USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. I > Part 33
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"The interest and honor, the safety and happiness of our country, depend so much on the result of your deliberations, that I flatter myself you will proceed, in the weighty busi- ness before you, with firmness and temper, with vigor, una- nimity and dispatch.
"JOHN RUTLEDGE."
To this speech the following addresses were returned by the two branches of the Legislature :
The Address of the Honorable the Senate in answer to the Governor's Speech.
"May it please your Excellency-
"We beg leave to return your Excellency the thanks of this House for your speech.
" Any words that we might adopt, would convey but a very faint idea of the satisfaction we feel on the perfect re-estab- lishment of the legislative, executive and judicial powers in this State.
" It is with particular pleasure, that we take the earliest opportunity to present to your Excellency, our unfeigned thanks for your unwearied zeal and attention to the real inter- est of this country, and to testif your entire approbation of the good conduct of the executive since the last meeting of the General Assembly.
" We see and revere the goodness of Divine Providence in frustrating and disappointing the attempts of our enemies to conquer the Southern States ; and, we trust, that, by the bless- ing of the same Providence, on the valor and intrepidity of
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the free citizens of America, their attacks and enterprises will continue to be repelled and defeated.
" We reflect, with pleasure, on the steady resolution with which Charleston was defended by a small body of brave men against such a vast superiority of force, and we grate- fully acknowledge the meritorious conduct and important services of the officers and privates of the militia, who stood forth in the hour of danger, and whose coolness perse- verance and ardor, under a complication of difficulties, most justly entitle them to the applause of their country.
" We flatter ourselves that the blood which the enemy has inhumanly spilled, the wanton devastation which has marked their progress, and the tyrannical system that they have in- variably pursued, and which your Excellency hath so justly and pathetically described to us, will rouse the good people of this State, and will animate them with a spirit to protect their country, to save their rights and liberties, and to main- tain, at all hazards, their independency.
" It is with inexpressible pleasure, that we receive your Excellency's congratulations upon the great and glorious events of the campaign, on the happy change of affairs, and on the pleasing prospect before us ; and we assure your Ex- cellency, that we concur most sincerely with you, in acknowl- edging and applauding the meritorious zeal, and the very important services which have been rendered to this State by the great and gallant General Greene, and the brave and in- trepid officers and men under his command, and to whom we shall be happy to give the most honorable and singular testimonies of our approbation and applause.
" We are truly sensible of the immense advantage which the United States derive from the magnanimous prince, their ally; we have the most perfect confidence on his royal word, and on the sincerity of his friendship; and we think our- selves much indebted to that illustrious monarch for the great and effectual assistance which he hath been pleased to give the confederated States, and by whose means they have been enabled to humble the pride of Britain, and to establish their independency upon the most permanent basis.
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" The importance of the several matters which "your Ex- cellency hath recommended to our consideration is so evident, that we shall proceed to deliberate upon them with all possi- ble dispatch; and we flatter ourselves that our business will be carried on with temper, firmness and unanimity.
" J. L. GERVAIS, President."
The Address of the House of Representatives in answer to the Governor's Speech.
" We, the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, in General Assembly met, return your Excellency our most cordial thanks for your very interesting speech to both Houses at the opening of this season, the language of which, evidently bespeaks a heart glowing with ardent zeal for the interest and welfare of our common country.
"We want words to express our heart-felt exultation on the pleasing reverse in our affairs. On this spot, but a few months past, a military despotism prevailed, and tyranny, with lawless violence, was desolating our fair possessions ; but we now, with ecstacy, behold a free government re-estab- lished, liberty-that greatest of temporal blessings-restored, and every citizen secured in the possession of his property by the firm barrier of the law of his country. This auspi- cious change is, in a great degree, owing to the prudence, firmness and good conduct of your Excellency.
"If anything can add to the sublime and refined enjoy- ment which must arise from your Excellency's own reflec- tions, on your persevering, unabated and successful exertions towards rescuing your country from the iron band of oppres- sion, be pleased, sir, to accept the most sincere and unfeigned thanks of your grateful fellow-citizens.
" The black catalogue which your Excellency has given of British barbarities, forms but a small part of the whole. Whenever the historic page shall be stained with their story, it will exhibit a nation devoid of faith; with whom oaths, treaties, and the most solemn compacts were considered as
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trifles, who, without scruple or remorse, had abandoned all regard to humanity, honor, justice and every ennobling senti- ment of the human breast. It is hardly possible to conceive any circumstance that could aggravate the atrocious wicked- ness of their conduct. There is not left a step in the degra- dation of national character to which they can now descend. The name of a Briton must henceforward be a term of reproach among all nations.
" We should betray a great degree of insensibility, and be wanting in justice to his merit, should we omit this occasion of acknowledging, with the warmest gratitude, our obligations to the great and gallant General Greene. His achievements in this State, while they rank him with the greatest com- manders of ancient or modern date, will engrave his name in indelible characters on the heart of every friend to this coun- try. Our acklowledgments are also due to all the brave offi- cers and men under his command, who have so often fought, bled and conquered for us. The Generals Sumter, Marion and Pickens, with the brave militia under their commands- those virtuous citizens who did not despair of the common- wealth in her greatest extremity, are deserving of the highest commendation. The friendly, seasonable and effectual aid recently afforded us by our great and illustrious ally, by means of which the General, on whom the British nation seemed most to have placed their dependence, has been compelled to surrender the flower of the British army to our immortal Com- mander-in-chief, must greatly increase the flame of gratitude which had been before kindled in the breast of every Ameri- can, and which it will not be in the power of time or accident to extinguish. We perfectly concur in sentiment with your Excellency, that, from our connection with this powerful and wise monarch, we may expect, with well-grounded confi- dence, that our independence will be shortly established upon an immovable basis, nor need we harbor a single fear of its dissolution.
" An union which originated from such liberal and gener- ous motives, and which is founded on mutual interest-that best cement of nations-must and will continue. Whethe
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the series of losses, disasters and defeats of the year past, will at length recover Britain from her delirium, time only can disclose ; but as misfortune hitherto, instead of producing re- flection and prudence, has operated to increase her insanity, we agree in opinion with your Excellency, that it is probable she will not only endeavor to keep possession of our capital, but make another attempt to subjugate the country ; we shall, therefore, immediately enter upon the prosecution of the mea- sures recommended by your Excellency, as necessary for its safety ; and being fully sensible how much depends upon the result of our deliberations, we will endeavor to proceed in the weighty business with firmness and temper, with vigor, unanimity and dispatch.
" By order of the House,
" HUGH RUTLEDGE, Speaker."
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ROBERT PRINGLE.
Robert Pringle, one of our earliest Colonial Judges, was born in the south of Scotland, of an ancient and respectable family, about the year 1702. He emigrated to Carolina about 1730, and was, for many years, a leading merchant in Charles- town. His first marriage is thus announced in the City Gazette of the 27th July, 1734: "On Thursday, the 18th inst., Mr. Robert Pringle, merchant in Charlestown, was married to Miss Jane Allen, a beautiful young lady, daughter of Mr. Andrew Allen, an eminent merchant of this town."
His wife having died childless, he married, in 1751, the widow of Stephen Bull, Mrs. Judith Bull, whose maiden name was Mayrant. He became the father of several chil- dren, the eldest of whom was John Julius Pringle, a distin- guished Attorney General of this State. A habit of great order and method is observable in his mercantile correspond- ence and memoranda, which are still preserved. It does not appear from anything which has been told of him, that he had ever been regularly bred to the Bar, but his general edu- cation and mental characteristics seemed nevertheless to have been such as to enable him to perform efficiently and credit- ably the duties of Assistant Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; to which office he was elevated by appointments con- tinued from March, 1760, until after 1769. He died on the 13th January, 1776, aged seventy-four years. The incidents in the life of a member of the legal profession are seldom very varied or striking. But it often happens, that the great actions which attract the admiration and applause of the world, find their birth in the quiet enunciation of principles by those who are far removed, by age or condition, from the armed defence of the rights they have asserted. It is thus that a legal history must always precede the military history of every civilized people. It is thus, that the American people did not rush savagely and ignorantly into a war with the
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mother country until they had sounded all the depths of their position, and tested in every way the principles they were about to defend. Few of the judicial proceedings of those early times have come down to us. But the Courts of Jus- tice, the appointment of the presiding officers of which was dependent upon royal favor, were early sources of information of the invasions of colonial rights; and there were breathings of liberty in the addresses from the Bench, which showed how much a knowledge of the law had taught them to value its inviolability. It is with a view of adding to the legal history of the State, and of illustrating the part which the colonial judiciary took in the great struggle of the Revolution, that the following papers are inserted. The first, which is, however, last in point of time, is a charge, which was delivered by Judge Pringle, to " the Grand Jury, at the General Sessions of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, Assize and General Gaol De- livery, holden at Charlestown, for the Province of South Carolina, on Monday, the 16th October, 1769. Rawlins Lowndes and George Gabriel Powel, Assistant Judges with me on the Bench, in the ninth year of the reign of his present Majesty, King George the Third."
This charge is interesting, not only as exhibiting somewhat the condition of the province, and the temper of men's minds at the time, but as indicating, on the part of him who delivered it, enlargement of views, an earnest and fervent patriotism, and the high principles of religion and morality :
" Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,-We are met here to hold the General Sessions of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, Assize and General Gaol Delivery for this colony.
"And as custom has made it necessary to address you on this occasion, I shall give you in charge what has occurred to me, and have thought may be proper at this time.
"You are, therefore, gentlemen, chosen out of the whole body of this large, thriving, and populous colony, to represent every particular member thereof, and for their service you are summoned to appear here this day. And you have power and a trust reposed in you to present all crimes and offences whatsoever committed therein against the laws of the land,
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which laws are of inestimable value, handed down to us by our brave and glorious ancestors, as the greatest blessing, and most valuable bequest and inheritance, they could leave to their heirs and posterity; as we are subject, and made obe- dient only to laws made by our own consent, and put in exe- cution chiefly by ourselves.
"Trial by Jury is a right and privilege peculiar to the subjects of Great Britain, which no other nation upon earth, besides themselves, did ever enjoy, or can boast of. It is the birth-right of every British subject, and nothing can be esteemed a greater privilege, and more equitable, than to be tried by one's peers or equals, chosen from the vicinage or neighborhood where they live and reside, and to be acquitted or found guilty by their verdict.
"The old English Barons boldly told King John, when he attempted to infringe some of the privileges of Magna Charta, ' Nolumus mutari leges Anglia,' we will not have the laws of England altered or changed; and they were ready to sup- port and defend them with the last drop of their blood.
"And I do not doubt, gentlemen, but that you will be very tenacious, and use your utmost endeavors to support and maintain these most excellent laws and privileges inviolate, and hand them down in their full extent and operation, as you found them, that they may remain so, unaltered, to your latest posterity. And I am to put you in mind, that some of your progenitors arrived in this country when it was a dreary wilderness, inhabited only by wild beasts, and great numbers of savages, the most ferocious and cruel of any of the human species; and notwithstanding the great hazard they ran of losing their lives, and the many hardships and disadvantages they labored under, being in the infancy of the colony and very few in numbers, yet they bravely maintained their ground, and withstood and defended themselves against the frequent assaults and attacks of the savages, though attended with a great effusion of blood, and have since, by their great industry, improved and cultivated the colony to so great maturity, that it is become the land of plenty, as well as of liberty, and fruitful, like the land of Egypt; and all this
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done without one farthing expense or charge to the mother country.
" The trust and power of Grand Juries are, and ought to be, accounted the greatest and of most concern, next the Legisla- ture. In their hands, the reputation and peace of their fel- low-subjects do much consist; for, though, gentlemen, the indictments found by you, or presentments made, amount to little more than legal accusations, in order to bring persons upon their trials, there being another Jury to pass upon them, before whom they are to be heard, and make their defence ; yet you ought to be very careful how you put persons upon the hazard of a trial, and endanger their lives, or at least their reputations. And I doubt not, gentlemen, but that you will have great regard, in your proceedings, to the oath that you have just now taken.
"I am to recommend to you to make all such indictments and presentments, as you may conceive, or judge in your consciences, to be public grievances and nuisances, without partiality, favor or affection. And as our Assembly is to meet very soon, it is to be hoped what grievances you present which may concern the Legislature, they will, in their wis- dom, take them into their most serious consideration, and grant such relief as they may judge expedient and proper.
"Our Legislature, for good reasons thereunto moving them, have lately thought proper to make a new law against the offence and crime of horse-stealing, which offence was, by the former law, made felony, and the penalty death. But the law is now altered, and the punishment to be inflicted on criminals who are convicted of said offence of horse-stealing by the present law, is the loss of one ear and flagellation, or whip- ping, which I thought proper to mention to you for your better information. The offence of receiving stolen goods, was formerly only a misdemeanor, and the punishment, upon conviction thereof, fine and imprisonment. But our Assem- bly, by a new law passed at the last session, have now thought proper to make it felony, and the punishment, death, without benefit of clergy.
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make presentments of all offences against the Negro Act that may come to your knowledge; and also of all cruelties and barbarities inflicted on slaves, altogether inconsistent with Christianity, and even a disgrace to humanity; and I am sorry to mention, and take notice to you, gentlemen, that cruelty to slaves, and the putting them often to death, does very often come before this Court.
"I am also to recommend to you a strict and due obser- vance of the Militia and Patrol Acts, which are Acts of great importance, and in which consists very much the interior quiet and tranquillity of the colony; especially with regard to our domestics, in order to prevent any insurrections or danger from that quarter; and which laws, I am credibly informed, are not properly observed and put in execution-not that exact and strict regard paid to them, which is necessary, and as the laws direct.
" The highways and high-roads, bridges, creeks, and cause- ways, are objects that require, and are worthy of, your par- ticular attention and consideration, as good roads are highly beneficial, of great utility, and of much advantage to the com- munity, as thereby, upon any sudden emergency, the vicinage or neighborhood can be easily and soon alarmed and col- lected together in a body upon their guard or defence, either to repel any attack from enemies without, or to prevent and immediately crush any insurrection that may happen from within; and if any of the Commissioners of the High-Roads are negligent or remiss in their office and duty, that may come within your knowledge or inspection, it is a duty incumbent on you to present them, without favor or partiality: for the law directs, in case of being negligent, and not keeping the high-roads in good repair, that each Commissioner be liable to a fine of one hundred pounds.
" The laudable and great industry of the inhabitants of this colony has rendered it the most opulent and flourishing colony on the British Continent of America. And its various and valuable produce increases in proportion to its number of inhabitants and extent in trade; the quantity of rice now pro- duced annually being double to what it was twenty or thirty
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years ago. What was then considered a good crop did not exceed from fifty to seventy thousand barrels, and now, for some years past, the crops of rice have been near double that quantity; so that, gentlemen, it evidently appears, that the in- dustry of the inhabitants has been crowned with remarkable success, and as this is a land of industry and plenty, so it is to be hoped, it will likewise always continue a land of free- dom and liberty; the continuance and enjoyment of which do much consist in the union and unanimity of its inhabi- tants. Intestine divisions and animosities are the greatest curse and calamity that can befall or happen to any nation or community, and must, in course, be the downfall and ruin of any people wherever it happens. Frangimur si collidimur -- if we clash against one another, we break and fall in pieces. So that it is to be hoped, gentlemen, that you will, in your several stations, use your best and utmost endeavors to encourage and promote amongst all your fellow-subjects una- nimity, harmony, concord, and universal benevolence, virtue, and sound morality, which will greatly contribute towards our mutual happiness; and, at the same time, gentlemen, to show your utter abhorrence, aversion, and detestation, of all manner of vice, iniquity, and immoralities, whatsoever. It is righteousness, gentlemen, that exalteth a nation, and make people truly happy ; but sin is a reproach to any people.
"I am, also, to recommend to you, the promoting and en- couraging of good seminaries of learning in the colony, as an object very worthy of your particular notice and attention, and which are greatly encouraged and attended with much success in some of our northern colonies-the want of which here lays this colony under many disadvantages and inconveni- ences; for, instead, gentlemen, of having the comfort and satis- faction of having our children educated at home, under our eye and inspection, and obtaining a liberal education amongst ourselves, we are obliged to send our youth to England, or to the colleges in the northern colonies, for their improvement in literature, art and sciences, which is a great inconvenience, besides the expense, and the occasion of money going out of the colony, and is apt to have also this evil tendency,
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that youths who have their education in foreign parts, or at a distance from home, have not that natural and tender regard and attachment for their native country, as those who have their education, and are brought up at home; all which are great disadvantages, and not to the honor of the colony- especially as this province can as well afford to erect, support and maintain a college as any of the northern colonies what- soever. The encouraging of literature, arts and sciences, in all their different branches, has always proved of the greatest utility and advantage to all civilized nations, and contribute greatly to their happiness and prosperity. And it is to be hoped, gentlemen, that our Legislature will think it expedient to encourage, promote and cherish so very salutary and laudable an undertaking, and so conducive towards the welfare, happi- ness and prosperity of this colony. And it is likewise much wished for, and to be hoped, gentlemen, that our Legislature will think it necessary, and for the general welfare of the colony, that ministers may be appointed, and public schools erected for the instruction and benefit of the poor people in the interior parts of the colony, where they live in great igno- rance; the want of which has, in a great measure, occasioned the frequent riots, disturbances and commotions, that have happened in remote parts for these two or three years past, and which still continue in some places, as they have of late opposed and will not suffer the King's legal writs to be served upon them, in defiance of the laws of the land, and to the defrauding of their honest creditors.
" The knowledge I have of most of you, gentlemen, will not suffer me for a moment to doubt your discharge of the great trust reposed in you on this occasion with care, diligence and integrity, as become good men and good subjects. And it is not necessary for me, gentlemen, to take up your attention for a longer time, to lay before you, enlarge, and explain in par- ticular the several crimes and offences that may happen to come before you this session, as I am sensible of your being conversant and well-acquainted therewith, and, therefore I now dismiss you to the business of the day."
The other document, to which allusion has been made, is
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the record of the proceedings of the Court of Common Pleas, in Charleston, in the year 1765-6, relative to the Stamp Act. The opinion of the Court, on this occasion, was delivered by Mr. Justice Rawlins Lowndes. These proceedings were, a few years ago, furnished to the Charleston Courier, for publi- cation, by the officers of the Court in Charleston. The Editor of the Courier, in commenting upon them, makes the follow- ing appropriate remarks :
"The opinion of Mr. Justice Rawlins Lowndes, and his independent brethren, the Assistant Judges, in opposition to that of the Chief Justice Shinner, is an able, learned and ex- ceedingly elaborate and ingenious judgment. We cannot help smiling, however, when we reflect that the argument of necessity, which the learned Judge pushed with such victo- rious force, against the Chief Justice's desire and effort to close the portals of colonial justice, for lack of Stamp Paper, was furnished him by the act of a band of patriot colonists, with whom he was in full sympathy, expelling that odious badge of oppression from our coasts ; a necessity, superinduced by the voluntary, and perhaps rebellious course of those from whose pockets the Stamp Act was intended to exact revenue. We do not mean to impugn the law or the logic of the argu- ment, for we think the one sound and the other triumphant, but we cannot help the thought that the fact of this obnoxious attempt at taxation without representation, had, as Judge Lowndes himself phrased it, 'united all America and made them as the heart of one man,' in resolute resistance to its enforcement, had much to do with both the law and the logic of the occasion. The historical record shows that the Stamp Paper had arrived at Charleston, in a British sloop-of-war, and been deposited under protection of the garrison of Fort Johnson. A body of volunteers from the town, however, cap- tured the Fort, seized the hateful paper, and declared their determination to make a bonfire of the whole of it, unless the commanding officer of the sloop would pledge his honor im- mediately to receive it on board and forthwith to depart with it. Within the space of two hours, the required pledge was
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