It was more satisfactory to watch my companion, as he told me the names of
the Tories who followed in Colden's wake, and commented on their
characters. I do not recall them, but I remember every line of Philip
Schuyler's face, and every inflection of his voice. He was then not quite
forty years of age, almost of my stature--that is to say, a tall man. He
held himself very erect, giving strangers the impression of a haughty air,
which his dark face and eyes, and black lines of hair peeping from under
the powder, helped to confirm. But no one could speak in amity with him
without finding him to be the most affable and sweet-natured of men. If he
had had more of the personal vanity and self-love which his bearing seemed
to indicate, it would have served him well, perhaps, when New England
jealousy assailed and overbore him. But he was too proud to fight for
himself, and too patriotic not to fight for his country, whether the just
reward came or was withheld.
Colonel Schuyler had been chosen as one of the five delegates of the
Colony to attend the first Continental Congress, now sitting at
Philadelphia, but ill-health had compelled him to decline the journey. He
had since been to New York, however, where he had learned much of the
situation, and now was in receipt of tidings from the Congress itself. By
a compromise in the New York Assembly, both parties had been represented
in our delegation, the Whigs sending Philip Livingston and Isaac Low, the
Tories James Duane and John Jay, and the fifth man, one Alsopp, being a
neutral-tinted individual to whom neither side could object. The
information which Schuyler had received was to the effect that all five,
under the tremendous and enthusiastic pressure they had encountered in
Philadelphia, had now resolved to act together in all things for the
Colonies and against the Crown.
"That means," said he, "that we shall all adopt Massachusetts's cause as
our own. After Virginia led the way with Patrick Henry's speech, there was
no other course possible for even Jay and Duane. I should like to hear
that man Henry. He must be wonderful."
The space about Mr. Colden had shifted across the room, so that we were
now upon its edge, and Schuyler went to him with outstretched hand. The
two men exchanged a glance, and each knew what the other was thinking of.
"Your excellency has heard from Philadelphia," said the Colonel, more as a
statement of fact than as an inquiry.
"Sad, sad!" exclaimed the aged politician, in a low tone. "It is a grief
instead of a joy to have lived so long, if my life must end amid
contention and strife."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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