XVIII. STRATFORD HOUSE, VIRGINIA. On the 7th day of June, 1776-just one hun- | to the effect of the said first resolution, which is dred years ago this month-the following resolu- in these words: "That these United Colonies are, tion was presented to the consideration of the and of right ought to be, free and independent Continental Congress: States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political cornection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.'" "Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent States; and that all political connection between us and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." There was another resolution concerning a reference of the matter. They were seconded, when the Congress adopted the following resolution concerning them: "Resolved, That the consideration of them be deferred till to-morrow morning, and that the members be enjoined to attend punctually at 10 o'clock, in order to take the same into their consideration." The utmost caution was used in the matter, for the man who moved the first resolution, and he who seconded it, if known, would be branded as arch-rebels and become the objects of the fiercest wrath of King George and his ministers. The sessions of the Congress were held with closed doors, and to prevent the names of the men who moved and seconded the resolutions being revealed by the record, Charles Thomson omitted them in writing the Journal. He even omitted the resolutions themselves, and wrote only: "Certain resolutions respecting independency being moved and seconded," "it was resolved to defer the consideration of them until the next day." This was the first record made of the resolution in the Journal of the Congress. On the following day Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, were chosen members of the committee for preparing the Declaration of Independence. On the same day it was "Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between these colo nies;" and "That a committee be appointed to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to fore powers.' So those brave, wise men prepared for the birt of our nation, a century ago. They became its sponsors at its baptism in blood that speedily esued, and nourished it up to a sturdy youthhool, and the vigorous manhood which it displayed when the National Constitution confirmed its right to a place among the family of nations on the earth. The subject was duly brought to the attention of the Congress the next day, when it was referred to "a committee of the whole Congress." By that committee, Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, in the chair, the resolutions were considered. No conclusion having been reached, it was resolved that further consideration of them should be deferred until Monday the 10th. On that day they were taken up in Committee of the Whole, Mr. Harrison in the chair, when the following resolution was adopted by unanimous consent: The name of the mover of the important reso lution laid before the Continental Congress on the 7th of June, 1776, was Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, and John Adams, of Massachusetts, was the bold patriot who seconded it. Mr. Lee was born at a remarkable family-seat in Westmoreland County, Virginia, known as Stratford House, on the site of the spacious building of the same name. delineated at the head of this paper. The mansion in which he was born was laid in ashes in 1745, when Richard Henry was thirteen years of age, and the present house was immediately con structed upon its site. There is, probably, no family-seat in our land from which went forth so many distinguished men "to the manor born," as from Stratford House. There Thomas Lee, the father of Richard Henry, and a member of the "Resolved, That the consideration of the first King's Council, dispensed a princely hospitality resolution be postponed to Monday, the first day while he lived, and at his death left six sons, all of July next; and in the meanwhile, that no time of whom became eminent men. These were be lost, in case the Congress agree thereto, that a Philip Ludwell, Thomas Ludwell, Richard Henry, committee be appointed to prepare a declaration | Francis Lightfoot, William, and Arthur. They were all born in this old mansion, and were residents of the new one, now standing in solitary grandeur, clustered with associations which make it one of the most attractive of the historic buildings of America. The Lee family have been more or less distinguished in the annals of Virginia, from an early period of its history. They came from an old English stock who, like a thousand other English families, take pride in tracing their descent back to one of the Norman invaders who entered England with William "the Conqueror," eight hundred years ago. It is claimed for one of the family that he followed Richard of the Lion Heart in one of those unholy campaigns called Crusades. The first of the Lee family that emigrated to America was Richard Lee, of Stratford Langton, England, who set foot on the soil of Virginia at about the year 1650. He was a zealous adherent of King Charles the First throughout the civil war in England, and was forever a partisan of his house. He came with a considerable fortune, and invested very largely in land in the vicinity of the Potomac River. He heartily espoused the cause of the king's son, who became Charles the Second, in fact in 1660, and was a warm friend and admirer of Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, under whom Lee served as one of the king's councillors. He has been represented as a man nearly six feet in height, with a handsome face, full of spirit and enterprise, and very generous in his treatment of others, especially of those who were dependent upon him. He was the owner of large landed estates in Virginia, islands in Chesapeake Bay, and land in Maryland. The first Stratford House was built by the immigrant, and resembled, in size and general design, the second one, which is yet in existence. It was very spacious. Its outbuildings were commodious; and it is said that there were 'stable accommodations for a hundred horses. Guests almost continually enlivened the mansion; and there the grand son of the immigrant, Thomas Lee, was living in affluence, and enjoying the respect and confidence of all who knew him, as a member of the king's council and a beloved citizen, when the venerable mansion was burned to the ground. So personally popular was Mr. Lee, that when the news of the disaster reached Williamsburg, the seat of the Colonial government, the acting Governor Gooch, merchants of the city, and other personal friends of Mr. Lee, took up a subscription to help him to rebuild his house. Caroline Wilhelmina, of Anspach, the Queen of George the Second and real monarch of the realm, pleased with the reports which she had heard of the character of Mr. Lee, sent him as a present, it is said, the sum of about $80,000, to enable him to rebuild Stratford House in a style more elegant, if not more spacious, than the one that lay in ashes. And four years after the conflagration, Thomas Lee was acting Governor of Virginia. Mr. Lee began immediately to prepare for the rebuilding of Stratford House, and the task was completed early in 1746. It was very substantially constructed, for the walls, to-day seem to be as firm as when they were first erected. The main building, seen in the picture, is of English sundried brick. It is composed in the form that seems like two wings connected by a middle building, with a high basement story. A wide passage terminating in porches at each end, extends entirely through the house. The main floor above the high basement, is reached by a flight of stone steps in the front and at the two porches. The reception rooms are on this floor, the main one being about thirty feet square, with an arched ceiling about thirty feet in height. Elaborate wainscoting in the style of Louis the Fourteenth, and extending about half way up from the floor to the ceiling, decorates this magnificent room. There were also fluted columns in the room that were gilded, but these are now covered with paint. In the high basement and the wings were the sleeping apartments, dining-rooms, drawing-rooms, etc., seventeen in number, in which the wood work is decorated with carving. In every part the architect paid particular attention to the comfort and convenience of the dwellers and guests, there being large pantries and closets, store rooms and cellars; and in a sub-cellar was the wine vault. A curious quadrangle of chimneys appear surmounting each wing. Between these chimneys are arches, beneath each of which is a railing. Within these enclosures were seats, and from these observatories were formerly obtained very extensive views of a rich, cultivated country around, of the broad Potomac and the shores of Maryland beyond. Flights of stairs lead up to these observatories from the principal floor. Much of the ancient view is now shut off by the great forests that have overgrown the country within a century. A very dense wood now extends nearly up to the mansion but one may yet see a broad stretch of the Potomac and the hazy Maryland shore. In almost every other direction are dark forests of oak and pine. On each side of the mansion are brick outhouses. The one seen on the right, in the picture, was the ancient kitchen, and is still used for that purpose. Another on the left was the headquarters of the butler who had charge of the wine cellar; it was also the guard-house, probably a part of the adjuncts of the older mansion, erected at a time when there was danger from the inroads of hostile Indians. The kitchen is provided with an immense fire-place for burning wood, with great iron kettles inclosed in brick and other facilities for cooking for a hundred guests or more. far off is the garden and a large brick barn, probably Not the ancient one that contains the stables that would accommodate a hundred horses. Once a heavy brick wall with semi-circular coping, surrounded the entire pleasure grounds about the mansion, but this has disappeared. The grounds are now inclosed by a plain wooden fence within which is a circular drive around a grassy lawn. I pages sometimes without missing a word. Ma says "G. W's compliments to R. H. L., "GEORGE WASHINGTON." The "poetry" was written, it is said, by Mr Howard, a gentleman who used to visit at the house of Mrs. Washington. That gay and beautiful region is now almost a silent wilderness. The once smiling plantations are covered with great forests. The fine old mansions have mostly disappeared. Stratford House stands almost alone. Its guest-rooms are nearly all unoccupied; the "banquet hall" is "dein-serted," and no member of the Lee family now owns a single one of the broad acres that belonged to the father of Richard Henry Lee and his distinguished brothers. Stratford House is a relic of another age, and a different race of people, socially, who once inhabited that region. An accomplished and kindly lady now inhabits it, whose courtesy to strangers seems like a lingering ray of that sunshine of hospitality which once made Stratford House a delightful place of resort for members of the "First Families of Virginia." Such is a brief description of one of the most teresting houses in our country. It is only a mile from the birth-place of Washington, and stood in the midst of a highly cultivated country dotted with the mansions of people who formed a very refined society. There Washington and Richard Henry Lee undoubtedly often played together, and within that mile between the dwellings, was the scene of the passage of the following correspondence, when they were boys only nine years old, there being only a few weeks' difference in their ages. Little Lee wrote: "Pa brought me two pretty books full of pictures he got them in Alexandria they have pictures of dogs and cats and tigers and elefants and ever so many pretty things cousin bids me send you one of them it has a picture of an elefant and a little indian boy on his back like uncle jo's sam pa says if I learn my tasks good he will let uncle jo bring me to see you will you ask your ma to let you come to see me "RICHARD Henry Lee' To this note little Washington replied: "DEAR DICKEY I thank you very much for the pretty picture book you gave me. Sam asked me to show him the pictures and I showed him all the pictures in it; and I read to him how the tame Elephant took care of the master's little boy, and put him on his back and would not let anybody touch his master's son. I can read three or four The ruined family vault of the Lees, in which the remains of the immigrant and those of many of his descendants were laid, may be seen upon a knoll not far from. the house. Some distance from it, in the midst of bushes, is a slab of marble, weather-stained, which, it is said, once closed the entrance to the vault. It bears the following inscription: "HERE LIES BURIED THE HON'BLE THOMAS LEE, AND HIS BELOVED WIFE, SHE DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 25, 1749. THEIR MONUMENT IS ERECTED IN THE LOWER CHURCH OF WASHINGTON PARISH, 5 MILES ABOVE THEIR COUNTRY-SEAT, STRATFORD HALL." General Henry Lee, known in the history of the old War for Independence as "Legion Harry," and grand nephew of Thomas Lee who built the present Stratford House, came into possession of the estate by marriage with his cousin, Matilda Lee. There his son by a second wife, Robert Edward Lee, who was the general-in-chief of the Confederate armies in the late Civil War, was born, not, as some have asserted, "in the very apartment at Stratford House" in which Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee-both Signers of the Declaration of Independence-were born. Their place of nativity was in the old Stratford House which was destroyed in 1745. There Richard Henry was born in the winter of 1732, and Francis Lightfoot in the fall of 1734. Robert E. Lee was born in the second Stratford House, here delineated, in the winter of 1807. It is said that Richard Lee, the builder of the first Stratford House, who was a man of much energy of character, and, as we have observed, was an ardent royalist, took an active part in the struggle in England between republicanism and monarchy, in which the latter was driven to the wall and destroyed. It is supposed that the death of King Charles the First, whose zealous partisan he was, caused Mr. Lee to emigrate to America, where, on all occasions, he expressed his loyalty freely. at Brussels when news of Cromwell's death reached him in 1658. After the downfall of Richard Cromwell, the monarchists of England, by treachery and energy, succeeded in placing Charles the Second on the throne, when he was thirty years of age. While he was waiting at Breda, in Flanders, for the opportunity, it is said (upon what authority I know not), that Richard Lee went to the monarch without a kingdom, and, in the name of the Virginia royalists, invited the exile to come over to America and set up his throne on the soil of the loyal colony. Whether this story of Lee's mission to Breda be true or not (and there seems to be good reason to doubt it) it seems certain that the staunch old royalist, Sir William Berkeley, whom the Virginians, with the expectation of the restoration of monarchy in England, had reëlected governor of their colony, hastened to proclaim Charles "King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland and Virginia." When Sir William convened the Virginia legislature, that body made the most zealous declarations of loyalty and satisfaction. They were excessively loyal to Church and State. The supremacy of the Church of England was recognized and established by law; stipends were allotted to its ministers, and no preachers but those who had received their ordination from a bishop in EngThe family of Charles the First, during the land, and who should subscribe an engagement struggle in England, had retired to the continent, of conformity to the ritual and constitution of the Queen living most of her time in Paris. His this established church, were permitted to exerson, Charles, heir to the throne spent some time cise their functions either publicly or privately in Sicily, then in Paris, and was in Holland when within the colony. So say Chalmers and Burk. he heard of the death of his father. On being They also passed a law against the introduction certified of that event, he assumed the title of of Friends or Quakers into the Colony of Vir"Charles the Second, King of England, Scot-ginia, under a penalty of five thousand pounds of land" etc., and such he was proclaimed at Edinburgh immediately after the beheading of Charles the First. In June, 1650, he repaired to the coast of Scotland, and was again proclaimed King at Edinburgh. In January following he was crowned at Scone, and at the head of troops he marched into England from Edinburgh, and took possession of the city of Carlisle, where he was again proclaimed monarch. He was soon afterwards defeated by Cromwell, in the battle at Worcester, and after many perils he succeeded in reaching the continent. Charles joined his family at Paris, but the treaty of peace in 1655 compelled him to leave France, when he went to Belgium, and was tobacco inflicted on the importers. "The sudden and unexpected restoration of Charles to the throne of his ancestors," says Graham, "converted imprudent temerity into meritorious service, and enabled the Virginians safely to exult in the singularity which they long and proudly commemorated, that they were the last of the British subjects who renounced, and the first who resumed, their allegiance to the crown." In these later transactions, no doubt Richard Lee bore an active part, for it would have been consistent with his character as a zealous royalist and Churchman. The restored monarch was not unmindful of |