The Patriot Page #7

Marion glares at Robinson, then smiles.

MARION:

I was intemperate in my youth. My

departed wife, God bless her soul,

dampened that intemperance with the

mantle of responsibility.

Robinson looks derisively at Marion.

ROBINSON:

Temperance can be a convenient

disguise for fear.

Marion bristles but before he can answer, Lee steps in.

LEE:

Mister Robinson, I fought with

Captain Marion in the French and

Indian War, including the Wilderness

Campaign. We served as scouts under

Washington and I have no doubts

about Captain Marion's courage or

competence on a battlefield.

There's not a man in this room, or

anywhere, for that matter, to whom I

would more willingly trust my life.

ROBINSON:

I stand corrected.

LEE:

Nonetheless, I would like to know,

Mister Marion, how... how... how...

Lee's oratorical skills peter out.

LEE:

Damn it, Francis! How in God's name

do you expect to gain independence

without going to war?

MARION:

Harry, Harry, Harry...

Marion and Lee drop all formality and become nothing more

than two old friends, pissed off.

LEE:

My hairy arse! You live in a cave

if you think we'll get independence

without war...

The Speaker POUNDS HIS GAVEL.

SPEAKER:

Gentlemen! Please! This is not a

tavern!

MARION:

Wasn't it a Union Jack we fought

under?

LEE:

A long time ago...

MARION:

Thirteen years...

LEE:

That's a damn long time...

The Speaker POUNDS HIS GAVEL again.

SPEAKER:

Gentlemen! Please!

Marion and Lee ignore the speaker.

MARION:

You were an Englishman then...

LEE:

I was an American, I just didn't

know it yet...

The astonished Assemblymen and now even the Speaker watch

the argument avidly, turning their heads in simultaneous

anticipation of each rejoinder.

MARION:

We don't have to go to war to gain

independence...

LEE:

Balderdash!

MARION:

There are a thousand avenues, other

than war, at our disposal...

LEE:

Name five hundred.

MARION:

Royal petition, delegates to court,

judicial redress, economic boycott,

bribery...

LEE:

That's five, keep going...

MARION:

... time, royal succession,

regicide, bribery...

LEE:

You said bribery twice...

Marion speaks slowly and firmly.

MARION:

We do not have to go to war to gain

independence.

Lee says nothing for a moment, then he speaks more

seriously, quietly, grimly.

LEE:

Francis, I was at Bunker Hill. It

was as bad as anything you and I saw

on the frontier. Worse than the

slaughter at the Ashuelot River.

The British advanced three times and

we killed over seven hundred of them

at point blank range. And still,

they advanced and they took the

ground. That is the measure of

their resolve. If your principles

dictate independence, then war is

the only way. It has come to that.

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