USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 24
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1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV, 450.
2 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette.
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announcement of the meeting of the Assembly. But a writer in the Gazette of the 24th of September, without direct mention or reference to these occurrences, presents a very plausible argument against the action of the Presi- dent and Council in assuming to abrogate or avoid an act solemnly passed by the three coordinate branches of the government. He argues for an express constitutional pro- vision upon the subject. His paper is interesting as it exhibits the steps in the development of our written con- stitutions as limitations upon the law-making power. He urges that the Constitution should clearly define the author- ity of each branch of the legislature as well as the con- joint powers of the whole. It is absolutely necessary to settle whether the power, transferred to government, is unlimited, or whether it would not be prudent to confirm it by a charter of inalienable rights. It is proper, he writes, that the privileges of each component part should be fixed, that no branch may be at liberty to arrogate to itself ad libitum a power superfluous to the rest. The writer, how- ever, cannot avoid all personal allusion. He cannot alto- gether conceal his party spirit. "Let us not follow," he writes, "the example of those who have almost ruined themselves already, and probably will totally hereafter by their neglect of this very matter."
In the meantime, writes Gadsden to Drayton, the Presi- dent and Council had to put up with the insult. He was much afraid that Mr. Lowndes would have resigned, "which would have put the State into great confusion, and would have given the party who were hopeful that officers would not have been found to set the new constitutions a-going, the utmost pleasure." But while Gadsden was thus concerned that Lowndes should submit to insult in order to despite the opposition to the new Constitution, he was not willing to do so himself. This, he tries to
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explain to Drayton, was because his office was not of so much consequence and would not disorganize the govern- ment, and at the same time would rebuke the other party. He writes that as for his part as Vice President, and as a new election was so near at hand, he thought his resigna- tion would be of little moment to the State, and that at the same time it would be of some good consequence that some part of the executive should show a feeling upon so monstrous an insult as they received. Indeed, he thought himself in a manner peculiarly called upon to do so from his station, and wrote a letter, he says, to the speaker re- signing the office of Vice President, a copy of which he encloses to Drayton. A copy of this letter is in the man- uscript volume before us. It is in Christopher Gadsden's own peculiar style. It is long and incoherent, and often regardless of the rules of grammar ; but it is full of strong sense, of the highest honor and deepest feeling. His love for the State commingled with his sense of wrong at the indifference and disrespect with which he conceived the President and himself treated, are expressed with strength and pathos. He makes, too, a very strong point that the very existence of the State during the war then existing might, upon a sudden emergency, oblige the Privy Council to advise the President to act really the very opposite to some of the most favorite laws-a necessity which was soon to be recognized and acted upon in conferring almost dictatorial powers upon John Rutledge and his Council, in whose interest the controversy with Lowndes and Gadsden was now chiefly waged. But Gadsden must have been simple-minded indeed, when he expected, as he wrote Drayton, that his resignation would be accepted. Had he not himself recognized that he had been put in the position as a mere party manœuvre by his opponents ; and could he expect them now to release him ? "However," he writes,
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" I was mistaken, for they did me the honor, unanimously, to send two members to desire I wo'd continue. This I could not refuse, therefore still remain statu quo."
It was, as we have seen, during the early days of Lowndes's administration that the alliance with France had been formed. This alliance was far from being uni- versally acceptable, and the latent hostility to it in South Carolina was now to be exhibited in a marked manner. As soon as the French had determined to take an active part in behalf of the revolted colonies, a fleet was equipped and dispatched to America under the Count D'Estaing. The first movement on their part in cooperation with the American forces was the joint expedition to recover pos- session of Rhode Island, which ended in total failure, because, as the Americans believed, of their abandonment in a critical moment by the French fleet. Indeed, Colonel John Laurens, son of Henry Laurens, who was serving with that expedition, had taken to D'Estaing, when he had announced his intention of abandoning it and sailing for Boston, a protest against the departure of the fleet as derogatory to the honor of France, destructive of the wel- fare of the United States, and highly injurious to the alli- ance formed between the two nations. The conduct of the French on this occasion caused great murmuring throughout the American continent, particularly among the people of the Northern States, who had hoped much from the expedition. In these States the clamors were loud against D'Estaing, who had deserted them in the midst of an expedition which had been undertaken only in consequence of the promise of cooperation. These murmurings were suppressed by the powers as far as they could, but they were in part the cause of a dangerous riot in Boston between the American and French seamen, in which several of the latter were wounded. A still more
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serious riot of the same kind took place in Charlestown. On the 6th of September the good people of the town were alarmed by the firing of cannon and small arms. The disturbance began, it appears, with an ordinary quar- rel between some sailors of the French ship Comte de Nar- bonne, lying at one of the wharves, and the landsmen, but it grew into a general fight between the French sailors and those of Carolina, in which some lives were lost and several persons wounded. There was great alarm, the militia were called out, and were under arms all night. President Lowndes issued a proclamation, offering £1000 for the apprehension of a person who was supposed to have killed one of the French sailors. He also called upon all magistrates and peace officers and all good citi- zens to be vigilant in suppressing tumultuous meetings and preventing riots, and to discourage and discounte- nance all indecent, illiberal, and national reflections against the subjects of his most Christian Majesty our great and good ally as tending to excite resentment and ill-will among those to whom by interest, treaty, and alliance we are bound as friends and who are particularly entitled to our favor. He also sent in a message to the General Assembly, which was now sitting, recommending them to prescribe regulations which might prevent such riots, which threatened very fatal consequences. Nothing further came of these disturbances, but they exhibited the hostile feeling which existed among the people against the French and this alliance.1
There was great apathy among the people in the coun- try generally, notwithstanding all the excitement and turmoil in the town of the last few months. The new Constitution had popularized the government in theory, but the people generally do not appear to have been zeal-
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, September 17, 1778.
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ous in availing themselves of their new franchises. Presi- dent Lowndes, in a message to the Assembly on the 17th of October, as it was about to adjourn, called the atten- tion of the members to the great neglect of elections. Upon occasions of elections, he said, when so much is at stake, it was highly reprehensible, if not criminal, for any man to absent himself ; no inconvenience, no private con- siderations, can excuse so dangerous a neglect. How as- tonishing, then, has been the supineness and indifference of the people in respect to elections-the corner-stone in the fabric of a free constitution ! To see members of a respectable parish or district nominated by two or three of the inhabitants, and sometimes barely by the returning officer, has been a subject of regret to every lover of his country. We are now dignified by the title of Freemen ; we have formed and adapted our Constitution to that character. We are the guardians and guarantees of that Constitution. Let us act under the influence of these con- siderations, and at the approaching elections throughout the State exhibit an example of watchfulness and inde- pendency, attention and zeal for the preservation of our liberties, that may stimulate the inhabitants at future elections and diffuse through all ranks and orders of men an emulation in the discharge of these duties.1
The approaching election referred to by President Lowndes was the first to be held under the new Constitu- tion, which John Rutledge had vetoed as closing the door to a reconciliation with the mother country. It took place on the last Monday in November, the 30th, and judging by the returns for Charlestown there does not seem to have been any new life infused into the councils of the State by the extended franchise and the increased representation. Indeed, from the list of those returned,
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, October 17, 1778.
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it seems as if Charlestown had found it difficult to find thirty persons to represent it in the new Assembly ; or if not so, the ruling families had still retained their politi- cal influence, and that without regard to their respective positions upon the great questions at issue. In the new body - the Senate - the representatives of the town were Charles Pinckney and Henry Middleton, both elderly, conservative men, and both of whom were soon to retire from the contest. Including the Senate and House, there were four Pinckneys, - Colonel Charles Pinckney and his son, Charles Pinckney, Jr., Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and his brother Thomas. The three Rutledges, John, Hugh, and Edward, and their brother-in-law, Roger Smith. The two Middletons, Henry and Arthur, father and son. The two Laurenses, Henry and John, father and son. Two Hugers, brothers, Daniel and Isaac. Henry Laurens and William Henry Drayton, though members serving in Congress, were chosen as representa- tives in the Assembly. Christopher Gadsden and Will- iam Henry Drayton, the extreme Revolutionists, and John Rutledge, who was seeking reconciliation, were alike chosen. Daniel Cannon and William Johnson were also elected. In looking over the list of representatives chosen at this election, and recollecting the part they had played and the various and opposing views they had expressed and acted upon, we cannot believe that their choice was the result of any general election or action on the part of the people. It must have been the result of some arrange- ment by which all those who had taken any part in public affairs up to this time were returned, regardless of what was their position upon the great issue at stake. Neither party perhaps felt strong enough to make an issue with the other.
The Assembly met on the first Monday in January, 1779,
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whereupon Rawlins Lowndes, the President under the former Constitution, who was, no doubt, rejoiced to be relieved from his anomalous position, addressed the body in a message, in which he told them that the choice of officers to fill the various offices of State under the new Constitution was their most important business, and as their affairs would now, in all probability, be conducted more by arms than councils, and their success, in a great manner, depend upon military ability and experience, they should look to these qualities in the choice of a chief magistrate. To these he declared himself unfitted, and expressed the highest pleasure and satisfaction in the hope of a speedy dismission from office. The Senate and House replied most courteously, and assured his Excel- lency that he underrated his abilities. But they went into an election, and John Rutledge, who had in March before vetoed the Constitution, and resigned the office of chief magistrate rather than take part in closing the door to an accommodation with England, was now recalled to be the head of the State; and being elected Governor and Com- mander-in-chief, under the Constitution he had refused to approve, he was proclaimed amidst the acclamation of the people, the discharge of the field-pieces of the artillery, and the volleys of infantry. Then his Excellency, at- tended by the Senate and House of Representatives and their officers, proceeded from the State House to the Ex- change in solemn procession as of old, and was received there as Governor with every demonstration of respect.1
Thomas Heyward, Jr., a member of Congress who was not present, was elected Lieutenant Governor ; but on learn- ing it, declined. Thomas Bee was chosen in his place.2
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, February 11, 1779.
2 Ibid., February 19; Gazette of the State of South Carolina, Febru- ary 24, 1779.
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The Privy Council elected were Colonel Charles Pinckney, Christopher Gadsden, Roger Smith, and Thomas Ferguson for two years ; John Edwards, John Neuf- ville, Colonel Isaac Motte, and John Parker for one year.1
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, February 19, 1779. Governor John Drayton, the son of William Henry Drayton and editor of his Memoirs, thus accounts for the condition of parties and the curious results of elec- tions, the same constituency returning persons of such different political views : -
" For it must not be understood that the individuals whose names have been mentioned as leading opposition in the public councils had any other than the purest views in so doing : as every free independent citizen of this community has from the first settlement of this colony maintained his right to comment on the proceedings of the government, as affecting his liberty, his rights, and his property ; and as men view occurrences through the mediums best suited to their several capacities. Besides, it must not be forgotten that the citizens of South Carolina did not lead, but followed the American Revolution. They had been mildly treated by the Royal government, and therefore did not hastily lose sight of British protection. Hence the public mind weighed how far it should support violent measures against the ancient government, and did not give way until the revolutionary troubles and revolutionary principles thence arising led them step by step to concede points as proper and patriotic which a short time before they had thought disloyal and unadvisable. For these reasons the opposition members were always kept in place, as eliciting by their opposition more prudent measures. And that their con- duct in so doing was not disapproved the high public stations to which many of them were called during the most critical times of the Revolu- tion will be the best assurance of the public approbation. In their life- time it was their best reward, and to their posterity who now profit by their ancestors' services it will ever be a source of happy reflection - that they did not struggle for their own and their country's right in vain." - Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 88, 89.
CHAPTER XIV
1778
THE British commissioners having failed in their embassy sailed for England in November, 1778; and about the same time an embarkation took place from New York, which was the commencement of a transfer of the war to the South. The invasion from Canada having ended in Burgoyne's defeat and capture, and the opera- tions in the Middle States having at the end of three years failed to secure any other permanent result than the occupation of New York, the British government deter- mined, while keeping a sufficient force before Washington and the main body of the American army, so as to prevent succor to the distant States of Georgia and South Carolina, to transfer to these States the scene of hostilities.
There were strong reasons for this course. South Caro- lina and Georgia produced the commodities which were most wanted in the European markets. France took an immense quantity of their staple products, and the quiet and security which they had hitherto enjoyed had allowed the cultivation of these crops to continue without inter- ruption, so that their export trade seemed little otherwise affected by the war than what it suffered from the British cruisers. Thus in effect the American credit in Europe was principally upheld by these Southern States; and they became the medium through which the Middle States received most of the supplies that were not only indis- pensably necessary to the support of the war, but even to
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the conducting of the common business and affairs of life. 1 From the victory of the 28th of June, 1776, Charlestown had become the storehouse of merchandise and the retreat of privateers, and into its harbor were brought their prizes for condemnation. Besides this, it was believed that a much greater proportion of the inhabitants of these prov- inces were still well affected to the British government than of those in the Northern. Then, from the great dis- tance of these States from the army under Washington it was impossible for him to conduct their defence, and scarcely possible to lend them any material assistance. Moreover, Sir Henry Clinton, from New York, having com- mand of the water, would be enabled to transport his forces to and from the South with much greater facility and in much less time than could Washington from the Jerseys. It was therefore determined to make an essay in the South and to begin with Georgia, the youngest and weakest and most loyal to Great Britain of all the colonies, which, though in itself neither great nor powerful, possessed con- siderable importance as a granary to the invaders, and much more so as its occupation opened the way to opera- tions against South Carolina. These considerations deter- mined the British, now that all hopes of reconciliation were at an end, to undertake an expedition to Georgia and to renew the struggle from that strategic point.2 Let us see what were the forces in South Carolina to meet the invasion which was now shortly to come, and inquire somewhat into the military system upon which the Revolu- tion was carried on.
The military defence of the revolted colonies was based on no general uprising of the people. There was no call for volunteers as in the war between the States in 1861;
1 Annual Register for 1779 (London), 29.
2 Hist. of George III (Bisset), vol. III, 122.
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nor was there any attempted levy en masse as in France in 1793; nor was there, nor could there be, any reliance what- soever in the militia. A militia indeed can be depended upon only by a government which is universally recog- nized, and is most dangerous to one which has not the cordial support of the whole people. This fact was fully recognized by the leaders of the Revolution, and experi- ence everywhere demonstrated its truth. Washington in his letters again and again declares that no dependence whatsoever could be put in the militia; and the same thing was repeated by the officers in South Carolina. How could it be otherwise when there was scarcely a leading family in the province which was not divided between the King and the Congress? To call out the militia was to call out perhaps as many friends of his Majesty King George the Third as of the new government, and to put arms in the hands of such was sometimes but furnishing them to the invaders. When the people would not take the trouble at such a time to go to the polls to vote under the new Constitution, it was scarcely to be expected they would turn out to fight for it.
From the commencement the theory of the Revolutionists was that of a regular army. A regular force was to be raised after the manner of the European armies; and the material sought for the rank and file was of the same description. So the Provincial Congress in 1775 deter- mined to raise three regiments of five hundred men each, two of infantry and one of rangers, in the nature of mounted infantry. The military ardor, we are told, was so great that many more candidates presented themselves from the first families in the province as officers of the first two regiments than were wanted; but it was as officers these desired to serve -not in the rank and file. The officers were to have the pay and rations as in the British
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service at the time, the soldiers one shilling sterling per day; the rangers, as they were to furnish their own horses, £20 currency. This force upon which a revolution was to be effected was thus to consist of fifteen hundred men!1 Ramsay thinks that had America seriously intended in- dependence from the beginning, she might in the first stage of the contest have easily recruited one hundred thousand men to serve during the war; but aiming, he says, at nothing but a redress of grievances, and flattering herself with the hopes of accomplishing this in a little time, all her schemes were of a temporary nature.2 But this is begging the whole question; for it can be just as safely asserted that if independence had been avowed when it was first proposed to raise troops in South Carolina not a man would have been enlisted. Gadsden's declaration in favor of independence and separation six months after- wards was received with abhorrence.
The military system under which the Revolution was carried on was utterly inadequate and inefficient. Con- gress had, as early as the 15th of June, 1775, adopted the army around Boston and assumed the control of military operations. But this it will be recollected was a year before the Declaration of Independence, and the force thus adopted was designated the Continental army, in contra- distinction to that of the British under General Gage, which was called by the Revolutionists the Ministerial army ; few at this time desiring, and fewer still bold enough to acknowledge if they did so desire, a separation from England. This name, for want of a better, clung to the American army proper for the rest of the war. When Washington assumed command of this army, under the authority of Congress, he found it much smaller in num- bers than he had been led to suppose, and an ill-con-
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, 64. 2 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 10S.
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ditioned and irrregular force stretched out to beleaguer the town.1 It was composed of minutemen and volun- teers who had hastily assembled for a temporary service and with no idea of engaging in a long war; and as the summer passed away, and the novelty and excitement of the occasion wore off, the men became impatient of the dull service in the siege and anxious to return to their homes, nor did they often wait for leave to do so. It became necessary, therefore, to reorganize this army, and on the 15th of October, 1775, there arrived in camp a com- mittee of Congress, sent to confer with Washington and with delegates from the government of the New England States on the subject. The committee consisted of Ben- jamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina, and Colonel Harrison of Virginia. Under the report of this committee it was proposed to raise a new army of 22,270 men, to be recruited as much as possible from the troops then in actual service. But still without any purpose of a permanent separation from England or of a long war to maintain it, this force was to be enlisted but for one year. The reenlistment under this act of Congress proved a source of perplexity to Washington, who found the great- est difficulty in securing it. The troops, especially those from Connecticut, would not remain in camp long enough to allow the new recruits to be organized for their relief. Washington's letters of the time are filled with the bit- terest complaints of the want of public spirit and virtue in the people. Instead of pressing to be engaged in the cause of their country, which, he writes, he had vainly flattered himself would have been the case, he found him- self likely to be deserted in a most critical time.2 Nor was the condition of the army improved when Boston was evacuated by the British and the battle of Long Island
1 Life of Washington (Irving), vol. VI, 7. 2 Ibid., 87.
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had taken place, and he had been compelled to retreat through the Jerseys. His enlisted men became dispirited; and the militia, dismayed, intractable, and impatient to go home, deserted in great numbers, in some instances almost by whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time.
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