Empire (8 page)

Presently the talk turned to the impending business of the House. One of Cullis’s friends boasted that Parliament would never impose an internal tax on the colonies. “It would be illegal, and unconstitutional,” said the man. “And, besides, there are a number of prominent men there who are intimately acquainted with the colonies and our conditions — merchants, and bankers, and the consignment firms, and people of that sort. They’ll convince Mr. Grenville and his party to think twice.”

“It would be a violation of all our charters,” remarked another burgess. “His Majesty would not tolerate such a tax. They are
his
charters, and such a tax would reduce his own revenues.” He paused. “Such a tax could not
help but reduce his income. Do you not see?”

Another burgess ventured, “I wish the House could hire the services of the Council’s representative in London. Now, sirs, there’s a fellow who’s acquainted with the colonies and our conditions! Mr. James Abercromby, late of South Carolina! He was attorney general there for some fifteen years, I’ve heard, and a member of their legislature for nearly a score. He will speak for Virginia, for that is what the Council is paying him a stipend to do. He will
speak
, you see, for he is a member of Parliament himself!” The burgess paused to wrinkle his brow in hard recollection. “But, curse me, sirs, I can’t remember whether he sits for county or borough!”

“Clackmannan and Kinross, in the north,” said Hugh, who until now had been silent.

All heads turned to him. He said, “Mr. Abercromby’s family are quite as numerous as are the Lees or Randolphs here, gentlemen, and their careers have been almost exclusively civil and military. And the Council, I must sadly inform you, unwisely enlisted the services of a man who allied himself with Lord Bute, and who just this summer past was granted a pension, undoubtedly through the intercession of Mr. Grenville.” He shook his head. “No, sirs. He is not likely to argue Virginia’s case with any enthusiasm. He is suborned. He is
bought.
”

His table companions sat stunned, or incredulous, or in doubt of the news. “I do not believe it,” said one burgess.

“That is an indirect slander on the Council, sir,” said another. “What proof have you?”

“I was sent the
London Gazette
that contains the item,” said Hugh. “You are all invited to call on me in Caxton to see it for yourselves.”

“
I
have seen that item, sirs,” said Cullis reluctantly, wishing that his colleague had not mentioned the matter. “It is true.”

“Do the Council know this?” asked one of this friends.

Hugh shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. But those gentlemen should not expect Mr. Abercromby to oppose Mr. Grenville in anything he concocts.”

“Then, if it is true,” posed another burgess, “the Council chose unwisely.”

Another burgess agreed. “It would appear that they hired a man of their own mettle — a man who prefers satin chairs on which to rest his velvety principles.”

“Caution, sir,” said another. “Now you are close to directly slandering the Council. And bear in mind that a pension does not necessarily imply
a purchase of principles.”

Cullis said, “Well, at least the House chose wisely when it enlisted Mr. Montague. His reports from London have been regular and enlightening.”

“Yes, he cannot speak in Parliament for us,” said Hugh. “He can confer only with the Board of Trade and the Privy Council. If we have reason to resort to petitions in the future, he may not himself present them to either House in Parliament, nor even to the king. Only if he can persuade a member of either House to propose that a petition be admitted into debate or as evidence, can one be heard and entered into the record, but even that scenario is subject to a vote of the House sitting as a committee. I beg you, sirs, to keep in mind the rules of our own Assembly, for they are not dissimilar from those of Parliament’s. That body may choose not to take cognizance of our remonstrances and memorials.”

One of the burgesses sniffed. “It is a doleful perspective you offer us, sir.”

Hugh said, “But a realistic one, given the circumstances. I will add further that while we may boast that Mr. Montague cannot be bought with a pension or place, we must remind ourselves that it is simply because he does not sit in Parliament. Please, do not conclude that I am aspersing his character or doubting his loyalty. I am saying merely that if he did sit in Parliament, he would be
approached
, just as, no doubt, was Mr. Abercromby.” He paused for a moment, to let his listeners digest his remarks. “We should hope that Mr. Montague remains deserving of the House’s confidence. After all, one could count the articulate friends of Virginia and the colonies in London on the fingers of one hand, and they are mostly outside of the government, and must beg for audiences with those who are in it.”

“This is true,” said one of the burgesses. “The friends of Virginia in London are as plentiful as Georgia silk!”

Most of the men around the table laughed. It was a standing joke about the founding of the thirteenth colony, Georgia, in 1733 with transported debtors and the poor from England’s prisons and workhouses, first with private funds, and later sustained by Parliamentary grants. Its chief purpose was to produce silk and save Britain some £500,000 per annum in exchange and bullion in the purchase of foreign silk. But the silkworms died, the Georgia mulberry tree was the wrong tree, and the settlers became restive under the rigid discipline of their benefactors’ rules of conduct. Georgia became a financial disaster, and reverted to the Crown in 1752.

Hugh merely grinned.

The burgess who had accused him of indirectly slandering the Governor’s Council noted that Hugh had not joined in the laughter. He said, “Sir, you have a darksome view of Parliament’s affairs. What are the grounds of your umbrage?”

“I am acquainted with some of its members, sir, though not in friendship. And I have correspondents in London who are friends, and who keep me regularly apprised of Parliament’s affairs, perhaps more regularly does Mr. Montague keep the House.” He paused. “My umbrage? Well, here are some Crown titbits you may chew on, and which should give you a taste of Parliamentary fare. General Isaac Barré, a member of Parliament, was dismissed from the army and his post of governor of Stirling Castle for having voted against Mr. Grenville’s move to expel Mr. Wilkes. Lieutenant-General William Asshe-A’Court, another member, was removed from his regiment for the same reason. And, Lieutenant-General Francis Conway, another member, was shorn of his offices and removed from his regiment for voting against Mr. Wilkes’s expulsion and against general warrants.” He shook his head. “These are but a few of the instances that contribute to my umbrage, sir. One consequence of these actions has been to send those men into permanent opposition to sly encroachments on liberty.”

A burgess chuckled. “It would seem that the government is determined to send all its generals to the other side!”

Again, the burgesses laughed. More jokes were made at the expense of the Grenville ministry. Finally, one of the men produced a pack of cards. “Enough of politicking, gentlemen! Who’s up for a round or two of whist?”

Several of the men chimed in with agreement, including Edgar Cullis. Hugh excused himself from the game. “I have not the memory for card games, sirs,” he explained to the company. “My younger sister has beaten me repeatedly at piquet and all-fours.” Then he bid the men good evening.

* * *

After leaving the coffeehouse, Hugh mounted his horse and rode back to Mary Gandy’s house in the night. There was some snow falling, but not enough of it to collect on the bare trees and ground. During the session, he frequently occupied himself with managing Meum Hall from afar. Tonight, after he had installed his mount in a barn belonging to a neighbor of his hostess, he settled in and opened his traveling desk. He wrote to William Settle asking him to report the progress being made on the construction of
new rain gutters to be put up on the main house and connected to the water tower. “And remember that the cottonwoods and oaks near the house must be trimmed so that their leaves do not fall next year to clog up the channels…. ”

Next he wrote to Jack Frake, Thomas Reisdale, and Reece Vishonn about the business of the House. He dwelt on his annoyance with the style and content of the address to George the Third, the memorial to Lords, and the remonstrance to the Commons:

“When the House in a few days is handed back these documents with the Council’s amendments, they will surely be revised in committee again, and returned to the Council for further discreet parsing. So many points and aspects of these official missives have been changed, struck out, and reinstated in squabblish debate in our own House, that the character and temper of the Council’s deliberations beggar imagination. It is a torturously tiresome business. What has not changed is the language of craven submission, in which fully a quarter of the verbiage is couched in apologetic terms and conceded inferiority. Neither the Council nor the House will brazen a singular statement that denies Parliament’s power or authority to tax us in violation of the original and standing charters — to which Parliament was no party, ever — and of the Constitution. That notion is disguised throughout in circumspect minuet around the subject, and is as busy and confounding to the eye as a folio of Playford’s dancing steps. The neglect here cannot help but be noted by Mr. Grenville and his friends in that other house, and the end effect will not be so much a protest against his designs as an enfeebled complaint, or the peevish mewing of a misbehaved child on the verge of his expected punishment
…. ”

H
ugh spent most of his evenings in Williamsburg alone, although he grew to enjoy the ambiance of Marot’s Coffeehouse. The establishment reminded him of the Fruit Wench Tavern in London. Here he would take a supper, or sit near the fireplace reading newspapers with an ale or brandy. When the place became, in the evenings, too boisterous with gambling merchants, planters, and burgesses, he would leave. One evening, though, after a day in the House, he accepted an invitation to the Governor’s Palace to attend a concert. Fauquier greeted him like an old friend, and at one point in the affair took him aside away from the other guests for a private chat.

“Well,” broached the Governor, “how are you liking the business up the road, Mr. Kenrick?”

Hugh’s grin was somber. “I endure it, your honor.”

Fauquier nodded. “It is tedious but necessary business, I grant. But not nearly as tedious as my own daily routine. Why, if I imbibed, drop for drop, an equal measure of Madeira for every drop of ink I expend on signing papers and permits and the like, I could be brought up on the charge of public drunkenness.”

Hugh merely smiled in sympathy.

Fauquier said, “But I did not think you would ever take an interest in politics, sir. The House’s routine must be painfully dull for a man of your talents.”

Hugh shrugged. “I adjudged an active interest necessary, your honor — in light of the Crown’s intentions.”

“Hmmm…. Yes, I can understand that.” The Governor paused to glance around, then said in a lower tone, “I know that you gentlemen are composing a set of impertinences. Have you lent your hand to the endeavor?”

“Not so much as a finger, your honor,” said Hugh, shaking his head. “I was not invited to contribute to their composition.”

“But, you do not deny they
are
impertinent?”

Hugh smiled. “Not as impertinent as I would wish.”

“I see.” Fauquier seemed lost in thought for a moment. “Well,” he said at length, “it is not my place to caution the House at this point or to interfere in its business in any event, but forgive me if I say that little good will come from dunning the Crown for grievances it will not allow. In Mr. Grenville’s eyes, the roles are properly reversed. It is Virginia that is the debtor, and the Crown the bearer of grievances. Mr. Grenville is merely seeking satisfaction.”

“By usurping the Constitution, your honor?” asked Hugh, holding the Governor’s glance.

The Governor looked away, and cocked his head, demurring. “
That
charge is open to interpretation, sir. It could be viewed as a reasonable accusation — or as a slander.” He paused. “I advise you to be careful what you say in public, Mr. Kenrick, and especially to me. I count myself your friend, and a friend of Virginia. But neither you nor the House should expect me to remain silent when the Crown and its supreme agents are besmirched.”

Hugh said simply, “You would be remiss in your duties, your honor, if you remained silent.”

The Governor sighed. “Well, at least that is more of a compliment than I have ever had from the Board of Trade.” He studied Hugh for a moment, then shook his head. “We will discuss politics no more here, sir. I can see that you are struggling with a clash between your decent tact and a desire to burst into oratory.” He smiled in defeat by this young man’s demeanor of frankness and studied reticence, and abruptly changed the subject. “I am thinking of holding another concert early in the spring, if my duties permit the time. I would be delighted to fit into it that young lady with the harp, the one I married to that young man April last.”

Hugh relaxed visibly, but with a sigh, said, “Mrs. Frake? Yes. I believe she would be delighted to accept such an invitation, your honor.”

“Excellent. I will have my secretary write a note to her, and you may convey it to her when this session is adjourned. Now, I understand that you journeyed to England recently. I miss England. Please, tell me about your stay. And allow me to introduce you to my wife and son…. ”

At the end of the brilliant evening, which acted as a tonic on his spirits, Hugh was accosted outside the Palace gates by one of the musicians who had performed with the Governor a transcription of a Telemann horn concerto. The man tucked his violin case under his other arm and offered his
hand. “Mr. Kenrick, I have not forgotten our first meeting, and your suggestion — or was it my own? — that we take in a play.” He paused when he saw that Hugh, who was thinking of other things, did not recognize him. “Thomas Jefferson, of Albemarle.”

“Oh, yes,” replied Hugh, peering into the hazel eyes and recognizing the red hair by the flickering light of a cresset. “Mr. Jefferson! Forgive me my oversight.” He took the young man’s hand and shook it. “My compliments on your playing tonight.”

“Thank you, sir.” Jefferson glanced at the departing guests, some of whom were leaving on foot, while others ascended closed and open carriages. “Is one of these yours, sir?”

“No, I walked. I am boarding for the session in a house near the College. That is my destination now.”

“Then may I join you as far as the end of the Green?” asked Jefferson. “There we must part, for I am boarding for the moment at Mr. Wythe’s house” — he pointed to a residence they were passing — “and am reading law under that gentleman.” George Wythe, a prominent Williamsburg attorney, was burgess for William & Mary College and a member of the House’s two most important standing committees. “Even though his duties in the House consume much of his time, he this morning found enough time to assign me more portions of Coke to absorb, in addition to some Greek! I must attend to that now, for I spent most of the afternoon practicing for our entertainment at the Palace.”

“It was time well spent,” remarked Hugh as they strode together in the chilly night.

“There is a new acting troupe in town, directly from New York, Gascoyne and Pennycuff. Tomorrow night they put on
Richard the Third
and a short farce by Mr. Garrick,
The Lying Valet
. Are you game?”

Hugh smiled. “I cannot think of a better way to pass the evening.”

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Jefferson. “I can meet you at the theater at six-thirty. I have heard that this troupe are very talented.”

Hugh chuckled. “Well, even if they are not, Gascoyne and company are likely to offer more drama than does the House.”

“Are you attending the debates?”

“I am now a burgess for my county.”

“Oh…I see.” Jefferson was silent as their shoes crunched over the cold, hardened ground. “Mr. Wythe tells me that the House and the Council are laboring over the protests to be sent to London over the proposed stamp
taxes. He is composing the remonstrance, and Colonel Bland the address and memorial. How do you think the matter will end? Do you think the men in London will heed their words?”

Hugh shrugged. “I cannot say at this moment, sir. I am inclined to doubt that our advice will carry any weight. As the House despairs of convincing the Board of Trade and Parliament of the corrections of right reason, Parliament and the Board are habituated to their power over us.” He paused when the carriage of John Blair, president of the Council, rattled by them. “I am quite certain that, in the future, we will have cause to pen numerous analogies that compare the differences between ancient Greek and Roman colonial policies.”

* * *

Gascoyne and Pennycuff staged an abridged and mediocre
Richard the Third
, while
The Lying Valet
elicited a few chuckles from the audience. The theater was packed that evening. It was once a courthouse on the Palace Green, and had been moved to its present site not far from the House’s side of the Capitol. Members of the audience marveled more at its conversion into a legitimate theater than they did about the main play. The place was empty most of the year, except when traveling musicians and magic shows came to town for a few nights.

Hugh and Mr. Jefferson hurried from the theater and made their way to the Blue Bell Tavern just up the street for a late supper. Over their meal they exchanged anecdotes from their lives. Jefferson asked Hugh if he had noticed a certain young lady in the audience, seated a few rows closer to the stage. “A few months ago I was gathering the courage to approach her on the subject of marriage, when I learned, quite to my dismay, and in contradiction to all the signs from her to me that the subject was not an unfriendly one, that she had gone and married a Yorktown merchant! I have only lately recovered from the blow, and sent her my wishes for her happiness.”

“A wise course of action,” remarked Hugh.

Later in their conversation, Jefferson revealed that before he attended the College, he spent two years attending a school in Fredericksville that was run by Reverend James Maury, the very same minister who had sued the collectors of that parish for back pay when the Two-Penny Act was disallowed by the Board of Trade. “He remains stung by memories of that day,
sir,” said Jefferson, “and by the charge that he was a ‘rapacious harpy,’ as that lawyer, Mr. Henry, suggested he was. Reverend Maury is a kind man and a superb teacher.” He paused to smile. “Now, Mr. Wythe informed me some time ago, just after the Assembly convened, that this same lawyer represented a plaintiff before the Committee of Privileges and Elections, contending that Mr. Dandridge, his client, had lost his place in the House because the new burgess, Mr. Littlepage, had stooped to unfair practices in order to win election. The Committee dismissed the suit as ‘frivolous and vexatious,’ much as Mr. Wythe and the other members of the Committee believed was Mr. Henry’s victory over Reverend Maury. I will confess that I was happy to hear it.”

Hugh shook his head. “Perhaps Mr. Henry so styled him because he and the other clergy wished to profit from an arbitrary interference with Virginia’s internal affairs, just as Parliament is prepared to do again.” He held the eyes of his supper companion. “It would profit you, sir, to stand back from your intimacy with particular men and events to gain a broader vista of matters.”

The younger man’s face acquired a reddish hue nearly the color of his hair; his freckles quite disappeared in the flush. Hugh could not decide whether its cause was anger or embarrassment. He continued, “You are reading law now, Mr. Jefferson, and I presume that you intend to enter that career, once you have been certified by your mentors. Now, most lawyers based their careers on established law, and have little occasion — I will not say ‘courage’ — to question the propriety of the law they may practice. I have observed they rarely avail themselves of the opportunity to challenge the moral aspect of patently unjust statutes. It is a principal reason why the profession is not more honored, not even by those who find it lucrative. However, I believe that in the future, if the Crown presses its policies on us, that profession may have the chance to redeem itself. You will be a lawyer by then, and have both the occasion and the courage to participate in that redemption. That is my sincerest hope.”

Jefferson said nothing for a while. The red faded from his face. He said, “You are an unsettling, presumptuous fellow, Mr. Kenrick, but, harsh as it may seem, the wisdom of your words is quite…correct.” He nodded once. “I thank you for the confidence you place in me. I shall keep your words in mind.” His throat was dry, and he took a sip of his ale. “Have you spoken in the House?”

Hugh shook his head. “Not as yet. The lawyers who govern the business
of the House have not yet seen fit to hear me on any matter. After all, I am too fresh, and regarded as unschooled in the business, and as something of an interloper, as well.”

Jefferson looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think I shall fit into my own schedule some time among the House’s spectators.”