USA > Virginia > The history of the Virginia federal convention of 1788, with some account of eminent Virginians of that era who were members of the body, Vol. II > Part 29
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Meantime Wilson attended the grammar school of William and Mary College, and was about to enter that institution when, in 1775, the troubles of the Colony began in earnest, and the tramp of armed men began to be heard in the hitherto peaceful metropolis. The delicate health of his mother required a less exciting scene, and she removed, with her younger sons, to the "Retreat," an estate of her husband's in Hanover, and there superintended their education. When Wilson Cary attained his eighteenth year-a gloomy period of the war-he entered the army, and, having served several campaigns, returned to
286 The residence of Judge Nicholas was opposite the public green and in the rear of the magazine from which the powder was taken. Lord Dunmore had three sons at William and Mary in 1775-George Viscount Fincastle, the Hon. Alexander, and John Murray.
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"Warren," a paternal seat in Albemarle, to which his mother had removed after the visit of Cornwallis to the "Retreat," an account of which has been detailed in the life of George. Under the guidance of his mother he spent his time in reading, his father having died in 1780 at the " Retreat " before the departure of his mother. Such was the progress which he made in his studies, and so high did he stand with the people of his adopted county, that in 1784-in his twenty-third year-he was chosen by a flattering vote to a seat in the House of Delegates. When his mother, who had probably returned to her home in Williams- burg, heard of the election of her son, she addressed him a letter which, with the allowances every intelligent reader will make for her early prejudices and prepossessions, may be studied at the present day by politicians, old as well as young. It is in these words:
"DEAR WILSON, -I congratulate you on the honor your county has done you in choosing you their representative with so large a vote. I hope you are come into the Assembly without those trammels which some people submit to wear for a seat in the House-I mean, unbound by promises to perform this or that job which the many headed monster may think proper to chalk out for you; especially that you have not engaged to lend a last hand to pulling down the Church, which, by some imperti- nent questions in the last paper, I suspect will be attempted. Never, my dear Wilson, let me hear that by that sacrilegious act you have furnished yourself with materials to erect a scaffold by which you may climb to the summit of popularity; rather remain in the lowest obscurity; though, I think, from long obser- vation, I can venture to assert that the man of integrity, who observes one equal tenor in his conduct-who deviates neither to the one side nor the other from the proper line-has more of the confidence of the people than the very compliant time-server, who calls himself the servant-and, indeed, is the slave-of the people. I flatter myself, too, you will act on a more liberal plan than some members have done in matters in which the honor and interest of this State are concerned; that you will not, to save a few pence to your constituents, discourage the progress of arts and sciences, nor pay with so scanty a hand persons who are eminent in either. This parsimonious plan, of late adopted, will throw us behind the other States in all valuable improvements,
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and chill, like a frost, the spring of learning and spirit of enter- prise. I have insensibly extended what I had to say beyond my first design, but will not quit the subject without giving you a hint, from a very good friend of yours, that your weight in the House will be much greater if you do not take up the attention of the Assembly on trifling matters nor too often demand a hearing. To this I must add a hint of my own-that temper and decorum are of infinite advantage to a public speaker, and a modest diffidence to a young man just entering the stage of life. The neglect of the former throws him off his guard, breaks his chain of reasoning, and has often produced in England duels that have terminated fatally. The natural effect of the latter will ever be procuring a favorable and patient hearing, and all those advantages that a prepossession in favor of the speaker produces.
"You see, my son, that I take the privilege of a mother in advising you, and be assured you have no friend so solicitous for your welfare, temporal and eternal, as your ever affectionate mother,
" ANNE NICHOLAS. 287 "Williamsburg, 1784."
It now remains to be seen how far he followed, in a political career of thirty-five years, the suggestions of his estimable parent.
The first act on taking his seat in the House of. Delegates in May, 1784, was to vote for the re-election of John Tyler as Speaker, whom he had frequently seen in his childhood in Wil- liamsburg, who had long known and esteemed his father, and with whom he was to be associated under a new Federal Gov- ernment for many years to come. The nomination of Tyler was seconded by French Strother, whom our young politician had also seen in his early youth, who had proved himself a sterling patriot in our civil conflicts, and with whom he was to fight under the same standard many a sharp battle before the close of the century. As he looked over the House, he recognized many faces which he had seen in his youth, and beheld a number of young men who, like himself, were new members, and with whom he was to engage earnestly on the field of politics for more than the third of a century to come. Among the older
287 Old Churches, Vol. I, 184.
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members were Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, William Grayson, Henry Tazewell, Madison, John Taylor (of Caroline), Jones (of King George), and others; and among the younger ones were John Marshall, Alexander Stuart, and others who were destined to acquire reputation in the Assembly, in the Con- gress, and under the new Federal Government. His brother John was his colleague, and sat by his side. His relative, Wil- son Miles Cary, was chairman of the Committee of Religion, which at that particular conjuncture was the most interesting of the standing committees. Nicholas was placed on the Com- mittee of Propositions and Grievances, of which Tazewell was chairman, and on the Committee of Courts of Justice, in which Jones (of King George) presided.
As a general outline of the proceedings of this session has already been given, it will be only necessary to state the occa- sion when some test question of the times was presented for his vote. The first test question was on the engrossing a bill for adjusting claims for property impressed or taken for public ser- vice. As the bill was lost, we cannot ascertain its details; for it is plain that it was in some detail of the bill and not in its nomi- nal object that it was disapproved by the House. Nicholas voted for the rejection with Henry, Madison, Taylor (of Caro- line), Marshall, Jones (of King George), and his brother, John. The bill was defeated by five votes.
The next test question was one of the most exciting that was agitated in the Assembly before the adoption of the present Federal Constitution. The definitive treaty with Great Britain stipulated that the debts due British subjects before the Revo- lution should be paid in full. The right of a State to confiscate a debt due to the public enemy was as clear as the right to take any other kind of property, or even life itself. if it were deemed expedient so to do; and Virginia had exercised this right by requiring the British debtors to pay their several amounts into the public treasury. The subject had been deliberately acted upon, and was regarded as settled forever; to open it afresh was thought by the majority of the people of that era as imprudent and as unjustifiable as it would be to require the restoration of any other property taken from the British. But the public aversion to the measure was increased by the absence of all reciprocity on the part of the British, though that reciprocity
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was enjoined by the treaty. Negroes had been taken off at the evacuation of New York not only in violation of the treaty, but in spite of the demands of their owners, who were present in person at the time of their embarkation. The payment of the debts due by the citizens of Virginia to British subjects was, beyond dispute, decreed by the treaty; yet it was urged by the majority that, though those debts would have to be paid, it was prudent to delay payment until every fair effort could be made to secure the rights of our own citizens. Great Britain could not complain, unless she consented to perform her own part of the bargain; and it was plain that she not only did not intend to pay for our slaves, but designedly kept possession of those forti- fied places which she had agreed to evacuate, and from which she could annoy us most readily in case of war. On the other hand, it was urged by the members of the minority, of whom Nicholas was one, that our first office was to do justice, and that if England did not fulfil her part of the treaty in good faith we should adopt the means of redress which the laws of nations pointed out. The form in which the present question came up was this: A motion was made that the House adopt a resolu- tion declaring that all acts of Assembly incompatible with the definitive treaty ought to be repealed. The previous question, "Shall the question to agree to the resolution be now put?" was called, and was negatived by a vote of thirty-seven to fifty-seven. In other words, the House refused to come to a direct vote on the resolution at that time. Nicholas voted in the minority with Madison, Marshall, Richard Henry Lee, Corbin, White, Taze- well, and Edmunds (of Brunswick); while the majority included Patrick Henry, Crocker, Strother, John Trigg, Vanmeter, Zane, Ruffin, Edmunds (of Sussex), Matthews, Porter (the colleague of Madison), Riddick, Thomas Smith-members who came from the extreme West as well as the extreme East, and who clearly voted on general grounds.
The proper site for the seat of government of the Common- wealth was long a subject of dispute in our early councils. It had been removed from Williamsburg during the war, when, from the position of that city (between two navigable streams), an attack might at any moment be made upon it, and lands had been purchased in Richmond; but Richmond was far from being in the centre of the State, and, at a time when men could travel
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on horseback only, it was deemed a long distance from the inte- rior to the falls of the James. At the present session a resolu- tion was reported from the Committee of the Whole, declaring that all the public lands in Richmond not necessary for the pur- poses of government should be sold, and the proceeds thereof applied to the erection of public buildings in Richmond, pursu- ant to the act for the removal of the seat of government. When it came up a motion was made to strike it out and insert that it was expedient that measures should be taken to ascertain the opinion of the people as to the place to be fixed on for the seat of government. The amendment was negatived, and the origi- nal resolution was agreed to by a vote of sixty-three to fifty- seven. It is probable that the vote on the adoption of the resolution was the direct reverse of the vote in favor of the amendment; and if this supposition is true, then Nicholas voted with Patrick Henry, Madison, Marshall, and Strother, and against White, Tazewell, Prentis, Richard Henry Lee, King, Ruffin, and Matthews-in other words, against the Williamsburg interest, which on such occasions was always upheld with ability by the delegate from that city, who was generally an able and clever tactician, and who at this time was the mild and venerated Prentis.
I now come to a vote given by Nicholas on a subject which seriously perplexed the thoughts of our early statesmen during the period which elapsed between the close of the war and the adoption of the Federal Constitution. In that interval Virginia was truly and practically a sovereign State. In main respects she regulated her own commerce at her own discretion; laid duties on exports and imports; had or might have a navy of her own; did have her revenue cutters, and collected her marine dues in her custom-houses or by her officers on board the ships. This independent position involved important responsibilities, none of which was greater than that of building up a commercial marine. From the earliest times the British vessels traded up our bay and the larger streams, and discharged and received their cargoes at the landings, and sometimes almost at the barn- doors of the planters; and the result was a virtual proscription of the existence of any ships owned by Virginians, and a facility for smuggling which a large navy-if a large navy had been practicable-could not have entirely prevented. When, at the
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close of the war, it became necessary to levy duties on imports, and also on exports, it was seen that the facility of eluding all the regulations of revenue was such that the State would be compelled either to establish innumerable places of deposit and entry-the expense of which would almost entirely consume the amount derived from the customs-or, in justice to the fair dealer, who would be ruined by the smugglers, to give up the scheme of a revenue from commerce altogether. At this con- juncture it was determined that a few places of deposit and entry should be chosen, as such a policy would not only secure the safe and speedy collection of the revenue, but tend to rear a commercial marine of our own. The transportation of freight to and from the specified ports would soon call into existence a class of men accustomed to the water and ready to man our ships, when they should be built, to foreign ports, and especially able to defend our coasts in time of war. The sagacity of Madison had embraced the whole subject, and he determined to bring the matter before the Assembly.288 But there were many strong prejudices and powerful local interests to encounter. It is a trait of the Anglo-Saxon family-derived, perhaps, from their piratical ancestors-to hate taxes of all sorts, especially those accruing from the sea, and to love smuggling; and it was also a trait of our British forefathers of a later day, who were mainly agricultural, to hate towns, as interfering with their interests in more regards than one. Even since the accession of the Prince of Orange to the British throne there have been repeated efforts in Parliament by the county members to prevent the growth of London, and severe taxes have been proposed on every new building in the metropolis. The same prejudice existed in Vir- ginia, and, from obvious geographical considerations, to a much greater extent than in England. Our noble bay and our nume- rous rivers, though affording invaluable advantages to the farmer, are fatal to the existence of any large town, unless their naviga-
288 I have no authority derived from the Journals to sustain my asser- tion of the primacy of Madison on this subject; but I have often heard old men, who lived thirty years ago, speak of Madison's scheme for building up towns and creating a coasting trade, etc. The present bill passed both houses, but was assailed and amended at every session, until the whole subject was transferred to the Government under the Federal Constitution.
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tion is controlled by stringent laws; and a large majority of a rural people, in deciding between the personal and immediate benefit derived from the free use of their streams by ships, foreign as well as domestic, and the apparently remote advan- tages springing from an economical collection of the revenue, and an efficient marine in case of war, appeared to dread a change.
At the present session-on the 17th of June-the subject was presented on the passage of a bill to restrict foreign vessels to certain ports within the Commonwealth. The bill passed by a vote of sixty-four to fifty-eight; Patrick Henry, Madison, Strother, Corbin, Eyre, Mann Page, Jones (of King George), Edward Carrington, Philip Barbour, Prentis, Matthews, and others in the affirmative, and Nicholas, with Grayson, Marshall, Ruffin, White, and others in the negative. Tazewell and Richard Henry Lee were absent. I wish I could have recorded the name of Nicholas on that side of the question which posterity has substantially approved, but it must not be forgotten that he strenuously upheld the adoption of the Federal Constitution, which estab- lished the existing arrangement; as it was, I can only say that he voted in very decent company.
The next vexed question which he had to encounter was the propriety of calling a Convention to revise the Constitution of the State. A few weeks after the adjournment of the Convention which formed that instrument, Wythe, in a letter to Jefferson, expressed himself in a way that would lead at first sight to the opinion that he believed an ordinary Legislature compe- tent to amend that instrument at pleasure, and a design was seriously meditated during the war of undertaking the office of revisal.239 The attack made on the Constitution in the Notes on Virginia was not yet generally read, but it is proba- ble that the opinions of Mr. Jefferson had been uttered freely in conversation, and that his friends-and among them Nicho- las-knew what they were. The question now came up in
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289 In a review of the Life of Jefferson by Randall, in the Richmond Enquirer of 15th of January, 1858, the language of Wythe is examined, and shown to be the result of forgetfulness for the moment, and not conflicting with the doctrine afterwards laid down by him, that an act of Assembly in conflict with the Constitution is void. A letter of George Mason's, deprecating the attempt to revise the Constitution by the Assembly, may be seen in the Virginia Historical Register.
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the House on agreeing with the opinion of the Committee of the Whole, to which the Augusta petition in favor of calling a Convention had been referred, and which opinion was adverse to the prayer of the petition. The resolve set forth that the peti- tion should be rejected, " such a measure (as the call of a Con- vention) not being within the province of the House of Delegates to assume; but, on the contrary, it is the express duty of the representatives of the people, at all times and on all occasions, to preserve the same inviolable until a majority of all the free people shall direct a reform thereof."
A motion was made to strike out the part quoted above, and was negatived by a vote of forty-two to fifty-seven. Nicholas was so much interested in the question that he rose and demanded the ayes and noes. He voted in the minority-that is, in favor of striking out-with John Taylor (of Caroline), Madison, Mar- shall, Stuart, Jones (of King George), Prentis, and Tazewell; while Henry, White, Strother, King, Eyre, Ruffin, Matthews, and his brother John were in the majority. The decision of the majority was that the Assembly had no right to call a Conven- tion, or to meddle with the matter, unless instructed by a majority of all the free people of the State; and it is presumed that the minority thought that the Assembly did possess the power of calling one without any formal instruction from the people. The opinion held forty four years later, when a Convention was called, seems to be intermediate between the opinions held by both parties on the present occasion. The Assembly then passed an act affording facilities for the expression of the wishes of the people on the subject, and, having learned that a majority of votes was cast in favor of calling a Convention, carried the public will into effect.
He voted with the majority on the passage of the bill to amend the several acts concerning marriages, which was opposed by an able minority, headed by Tazewell, Grayson, Matthews, and others; and he witnessed the amusing scene, already described, which occurred when John Warden was brought before the House for a contempt. And he had the pleasure of voting for that statue to Washington, with the inscription on its base by Madison, which, so finely executed by Houdon, has for more than seventy years adorned the Capitol of Virginia. The session adjourned on the 30th of June.
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The House of Delegates reassembled on the 18th day of Octo- ber, but could not obtain a quorum for several days. The roll was called, the absent members were noted, and the sergeant-at- arms was instructed to take them into custody. In due time Nicholas, Henry, Madison, Adam Stephen, and Grayson were produced at the bar in custody of the sergeant, and were required to make their excuses for their delay in attending the session. Nicholas appeared on the 30th, and was placed on the Commit- tee of Religion-of which Norvell was chairman-and on the Committee of Propositions and Grievances, with Tazewell at its head.
The great question concerning religion came on the 11th of November in the shape of a resolution from the Committee of the Whole, "that the people of the Commonwealth, according to their respective abilities, ought to pay a moderate tax or contri- bution annually for the support of the Christian religion, or of some Christian church, denomination, or communion of Chris- tians, or of some form of Christian worship." It has been com- mon to regard the assessment recommended by this resolution as the evidence of a lingering attachment to a church establish- ment; but nothing can be further from the true state of the case. To require all the sects of a Christian community, such as Virginia then was, to make a contribution to their respective churches was a measure which, so far from tending to consoli- date the sects and rear an establishment, was the most efficient that could be devised for rendering an establishment impractica- ble. It was essentially a measure of moral police, deemed advisa- ble at a time when the voluntary system had not been tried, except on a very small scale, and no more trenched on religious freedom than the setting apart of the first day of the week, under severe penalties, as a day of rest alike to Jew and Gentile, can be regarded as an infringement of religious liberty. The House happened to be thin when the question was taken, but the resolution was carried by a vote of forty-seven to thirty-two; Patrick Henry, Jones (of King George), Tazewell, Prentis, Coles, King, Wray, Edmunds (of Sussex), Edmunds (of Brunswick), Riddick, Eyre, and Allen voting in the affirmative, and Nicholas, with Madison, Strother, Johnston, Stuart, Spencer Roane, John Breckenridge, Porter, Russell, and Matthews, in the negative. A committee was appointed to bring in a bill in pursuance of the
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resolution, consisting of Henry, Corbin, Jones (of King George), Coles, Norvell, Wray, Jones (of Dinwiddie), Carter H. Harri- son, Tazewell, and Prentis.
On the 17th of November the question concerning religion came up a second time on two resolutions, reported by the Committee of the Whole, which declared, first, that so much of the petition of the Presbytery of Hanover, and of the Baptist Association, as prays that the laws regulating the celebration of marriage, and relating to the construction of vestries, may be altered, is reasonable; and, secondly, that acts ought to pass for the incorporation of all societies of the Christian religion which may apply for the same. The first passed without a division, but the second excited a warm debate. White called for the ayes and noes, and we are thus enabled to learn how each mem- ber voted on the subject. The resolution, enforced as it was by the . eloquence of Henry, passed by a vote of sixty-two to twenty-three-largely over two to one; Patrick Henry, Stuart, Spencer Roane, Jones (of King George), and Matthews voting for its passage, and Nicholas, with Madison, John Taylor (of Caroline), Strother, White, Johnston, and John Trigg, against it. Of this resolution it may be said that it contained nothing exclu- sive. It offered equal facilities to all Christian sects. Matthews, Henry, Madison, and others were appointed a committee to bring in a bill pursuant to the first resolution; and leave was immedi- ately granted to bring in a bill to incorporate the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and Carter H. Harrison, Henry, Thomas Smith, William Anderson, and Tazewell were ordered to prepare it.
A bill was reported from the Committee of the Whole on the 26th respecting the extradition of criminals, when a motion was made to strike out all after the enacting clause and insert a more explicit enactment instead. The motion prevailed; Madison, Tazewell, Eyre, Ruffin, Marshall, and Matthews in the affirma- tive, and Nicholas, with John Trigg, Strother, and Prentis, in the negative. The amended bill then passed without a division.
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