few scholars, always with very little compensation, and of ten demanding none. Several living ornaments of their country received their greatest lights from his sublime example and instruction. Such was the upright and venerable Wythe.”

RICHARD HENRY LEE.

RICHARD HENRY LEE, a descendant from an ancient and distinguished family in Virginia, was born in Westmoreland county, of that province, on the twentieth of January, 1732. As the schools of the country for many years furnished but few advantages for an education, those who were able to meet the expense, were accustomed to send their sons abroad for instruction. At a proper age, young Lee was sent to a flourishing school, then existing at Wakesfield, in the county of Yorkshire, England. The talents which he possessed, industriously employed under the guidance of respectable tutors, rendered his literary acquisitions easy and rapid; and in a few years he returned to his native country, with a mind well stored with scientific and classical knowledge.

For several years following his return to America, he continued his studies with persevering industry, greatly adding to the stock of knowledge which he had gained abroad, by which he was still more eminently fitted for the conspicuous part he was destined to act in the approaching revolutionary struggle of his country.

About the year 1757, Mr. Lee was called to a seat in the house of burgesses. For several years, however, he made but an indifferent figure, either as an orator or the leader of a party, owing, it is said, to a natural diffidence, which prevented him from displaying those powers with which he was gifted, or exercising that influence to which he was entitled. This impediment, however, was gradually removed, when he rapidly rose into notice, and became conspicuous as a poli

THE NEW YORK UBLIC LIBRARY.

ASTOR, LENCX AND TILCON FOUNDATIONS.

tical leader in his country, and highly distinguished for a natural, easy, and at the same time impressive eloquence.

In the year 1765, Patrick Henry proposed the celebrated resolutions against the stamp act, noticed in the preceding sketch of the life of Mr. Wythe. During the debate on these resolutions, Mr. Lee arrived at the seat of government, soon after which he entered with great spirit into the debate, and powerfully assisted in carrying these resolutions through the house, in opposition to the timidity of some, and the mistaken judgment of others.

The above strong and spirited resolutions served, as has already been noticed in a former page, to rouse the energies of the Americans, and to concentrate that feeling, which was spending itself without obtaining any important object. Not long after the above resolutions were carried, Mr. Lee presented to his fellow citizens the plan of an association, the object of which was an effectual resistance to the arbitrary power of the mother country, which was manifesting itself in various odious forms; and especially in that detestable measure, the stamp act. The third article of the constitution of this association will show the patriotic and determined spirit which prevailed in the county of Westmoreland, the people of which generally united in the association. “As the stamp act does absolutely direct the property of people to be taken from them, without their consent, expressed by their representatives, and as in many cases it deprives the British American subject of his right to be tried by jury, we do determine, at every hazard, and paying no regard to death, to exert every faculty to prevent the execution of the stamp act, in every instance, within the colony."

The influence of this association, and of other associations of a similar kind, rendered the execution of the stamp act difficult, and even impossible. It was a measure to which the Americans, would not submit; and the ministry of Great Britain were reluctantly forced to repeal it. To Mr. Lee, as well as to his countrymen, the removal of the stamp act was an occasion of no small joy; but the clause accompanying the repealing act, which declared the power of parliament to bind

the colonies in all cases whatever, was a dark cloud, which in a measure obscured the brightness of the prospect, and foreboded an approaching storm.

In the year 1773, Mr. Lee brought forward in the Virginia house of burgesses his celebrated plan for the formation of a committee of correspondence, whose object was to dissemi nate information, and to kindle the flame of liberty, throughout the continent; or, in other language, "to watch the conduct of the British parliament, to spread more widely correct information on topics connected with the interests of the colonies, and to form a closer union of the men of influence in each." The honour of having first established corresponding societies is claimed both by Massachusetts and Virginia; the former placing the merit to the account of her distinguished patriot, Samuel Adams; and the latter assigning it to Richard Henry Lee. It is probable, however, that each of these distinguished men are entitled to equal honour, in respect to originating a plan which contributed, more than most others, to a unity of sentiment and harmony of action among the different leaders in the respective colonies. Without concert between them, each of these individuals seems to have introduced the plan, about the same period, to the legislatures of their respective colonies. It is certain, however, that in respect to Mr. Lee, the plan of these corresponding societies was not the result of a few days reflection only. It had occupied his thoughts for several years; had been there forming and maturing, and, at length, was proposed and adopted, to the infinite advantage of the cause of liberty in the country.

Of the distinguished congress which met at Philadelphia in 1774, Mr. Lee was a delegate from Virginia, with Washington and Henry. In the deliberations of this celebrated body, Mr. Lee acted a conspicuous part, and served on several committees; and to his pen is attributed the memorial, which the continental congress authorized, to the people of British America. In the following year, Mr. Lee received the unanimous suffrage of the district in which he resided to the assembly of Virginia, by which he was deputed to represent the colony in the second congress, which was to meet on the tenth of