December 2012 Auction Ends Tuesday, December 18th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/18/2012
Patrick Henry autograph letter signed during his last week as Governor of Virginia. Dated 25 May 1779, it informs the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Benjamin Harrison, of the capture of a pair of spies. According to Henry, one spy, Zechariah Snead was ''...detected going secretly to the British flag-vessels...'' He warns a British nobleman's wife, Letitia Fitzgerald, ''...A great variety of circumstances concur to induce belief that this is a dangerous woman, and that she came hither with some wicked intention...'' True to form, he scrutinizes the balance of power: ''...The executive, having in these two instances exercised a power not expressly given them by law, I take this method of informing the legislature of it, and have only to add that apprehension for the public safety is the sole reason for the proceeding...'' As a founding father, Henry opposed the Stamp Act of 1765 and advocated for the Bill of Rights. Letter runs two pages and measures 6'' x 7.75''. Ink burn in paraph under Henry's signature and separation to center fold. Very good. Published in ''Patrick Henry: Life, Correspondence and Speeches,'' 3:242. Provenance: Anderson's Simon Shwartz sale, 8 November 1926, lot 349; William D. Morley's Louis J. Kolb sale, 17 November 1941, lot 110.
Patrick Henry 1779 Autograph Letter Signed as Governor of Virginia to Benjamin Harrison, Declaration Signer & Speaker of the Virginia House, Regarding the Capture of a Female British Spy
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