f his office. He was succeeded by George Webb. The estate of
Lord Dunmore was disposed of, and the proceeds appropriated to the
payment of his debts.[676:A] Jefferson, Pendleton, Wythe, Mason, and
Thomas Ludwell Lee were appointed a committee to revise the laws. By the
resignation of Mr. Mason, and the indisposition of Mr. Lee, the duty
eventually devolved upon the other three.

Congress, with a view of gaining the alliance of France, appointed three
commissioners to that court: Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Thomas
Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson declined the appointment, and it was then given
to Dr. Arthur Lee.

Toward the close of this session of the Virginia Assembly, when
Washington was retreating through the Jerseys, and when the cause of
independence seemed almost desperate, several of the members, it is
said, meditated, in imitation of the Roman Republic, the appointment of
a dictator. The tradition is, that such was the animosity engendered by
this scheme, that they who espoused, and they who opposed it, walked on
opposite sides of the street. Who they were that favored it, or where it
was concocted, or how developed, does not appear. It is reported,
indeed, that Patrick Henry was the person held in view as the dictator;
but that he suggested the plan, or favored it, or consented to it, or
was in any way privy to it, there is no evidence to prove, nor has it
even been alleged. The tradition (resting on no testimony) relates, that
Archibald Cary, a man of violent temper, and a life-long opponent of
Henry, sent a message to the governor, (by his brother-in-law, Colonel
Syme,) that on the day in which he should accept the dictatorship he
should fall by his dagger; and the Colonel has been compared to
Brutus--as if the example was worthy of imitation, or as if a dictator
appointed by a Virginia assembly can be justly compared to Julius Caesar
at the head of his legions, usurping the government by his sword.

South Carolina invested her governor, John Rutledge, a native of
Ireland, with dictatorial powers during the revolutionary war. The
Virginia assembly at this session invested Governor Henry with several
extraordinary powers, and recommended to congress "to invest the
commander-in-chief of the American forces with more ample and extensive
powers for conducting the operations of the war." Washington urged the
States to clothe their executives with extraordinary powers, and he
himself was invested by congress with