LXII. and twenty thousand pounds of paper money, voted CHAP. an additional sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds. A strong party in the provincial congress, under the lead of Rawlins Lowndes, endeavored to postpone the consideration of the form of government reported by the committee; but the nearness of danger would not admit of delay; and the clauses that were most resisted, were adopted by a vote of about four to three. But when, on the twenty first of March, they received the act of parliament of the preceding December, which authorized the capture of American vessels and property, they gave up the hope of reconciliation; and on the twenty sixth, professing a desire of accommodation with Great Britain, even "though traduced and treated as rebels," asserting "the good of the people to be the origin and end of all government," and enumerating with clearness and fulness the unwarrantable acts of the British parliament, the implacability of the king, and the violence of the officers bearing his commission, they established a constitution for South Carolina. The executive power was intrusted to a president, who was endowed with a veto on legislation, and who was also commander in chief; the congress then in session resolved itself into a general assembly till their successors should be elected by the people in the following October; the numerous and arbitrary representation which had prevailed originally in the committee of 1774 and had been continued in the first and second congress of 1775, without respect to numbers or property, was confirmed by the new instrument, so that Charleston kept the right of sending thirty members; the old 1776. Mar. LXII. CHAP. laws prescribing the qualifications of the electors and the elected were continued in force; a legislative 1776. council of thirteen was elected by the general assemMar. bly out of their own body; the general assembly and the legislative council elected jointly by ballot the president and vice president; the privy council of seven was composed of the vice president, three members chosen by ballot by the assembly, and three by the legislative council; the judges were chosen by ballot jointly by the two branches of the legislature, by whose address they might be removed, though otherwise they were to hold office during good behavior. On the twenty seventh John Rutledge was chosen president; Henry Laurens, vice president; and William Henry Drayton, chief justice. On accepting office, Rutledge addressed the general assembly: "To preside over the welfare of a brave and generous people is in my opinion the highest honor any man can receive; I wish that your choice had fallen upon one better qualified to discharge the arduous duties of this station; yet in so perilous a season as the present, I will not withhold my best services. I assure myself of receiving the support and assistance of every good man in the colony; and my most fervent prayer to the omnipotent Ruler of the universe is, that, under his gracious providence, the liberties of America may be forever preserved." On the twenty eighth the oaths of office were administered: then, to make a formal promulgation of the new constitution, the council and assembly, preceded by the president and vice president, and the LXII. Mar. sheriff bearing the sword of state, walked out in a CHAP. solemn procession from the State-house to the Exchange, in the presence of the troops and the militia 1776. of South Carolina, whose line extended down Broad street and along the bay; the people, as they crowded with transport round the men whom they had chosen to office, whom they had raised to power from among themselves, whom they for any misconduct conld displace, whom they knew, and loved, and revered, gazed on the new order with rapture and tears of joy. Early in April the legislative bodies, while they Apr. declared that they still earnestly desired an accommodation with Great Britain, addressed the president: "Conscious of our natural and unalienable rights, and determined to make every effort to retain them, we see your elevation, from the midst of us, to govern this country, as the natural consequence of unprovoked, cruel, and accumulated oppressions. Chosen by the suffrages of a free people, you will make the constitution the great rule of your conduct; in the discharge of your duties under that constitution we will support you with our lives and fortunes." The condition of South Carolina was peculiar; a large part of its population was British by birth; and many of the herdsmen and hunters in the upper country had not been on the continent more than ten years; they had taken no part in the movements of resistance; had sent no gifts to the poor of Boston, no pledges to Massachusetts. At least one half of the inhabitants were either inert and unmoved, or more ready to take part with the king than with the insurgents. When the planters who were natives of the Apr. CHAP. colony, risked their fortunes, the peace of their famiLXII. lies, and their lives, from sympathy with a distant 1776. colony with which they had no similarity of pursuits, no considerable commerce, and no personal intimacies, they had in their rear a population still attached to the crown as well as hostile Indian tribes; in their houses and on their estates numerous bondsmen of a different race; along the sea an unprotected coast, indented by bays, and inlets, and rivers. But their spirit rose with danger: in words penned by Drayton and Cotesworth Pinckney, the assembly condemned the British plan of sending commissioners to treat with the several colonies, as a fraudulent scheme for subverting their liberties by negotiations, and resolved to communicate with the court of Great Britain only through the continental congress. When, on the eleventh of April, they closed their session, Rutledge, knowing well that the wished-for accommodation with Great Britain could never be obtained, and willing to sacrifice every temporal happiness to establish and perpetuate the freedom of Carolina, cheered them on towards the consciousness of having formed an independent republic. 66 On my part," said he, "a most solemn oath has been taken for the faithful discharge of my duty; on yours, a solemn assurance has been given to support me therein. Thus, a public compact between us stands recorded. I shall keep this oath ever in mind; the constitution shall be the invariable rule of my conduct; our laws and religion, and the liberties of America, shall be maintained and defended to the utmost of my power: I repose the most perfect confidence in your engagement. And now, gentlemen, LXII. let me entreat that if any persons in your several CHAP. parishes and districts are still strangers to the nature and merits of the dispute between Great Britain and 1776. Apr. the colonies, you will explain it to them fully and teach them, if they are so unfortunate as not to know, their inherent rights. Relate to them the various unjust and cruel statutes which the British parliament have enacted, and the many sanguinary measures to enforce an unlimited and destructive claim. The endeavors to engage barbarous nations to imbrue their hands in the innocent blood of helpless women and children, and the attempts to make ignorant domestics subservient to the most wicked purposes, are acts at which humanity must revolt. "Show your constituents, then, the indispensable necessity which there was for establishing some mode of government in this colony; the benefits of that which a full and free representation has established; and that the consent of the people is the origin, and their happiness the end of government. Let it be known that this constitution is but temporary, till an accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and America can be obtained, and that such an event is still desired. Disdaining private interest and present emolument, when placed in competition with the liberties of millions, and seeing no alternative but unconditional submission, or a defence becoming men born to freedom, no man who is worthy of life, liberty, or property, will hesitate about the choice. Although superior force may lay waste our towns and ravage our country, it can never eradicate from the breasts of free men those principles which are ingrafted in their very nature. Such men will |