t Congress, and who was never
much addicted to bestowing eulogiums on any man but John Adams, wrote
to Jefferson that "in the Congress of 1774 there was not one member,
except Patrick Henry, who appeared ... sensible of the precipice, or
rather the pinnacle, on which we stood, and had candor and courage
enough to acknowledge it."[131] To Wirt likewise, a few years later,
the same hard critic of men testified that Patrick Henry always
impressed him as a person "of deep reflection, keen sagacity, clear
foresight, daring enterprise, inflexible intrepidity, and untainted
integrity, with an ardent zeal for the liberties, the honor, and
felicity of his country and his species."[132]

Of the parting interview between these two men, at the close of that
first period of thorough personal acquaintance, there remains from the
hand of one of them a graphic account that reveals to us something of
the conscious kinship which seems ever afterward to have bound
together their robust and impetuous natures.

"When Congress," says John Adams, "had finished their
business, as they thought, in the autumn of 1774, I had with
Mr. Henry, before we took leave of each other, some familiar
conversation, in which I expressed a full conviction that
our resolves, declarations of rights, enumeration of wrongs,
petitions, remonstrances, and addresses, associations, and
non-importation agreements, however they might be expected
by the people in America, and however necessary to cement
the union of the colonies, would be but waste paper in
England. Mr. Henry said they might make some impression
among the people of England, but agreed with me that they
would be totally lost upon the government. I had but just
received a short and hasty letter, written to me by Major
Hawley, of Northampton, containing 'a few broken hints,' as
he called them, of what he thought was proper to be done,
and concluding[133] with these words: 'After all, we must
fight.' This letter I read to Mr. Henry, who listened with
great attention; and as soon as I had pronounced the words,
'After all, we must fight,' he raised his head, and with an
energy and vehemence that I can never forget, broke out
with: 'By God, I am of that man's mind!'"[134]

This anecdote, it may be mentioned, contains the only instance on
record, for any period of Patrick Henry's life, implying his use of