USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 55
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1 General Charles Scott of Virginia, who, it may be recollected, was esent at the siege of Charlestown in 1780, and was taken prisoner upon e fall of the town. Hist. of So. Ca. in the Revolution, 1775-80 occa IcCrady), 472, 509.
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intimations in these letters, implicating not only Majors Forsyth and Burnet, but General Greene himself. General Scott, thinking that he had made an important discovery, immediately communicated the intercepted letters to Governor Harrison and the council in Vir- ginia.1
The purpose of the governor and council in allowing the British merchants to remain in Charlestown after the evacuation had thus been frustrated, to a great extent at least. A great mercantile firm, composed in part o: officers of the commander-in-chief's family, with capita drawn from the public coffers, had thus obtained a monoply of the clothing of which the people stood so much in need The exact details of the transaction were not yet known but by some means, probably through General Scott and Captain Shelton, the matter became public in Virginia where General Greene at the time was very unpopular and from Virginia the most injurious rumors had reached South Carolina.
Under the contract with Banks, General Wayne de clared that the army was then better clothed than he had ever seen American troops ; 2 but in the matter of subsist ence they were still in as great difficulty as ever. Cor gress and Mr. Morris had cast their support upon th Southern States of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia. Virginia and North Carolina would, an Georgia could, do nothing. The army was in South Card lina, and must therefore live upon her resources. Th people of the State became indignant that the mainte nance of the Southern army was thus thrown exclusivel upon them, when it was known how much they had a
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 358-364; The So. Ca. Weekly G zette, February 15, 1783.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 360.
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ready contributed, and how much more they had endured and suffered in the common cause.1
By the Constitution of 1778, then in force, the General Assembly was to meet on the first Monday in January in each year, but it was not until the 24th of that month, 1783, that a quorum was ready this year for business. g When it met, notwithstanding the state of popular excite- ement at the time, Governor Mathews opened its pro- ceedings with a message, not only devoid of the slightest intimation of dissatisfaction with the army, but containing a the kindest and most flattering references to its com- mander. And to these sentiments of his Excellency both dthe Senate and House responded in their addresses in n the most cordial manner.2 But these kindly official ex- n pressions but thinly veiled the mutual discontent between ia the army and the people. On the 10th of January, General ar Greene had been notified that impressments would no longer be allowed; and impressments had indeed failed to supply the army with beef, for no one would bring their decattle within reach of the impressing officer. In more han one instance beef had been taken by force from the istpublic market for the use of the army. An attempt was hen made to find a contractor. But it was in vain that th etters and advertisements had been circulated, calling for ids, until Banks & Company again came forward ; but an hey would not undertake the contract at the prescribed prices. Colonel Carrington, in charge of the subsistence
1 We have seen, it will be remembered, that South Carolina had verpaid her proportion of the expenditures of the war, in the sum f $1,205,978, exceeding every other state but Massachusetts in the mount of her contribution to the common cause, and very nearly equal- ing that State which had three times her white population. This she had one before she was overrun and devastated by the enemy. Hist. of So. Ca. in the Revolution 1775-80 (McCrady), 303, 304.
2 The So. Ca. Weekly Gazette, February 15, 1783.
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of the army, appreciating the delicacy of the situation in dealing with the firm, now the subject of so much suspi- cion, took the precaution of communicating the terms they offered to Hugh Rutledge, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, with the request that he would lay the subject before the House and request their advice on any means that could be adopted to obtain another contractor and better terms. Mr. Rutledge replied that he had laid the letter before the House, that the terms of Banks & Company were thought too high, but as no others had been offered, and the pressing necessities called for imme- diate relief, it was thought needless to keep open the con- tract any longer. Upon this Colonel Carrington closed with Banks. And Banks now had not only the contract for clothing, but for feeding the army as well, and that upon his own terms.
General Scott, as we have said, upon ascertaining the character of the letters of Banks & Company, had trans- mitted them to the governor and council of Virginia. It was at this time, on the 1st of February, that the following official letter from Governor Harrison and his council reached General Greene :1-
" VIRGINIA IN COUNCIL, December 24, 1782.
"SIR :- The inclosed copies of letters from Mr. John Banks and Major Forsyth discover a dangerous partnership entered into by those gentlemen with others to carry on an illicit trade within the Southern States entirely injurious to them, and contrary to the strongest recommendations of Congress and the good faith so solemnly pledged to our good allies the French that I look at it as a duty in- cumbent on me to acquaint you with the particulars in order that such steps may be taken, as well to prevent the scheme's being carried into execution, as to call to account the officers of your army who have so imprudently entered into a connexion derogatory to their characters as officers and abusive of that confidence you have
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 364.
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been pleased to place in them. The letters will so fully explain the whole transaction that I need not trouble you with any comment of mine, further than to observe that Mr. Banks has endeavored to involve you in this business, by hinting a desire in you to become a partner; and that he had liberties granted him by your connivance that could not be obtained by any other person. These insinuations I assure you Sir have made no impression to your disadvantage either with me or any other member of my council. Your character stands in too exalted a point of view with us to be aspersed by any thing from so trifling an individual. Yet it may not be amiss to let him feel the weight of your resentment for his presumption lest the uninformed may differ with us in this sentiment. You will see that the letters are public here and by what means they became so."
The arrival of this communication at this time was most unfortunate for General Greene. The report spread far and wide that, employing the funds of the public, he had, through the agency of Banks, opened a lucrative commerce with Charlestown, and in a short time it was superadded that Mr. Morris, participating in the iniquity, had given him an unlimited right of drawing in order to furnish a capital for speculation.1 It so happened also that the paper had
1 Banks, soon after obtaining the contract to supply Greene's army with food as well as with clothing, speculating in other directions, became deeply involved, and could not comply with his contract, whereupon the merchants proposed that if General Greene would guarantee Banks's debts they would furnish the latter further credit. Greene agreed to this. Banks failed, and after the war (i.e. in 1784) his creditors called upon Greene to make good his guarantee. In 1785, on the advice of his friends, General Greene applied to the Continental Congress for relief ; but before action was taken he died [Commanders Series, General Greene (Greene), 297-298]. In 1791 his widow renewed the application by petition to the Second Congress under the Constitution. There her petition was met and opposed by General Sumter, then a member of that body, not on the ground of fraud or of General Greene's connection with Banks, but on the broader ground that there had been no necessity of such action on the part of General Greene, that South Carolina her- self, pressed and devastated as she was, would have yet furnished the necessary supplies had a proper application been made in time ; and of this General Sumter was in a position to speak with authority, as he was
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come just at the time when the General Assembly was about to go into the election for another governor, under the Constitution, which required an election every two years and rendered the incumbent ineligible. Governor Mathews, from his previous position in Congress upon the committees at General Washington's headquarters, had had much experience in regard to the wants and necessi- ties of an army, and of the ways and means of supplying them. His position in Congress had also doubtless ren- dered him most friendly to the Continental army and its
on a committee charged with providing the means of doing so, when, as we shall see, General Greene most improperly interfered -an interfer- ence which caused the abandonment of the measure-and that large grants had been made by the States of Georgia, North and South Carolina, which were still in the possession of the general's heirs. He recognized, he said, the delicacy of his position owing to his relations with General Greene, and would not suffer past injuries to warp his judgment, but acted in con- formity with the opinions of the people of South Carolina, and in par- ticular of the district which he had the honor to represent. The petition, on the other hand, was supported, among others, by General Wayne and Colonel Wadsworth, Greene's partner in the firm of Barnabas Deane & Co. who was then his executor and a member of Congress. After the fullest debate the petition was defeated by a vote of 28 to 25. (Abridgment of Debates of Congress, vol I, 335-341.) It was, however, again renewed the next year, and on the 4th of April, 1792, a measure for the relief of Greene's estate in one case was passed by a like close vote of 29 ayes to 26 nays. (Ibid., 373.) Four years after another bill was passed for the relief of the estate in another case by the large majority of 56 yeas to 26 nays. (Ibid., 762.) For a summary of the case as presented in Congress pro and con see ibid., but it may well be doubted if either of these measures of relief would have been passed had it been then known that General Greene had in 1779-80 been a secret partner in the firm of Barnabas, Deane & Co., and as quartermaster-general purchasing sup- plies from his own house, for such knowledge would have much weakened the argument so much pressed and relied upon, that it was impossible to suppose that one of his high character could have been involved in such a transaction. On the other hand, it is to be remembered that there is not a vestige of evidence that the partners in that house took undue advantage of their official positions to extend the business or increase the profits of the firm. (J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., Magazine of Am. History, vol. XII, 28.)
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officers. Now another governor was to be chosen, while popular sentiment ran strongly against the army in general and its commander in particular.
On the 4th of February, 1783, the legislature pro- ceeded to the election of State officers; whereupon Benja- min Guerard was chosen governor and Richard Beresford lieutenant-governor. The constitution rendering the privy councillors, as well as the governor, ineligible to reelection, new members of that body had also to be elected; and Peter Bocquet, Arnoldus Vanderhorst, Benjamin Waring, Josiah Smith, Nicholas Eveleigh, William Hasell Gibbes, Jacob Read, and Daniel DeSaussure were chosen.
The names of those hitherto prominent, either in the civil or military line, are conspicuously absent in this list of the new officers of the State. This is no doubt, in part at least, accounted for by the constitutional provision for- bidding reelections. The absence of any but Low-Country men in the Privy Council is with no less doubt to be attributed to the necessity of having in the council resi- dents of the immediate neighborhood of the city where the governor resided, so as to insure a quorum upon imme- diate pressing occasions. The journals of the legislature show the presence in the body of all the old leaders, as well from the Up-Country as from the Low-Country, and their active concern in all its measures, so that there could scarcely have been any local or class prejudice controlling these elections. The delegates to Congress chosen also lisprove the idea that any such motives controlled. These were Henry Laurens, John Rutledge, Ralph Izard, Jacob Read, and Thomas Sumter. Governor Guerard had been one of those confined on a prison ship and exiled to Phila- delphia, and his popularity doubtless arose from his noble conduct in regard to his fellow-prisoners and the exiles io St. Augustine who were transported to Philadelphia.
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Many of these, as has already been stated, accustomed through life to every essential comfort, were then destitute of common necessaries, and not a few actually wanted bread. Mr. Guerard was possessed of an extensive property, and, touched by the sufferings of his fellow-citizens, he came forward and offered to pledge his whole estate as a security to raise a sum to be exclusively appropriated to their maintenance, demanding no greater share for himself than that which should be allowed to every other individual. Carolina estates, then in the hands of the enemy, were not regarded as a very good security, and his generous inten- tions proved altogether abortive; but they were not for- gotten by his fellow-exiles. The influence of the St. Augustine company and of those who had been on the prison ships, in this election is very manifest. Governor Guerard had been on the prison ship Pack-Horse. Lieu- tenant-Governor Beresford and Privy Councillors Josiah Smith, William Hasell Gibbes, Jacob Read, and Daniel DeSaussure had all belonged to the St. Augustine party.
A measure which was at this time exciting the greatest interest in this legislature was a bill for the repeal of the act of the year before allowing Congress to levy five per cent duties on imports and prizes. Under the articles of confederation the consent of every one of the thirteen States was necessary to any amendment of them, and such an amendment was necessary to allow the imposition of this tax ; and as Rhode Island refused her consent to this measure it stood in abeyance. Congress, having no resource except persuasion, was about to send a delegation to that State to urge its consent, when intelligence was received that Virginia had joined Maryland in opposition to it, and had without a negative in her Assembly passed an act to withdraw her assent. The reasons recited in the preamble to the Virginia act of repeal were thus stated: "The per-
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mitting any power other than the General Assembly of this commonwealth to levy duties or taxes upon citizens of this State within the same is injurious to its sovereignty, may prove destructive of the rights and liberties of the people, and so far as Congress may exercise the same is contravening the spirit of the confederation."1 Following the lead of Virginia, a bill had been introduced into the legislature of South Carolina, reciting that the body at its last sitting, desirous of strengthening the hands of the United States, had passed the act vesting in Congress a power to levy duties of five per centum ad valorem on certain goods and merchandise imported into the States, and prizes and prize goods condemned in the courts of admiralty ; that the State of Rhode Island had refused to vest Congress with such powers, and the commonwealth of Virginia had repealed the law by which she had empowered Congress to impose such duties ; that it was repugnant to the commercial interests of the State to continue the act, and enacting its repeal.
At the same time the Assembly was busy considering measures for the support of the army without impress- ments. A joint committee of the Senate and House had been appointed to consider without delay some speedy and effectual measure to prevent the present method of col- lecting supplies of provisions and forage. The committee was a very able and representative one, one fully compe- tent and willing to do justice to the army. Upon it were General Moultrie, General Sumter, General Barnwell, Major Bocquet, and Colonel Vanderhorst. General Moultrie was a Continental officer, and had been absent, and therefore entirely removed from any participation in the differences between General Greene and General Sumter. None of the other members are known to have been in any way 1 Bancroft, vol. VI, 33, 34.
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embroiled with General Greene or with any one connected with the Continental service.
This committee reported, on the 14th of February, that since General Greene had applied for assistance, a consider- able quantity of salt beef had arrived at James Island, which they conceived might be a sufficient supply till the contractors were ready to commence their issues. Should it prove otherwise, they recommended that warrants be issued to impress till the contractors could relieve the army, at a rate not exceeding one-third of the cattle and hogs each person might be entitled to. For supplying the army with forage, they recommended that the governor might be empowered to appoint forage masters in such places as were necessary to procure and deliver forage in such quan- tities for such horses only, however, as were allowed by the regulations of Congress.1
It was while the legislature was thus occupied, devising a measure for the support of the army by modified impress- ments, that General Greene, notwithstanding his own per- sonal unpopularity, and the equivocal position in which he was placed by the disclosure of the Banks correspondence, undertook most officiously to address the governor and the legislature upon the measures which they were con- sidering, to volunteer his opinions, and to threaten the governor and Assembly with the anger and power of the army if they did not comply with his views and demands -for this was the effect of his communication, however his friends and admirers have attempted to explain it away.
The letter addressed to the governor -with a request that it be laid before the House - bears date the 8th of March. Its terms, says Johnson, were perfectly respectful and decorous. It urged the great necessities of Congress, the little to be apprehended from its powers, the injustice
1 Journal of the House of Representatives.
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that had been done the army, its mutinous temper, the withering state of the treasury, and the imperious duty of enabling the general government to fulfil its contracts. "I confess," he wrote, " I am one of those who think our independence can only prove a blessing under congressional influence." "If we have anything to apprehend," he continued, " it is that the members of Congress will sacri- fice the general interest to particular interests in the State to which they belong; that this had been the case, and from the very nature and constitution of that body, more was to be dreaded from their exercising too little, than too much power." Then, warming with his subject, he went on to observe : -
" The Financier says the affairs of his department are tottering on the brink of ruin; the army to the northward are in the highest dis- content; and the same is to be expected to the southward. It must be confessed the soldiers have given noble proofs of virtue and patriot- ism under every species of distress and suffering. But this has been in full persuasion that justice would be done them in due time. The distresses of a suffering country have been urged with success to silence their present demands; but these arguments will have no weight in future - the present repose affords a prospect of permanent revenue. The eyes of the army are turned upon the States in full ex- pectation of it. It is well known that Congress have no revenue; and the measures of the States will determine the conduct of the army. I need not tell your Excellency that the moment they are convinced they have nothing to hope from that quarter they will disband. Nor will they be satisfied with general promises. Nothing short of per- manent and certain revenue will keep them subject to authority. I think it my duty to be explicit because I know the sentiments of the army. Men will suffer to a certain degree; beyond which it is dan- gerous to push them. My influence shall never be wanting to promote the tranquillity of government; but this will have little weight when opposed to the demands of an injured soldiery. My heart is warm with good wishes for this country ; and I cannot contemplate future dangers that threaten it but with pain and anxiety. I am sure I shall never turn my back when troubles overtake her ; but it is much easier to prevent evils than correct them. This country is much better
VOL. IV. - 2 Y
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calculated for revenue than for war. It may lose by every new convul- sion, but can never gain where liberty is not the object. Your wealth and weakness are a double temptation to invite an invasion, and are the strongest arguments for uniting in the closest terms your interest with others. View but for a moment the vast property you have ex- posed, and the little permanent force for its defence. Again, consider how unhealthy your climate, and the prejudices prevailing against it. Should you add new difficulties in matters of finance, the war continue, and the army disband, your ruin is inevitable," etc.1
The impatience of some of the members, it is said, could scarcely be restrained to the conclusion of this letter. " Are we to be dictated to by a Cromwell ?" said some. "Can we not manage our own concerns? Are we to be terrified by threats of mutiny and violence ? Let us first be paid our advances and then let Congress, or its swords- men, require this duty ! If we are to pay a duty we can collect it ourselves, without having the placemen of Con- gress swarming among us ! " 2
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 387-388.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 388. In a letter of General Greene to Gouverneur Morris, April 23, 1783, he writes: "The subject of your letter by Major Edwards is important to the public, and interesting to the army. The disposition of the latter here is much the same as it is to the northward, but I am afraid of both. When soldiers advance without authority who can halt them ? We have many Clodiuses and Catilines in America, who may give a different direction to this business, than either you or I expect. It is a critical business and pregnant with dangerous consequences. Congress are fast declining, and their power and authority must expire, without more effectual support. What this may produce time will manifest. I have done my duty and await events.
"I wrote a letter to the Governor of the State on the subject of finance and the discontents of the army. It gave some alarm and much disgust. Continental authority and the financier are looked upon with a jealous eye here. No people were ever more blind to their true interest. Time and further experience will produce what reason and persuasion cannot. I send you a copy of my letter to the Assembly and a couple of papers with some strictures thereon. More will be said on the subject hereafter. Plain dealing will soon become necessary," etc. Life of Gouverneur Morris (Sparks), vol. I, 251.
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The proceeding gave great alarm, not only to the mem- bers of the General Assembly, but to almost every man in the State. With less excitement, but with earnest protest, others took up the matter in the press, and seriously and gravely pointed out its dangerous tendency. A writer over the signature of " Hampden," in The S. C. Weekly Gazette, observing that the general in his communication in regard to impressments complains of the inattention of the Assem- bly to the wants and distresses of the army, and indirectly informs the governor that, as his powers of impressing were at an end, some mode must be established for furnish- ing supplies, declares that this was setting up an authority unknown to our government and superior to the law -an attempt affecting, in his opinion, the very vitals of the constitution. The fundamental laws of human nature, and the precepts of our forefathers, he urged, were equally repugnant to the claim. "The very idea of property excludes the right of another taking any thing from me without my consent, otherwise I cannot call it my own. No tenure can be so precarious as the will of another. What property can I have in what another can seize at pleasure ? If any part is subject to the discretionary power of others, the whole may be so likewise. If any part of my estate is to be seized at any time without the authority of the legislature, I can have no property.
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