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Soon after his settlement in his new home, he acquired a great reputation in his profession, and rose to eminence and respect. On the fourth of July, 1778, he was appointed to deliver an anniversary oration before the citizens of Charleston, and in defence of the policy of the colo nists throughout the war, he wrote, spoke, and acted boldly and constantly. Many of the able and humorous fugitive pieces that appeared in the public journals during the war, were written by him. For a short period he was attached to the American army as a surgeon, and was present at the siege of Savannah, in 1779. After the Declaration of Independence he became an active and leading member of the Legislature of South Carolina, and continued in that assembly until the close of the war. During this time he was taken prisoner by the British, and sent, with many other citizens of Charleston, to St. Augustine, where he remained in exile for the space of eleven months. On his return to Charleston he resumed his seat in the Legislature, which had adjourned its sessions to Jacksonburgh. Here he opposed the acts confiscating the estates of those who had adhered to the cause of Great Britain. "Though convinced that the conduct of some of those who came under the operation of those acts, merited the severest punishment, he tenderly commiserated many who he was persuaded acted from the dictates of their consciences. The latter he would have exempted from the penalties of confiscation." In February, 1782, Doctor Ramsay was elected to the Continental Congress, in which body he exerted a great influence, especially in procuring relief for the Southern States, at that time suffering severely from the incursions and unopposed ravages of the British army. On the declaration of peace he returned to his home, and again commenced the practice of medicine; but he did not long remain out of public life. In 1785, he was again sent to Congress, and, owing to the absence of John Hancock, the president of that body, was chosen president pro tempore, and continued for a whole year to discharge the duties of that station with ability, industry, and impartiality. The next year he returned to Charleston and resumed the duties of his profession, in which he continued with increasing reputation until his death.

In the character of an author, Doctor Ramsay was most generally known and distinguished. His tastes, learning, and eminent industry peculiarly adapted him for the study of history, and the part he bore in the trials of the Revolution enabled him to record from observation the merits of that struggle. In 1785 his History of the Revolution in South Carolina appeared, "after having been submitted to the perusal of General Greene, who gave his assent to all the statements made therein." This work soon became very popular in the United States, it was subsequently translated into French, and excited great admiration and interest in Europe. The same year he commenced a History of the Revolution. His position in the Congress enabled him with great facility to collect the important materials for this work. From Doctor Franklin and Doctor Witherspoon he received great assistance; and also much important information from General Washington, who he visited at Mount Vernon for the purpose of consultation. This work appeared in 1790, and met with the universal approbation of the literary world. In 1801 he published his Life of Washington, and in 1808, his History of South Carolina appeared.* On the death of his wife, in 1811, he published an interesting memorial of her life, containing some of her own literary productions. In addition to these works, he published several interesting medical treatises, and fugitive pieces, all of which evince his characteristic energy and devotion to the welfare of his fellow men.t

The most important and ablest work of Dr. Ramsay was not published until after his death. This was a series of historical volumes, entitled, Universal History Americanized; or, a Historical View of the World, from the Earliest Records to the Nineteenth Century, with a

This is an extension of an interesting work entitled, A Sketch of the Soil, Climate, Weather and Diseases of South Carolina, published by Dr. Ramsay in 1796.

These works were-An Oration on the Cession of Louisiana to the United States, 1804; A Review of the Improvements, Progress, and State of Medicine in the Eighteenth Century, delivered on the first day of the nineteenth century; A Medical Register for 1802; A Dissertation on the Means of Preserving Health in Charleston; A Biographical Chart, on a new plan, to facilitate the study of History; Eulogium on Doctor Rush, and The History of the Indepen dent or Congregational Church in Charleston, South Carolina, from its origin till the year 1814. The last work was published in 1815. It contains the celebrated speech of the Rev. William Tennent, on the Dissenting Petition, in the Commons House of Assembly, Charleston, South Carolina, January 11, 1777

Particular Reference to the State of Society, Literature, Religion, and Form of Government in the United States of America. This work, which employed the mind of its author "for upward of forty years," was undertaken with a view of reducing all valuable historical facts within a small compass, to form a digest for the use of those whose leisure would not admit of more extensive reading, and to restore to his beloved country the importance to which she was entitled.

Doctor Ramsay died on the eighth of May, 1815. He fell by the hands of an assassin. A man by the name of William Linnen, a tailor by trade, had been long remarked for singularity of conduct. Having been engaged in some lawsuits, he conceived that he had suffered injustice through the misconduct of his lawyer, the judges, and the jury. To obtain redress for these supposed injuries, he petitioned the Legislature repeatedly, and actually walked the whole way to Washington on foot, to endeavor to procure the impeachment of one of the judges of the supreme court. At last he became desperate, and was heard to declare, "that as the laws afforded him no protection he meant to protect himself." Soon after this he made an attempt upon the life of his attorney, and wounded him severely. For this offence he was thrown into prison. On being arraigned, it was represented to the court that he was under the influence of mental derangement. Doctor Ramsay and Doctor Benjamin Simons were appointed by the court to examine and report on his case. They concurred in opinion that Linnen was deranged, and that it would be dangerous to let him go at large. He was, therefore, remanded to prison, where he was confined until exhibiting symptoms of returning sanity, he was discharged. He behaved himself peaceably for some time, but was heard to declare, that he would "kill the doctors who had joined the conspiracy against him." This threat was communicated to Doctor Ramsay, but conscious of having given no cause of offence, he disregarded it. On Saturday, the sixth day of May, Doctor Ramsay was met in Broad street, Charleston, about one o'clock in the afternoon, within sight of his own door, by the wretched maniac, who passed by, and taking a large horseman's pistol out of a handkerchief, in which it was concealed, shot the doctor in the back. The pistol was charged with three bullets; one passed through the coat without doing any injury, one entered the hip and passed out at the groin, and the third entered the back near the kidneys, and lodged in the intestines. After being carried home, surrounded by a throng of anxious citizens, and calling their attention to what he was about to utter, he said, "I know not if these wounds be mortal. I am not afraid to die, but should that be my fate, I call on all here present to bear witness that I consider the unfortunate perpetrator of this deed a lunatic, and free from guilt." He lingered two days and then "slept in peace.”

THE ADVANTAGES OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

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This oration was delivered before a public | cause of American Liberty and Independassembly of the inhabitants of Charleston, in South Carolina, on the fourth of July, 1778. Subsequently it was published, dedicated to Governor Christopher Gadsden, "who fearless of danger, undaunted by opposition, uninfluenced by the hope of reward, in the worst of times, has stood among the foremost, an early, active, zealous, disinterested champion in the

In the preparation of this sketch the editor has relied entirely on the eloquent and affectionate memorial of Doctor Ramsay, by Robert Y. Hayne, published in the Analectic Magazine for September, 1815.

FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: Impressed with the deepest sense of my insufficiency, I rise to address you with peculiar diffidence. When I consider the knowledge and eloquence necessary to display the glorious prospects which independence opens to this continent, I am stung with a degree of self-reproach for undertaking the important task. But your known attachment to the cause of America,

* Dr. Ramsay states in the dedication, that this oration was originally drawn up at the request of Christopher Gadaden. See biographical note at page 118.

encourages me to hope, that you will receive | with indulgence, a well-intended exertion to promote her welfare; and emboldens me to cast myself on that candor, which looks with kindness on the feeblest efforts of an honest mind. We are now celebrating the anniversary of our emancipation from British tyranny; an event that will constitute an illustrious era in the history of the world, and which promises an extension of all those blessings to our country, for which we would choose to live, or dare to die.

Our present form of government is every way preferable to the royal one we have lately renounced. It is much more favorable to purity of morals, and better calculated to promote all our important interests. Honesty, plaindealing, and simple manners, were never made the patterns of courtly behavior. Artificial manners always prevail in kingly governments; and royal courts are reservoirs, from whence insincerity, hypocrisy, dissimulation, pride, luxury, and extravagance, deluge and overwhelm the body of the people. On the other hand, republics are favorable to truth, sincerity, frugality, industry, and simplicity of manners. Equality, the life and soul of commonwealths, cuts off all pretensions to preferment, but those which arise from extraordinary merit: Whereas in royal governments, he that can best please his superiors, by the low acts of fawning and adulation, is most likely to obtain favor.

It was the interest of Great Britain to encourage our dissipation and extravagance, for the twofold purpose of increasing the sale of her manufactures, and of perpetuating our subordination. In vain we sought to check the growth of luxury, by sumptuary laws: Every wholesome restraint of this kind was sure to meet with the royal negative, while the whole force of example was employed to induce us to copy the dissipated manners of the country from which we sprung. If, therefore, we had continued dependent, our frugality, industry, and simplicity of manners, would have been lost in an imitation of British extravagance, idleness, and false refinements.

How much more happy is our present situation, when necessity, co-operating with the love of our country, compels us to adopt both public and private economy? Many are now industriously clothing themselves and their families in sober homespun, who, had we remained dependent, would have been spending their time in idleness, and strutting in the costly robes of British gayety.

The arts and sciences, which languished under the low prospects of subjection, will now raise their drooping heads, and spread far and wide, till they have reached the remotest parts of this untutored continent. It is the happiness of our present constitution, that all offices lie open to men of merit, of whatever rank or condition; and that even the reins of state may be held by the son of the poorest man, if possessed of abilities equal to the important station. We are no more to look up for the bles

sings of government to hungry courtiers, or the needy dependents of British nobility; but must educate our own children for these exalted purposes. When subjects, we had scarce any other share in government, but to obey the arbitrary mandates of a British parliament. But honor, with her dazzling pomp, interest. with her golden lure, and patriotism, with her heartfelt satisfaction, jointly call upon us now to qualify ourselves and posterity for the bench the army, the navy, the learned professions, and all the departments of civil government. The independence of our country holds forth such generous encouragement to youth, as cannot fail of making many of them despise the siren calls of luxury and mirth, and pursu heaven-born wisdom with unwearied applica tion. A few years will now produce a much greater number of men of learning and abili ties, than we could have expected for ages in our boyish state of minority, guided by the leading-strings of a parent country.

How trifling the objects of deliberation that came before our former legislative assemblies, compared with the great and important matters, on which they must now decide! They might then, with the leave of the king, his governors and councils, make laws about yoking hogs, branding cattle, or making rice: but they are now called upon to determine on peace and war, treaties and negotiations with foreign states, and other subjects interesting to the peace, liberty, sovereignty, and independence, of a wide extended empire. No wonder that so little attention has been paid to learning; for ignorance was better than knowledge, while our abject and humiliating condition so effectually tended to crush the exertions of the human mind, and to extinguish a generous ardor for literary pre-eminence.

The times in which we live, and the governments we have lately adopted, all conspire to fan the sparks of genius in every breast, and kindle them into flame. When, like children, we were under the guardianship of a foreign power, our limited attention was naturally engrossed by agriculture, or directed to the low pursuit of wealth. In this State, the powers of the soul, benumbed with ease and indolence, sunk us into sloth and effeminacy. Hardships, dangers, and proper opportunities, give scope to active virtues, and rouse the mind to such vigorous exertions, as command the admiration of an applauding world. Rome, when she filled the earth with the terror of her arms, sometimes called her generals from the plough. In like manner, the great want of proper persons to fill high stations, has drawn from obscurity many illustrious characters, which will dazzle the world with the splendor of their names. The necessities of our country require the utmost exertions of all our powers; from which vigorous, united efforts, much more improvement of the human mind is to be expected, than if we had remained in a torpid state of dependence.

certing wise schemes of civil polity and happiness-instructing the world in useful artsand extending the empire of science. I foresee societies formed of our heroes and statesmen, released from their present cares; some of which will teach mankind to plough, sow, plant, build, and improve the rough face of nature; while others critically examine the various productions of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, and teach their countrymen to “look through nature up to nature's God." Little has been hitherto done towards completing the

Eloquence is the child of a free state. In this form of government, as public measures are determined by a majority of votes, arguments enforced by the arts of persuasion, must evermore be crowned with success. The rising patriot, therefore, who wishes the happiness of his country, will cultivate the art of public speaking. In royal governments, where the will of one or a few has the direction of public measures, the orator may harangue, but most probably will reap prosecution and imprisoninent, as the fruit of his labor: Whereas, in our present happy system, the poorest school-natural history of America, or for the improveboy may prosecute his studies with increasing ardor, from the prospect, that in a few years, he may, by his improved abilities, direct the determinations of public bodies, on subjects of the most stupendous consequence.

Thus might I go through the whole circle of the arts and sciences, and show that, while we remained British subjects, cramped and restrained by the limited views of dependence, each one of them would dwindle and decay, compared with the perfection and glory in which they will bloom and flourish, under the enlivening sunshine of freedom and independ

ence.

ment of agriculture, and the peaceful arts of civil life; but who will be surprised at this, who considers that during the long past night of 150 years, our minds were depressed, and our activity benumbed by the low prospects of subjection? Future diligence will convince the candid world, that past inattention was the effect of our dependent form of government.

Every circumstance concurs to make it probable, that the arts and sciences will be cultivated, extended, and improved, in independent America. They require a fresh soil, and always flourish most in new countries. A large volume of the book of nature, yet unread, is open I appeal to the experience of all, whether before us, and invites our attentive perusal. they do not feel an elevation of soul, growing Many useful plants, unknown to the most inout of the emancipation of their country, while dustrious botanist, waste their virtues in our they recollect that they are no longer subject desert air. Various parts of our country, hithto lawless will, but possess the powers of self-erto untrod by the foot of any chemist, abound government, and are called upon to bear an with different minerals. We stand on the active part in supporting and perpetuating the shoulders of our predecessors, with respect to sovereignty of the United States; and in or- the arts that depend on experiment and obserganizing them in such a manner, as will pro-vation. The face of our country, intersected duce the greatest portion of political happiness by rivers, or covered by woods and swamps, to the present and future generations. In this gives ample scope for the improvement of meelevation of soul, consists true genius, which is chanics, mathematics, and natural philosophy. cramped by kingly government, and can only Our free governments are the proper nurseries flourish in free states. of rhetoric, criticism, and the arts, which are founded on the philosophy of the human mind. In monarchies, an extreme degree of politeness disguises the simplicity of nature, and "sets the looks at variance with the thoughts;" in republics, mankind appear as they really are, without any false coloring. In these governments, therefore, attentive observers have an opportunity of knowing all the avenues to the heart, and of thoroughly understanding human The royal society was founded immediately nature. The great inferiority of the moderns after the termination of the civil wars in Eng-to the ancients in fine writing, is to be referred land. In like manner, may we not hope, as soon as this contest is ended, that the exalted spirits of our politicians and warriors will engage in the enlargement of public happiness, by cultivating the arts of peace, and promoting useful knowledge, with an ardor equal to that which first roused them to bleed in the cause of liberty and their country? Their genius, sharpened by their present glorious exertions, will naturally seek for a continuance of suitable employment. Having, with well tried swords and prudent counsels, secured liberty and independence for themselves and posterity, their great souls will stoop to nothing less than con

The attention of thousands is now called forth from their ordinary employments, to subjects connected with the sovereignty and happiness of a great continent. As no one can tell to what extent the human mind may be cultivated, so no one can foresee what great events may be brought into existence, by the exertions of so many minds expanded by close attention to subjects of such vast importance.

to this veil cast over mankind by the artificial refinements of modern monarchies. From the operation of similar causes, it is hoped, that the free governments of America will produce poets, orators, critics and historians, equal to the most celebrated of the ancient commonwealths of Greece and Italy.

Large empires are less favorable to true philosophy, than small, independent states. The authority of a great author is apt, in the former case, to extinguish a free inquiry, and to give currency to falsehood unexamined. The doetrines of Confucius were believed all over China, and the philosophy of Descartes, in France:

but neighboring nations, examining them with- | But all this was cruelly reversed by acts of the out partiality or prepossession, exploded them both. For the same reason, our separate States, jealous of the literary reputation of each other, and uninfluenced by any partial bias, will critically pry into the merit of every new opinion and system, and naught but truth will stand the test, and finally prevail.

In monarchies, favor is the source of preferment; but, in our new forms of government, no one can command the suffrages of the people, unless by his superior merit and capacity. The weight of each State, in the continental scale, will ever be proportioned to the abilities of its representatives in Congress. Hence, an emulation will take place, each contending with the other, which shall produce the most accomplished statesmen. From the joint influence of all these combined causes, it may strongly be presumed, that literature will flourish in America, and that our independence will be an illustrious epoch, remarkable for the spreading and improvement of science.

British Parliament, regulating our trade in a subserviency to their own emolument, our interest being entirely out of the question. It requires but a moment's recollection to con. vince us, that as we now have a free trade with all the world, we shall obtain a more generous price for our produce, and foreign goods on easier terms than we ever could while we were subject to a British monopoly.* The boasted act of navigation was not intended for our advantage, nor for the advantage of the whole empire, but was a glaring monument of the allgrasping nature of unlimited power. To enumerate all the ungenerous restrictions imposed by the British government on American commerce, would be an outrage on patience. Time only will unfold the whole of this mystery of iniquity. A few years' experience will show such an amazing difference between the fettered trade of the British colonies, and the extensive

in European markets. In this manner, much of our produce was sold to the consumers, loaded with double freight, insur

*That British merchants gave us a low price for our comA zeal for promoting learning, unknown in modities, appears from this single consideration-they made the days of our subjection, has already begun money by exporting them from England. If they found it to overspread these United States. In the last profitable to export tobacco, rice, indigo, &c., from Britain, session of our Assembly, three societies were it must be in consequence of their allowing the American incorporated for the laudable purpose of erect-colonists less for those articles than they would have brought ing seminaries of education. Nor is the noble spirit confined to us alone; even now, amidst the tumults of war, literary institutions are forming all over the continent, which must light up such a blaze of knowledge as cannot fail to burn, and catch, and spread, until it has finally illuminated, with the rays of science, the most distant retreats of ignorance and barbarity.

ance, and commissions, over and above the additional ex

pense of unloading and reloading in Great Britain. The

industrious American planter received no more for his pro duce than the pittance the British merchant, after reserving

his own profit, was pleased to allow on the sale thereof,

brought to market charged with this unnecessary expense. The distance from America to those places of Europe which consumed our staples, is generally less than to the British ports. From all which premises, it appears undeniably evident, that American commodities, carried directly to the countries where they are consumed, will produce much more clear profit to the planter, than when they arrived there by the circuitous way of Great Britain.

est had not silenced the voice of justice, Great Britain, while she obliged us to buy at her market, would have considered herself as bound to supply our wants as cheap as they could be supplied elsewhere. But instead of this, she not only

Our change of government smiles upon our commerce with an aspect peculiarly benign and favorable. In a few years we may expect to see the colors of France, Spain, Holland, Prussia, Portugal, and those of every other maritime power, waving on our coasts, whilst Americans unfurl the thirteen stripes in the remotest har- The same reasoning holds good with respect to many artibors of the world. Our different climates and cles imported from England, which were not of its own soils produce a great variety of useful commod-growth or manufacture; for they would come much cheaper ities. The sea washes our coast along an ex- from the countries where they were made, than they ever tensive tract of two thousand miles, and no could, while we were obliged to receive them through the country abounds in a greater plenty of the hands of British merchants, loaded with double freight, inmaterials for ship-building, or has a better pros-surance, commissions, and sometimes with duties. If interpect of a respectable navy. Our stately oaks, the greater part of which would probably have withered in their native spots, had we remained subjects, will now be converted into ships of war, to ride triumphant on the ocean, and to carry American thunder around the world. Whole forests will be transformed into vessels of commerce, enriching this independent continent with the produce of every clime and every soil. The wealth of Europe, Asia, and Africa, will flow in upon America; our trade will no longer be confined by the selfish regulations of an avaricious step-dame, but follow wherever interest leads the way. Our great object, as a trading people, should be to procure the best prices for our commodities, and foreign articles at the most reasonable rates.

fixed exorbitant prices on articles of her own production but refused us the liberty of buying from foreigners those begun the fatal policy of super-adding additional duties. articles which her own markets did not afford, and had also

What a scene of oppression does this open to us? A great

part of the price for which our commodities sold in Europe was lodged in British coffers; and we were obliged to buy manufactures of her production, at prices of her own fixing, and were restrained from buying even those articles which she could not raise, where they could be got cheapest. Besides, as we durst not buy from any others, they had it in their power to fix any advance on the first cost that their avarice prescribed, and our necessities would permit.—Au thor of the Oration.

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