revolt.

open to the complaints of the injured, justice, | purposes, are acts at which humanity must in mercy, shall neither be denied, or delayed. Our laws and religion, and the liberties of America, shall be maintained and defended, to the utmost of my power. I repose the most perfect confidence in your engagement.

Show your constituents, then, the indispensable necessity which there was for establishing some mode of government in this colony; the benefits of that, which a full and free representation has established; and that the consent of the people is the origin, and their happiness the end of government. Remove the apprehensions with which honest and well-meaning, but weak and credulous, minds, may be alarmed, and prevent ill impressions by artful and designing enemies. Let it be known that this constitution is but temporary, till an accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and America can be obtained; and that such an event is still desired by men who yet remember former friendships and intimate connections, though, for defending their persons and properties, they are stigmatized and treated as rebels.

And now, gentlemen, let me entreat that you will, in your several parishes and districts, use your influence and authority to keep peace and good order, and procure strict observance of, and ready obedience to the law. If any persons therein are still strangers to the nature and merits of the dispute between Great Britain and the colonies, you will explain it to them fully, and teach them, if they are so unfortunate as not to know their inherent rights. Prove to them, that the privileges of being tried by a jury of the vicinage, acquainted with the parties and witnesses; of being taxed only with their own consent, given by their representatives, freely chosen by, and sharing the burthen equally with themselves, not for the Truth, being known, will prevail over artiaggrandizing a rapacious minister, and his de- fice and misrepresentation. In such case no pendent favorites, and for corrupting the people, man, who is worthy of life, liberty, or property, and subverting their liberties, but for such wise will, or can, refuse to join with you, in defendand salutary purposes, as they themselves ap- ing them to the last extremity, disdaining every prove; and of having their internal polity regu- sordid view, and the mean paltry considerations lated, only by laws consented to by competent of private interest and present emolument, when judges of what is best adapted to their situa-placed in competition with the liberties of miltion and circumstances, equally bound too by lions; and seeing that there is no alternative those laws, are inestimable, and derived from but absolute, unconditional submission, and the that constitution, which is the birth-right of most abject slavery, or a defence becoming men the poorest man, and the best inheritance of born to freedom, he will not hesitate about the the most wealthy. Relate to them the various, choice. Although superior force may, by the unjust and cruel statutes, which the British permission of Heaven, lay waste our towns, and parliament, claiming a right to make laws for ravage our country, it can never eradicate from binding the colonies in all cases whatsoever, the breasts of freemen, those principles which have enacted; and the many sanguinary mea- are ingrafted in their very nature. Such men sures which have been, and are daily pursued will do their duty, neither knowing, nor reand threatened, to wrest from them those in- garding consequences; but submitting them, valuable benefits, and to enforce such an un- with humble confidence, to the omniscient and limited and destructive claim. To the most omnipotent arbiter and director of the fate of illerate it must appear, that no power on earth empires, and trusting that his Almighty arm, can, of right, deprive them of the hardly earned which has been so signally stretched out for fruits of their honest industry, toil and labor- our defence, will deliver them in a righteous even to them, the impious attempt to prevent cause. many thousands from using the means of subsistence provided for man by the bounty of his Creator, and to compel them, by famine, to surrender their rights, will seem to call for Divine vengeance. The endeavors, by deceit and bribery, to engage barbarous nations to imbrue their hands in the innocent blood of helpless women and children; and the attempts by fair but false promises, to make ignorant domestics subservient to the most wicked | injured country.

The eyes of Europe, nay of the whole world, are on America. The eyes of every other colony are on this; a colony, whose reputation for generosity and magnanimity, is universally acknowledged. I trust, therefore, it will not be diminished by our future conduct, that there will be no civil discord here; and that the only strife amongst brethren will be, who shall do most to serve and to save an oppressed and

SPEECH TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

lina, met at Jacksonburgh, in that State, on Friday, the eighteenth day of January, 1782. It evinces his unwearied zeal and attention to the interests of the colonies, and presents a vivid picture of the perfidy, rapine, and cruelty which distinguished the British arms in the Southern campaign.*

HONORABLE GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE― MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Since the last meeting of a General Assembly, the good people of this State have not only felt the common calamities of war, but from the wanton and savage manner, in which it has been prosecuted, they have experienced such severities as are unpractised, and will scarcely be credited by civilized nations.

Governor Rutledge delivered the following | the town and castle of St. Augustine, their prospeech to the General Assembly of South Caro-perties disposed of at the will and caprice of the enemy, and their families sent to different and distant parts of the continent without the means of support; many who had surrendered as prisoners of war were killed in cold blood; several suffered death in the most ignominious ages, and put to tortures, under which they exmanner, and others were delivered up to savpired; thus, the lives, liberties, and properties of the people were dependent, solely, on the pleasure of British officers, who deprived them of either or all on the most frivolous pretences; Indians, slaves, and a desperate banditti of the most profligate characters, were caressed and employed by the enemy to execute their infamous purposes; devastation and ruin marked their progress and that of their adherents, nor were their violences restrained by the charms or influence of beauty and innocence; even the fair sex, whom it is the duty of all, and the pleasure and pride of the brave to protect, they and their tender offspring were victims to the inveterate malice of an unrelenting foe; neither the tears of mothers nor the cries of infants could excite in their breasts pity or compassion; not only the peaceful habitation of the widow, the aged, and the infirm, but the holy temples of the Most High were consumed, in flames kindled by their sacrilegious hands; they have tarnished the glory of the British arms, disgraced the profession of a soldier, and fixed indelible stigmas of rapine, cruelty, perfidy, and profaneness on the British name. But I can now congratulate you, and I do most cordially on the pleasing change of affairs, which, under the blessing of God, the wisdom, prudence, address, and bravery of the great and gallant General Greene, and the intrepidity of the officers and men under his command have happily effected. A general who is justly entitled, from his many signal services to honorable and singular marks of your approbation and gratitude; his successes have been more rapid and complete than the most sanguine could have expected; the enemy, compelled to surrender or evacuate every post which they held in the country, frequently defeated and driven from place to place, are obliged to seek refuge under the walls of Charleston, and on islands in its vicinity; we have now the full and absolute possession of every other part of the State, and the legislative, executive, and judicial powers are in the free exercise of their respective authorities.

The enemy unable to make any impression on the Northern States, the number of whose inhabitants, and the strength of whose country, had baffled their repeated efforts, turned their views towards the Southern, which a difference of circumstances afforded some expectation of conquering, or at least of greatly distressing. | After a long resistance, the reduction of Charleston was effected, by the vast superiority of force with which it had been besieged. The loss of that garrison, as it consisted of the Continental troops of Virginia and the Carolinas, and of a number of militia, facilitated the enemy's march into the country, and their establishment of strong posts in the upper and interior parts of it; and the unfavorable issue of the action near Camden, induced them vainly to imagine, that no other army could be collected which they might not easily defeat. The militia, commanded by the Brigadiers Sumpter and Marion, whose enterprising spirit and unremitted perseverance under many difficulties, are deserving of great applause, harassed and often defeated large parties; but the numbers of those militia were too few to contend effectually with the collected strength of the enemy. Regardless, therefore, of the sacred ties of honor, destitute of the feelings of humanity, and determined to extinguish, if possible, every spark of freedom in this country; they, with the insolent pride of conquerors, gave unbounded scope to the exercises of their tyrannical disposition, infringed their public engagements, and violated the most solemn capitulations; many of our worthiest citizens, were without cause, long and closely confined, some on board of prison ships, and others in

I also most heartily congratulate you on the glorious victory obtained by the combined forces of America and France, over their common enemy: when the very general who was second in command at the reduction of Charleston, and to whose boasted prowess and highly extolled abilities the conquest of no less than

The organization of our militia is likewise a subject of infinite importance: a clear and concise law, by which the burdens of service will be equally sustained, and a competent number of men brought forth and kept in the field, when their assistance may be required, is essential to our security, and therefore justly claims your immediate and serious attention: certain it is, that some of our militia have, upon several occasions, exhibited symptoms of valor which would have reflected honor on veteran troops. The courage and conduct of the generals whom I have mentioned; the cool and determined bravery displayed by Brigadier Pickens, and, indeed, the behavior of many officers and men in every brigade, are unquestionable testimonies of the truth of this assertion. But such behavior cannot be expected from militia in general, without good order and strict discipline; nor can that order and discipline be established, but by a salutary law, steadily executed.

three States had been arrogantly committed, | but a measure so indispensable to the preservawas speedily compelled to accept of the same tion of our freedom is above every pecuniary mortifying terms which had been imposed on consideration. that brave but unfortunate garrison: to surrender an army of many thousand regulars, and to abandon his wretched followers, whom he had artfully seduced from their allegiance by specious promises of protection, which he could never have hoped to fulfil, to the justice or mercy of their country, on the naval superiority established by the illustrious ally of the United States a superiority in itself so decided, and in its consequences so extensive, as must inevitably soon oblige the enemy to yield to us the only post which they occupy in this State: and on the reiterated proofs of the sincerest friendship, and on the great support which America has received from that powerful monarch-a monarch whose magnanimity is universally acknowledged and admired, and on whose royal word we may confidently rely for every necessary assistance: on the perfect harmony which subsists between France and America: on the stability which her independence has acquired, and the certainty that it is too deeply rooted ever to be shaken; for animated as they are by national honor, and united by one common interest, it must and will be maintained.

Another important matter for your deliberation, is the conduct of such of our citizens as, voluntarily avowing their allegiance, and even glorying in their professions of loyalty and attachment to his Britannic Majesty, have offered their congratulations on the success of his arms, prayed to be embodied as loyal militia, accepted commissions in his service, or endeavored to subvert our constitution and establish his power in its stead; of those who have returned to this State, in defiance of law, by which such return was declared to be a capital offence, and have bettered the British interest, and of such whose behavior has been so reprehensible, that justice and policy forbid their free re-admission to the rights and privileges of citizens.

public use; but we have forborne even to take the profits of the estates of our most implacable enemies. It is with you to determine whether the forfeiture and appropriation of their pro

What may be the immediate effects on the British nation, of the events which I have mentioned, of their loss of territory in other parts of the world, and of their well-founded apprehensions from the powers of France, Spain, and Holland, it is impossible to foretell. If experience can teach wisdom to a haughty and infatuated people, and if they will now be governed by reason, they will have learnt they can have no solid ground of hope to conquer any State in the Union; for though their armies have obtained temporary advantages over our troops, yet the citizens of these States, firmly The extraordinary lenity of this State has resolved as they are never to return to a domi- been remarkably conspicuous. Other States nation which, near six years ago, they unan- have thought it just and expedient to approimously and justly renounced, cannot be sub-priate the property of British subjects to the dued; and they must now be convinced, that it is the height of folly and madness to persist in so ruinous a war. If, however, we judge, as we ought, of their future by their past conduct, we may presume that they will not only en-perty should now take place: if such should be deavor to keep possession of our capital, but make another attempt, howsoever improbable the success of it may appear, to subjugate this country: it is therefore highly incumbent upon us, to use our most strenuous efforts to frustrate so fatal a design; and I earnestly conjure you, by the sacred love which you bear to your country, by the constant remembrance of her bitter sufferings, and by the just detestation of British government which you and your posterity must for ever possess, to exert your utmost faculties for that purpose, by raising and equipping, with all possible expedition, a respectable permanent force, and by making ample provision for their comfortable subsistence. I am sensible the expense will be great;

your determination, though many of our warmest friends have been reduced for their inflexible attachment to the cause of their country, from opulence to inconceivable distress, and, if the enemy's will and power had prevailed, would have been doomed to indigence and beggary, yet it will redound to the reputation of this State, to provide a becoming support for the families of those whom you may deprive of their property.

The value of paper currency became of late so much depreciated, that it was requisite, under the powers vested in the executive during the recess of the General Assembly, to suspend the laws by which it was made a tender. You will now consider whether it may not be proper

JAMES MADISON.

JAMES MADISON was born on the sixteenth of March, 1751, at the dwelling of his maternal grandmother, near the town of Port Royal, on the banks of the Rappahannock, in Virginia. After acquiring the rudiments of a classical education, under the tuition of Donald Robertson, a native of Scotland, and the Reverend Thomas Martin, his parish minister, he entered the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, which was then under the presidency of the "sterling Doctor John Witherspoon." Here he completed his collegiate studies, and in the autumn of 1771, received the degree of bachelor of arts. While at college his health became impaired by too strict application to his studies, and remained delicate and feeble for some years. These infirmities, however, did not deter him from persevering in his literary pursuits. He devoted himself to a systematic and extensive course of reading, somewhat miscellaneous, but principally with reference to the law, although he formed no absolute determination to enter upon its practice; which, Burke says, while it sharpens the wits, does not always enlarge the mind.

Early instilled with the noble principles of civil and religious liberty, he strenuously resisted all forms of cruelty or oppression. He was particularly active in opposing the persecution of the early Baptists in Virginia, who were, in some instances, consigned to jail for violating the law which prohibited preaching by dissenters from the established church. At the beginning of the dispute with Great Britain, he manifested great zeal in the cause of the Americans, and was prevented from taking up arms only by the feeble condition of his health. In the spring of 1776 he was chosen a member of the Virginia legislature, and in 1778 was appointed one of the executive councillors, which place he retained until the next year, when he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. Of this body he became an active and leading member, taking a prominent part in many of its important transactions. During the years 1784, 1785, and part of 1786, he was a member of the legislature of his native State, and distinguished himself by his laborious efforts to establish a reform in the federal system. All his energies were devoted to this object. The Virginia legislature appointed him a delegate to the Annapolis Convention, which met in September, 1786, to devise a uniform system of commercial regulations, which should be binding on the whole confederacy when acceded to by all the States. This movement resulted in the recommendation of a convention of delegates from all the States, to be held at Philadelphia, in May, 1787, and finally in the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Of that convention Mr. Madison was one of the most distinguished members. He took a prominent part in the debates, and rendered eminent service in perfecting the constitution as adopted. His notes of those proceedings and debates, published since his death, form an invaluable chapter in the legislative history of the country. Mr. Madison, in his will, dated the fifteenth of April, 1835, thus notices this work: "Considering the peculiarity and magnitude of the occasion which produced the convention at Philadelphia in 1787, the characters who composed it, the constitution which resulted from their deliberations, its effects during the trial of so many years on the people living under it, and the interest it has inspired among the friends of free government, it is not an unreasonable inference that a careful and extended report of the proceedings and discussions of that body, which were with closed doors, by a member who was