From Bartleby -
Of Patrick Henry?s famous ?Treason? speech, made in the House of
Burgesses in May, 1765, when he had introduced his resolutions against
the Stamp Act, only a fragment has come down to us. We are told that
in the midst of the debate 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 ??.? At this point the speaker of the
House cried ?treason,? and the word ?treason? was echoed back from
many parts of the House. Henry ?faltered not for an instant, but
rising to a loftier attitude and fixing on the speaker an eye of the
most determined fire, finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis
on the words, ?may profit by their example. If this be treason, make
the most of it.?
The Wikipedia entry for Patrick Henry also has some interesting comments and links. |
