dred men transported themselves to Carolina, to take the benefit of these acts, which influx was a great acquisition at this juncture, and served to strengthen the frontiers," says Dr. Hewit.*

The parliament was dissolved. The new one came toge. ther in bad spirit. A Spanish descent expected upon the coasts, could not urge them into action. Country associations every where had been formed against the Proprietors. The legislature echoed the popular sentiment. It soon voted itself a convention, and no assembly. The writs of election, said they, were illegal. The charter was forfeited. The government they boldly offered to Johnson, as the representative of the crown. He refused it. His speech on the occasion was able and elaborate. As far as mere verbal argument was concerned, he had far the best of the controversy. But there were arguments of another nature. The salvation of the State must not be sacrificed to mere technicalities,— salus populi suprema lex. This is the argument of revolution. Nice questions of law and fact are out of the question. "For the preservation of our lives and estates," said they, "according to the supreme law of nature, we with one heart and voice renounce the said Proprietors." ↑

The blow was struck. The convention elected a new governor and council. This Protean body assumed again its legislative character. Trott was deposed. Commissioners were sent to England. News reached the colony that three Quakers had been negotiating for the Proprietary to stockjob it in the market. It had been long notorious that a single secretary in England transacted all its business, and, in effect, ruled the Province. The Council of Regency, in his Majesty's absence, heard the commissioners; they declared the charter forfeited. Amid the general rejoicings of the whole colony, a new government sprung into being. George the First had been pleased to appoint a governor and council to act with the assembly. Order was every where restored.

In 1729, the claims of seven Proprietors in the soil, lands, quit rents, etc., were purchased for £22,000,-and this for the great Western Empire! Lord John Carteret's eighth part was reserved, surveyed out on patent, and vested in him.

205.

Rise and Progress of the Colonies of Carolina and Georgia, vol. 1, p. + Cooper's Statutes at Large S. C., vol. i., p. 58.

It paid a small quit rent, and a fourth of all gold and silver ore. The crown retained in it all powers of government. The assembly, in 1761, contained forty-four members. They were unequally distributed between the parishes, as Governor Glen complains. In his own language, "some parishes returning five, others four, three, two, or only one, and some towns which, by the king's instructions, have a right to be erected into parishes, and to send two members, are not allowed to send any." * The taxes at this period were levied only by imposts. Revenue amounted to £4500,-expenditures, £3500; a fourth went to the church, and £250 to the governor.

The Revolution of 1776. The power which had shattered to pieces the government of 1669, did not slumber long. It roused itself for another blow, and tyranny quailed before its outstretched arm. The kind parent of 1719 had degenerated into the "unnatural mother" of 1776,-the protector had become the scourge. Sated with power in the old world, she turned to the new, and the forge was rivetting chains for the strong men of that new world. Then Liberty spoke, and her thunder notes echoed across the ocean, then the western world entered upon its high destiny, then the country of Ashley and Cooper passed from the dependant colony to the Republican State. We regard her in this new phasis in the eyes of nations,-we mark her as she developes herself in the

Constitution of 1776. Its history. A voice was heard from the Continental Congress, recommending to the Convention of South-Carolina the formation of a government, "during the continuance of the present dispute with Great Britain." We quote from Drayton's Memoirs.† A committee considered the suggestion. Col. Laurens, from the committee, reported favorably. Col. Gadsden, with one hand upon the "Common Sense"‡ of Thomas Paine, declared for the independence of America. A volcanic eruption of Vesuvius could not have more shocked the valleys of the plain. No

* A Description of South-Carolina. London, 1761.

+ 2d vol. p. 171.

The effect of this work upon the men of that day, we may well imagine. It was in every one's hands. It stirred them up. Mr. Izard, writing from London, May, 1776, says, "I have read 'Common Sense,' the pamphlet you ask about. It is by much the cleverest and most ingenious performance I ever saw." Correspondence of Ralph Izard of S. C., vol. i., p. 213.

cry of "treason," "treason," echoed as in Virginia. A few voices only responded to the noble call of "liberty." The Constitution was drafted. The opposition, at first fierce, yielded at last before the struggles of those men of might, who had prepared themselves to meet it. On the 26th March, the Constitution had become law. Its preamble recited as usual the long list of grievances. It looked rather to an adjustment of the question than to a separation from England. This, says Mr. Drayton, "that it might not strike in too glaring a light the apprehensions of timid or weak minds." The government was on the model of the colonial,-a general assembly for two years;* a legislative council elected by it and out of it for the same term; a president and vice-president, on joint ballot, by the two legislative bodies; a privy council of seven, or advisory council to the governor, elected out of the two houses; a veto in the president; an election on joint ballot for delegates to Congress; privy council a court of chancery. An oath of abjuration and allegiance, more stringent than in the Constitution, soon followed that instrument, the alternative, to take it or depart the province. This Constitution, although adopted by delegates from the people, was not in stricti juris a Constitution; it was a law. A majority could alter or repeal it. In three months the manifesto of the general Congress proclaimed the American States free. Every question of submission or compromise was forever at end. Then came

The Constitution of 1778. This was a Constitution in no other sense than the last. It did not repeal its predecessor, but only altered it in the most important particulars. Further than this, it was still of force. The present establishment of governor, senate and house, takes its origin here. Governor chosen on joint ballot by the Legislature for two years,―property qualification, £10,000 currency ;† privy council associated with him for the same term and with the

The Parishes, nineteen in number, had six members each, except St. Philip and St. Michael, which had thirty, Four Districts had ten each,

138

40

12

12

202

Members Assembly,

+ Currency. Stamped bills of credit issued by the Legislature in 1700. Their par value was maintained for several years. In 1750 their value had sunk to one-seventh of sterling. Old Currency was the currency of the Revolution.

same pecuniary qualification; a senate of sixty members. The parishes and districts sent annually one senator each, to serve two years; some of the smaller of these, however, sent less than one, and Charleston sent two,-property qualification from 2 to £7000 currency. House of Representatives, in number slightly differing from that of the first Constitution; term of service two years; elected biennially; qualification ranging as high as £3500 currency. The senate would appear to have been the popular house, under this Constitution. Half of its number came fresh from the people annually; in this respect resembling the upper house of several of the States at this day.* Governor without the veto power. As in the last Constitution, no officiating clergyman eligible to the senate, or house, or executive office. The Constitution which succeeded this, enacted the same clause. The policy of such an exclusion may be clearer than the right to enforce it. The clergy being devoted to the "cure of souls," is an argument with themselves only why they should not desire or accept public honors or offices. The reason for excluding them nolens volens, seems clearly antirepublican. They are citizens. They possess the abilities and are subject to the disabilities of citizens. They have property and persons to be represented. They are taxed as citizens. They are not excluded from the elective franchise; it would be tyranny to exclude them. They have, at least, all the necessary ability and virtue of citizens. Why, then, exclude them from public representative councils? The restriction appears to involve a reproach upon the cloth,-a reproach least deserved in our day. It savors of a reaction against a corrupt church, and the reaction has run into injustice. But this is not the place to discuss so grave a question.

The Constitution of 1778 preceded, in time, the "Ar

* The Senate and House, in many of the States, appear to have an equal portion of the popular element; that is in respect of their time of service. Most of the New-England States elect their senators and representatives annually. The same obtains in Georgia and North-Carolina.

+ Sir Edward Coke says of the clergy, "that seeking to extend their liberties beyond their true bounds, they either lost or enjoyed not those which of right belonged to them." In England, the clergy are not allowed to sit in the House of Commons. The reason given is, that "they sit in the Convocation. The celebrated case of Horne Tooke having occasioned doubts, the stat. 41 Geo. III. was passed. This excludes all who have even been ordained. Our States have not gone so far. Most of the States have no clause in their constitutions in relation to the subject. It does not appear whether the clergy ever sit in these States, but they are not excluded. Of the old thirteen States, New-York, Delaware, Virginia, North and SouthVOL. VII. NO. 14.

38

ticles of Confederation" between the States. Its representative system was to be apportioned anew every fourteen years, according to the comparative strength and taxable property of the different sections of the State. Its religious toleration was but a sad affair. The governor and legislators must be Protestant citizens. The XXXVIII. Article draws largely upon the exploded constitutions of John Locke ;-it goes even further, and excludes Jews. No church to be recognized without the admission of four principles,-1, that there is a God; 2, that He is to be worshipped; 3, that the Old and New Testaments are divinely inspired; 4, that Christianity is true. To every clergyman an oath administered that he will duly perform the duties of his office ;this "that the State may have security for the due discharge of the pastoral office." Every voter, besides property qualification, etc., must "acknowledge a God and a future state of rewards and punishments." The XL. Article demands a reform of the sanguinary enactments of the penal code,—one of the first principles of Republicanism is humanity. The XLI. Article is a transcript of the XLVI. of Magna Charta. Nullus liber homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur, aut disseisietur, aut utlegatur, aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destruatur; nec super eum ibimus, nec super eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terræ. The bulwark of English liberty.

The Constitution of 1790. South-Carolina had two years before reduced herself to the present territorial limits, by ceding to the general government all her public lands, extending westward to the Mississippi River. She now, in her sovereign capacity, speaks a Constitution into being, suited in every respect to her foreign and domestic relations, and in consonance with the sound principles of republicanism. Carolina, alone exclude them. The privileges of this order in England, are, that they may not sit on juries, be appointed bailiffs, etc. Formerly they might claim the "benefit of clergy," exempting them from death for any number of felonies, etc., etc. They might not, however, carry on any species of trade or merchandise. The Constitution of the U. States has not prohibited the clergy from holding public office under the government. In New-York, their property, to the amount of $1500, is exempt from taxation.

•New-York ceded her lands in 1781; Virginia, 1784 and '88; Massachusetts, 1785; Connecticut, 1786; North-Carolina, 1790; Georgia, 1802. Dr. Cooper observes that the ordinance of Congress, forbidding the introduction of involuntary servitude into the territory N. W. of the Ohio River, is not only not authorized by, but is in direct contravention of the conditions of the Virginia cession, and the resolution of Congress of 1786.