ndria,
and offered their services to General Braddock in his expedition against
Fort Du Quesne; but the offer was declined. In his twenty-fifth year Mr.
Lee was appointed a justice of the peace, and shortly after a burgess
for his county. Naturally diffident, and finding himself surrounded by
men of extraordinary abilities, for one or two sessions he took no part
in the debates. One of his early efforts was a brief, but strong,
elaborate speech in support of a resolution "to lay so heavy a tax on
the importation of slaves as effectually to put an end to that
iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the colony of Virginia;" and
on this occasion he argued against the institution of slavery as a
portentous evil, moral and political.[660:A]

In November, 1764, when the meditated stamp act was first heard of in
America, Mr. Lee, at the instance of a friend, wrote to England making
application for the office of a collector under that act. It was
difficult to retrieve so unpopular a step. During this year he brought
before the assembly the subject of the act of parliament claiming a
right to tax America; and he composed the address to the king, and the
memorial to the commons. His accomplishments, learning, courtesy,
patriotism, republican principles, decision of character and eloquence,
commanded the attention of the legislature. Although a member at the
time of the introduction of Henry's resolutions of 1765, Mr. Lee
happened not to be present at the discussion; but he heartily concurred
in their adoption; and shortly after their passage organized an
association in Westmoreland in furtherance of them. When the
defalcations of Treasurer Robinson came to be suspected, Mr. Lee, like
Patrick Henry on another occasion of the same kind, insisted with
firmness on an investigation of the state of the treasury. It was he who
introduced the motion (November, 1776,) for separating the offices of
speaker and treasurer; and he had a principal agency, together with
Henry, in carrying that measure into effect.[660:B] A fragment of his
speech on this occasion is preserved.

In the succeeding year he vigorously opposed the act laying a duty on
tea, and that for quartering British troops in the colonies. He was now
residing at Chantilly, his seat on the Potomac, a few miles below
Stratford. In July, 1768, in a letter to John Dickinson, of
Pennsylvania, Mr. Lee suggested that not only select committees should
be appointed by all the colonie