“England frequently has shown her supremacy of Spain. We drove the armies of Britain from our shores; why then should we conspire with either power to procure that which we can take for ourselves—if time shall disclose that it cannot be gained by amity and treaty?” In this spirit young Campbell spoke for half an hour, carrying conviction, not by logic and eloquence, but by an earnest faith in the righteousness of his cause. It was not so much what he said as that he had made suggestions which caused his hearers to think. There radiated from him a spirit of conviction that took possession of his hearers, so they said to themselves: “That’s true, that’s right.” What he said was uttered in a tense, distinct, conversational tone and after the first few words in apparent self-forgetfulness, he lost self in his cause. The button from the collar of his hunting shirt had dropped off before he had begun to speak and, unknowingly to him, his shirt front standing open disclosed the upper portion of the vivid cross tattooed upon his breast. His intent face and pallid flesh gave to the blood red cross a setting that impressed the more superstitious and convinced all that rumor rested on a foundation of fact. General Wilkinson, noting the effect of his remarks, made a sign to Judge Sebastian not to introduce the resolution they had expected to offer and in a white rage of passion, was the first to take the hand of the young man and congratulate him when he had finished. He thought: “What an ally he would make in the promotion of our conspiracy; how he would stir the backwoodsmen; yet if he did not believe in our cause it is my guess he would be as mum and flabby as an oyster. But for him my resolution which Sebastian was to offer would have gone over and revived the sentiment throughout the District, which met with defeat before the District Convention; now I dare not offer it. I must attend to the young gentleman; and Fairfax will help when he returns; possibly we can fool him. I wonder if we can catch him with Fairfax’s daughter for bait.” John’s speech broadened the breach between the Country and the Court Party; the one led by Colonel Thomas Marshall, the other by General Wilkinson; both of whom were delegates to the District Convention from Fayette County. The speech and the action of the convention had also made the General’s co-conspirators timid in their utterances and cautious in their work. It caused John’s name to be presented and favorably voted upon as a member of the club. The District Convention had been called for the third of November, but no quorum appearing, the members being delayed by high water, an adjournment was had to the fourth. On that day it was organized with Judge Samuel McDowell as president.