USA > South Carolina > A chapter in the early history of South Carolina > Part 2
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In cases not provided for in the instructions or Governor's Commission, he was to act by the advice 2
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EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
of his council ; but not to commence or declare war, except against the Indians, on emergency."
Such were the principal regulations under which the government of South Carolina was conducted after the displacement of the Proprietors. The new system was less encumbered in its operations, there being now fewer agencies between the chief authority in England and its distant subjects in the Colony. Some of the articles of instruction, however, par- ticularly such as give to the Council legislative powers equal or superior to the powers of the popular Assembly, were not calculated to allay that spirit of political advancement on the part of the people which we have seen exhibited in the recent contests with the Proprietors. Hence the history of the Colony under the Royal Government will be found to be still marked by contests of the Assembly, or repre- sentatives of the people, to secure to themselves pre- dominant legislative power in the management of the domestic affairs of the Province. The new gov- ernment was modeled after that of the mother country; the Governor representing the King, and the Council the House of Lords. But the Coun- cillors were, for the most part, inhabitants and natives of the Province, neighbors or relatives of the Assem- blymen; and yet five, or even three, of these might, with the Governor, counteract the entire body of the popular representatives. Discordant elements, how- ever, we shall perceive, may exist for a long time in a form of government without ill effects, when a
*See, besides App. No. 11, notices of the Royal Government in Hewit, 1. Carr. Coll., p. 277, and Judge Brevard's Obser- vations on our Legislative History, 1 Stat., p. 430.
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country is prosperous, and the rulers benignant and contented to be no more than watchful guardians of the people's welfare.
The condition of the Colony, at the time of the transition to the Royal Government, was not pros- perous. It had never been very prosperous under the management of the Proprietors. Fifty years had passed, and though the lands were fertile and there were slaves to till them-though the harvests were abundant and the settlers enjoyed an ample supply of fish from the waters and game from the forests ---- though the means of living were easily secured and wealth was a sure reward to industry -- yet we find only a narrow strip of the seaboard settled. and the population in 1720 computed to be at most 9,000* whites, of all ages, of whom about 2,000 were men (from 16 to 60 years of age) capable of bearing arms, but scattered 150 miles along the coast. In the eleven parishes there were 1,305 tax-payers, and 11,828 slaves. The Province was a frontier towards the west and south-west, with Spaniards, and French, and hordes of Indians to confront, and often to war with. In the dangers and conflicts of the settlers during a half century, very little protection or help had been received from the Proprietors in England. When we take into account, moreover, the diseases incident to sultry lowlands, it is not surprising that there had been a slow increase of population, and scarcely any from recent immigration. Governor Johnson reckoned that from the Yemassee war in 1715 to 1720, from losses and various adverse causes,
*The computations in App. Noa, 12 and 13 differ from 6,400 to 9,000.
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there had been an actual increase of only 100 in the number of white inhabitants. This condition of weakness and insecurity was soon changed under the Royal Government. We shall see a more liberal bestowal of grants of land, renewed immigration, and a stretching upward of the population towards the interior and more healthy portion of the Province.
In 1715 more than 26.000 Indians, dwelling at dis- tances from Charleston varying from 60 to 600 miles, were under the subjection or influence of the gov- ernment of the Province, and traded with its mer- chants. Their trade was worth annually above £10,000 sterling. They brought down deer skins, furs and other peltry, and took in exchange guns. ammunition, cloth and iron ware -- about 200 English- men traded among them as agents for the merchants. In 1720 we had lost half of this lucrative traffic, and the friendship and allegiance of many distant tribes had been by more immediate allurements secured to the Spanish colonists in Florida and to the French in Louisiana. The Province was consequently in con- stant danger from the Indians, except from such feeble tribes as dwelt to the northward, and who numbered only about 2.800 souls.
Commerce was carried on entirely by British mer- chants. These supplied the Colonists with all man- ufactured articles, and with negro slaves, about 1,000 each year. Payment for these was made with money received from the shipping of provisions to the West India Islands, and by exporting rice, peltry, timber and naval stores to England and the northern colo- nies, Two hundred vessels of all sorts were annually freighted at Charleston. Between January, 1719, and
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January. 1720, there were exported to Great Britain. 9,115 barrels of rice, 12,475 barrels of pitch, 15,052 barrels of tar, 80 chests of deer skins, besides staves, cedar, &c .; and to the other Colonies, 3,953 barrels of rice, 1,406 barrels of pitch, 6.273 barrels of tar, together with " masts, booms, bowsprits, barrels of beef. pork, butter, candles, soap, tallow, deerskins, tanned leather, raw hides, corn, peas, cedar plank and pine plank, staves, hoops, boards, shingles, oars, &c."
Greater security against the Indians and Spaniards was all that was needed to protect the Indian trade, to increase the amount of exports and foster a moro extended agriculture. This security will now be afforded by the Royal Government, and a new era of prosperity will dawn upon the Colonists, so long oppressed and disheartened under the inefficient ad- ministration of the Lords Proprietors.
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Since the late war of Secession, circumstances have rendered me unable to continue the pre- paration of a second volume of our history. which would have embraced the period of the Royal Government in South Carolina. Such a volume, I am convinced, (for I have carefully examined all the records in Columbia) can only be properly written from the large collection of materials in the State Paper Office in London. I would therefore beg leave to insert the fol- lowing article from Russsell's Magazine, Octo- ber, 1858, and to refer to an address before the Historical Society in 1861, to show the prominent design which I had in view. viz: to trace in our Colonial history the development of Republican constitutional self-government which was consummated by the Revolution of 1776.
"A PAGE OF THE STATUTES-HISTORICAL EXPLA- NATION."
There is nothing in the histories of our State, except a sen- tence of Dr. Ramsay, which explains the facts stated in the third volume of the Statutes at Large, page 273, viz : that there are no Acts of Assembly for the year 1730, none for 1729, none for 1728. Perhaps during no equal time in the history of the Colony was the Legislature oftener in session, or greater unan- imity displayed by the Assembly for the enactment of at least one law, which they thought most conducive to the welfare of the Province.
In reading the recorded proceedings of those years -- such of them as remain to us-more will attract the attention than the simple fact of the failure to onaet laws. Something might be
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noticed of that perseverance and mutual fidelity by which the people had lately annulled the power of the Proprietors; some- thing to remind us that they were the fathers of those who achieved our independence of the Crown; and if we look neither to the past nor future of that period, there is still much to interest us in the views maintained on certain rights and privileges, and on some subjects of political economy -- for a great currency question then agitated the Colony.
The Royal Government in Carolina was based at first on certain articles of instruction. By one of these the adminis- tration devolved on the "eldest councillor," in case of the death or absence of the Governor, provided no commissioned Lieutenant-Governor were in the Province. Wben Nicholson returned to England, in 1723, the Hon. Arthur Middleton, the eldest Councillor, became President of the Council, and Com- mander-in-Chief of South Carolina. He had been prominent . in the Revolution of 1719, in bringing the Colony under the Royal Government. In his present station, be exhibited an undeviating adherence to his duty to the King, and a firm opposition to encroachments by those with whom he had been formerly associated-many of whom had the spirit of progress, liberty and revolution still unsatisfied within them. Whatever may have been said of him by Judge Whitaker, and the com- plaining Mr. Coulliette, and even rudely insinuated by the Assembly in one of their messages to him, we may ascribe to political animosity. It is not necessary to look for the sources of the extraordinary opposition to him, beyond the unflinching antagonism of himself and the Council to a favorite measure of the Assembly and people. He believed it his duty to oppose their plans. They believed it their duty and interest to persist in them. He and they, therefore, in unyielding attitudes, wont gradually down, step by step, in trouble, for three years, till Governor Johnson arrived from England.
Nicholson's favorite expression, repeated in almost every address and message to the Commons, was "the two insepa- rables, his Majesty's interest and service, and that of this Province." Middleton's was, "his Majesty's Royal Preroga- tive," repeated and adhered to in the strictest sense of duty. Nicholson's "two inseparables" never hindered his kindly yielding to the manifestly good measures of the Commons.
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He even indulged them with an increased issue of paper money. While true to the King, he was very generous to all whom he governed. The brave old man, when he came, brought a Prayer Book for each member of the Assembly ; when he left, he bestowed a father's benediction upon them. He went away poorer than he came, for he spent more than his income on the Province, and refused to accept a present from the Assembly. Middleton was of a sterner nature, and the encroaching dis- position of the recently successful people forced him to raise the barrier of " Royal Prerogative" so high that his heart was hid behind it. But though our present sentiments naturally incline us to sympathize with the people, we must say, with admiration, that in the unequal conflict, Middleton yielded not an inch to their demands when he thought he was bound to resist them, although he saw his opposition bringing his gov- ernment to the brink of ruin.
In giving a succinct narrative of this legislative contest, it will be best to begin about the time of the passing of the two Acts noticed in the Statutes for the year 1727 .- The dis- agreement between the Upper and Lower Houses, appears to have begun with the arrest of Landgrave Smith, in June of that year, on a charge of high treason .- Smith was, at the time, a member of the Assembly, which was not then in session. On account of popular disturbances, and the petition of many gentlemen, especially the merchants, the Assembly was sum- moned to meet on August 2d. On the first day of their meeting, they sent to the Upper House a Bill concerning the duties of the Chief Justice, (it was by bis warrant that Smith had been arrested) and to secure "the liberties of the subjects within' this Province." At the same time Smith petitioned the As- sembly to hear him through counsel, at the bar of the House, on the question of the legality of his commitment, and his right to an Habeas Corpus. The Council, on the ground that his Majesty's Prerogative was involved, demanded immediately a copy of the memorial and petition presented by Smith to the Assembly, and of their resolutions granting him a hearing. The Assembly not answering immediately, the Council, the same day, repeated their demand; "as the King's prerogative is concerned, and you have not thought fit to respond, I there- fore, now," said Middleton, "in his Majesty's name, require and
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command that you forthwith comply." They replied, but pot ia time for him to receive their answer until the next day : "Had your Honor desired copies of them, instead of demanding, and requiring, and commanding them. we would readily have rent them to your Honor. We have, however, directed our Clerk to deliver copies of them to any person your Honor will order to receive them." Middleton's position was that the crime of High Treason was " examinable and triable only in the King's Courts," and to them belonged the question of granting the Habeas Corpus. "I cannot sit at the head of the government and see its rights so notoriously invaded under false notions of liberty," "nor will I suffer such violations of his Majesty's Pre- rogative in my administration." When Secretary Hart of the Council carried this answer to the Lower House, he found the stairs so crowded that he had much trouble to get into the room above. When he snecceded in getting up, he found Nicholas Trott (not a member, but invited for the purpose) "endear- oring to produce precedents before the House, why Landgrave Thomas Smith ought to be admitted to bail." On hearing this, Middleton instantly broke up their sitting, by proroguing them till September.
We need not notice further this case of high treason, (the second in the history of the Colony,) nor the popular commo- tions connected with it. The charge was, for Smith's "con- posing and publishing a seditious libel ; for drawing together seditious, riotous and tumultuous assemblies, and gathering together numbers of armed men, and disturbing the peace," &c .- Smith, however, was guilty of nothing but an attempt (with injudicious zeal) to get up a general petition about the grievances of the people. These grievances may be seen in the following sentences, from a " Representation of the Inhab- itants of South Carolina," addressed to the Council in June ; the chief causes of complaint are, the malice and extortion of' a set of men who are in power-that though Courts are in the country, the inhabitants are hauled to town and tried, it may be, a hundred miles from home" -- the liberty of Englishmen is thus taken away; that of being tried by their peers aud neighbors-that they defend and maintain a "government which will not protect " them, and are left a sacritice to " base judges" and " griping lawyers, and also to oxtortioners, who
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very often make them pay three or four times as much as is their just due, and this for the want of a Tender Law of country produce, or a sufficient quantity of paper bills for the trade of the Province,"-the unfairness of taxing all negroes alike, " the aged, suckling and decrepid pay the same tax as the best," -- the injustice of the land tax, "some pay 10s. for land, others 15s. for such as is not worth the twentieth part as much," &c. " Who," they conclade, " will, or rather can, suffer oppression, when they have it in their power to free themselves ? ""Tis contrary to nature; and we must either leave the Province, or redress ourselves as God shall enable and direct us."
It is necessary to our narrative to quote here certain reso- lutions of the Representatives of these liberty-loving "inhabi- tants of South Carolina," passed on the first day of the session of which we have already spoken :
" Resolved, That it is the undoubted right of his Majesty's free born subjects within this Province to represent their grievances to the Governor, and Council, and Assembly, for the time being. jointly or separately, and co petition to have them redressed. Resolved, That whoever asserts the contrary is a betrayer of the rights and liberties of the people. Resolved, That all com- mitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal. Resolved, That by the Election Act now in force, the Assembly in this Province ought to sit once in six months. Resolved, That this present _Assembly was prorogued from the 11th day of March last to the second Tuesday in October, which is seven months, notwithstanding the Election Act aforementioned. Resolved, That this House never proposed to the Council any Bill that was disadvantageous to the public, or contrary to his Majesty's royal orders and instructions, and that all insinnations to the contrary are highly reflecting upon the honor and dig- nity of this House."
This last resolution was in contradiction to what the Presi- dent had stated in his Proclamation on the 17th of June.
Before the prorogation till September expired, the Assembly were summoned (24th August) on account of Indian affairs. They took exception to the President's late "unprecedented Proclamation," (August 24th) for prorogaing them when they were "only asserting the privileges of those we represent."
EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
After despatching the Indian affairs, by sending agents to the Creeks and Cherokees, and accepting the offer of the gallant Col. Palmer against the Yemassees, (which produced the only Acts for the year 1727 ;) they proposed a Bill for promoting the currency of gold and silver.
It was this Bill which clogged the wheels of legislation for the next three years. On its first reading it was rejected by Council, with the assurance they would pass no such measure. The irritated Assembly wished to know if they were to be re- duced to " vassals and slaves," having their Bill rejected before debate, and without consultation between the two Houses. "I care not," said Middleton, "for your unjust and invidious reflections." And the members of Council, apart from the President, thought it proper also to reply through Mr. Izard, -" we are accountable to his Majesty, and not to you; we are not in the least concerned at your invidious reflections upon our refusing to pass your Bill."
An election now occurred for a new Assembly, which con- vened the following January. There can be no doubt of a popular agitation on the Currency Bill, and of the election of Representatives distinctly on that issue. The provisions of this Bill, as originally reported, are on the Assembly Journal ; but its character, and the arguments for it and against it, may be gleaned from what follows.
Col. Wm. Dry, elected Speaker of the Assembly, being pre- sented as usual to the President of the Council, claimed for his House their accustomed privileges, comprised in the expressions, " freedom of debate, protection in our persons, and free access to your Honor." Some members elect, (Thomas Lynch, Charles Lewis, Michael Darby, James Stobo, Wm. MeMahan, and John Bee, ) would only qualify before the Council by holding up the right hand in swearing, and not upon the Holy Evangelists. Middleton therefore refused them a seat in the Assembly. The other members thereupon passed a Bill enabling them to qualify. This the Council unanimously rejected, because contrary to the Royal Instructions, The instructions to Nicholson,-the con- stitutional form of the Royal Government in Carolina,-are before us, and no specific form of taking the oaths is therein enjoined. It could not have escaped the memory of Middleton, that when Nicholson met his first Assembly in June, 1721,
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Robert Fenwick, Thomas Lynch and Michael Darby, (two of whom were among the present number) took the same ground, and being objected to, the Assembly stated that it had been the custom, from the beginning of the Colony, to allow the oaths to be taken according to the persuasion of the person sworn; and Nicholson yielding, until his Majesty's pleasure could be known, appointed Middleton and another of the Council to administer the oaths accordingly. Perhaps Nicholson or the President bad received additional instructions on the subject, for the Assembly pressed the matter no further, but sont up again the Bill regulating the currency. It was rejected by Council, who argued that if it fixed the same rates for coins as the Act of the British Parliament, 6 Anne, -it was unnecessary ; if different rates, then for that reason it could not pass, the said Act being of force in the Province. The Assembly were also anxious to fix the rate of discount, for a term of years, on their paper money as a protection to the people. A few excellent papers were produced by the discussion, copies of which were transmitted to England. The arguments of the Council were from the pen of Ralph Izard, to whom it appears, the whole subject on their side was committed. We will surely be ex- cused for the space occupied by the following passages, as we have no remains of the cratory of that period.
" You would attempt," said Mr. Izard, "to settle the course of Exchange (which is always governed by trade) by an Act of Assembly, a thing never before attempted in any part of' Europe, much less in the subordinate governments in America." You would make laws in contravention of Acts of Parliament and in contempt of his Majesty's instructions. "Must we for- ever make laws to relieve people under their own folly and ex- travagance, and break the good and wholesome laws of the Province as fast as we make them, for the same reason ? But now the people are made uneasy. Something must be done to case them, or rather to please them. What ease is it to tell a man that if he knows whereby to get twenty-five pounds Proc- lamation money, he may go and discharge a debt of one hun- dred pounds this currency, when he has no means whereby be may come at the twenty-five pounds Proclamation money ? If he has bills to purchase that Proclamation money, he does not want it, because ho may discharge his debt with those bills
1
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according to his contract, without any more trouble. Here's a terrible cry about the bills becoming Proclamation money ! Did not the country people, no longer ago than last summer, buy of the merchants above a thousand negroes, and when the merchants bartered for rice, did not the generality refuse it, and contracted for current money ? How are these things of a piece ? But the further consequence of the Bill before us, can be nothing else than this-that after a debtor has kept his creditor as long out of his debt as he thinks fit, he shall dis- charge it whenever he pleases by paying £20 Proclamation money for £100 this currency; and let the bills be at what dis- count they will, the trader shall have no more, though the bond be to pay current bills and the exchange should fall 20 per cent. But 'tis said the people expect great things of the As- sembly .- Yes we know very well what they expect. They do expect that you will pass this very Bill. That this currency shall be never of any greater value than it is. And they expect we should pass it too. And when the worst comes to the worst. they can pay a debt of $100 this currency for 225 Proclamation money seven years hence. As to the time they intend to pay it, let them alone for that! The summons Act- is taken away, and the Marshal may go a hundred times before they be at leisure to be at home. If the Marshal meet them by chance, 'tis but to oppose him. No, gentlemen, we can't raise the passe comitatus every day to get in private debts as we are now forord to do to get in the public taxes. You may see into these things, if you please, as well as we."
The following is a specimen of the reply of the Assembly :
Did not you in 1721, in appropriating fees for the public officers, do the very thing we now propose, and thought it then no " breach or contravention " of Acts of Parliament or con- tempt of his Majesty's Instructions? Did not you settle the course of exchange on 23d Jane, 1722, by your law for raising the salary of the clergy ? When you passed that Act you did " not think it an extraordinary attempt contrary to the uni- versal practice of all Europe, to entrust yourselves (as Church commissioners) with settling and adjusting the exchange as occasion should require, though you make it a heavy charge against the late Assembly to lodge such a power in the whole Legislative Body of the Province. Nor can we forbear putting
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you in mind that the same individual persons who have the honor to compose his Majesty's Council joined with some of the prin- cipal merchants in this Province, in pursuance of the authority given them by the before-mentioned Act, thought it just and reasonable unusually to settle the clergy's salaries at 400 per cent. advance, or Æ500 in paper bills for £100 Proclamation money. But this is a power that we neither desire nor contend for, nor had the late Assembly proposed it, but by the influence' and recommendation of some of the gentlemen of his Majesty's .. Council ; and we are, therefore, surprised at your extraordinary conduct in making this the reason for rejecting the Bill. "As we have fully made it appear to you from your own arguments, supported and illustrated by your cun practice and example, that there is nothing intended by the Bill of an unusual and extraordinary nature, so we shall in like manner prove that neither his Majesty's Royal Prerogative, the trade and shipping of the kingdom of Great Britain, or the property of the subjects are affected, injured or invaded."
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