The Patriot Page #3

MARION:

Our governor is a bigger fool than I

thought.

GABRIEL:

Lee is counting on your vote and

expects you to be the first to

enlist.

Marion nods thoughtfully without revealing what he thinks

of Lee's expectations. Marion turns back to watch the

mob.

EXT. ASSEMBLY HALL - CHARLESTON - DAY

The capital building of South Carolina. A large crowd of

lower-class men and women is massed in front of the

Assembly Hall. As well-dressed Assemblymen walk into the

building, the CROWD YELLS words of encouragement to some

and berates others.

In the square in front of the Assembly Hall a squadron of

blue-uniformed AMERICAN CONTINENTAL SOLDIERS drills. A

recruiting table is being set up by a Continental Captain

and several military clerks.

Marion and Gabriel walk across the square toward the

Assembly Hall. As they push their way through the crowd,

Gabriel eyes the Continentals.

INT. ASSEMBLY HALL - DAY

Two dozen ANGRY, YELLING, MEN OF PROPERTY. Among them are

ROBINSON, HAMILL and JOHNSON, who are Patriots. Opposed

to them are SIMMS, WITHINGTON and BALDRIDGE who are

Loyalists (loyal the the King). As Marion makes his way

to his seat, the SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY POUNDS HIS GAVEL.

SPEAKER:

ORDER! ORDER!

Slowly, the room quiets down.

SPEAKER:

Our first order of business...

SIMMS:

And out last if we vote a levy...

The ROOM ERUPTS.

SPEAKER:

ORDER! ORDER! Mr. Simms, you do

not have the floor.

The ROOM SETTLES DOWN.

SPEAKER:

Our first order of business is an

address by Colonel Harry Lee of the

Continental Army.

An imposing figure rises and makes his way to the front of

the assembly. He's COLONEL HARRY LEE, about Marion's age

and cut from the same cloth -- strong, weathered, with a

powerful bearing. The room quiets down.

Lee sees Marion and offers a familiar nod, which Marion

returns, stone-faced. Then Lee speaks, simply and

clearly.

LEE:

You all know why I am here. I am

not an orator and I will not try to

convince you of the worthiness of

our cause. I am a soldier and we

are at war and with the declaration

of independence we all expect from

Philadelphia, it will soon be a

formal state of war. In preparation

for that, eight of the thirteen

colonies have levied money in

support of a Continental Army. I

ask South Carolina to be the ninth.

SIMMS:

Colonel Lee, Massachusetts may be at

war, along with New Hampshire and

Rhode Island and Virginia, but South

Carolina is not at war.

LEE:

Massachusetts and New Hampshire are

not as far from South Carolina as

you might think and the war they're

fighting is not for independence of

one or two colonies. It's for the

independence of a nation.

WITHINGTON:

And what nation is that?

Robinson, one of the Patriots, stands up.

ROBINSON:

An American nation. Colonel Lee,

with your permission?

LEE:

Please.

ROBINSON:

Those of us who call ourselves

Patriots are not seeking to give

birth to an American nation, but to

protect one that already exists. It

was born a hundred-and-seventy years

ago at Jamestown, Virginia and has

grown stronger and more mature with

every generation reared and with

every crop sown and harvested. We

are a nation and our rights as

citizens of that nation are

threatened by a tyrant three

thousand miles away.

LEE:

Thank you. Were I an orator, those

are the exact words I would have

spoken.

Laughter. Marion rises.

MARION:

Mister Robinson, tell me, why should

I trade one tyrant, three thousand

miles away, for three thousand

tyrants, one mile away?

Laughter from the Loyalists. Surprise from Lee and the

Patriots. In the gallery, Gabriel winces.

ROBINSON:

Sir?

MARION:

An elected legislature can trample a

man's rights just as easily as a

King can.

LEE:

Captain Marion, I understood you to

be a Patriot.

MARION:

It's Mister Marion.

LEE:

I understood him to be a Patriot as

well.

More laughter.

MARION:

If you mean by a Patriot, am I angry

at the Townsend Acts and the Stamp

Act? Then I'm a Patriot. And what

of the Navigation Act? Should I be

permitted to sell my tobacco to the

French traders on Martinique? Yes,

and it's an intrusion into my

affairs that I can't... legally.

Laughter.

MARION:

And what of the greedy, self-serving

bastards who sit as Magistrates on

the Admiralty Court and have fined

nearly every man in this room.

Should they be boxed about the ears

and thrown onto the first ship back

to England? I'll do it myself.

(beat)

And do I believe that the American

colonies should stand as a separate,

independent nation, free from the

reins of King and Parliament? I do,

and if that makes a Patriot, then

I'm a Patriot.

Marion grows more serious.

MARION:

But if you're asking whether I'm

willing to go to war with England,

the answer is, no. I've been to war

and I have no desire to do so again.

The room is quiet, the Assemblymen having been thrown off-

balance. Gabriel is stunned and disappointed by his

father's speech.

ROBINSON:

This from the same Captain Francis

Marion whose anger was so famous

during the Wilderness Campaign.

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...

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