US 4552.6.5 (1) B HARVARD LIBRARY Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit: ******** BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the sixth day of September, SEAL. in the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of ******** America, A.D. 1825, H. C. CAREY & I. LEA, of the said District, have deposited in this Office, the title of a Book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee, and his Correspondence with the most distinguished Men in America and Europe, illustrative of their Characters, and of the Events of the American Revolution.-By his Grandson, Richard H. Lee, of Leesburg, Virginia. In two volumes. Vol. I." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprie. tors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. ΤΟ THOMAS JEFFERSON, JOHN ADAMS, AND CHARLES CARROLL, SURVIVING SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, The MEMOIR of the Life of RICHARD HENRY LEE, the Mover of the Resolution in Congress, on the 7th of June, 1776, "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States, &c." Is most respectfully dedicated, BY THE AUTHOR. LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF RICHARD HENRY LEE. CHAPTER I. RICHARD HENRY LEE, the subject of the following Memoir, was the son of Thomas Lee, of Stratford, in the county of Westmoreland, and colony of Virginia. He was born on the twentieth day of January, 1732. His forefathers were among the first emigrants to the colony of Virginia. Richard, the great-grandfather, emigrated from England in the reign of Charles the First; but afterwards made several voyages to England, bringing with him, on every return, a number of followers, for each of whom a certain portion of land was granted him, under the title of "Head Rights." He finally settled in the county of Northumberland, in that part of Virginia called "the Northern Neck," between the Rappahanoc and Potomac rivers. He was, for a long time, secretary to Sir William Berkeley, then governor of the colony.* Richard, the second son of During the civil war between Charles the First and the Parliament, Richard Lee and Sir William Berkeley, being royalists, kept the colony to its allegiance, so that, after the death of the king, Cromwell was obliged to send some ships of war and troops to reduce it. Berkeley and Lee, not being able to resist this Richard Lee, was one of the king's council, and the first to recognise the grants made by Charles the Second, and James the Second, of the Northern Neck to the Culpepper family, which were afterwards inherited by the family of Fairfax. دو Thomas, the third son of the last mentioned person, was, for many years, president of the "King's Council. He was one of the first, of the leading men of the colony, who turned their attention to our western wilds. Having employed an engineer of eminence, from England, for the purpose of exploring them, he, with many others, took up, under the name of the "Ohio Company," an extensive tract of land on the Ohio river. But the company never having obtained a patent from the crown, their title was made void by the revolution. Thomas Lee retained the office of president of the council until his death; and so great was the esteem in which his services were held in the mother country, that a commission of force, but yet refusing allegiance to Cromwell, brought the commander of the squadron to a treaty, in which Virginia was styled an independent dominion.” This treaty was ratified in England, as made with an independent state. While Charles the Second was at Breda, in Flanders, Richard Lee hired a Dutch ship, and went over to the king, to know whether he could protect the colony, if it returned to its allegiance to him; but finding no support could be obtained, he returned to Virginia, and remained quiet until the death of Cromwell. Upon this event, he, with the assistance of Sir William Berkeley, contrived to get Charles proclaimed "King of England, France, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia," two years before he was restored to the throne of his ancestors. In gratitude for this loyalty, after the restoration, Charles ordered the arms of Virginia to be added to those of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, with the moto "En dat Virginia quintam." After the union of England and Scotland, the arms of Virginia, were quartered with those of England, &c. with the motto "En dat Virginia quartam." The author has in his possession an old volume of Colonial Laws of Virginia, printed in England, in the titlepage of which is the representation of the arms of England, France, Ireland, and Virginia quartered, with the motto "En dat Virginia quartam." Hence the title of "Ancient Dominion" has been given to Virginia.-Encyclopædia Britannica, article Virginia. |