little change. Of the bills relating to education, only that for the common schools became a law, but it was left to the direction of the counties, and was never carried out. The criminal code in Virginia under the Crown and General Assembly had been similar to that of Draco, and although under the revisors the death penalty was limited to murder and treason, the monstrous feature of retaliation was preserved with some of its shameful and disgusting traits. This law never met Mr. Jefferson's approval, as may be seen from the following extract from his writings:

"On the subject of the criminal law, all were agreed, that the punishment of death should be abolished, except for treason and murder; and that, for other felonies, should be substituted hard labor in the public works, and in some cases the lex talionis. How this last revolting principle came to obtain our approbation, I do not remember. There remained, indeed, in our laws, a vestige of it in a single case of a slave; it was English law, in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, copied, probably from the Hebrew law of 'an eye for an eye,' and it was the law of several ancient people; but the modern mind had left it far in the rear of its advances. These points, however, being settled, we repaired to our respective homes for the preparation of the work."

The war as yet had not been greatly felt on the soil of Virginia, but it was not destined to remain much longer in such degree of quiet. A part of the British troops captured at Stillwater were sent to Charlottesville to be held as prisoners of war. Many of them rented houses and lands around their camp, and cultivated the friendship of the surrounding farmers and planters. Old Baron Riedesel with his family resided near Monticello, and he and many of the officers were constant visitors at the home of Jefferson, sharing his hospitality and friendship. The entire captive army had reason to be thankful for his kindness and influ

ence, as when in 1779, Governor Henry was about to divide them and break up their farming and gardening, from fears started that the country would be driven into a famine by their presence, through the interference of Mr. Jefferson the excitement was allayed, and the prisoners kept in a body, for the time. Although this first experience with the soldiers of the enemy, gave Mr. Jefferson a reputation which was favorably remembered for many years, especially in Germany, yet his transactions with these very troops soon took a turn so unsatisfactory as not only to dampen his feelings materially then, but also to influence his position in all time against the British nation.

LETTER TO JOHN PAGE.

"WILLIAMSBURG, January 22, 1779. "DEAR PAGE,-I received your letter by Mr. Jamieson. It had given me much pain, that the zeal of our respective friends should ever have placed you and me in the situation of competitors. I was comforted, however, with the reflection that it was their competition, not ours, and that the difference of the numbers which decided between us, was too insignificant to give you a pain or me a pleasure, had our dispositions towards each. other been such as to admit those sensations. I know you too well to need an apology for any thing you do, and hope you will forever be assured of this; and as to the constructions of the world, they would only have added one to the many sins for which they are to go to the devil. As this is the first, I hope it will be the last instance of ceremony between us. A desire to see my family, which is in Charles City, carries me thither to-morrow, and I shall not return till Monday. Be pleased to present my compliments to Mrs. Page, and add this to the assurances I have ever given you, that I am, dear Page, your affectionate friend.

CHAPTER VIII.

MR. JEFFERSON AS GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA-HIS EFFORTS TO CAPTURE BENEDICT ARNOLD-DEATH OF MRS. JEFFERSON THE PHILOSOPHER'S WEAKNESS.

THE

HE capital of the State had, after long effort on the part of Mr. Jefferson and some others, been removed to Richmond, and Patrick Henry had served three years as the first governor of the State. On the first day of June, 1779, Thomas Jefferson was elected to succeed Mr. Henry, and soon afterwards entered upon the discharge of his office, in what appeared, in many respects, the most gloomy period in the war. Especially was this the case in the South, to which the British were now turning their attention with a view of restoring Georgia and the Carolinas to the control of England. The British authorities had decided to further their designs in the South by a system of rapine and devastation, which they had actually begun in the last days of Governor Henry's term, on the eastern border of Virginia, in the burning of Suffolk and laying waste the surrounding country. Virginia had a vast unprotected border and an unarmed militia, and as the British were yet unrestrained at sea by the alliance with France, the rich territory on the waters of the Chesapeake now began to receive their attention. The great western extension of the State, embracing Kentucky, lying unpro

tected, was now also menaced from the North. At Detroit the British had a post, through which they negotiated with the Indians, and hoped to cut off all the territory west of the Ohio, leaving but a narrow strip on the Atlantic coast which should, in any emergency, become the spoils of France or the limits of a separate government. The military governor of Detroit, Henry Hamilton, began to prepare to drive out or destroy the Virginia and other settlers and take possession of this territory. He actually met little opposition to his movements until he had planted forts along the Mississippi to the lower Ohio.

General George Rogers Clarke was sent from Virginia with a few hundred troops to put a stop to these movements, which he did effectually by capturing the forts on the Mississippi, and finally by taking Governor Hamilton and his fort at Vincennes (St. Vincenne), on the Wabash River. Hamilton and two of his obnoxious subalterns were sent to Virginia, when Governor Jefferson threw them in irons into close confinement, owing to atrocities which he believed they had committed. But they were subsequently treated as ordinary prisoners of war, partly from the recommendation of Washington, whose advise Mr. Jefferson sought on the subject. The British were, however, greatly excited by the treatment of Hamilton, even the prisoners at Charlottesville taking part in the matter, and the business of retaliation began in earnest. Nor was the Governor of Virginia slow in his determination to be equal to any course taken by the enemy, so far as was in his power.

After the negotiation of the treaty with France, which the Legislature of Virginia was ridiculous enough

to ratify, ridiculous, because the Congress had the authority to form and ratify treaties, and especially after Spain had become involved with England, the country generally fell into a state of great indifference, supposing the war at an end. In this feeling Mr. Jefferson indulged, falling into the common opinion that Britain would soon have so much on her hands as to be willing to make satisfactory terms with the United States.

At this juncture Mr. Jefferson turned his attention, to some extent, to the territorial claims of Virginia, which were vast indeed. In George Rogers Clarke, a brave soldier and true patriot, she had a good representative among the friendly Indians. Virginia claimed the territory from her southern border west to the Mississippi, and all the way north to the great lakes, by grants and otherwise, and now she added to her pretensions Clarke's conquests since the beginning of the Revolution. This whole affair the Congress considered preposterous, and no little dissatisfaction arose from it. The Legislature of Virginia, notwithstanding, opposed the right of the Congress to interfere in reference to the lands claimed by the various companies in this vast region, forming mainly the western. border of the Union. In such ways the question of State and National jurisdiction early arose in the history of this country. Mr. Jefferson and Clarke set afoot a plan for an extensive campaign against Detroit and the northern border of this territory, and Mr. Jefferson submitted the scheme to Washington, assuring him, at the same time, that the Congress would have to furnish the outfit, as the State was exhausted, and could no more than supply the men,