CHAPTER IV.

SOUTH CAROLINA IN 1780-HER CITIZENS TORIES AND ON THE SIDE OF THE BRITISH CROWN-TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX TORIES IN CHARLESTON ADDRESSING SIR HENRY CLINTON-R. BARNWELL RHETT CHANGES HIS NAME-THE DESCENDANTS OF THESE TORIES "PREAD OVER THE SOUTH-SOUTH CAROLINA ROYALTY.

South Carolina in 1780.

IN the spring of 1780, Sir Henry Clinton and ViceAdmiral Arbuthnot appeared before Charleston and demanded a surrender to His British Majesty's forces. The gallant General LINCOLN, in command of the American forces, repulsed this arrogant demand with the scorn and contempt of a brave officer. They have hated the name of Lincoln ever since! The people of Charleston, and of nearly all South Carolina, being Tories of the basest character, took the matter into their own hands, and threatened the gallant Lincoln with betraying him into the hands of the British forces if he did not come to such terms as pleased them. And Sir Henry Clinton, writing to Lord George Germaine, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, from "Head Quarters, Charles-Town, South Carolina, June 4th, 1780," by way of boast, says,—

"With the greatest pleasure I further report to your lordship that the inhabitants from every quarter repair to the detachments of the army, and to this garrison, to declare their allegiance to the King, and to offer their services in arms in support of his government. In many instances they have brought prisoners their former oppressors or leaders; and I may venture to assert that there are few men in South Carolina who are not either our prisoners or in arms with us.

The very day after Sir Henry Clinton wrote that letter disclosing the Toryism of South Carolina, two hundred and twenty-six of their leading citizens, representing almost every family connection in the State, addressed the following begging, supplicating petition to Sir Henry, furnishing the proof of their own infamy:

"To their Excellencies SIR HENRY CLINTON, Knight of the Bath, General of His Majesty's Forces, and MARIOT ARBUTHNOT, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the Blue, His Majesty's Commissioners to restore peace and good government in the several colonies in rebellion in North America:

"THE HUMBLE ADDRESS OF DIVERS INHABITANTS OF CHARLES-TOWN:

"The inhabitants of Charles-Town, by the articles. of capitulation, are declared prisoners on parole; but we the underwriters, having every inducement to return to our allegiance, and ardently hoping speedily to be readmitted to the character and condition of British subjects, take this opportunity of tendering to your Excellencies our warmest congratulations on the restoration of this capital and Province to their political connection with the Crown and Government of Great

Britain; an event which will add lustre to your Excellencies' characters, and, we trust, entitle you to the most distinguished mark of the Royal favor. Although the right of taxing America in Parliament excited considerable ferments in the minds of the people of the Province, yet it may, with a religious adherence to truth, be affirmed, that they did not entertain the most distant thought of dissolving the union which so happily subsisted between them and their parent country; and when, in the progress of that fatal controversy, THE DOCTRINE OF INDEPENDENCY, WHICH ORIGINATED IN THE MORE NORTHERN COLONIES, made its appearance among us, OUR NATURE REVOLTED AT THE IDEA, and we look back with the most painful regret on those convulsions that gave existence to a power of subverting a Constitution, for which we always had, and ever shall retain, the most profound veneration, and substituting in its stead a RANK DEMOCRACY, which, however carefully digested in theory, on being reduced into practice, has exhibited a system of tyrannic domination only to be found among the uncivilized part of mankind, or in the history of the dark and barbarous ages of antiquity.

"We sincerely lament, that after the repeal of those statutes which gave rise to the troubles in America, the overtures made by His Majesty's Commissioners, from time to time, were not regarded by our late rulers. To this fatal inattention are to be attributed those calamities which have involved our country in a state of misery and ruin, from which, however, we trust, it will soon emerge, by the wisdom and clemency of His Majesty's auspicious Government, and the influence of prudential laws, adapted to the nature of the evils we labor under; and that the people will be restored to those privileges, in the enjoyment whereof their former felicity consisted.

"Animated with these hopes, we entreat your Excellencies' interposition, in assuring His Majesty that we

shall glory in every occasion of manifesting that zeal and affection for his person and Government, with which gratitude can inspire a free and joyful people.