROPHECY CONCERNING THE END OF SLAVERY-FREEDOM WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF FATE THE

MANY

VIRGINIA CODE OF LAWS.

ANY years after this historic event remarks were made by John Adams and others, which although doubtlessly not meant to be harmful or do injustice to Mr. Jefferson, were the source of much controversy as to the real origin of the sentiments contained in the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Adams in one of his over-vain moments went so far as to intimate in one of his letters and his Diary, that the sentiments had been written and spoken by him, which was likely true. But all the talk about the matter was ridiculous and not at all to the credit of its originators. Yet it must be remembered that John Adams had really given away many brilliant opportunities by the strangely necessary policy which placed New England in silence behind Virginia and other Southern Colonies, and that when beset on all hands by enemies, he recalled these early scenes in the great struggle with some bitterness. Mr. Jefferson did not need to borrow the thoughts of other men. He had prepared two similar documents before, one for the House of Burgesses, and one mainly adopted in the

Congress, on the conciliation propositions of the British Ministry. Then, too, the ideas of Mr. Adams and other able defenders of the cause of the country had become, to a great extent, the common sentiment, especially of the determined opponents of any compromise with Great Britain which would not secure a permanent peace. Mr. Jefferson presented in the Declaration, in an uncommonly happy style, the wants and principles of the great mass of the Whigs at the time. But it was on that account no less his own production. He was one of those men who did not absorb every thing from the world, but who gave more than he received. The effect of the Declaration of Independence was widely beneficial at home and abroad. At home it strengthened the radical Whigs, gave decision to the weak, fired the soldiers and the people everywhere, and brought out the greatest efforts of the country; and abroad, it cheered alike the friends of America and the enemies of Britain.

Up to this time Mr. Jefferson had not been apparently more decided than other leading patriots that a final separation from England would be necessary or advisable. There are not wanting evidences of his holding to the common idea on this point, and that he recognized it as a struggle for chartered or constitutional liberty. From this period, however, he did not waver, and was opposed to all attempts at, or thought of, conciliation.

Before the Declaration of Independence was written, Mr. Jefferson had prepared what he believed to be a suitable form of constitution and government for Virginia, and sent it to the president of the State Convention, hoping that something might be derived

from it of benefit in fixing the status of affairs under the new order of things. But the matter had already been discussed over every inch of debatable ground, and the Bill of Rights and Constitution, drafted by George Mason, and founded mainly on the general plan set forth by John Adams, was adopted by the Convention, and the preamble to Mr. Jefferson's plan was adopted as its preamble. This was very similar to his preamble to the Declaration.

In the summer of 1776, Mr. Jefferson was again chosen one of the representatives to the Congress; but his private affairs and the interests of the State requiring his presence in Virginia, he notified the Convention that another should be substituted for him in the National Council.

In September he left Philadelphia, and afterwards sent his formal resignation to the Congress. On the last day of September the Congress appointed him, with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane, as commissioners to negotiate a treaty with France. Deane was already in that country acting as a secret agent for the United States. But, for the same reasons, that he had resigned his seat in the Congress, Mr. Jefferson now declined to accept this position; and when the Virginia Legislature convened in October, 1776, he took the seat in that body, to which he had been elected from Albemarle County. A great part of the lands of Virginia were in the hands of the wealthy families, and, according to the old crown laws, remained in those families, the oldest son receiving privileges and honors not extended to other members, the daughters especially being distinguished against in their rights of inheritance.

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