obtained,--we
must fight! I repeat it, sir,--we must fight! An appeal to
arms, and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us.'"

Up to this point in his address, the orator seems to have spoken with
great deliberation and self-restraint. St. George Tucker, who was
present, and who has left a written statement of his recollections
both of the speech and of the scene, says:--

"It was on that occasion that I first felt a full impression
of Mr. Henry's powers. In vain should I attempt to give any
idea of his speech. He was calm and collected; touched upon
the origin and progress of the dispute between Great Britain
and the colonies, the various conciliatory measures adopted
by the latter, and the uniformly increasing tone of violence
and arrogance on the part of the former."

Then follows, in Tucker's narrative, the passage included in the last
two paragraphs of the speech as given above, after which he adds:--

"Imagine to yourself this speech delivered with all the calm
dignity of Cato of Utica; imagine to yourself the Roman
senate assembled in the capitol when it was entered by the
profane Gauls, who at first were awed by their presence as
if they had entered an assembly of the gods; imagine that
you heard that Cato addressing such a senate; imagine that
you saw the handwriting on the wall of Belshazzar's palace;
imagine you heard a voice as from heaven uttering the words,
'We must fight!' as the doom of fate,--and you may have some
idea of the speaker, the assembly to whom he addressed
himself, and the auditory of which I was one."[156]

But, by a comparison of this testimony of St. George Tucker with that
of others who heard the speech, it is made evident that, as the orator
then advanced toward the conclusion and real climax of his argument,
he no longer maintained "the calm dignity of Cato of Utica," but that
his manner gradually deepened into an intensity of passion and a
dramatic power which were overwhelming. He thus continued:--

"'They tell us, sir, that we are weak,--unable to cope with
so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?
Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when
we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be
stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by
irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of