The Gazette of the state of South-Carolina — Charles-town [S.C.], 1784-09-09 00:00:00, page 2

'hard to punifli those, and G. W. in particular;
and at the very moment you was premeditating the
total ruin of G. W. with his promising family, did
you not get up and move for a certain 'Major or
_ Colonel to be taken off the cohfifcation lift; a man
who (I am told) was to command the horfc, —the'
famous troop of hbrfe that was to be railed in this
state, by fubferiptions from our terrified citizens;
a corps and contribution of which so inucli hath
been laid, that the very Major or Colonel alluded
t°, ought to have been the last man you fhould'
have pleaded for at. that moment. But I conjec
ture the rcafon : he flood in a di" r rent rank with
you, than that which.G. W. flood in In my de
bates, very early in 178% T obierved, how happy
it would have been for this country, could vn. b^'
allow ourselves to drop'the t%rA
over the political errors of rr..;, of cur once
esteemed fellow citizens; but if pvrdfhmcuts were
to take place, that they ought to be confined to
those who took British cemraiflions; and that if one
of that class was to be punished, the whole elafs
ought to be; but not by divesting them of their
-property. No, give it to them and to theirs, and
allow them permission to depart from your land,
but never to return to it. These, fir, were my sen
timents; but if it was deemed better to pardon all,
probably every good citizen would acquiefee in
that law, and forgive, though he could not imme
diately forget; and was it not for fucli turbulent
spirits as Brigadier General Gadsden, (who, to
five his friends, would save all but his encmies)
those controversies would ccafe; but your heart is
inexorable, and too full of rancour to forgive or
forget. You was disappointed in your favourite .
icheme of facrificing G. W. and you still shew it,
by catching at what you so much recommend in
Other cases. Pray, Monfeur Gadsden, how.many
compose a tele a tetc f is it two, ten, or twelve? My :
tete a tete with G. W. was ata time when members
of the Senate and House of Representatives had been
predent, and had also dined there; and when poli- :
tics would have been spurned at, as they always
should be in mixed companies. You fball miss your
aim in that insinuation, as well as in many others;
for, fir, I can allure you, that I do not recollect to
have spoken to G. W. until hi was acquitted. If
tliat gentleman conceived that I z&ed from prih-'
ciplcs ofpface to him, in becoming the advocate
of one ,01% meant to oppress, 'and had chosen for '
your Scape Goat; and tliat he chose to seek an in
timacy with me, surely, for the very rcafons you
ahign, when fuck (others than him) are in thf case, ,
I ought to r^et their advances, and not foil good
neighbourhood. Are you not, in this instance, a :
di/h^ber of the public peace, in keeping up those
invidious diflin&iohs, by condemning men who.
feck reconciliation and harmony? and here let me
ask, does not Brigadier GeneralGadfden visit, andb
hold secret and collusive tete a tetes with
pardoned and unpardonedcharacters? And supposing
it could be proved, that any of them now kept up
a correspondence with those who dill meditate this
country's ruin, may we not, with equal propriety,
insinuate that he too meditates more real evil to
this date, than could arise from a few sailors carrying
a f^g to t^e g a °b an d from, perhaps, a mere
attempt to release a confined citizen, confined for
being as warm only as your/elf, in his resentment,
agiinft a character whom he thought very faulty.
In investigating your former conduH, we shall
find, that you always have been a difurber of the
public peace, a petulant jaEhbneet, and a quarrelling
tumultuary against your neighbours, friends, and even
betters; and you, therefore,(Arigadfer General Gads
den) are the very man whose motions I Brail always
attend to, much more than to those of any one
man in this commonwealth, whenever frefh com
motions may arise; particularly if any thing Mould
Bart, in consequence of forae late difeoveries, to
which you very probably are net a Granger, dis
coveries which must be publicly known in a few
months. Was it not you that was foremeft in ' the
riot at Colonel L s house, in 1765, because
you had differed with him? with your usual ran
corous art and address, you induced many to
suppose that the damp papers were received, and
concealed by him, (in the view of making him
obnoxious) and at the very period his lady had
been confined to her bed? Blush—blush, thou f7/2
rate rioter, when I tell you, that you rejoiced at
the opportunity which you created, to ransack his
house. Was it not you who, years ago/liacTaTdcd
in-keeping the town in a blaze, in the quarks be
tween Middleton and Grant, by worming youffelf
into the confidence of each party, and thereby
becoming a servile go-between? Was it not you who
HrfE niade the ochoas chfhiiflionsof family com
, pacts, in this commonwealth, and introAucceTthe '
prettyjciea of _ Nabobfiy,? Was you not, and are
you not, to this very moment, shedding your old
venom, encouraging diftinßions, anl keeping alive
fyour ancient quarrels, disgusting all companies with
a malignant recital of your dilhke toevery one of that
family ? And forwhat ? Because your country Very
justly descries and confeffes mere abilities and vir
tue in them than can be traced in you; and because
they, probably, deem you too dangerous a charac
*ss (f ro ^j°ur ungovernable frenzy) to be con
nected with? Are you not always a quarrelling
with one or the other? Did you not unjuhly and
unprovokedly attack the character of a worthy
Major (you may call him a Bird of Pafage) now
absent; for which (as a lesson) you nearly received
the proper chafifement? and, at last, what was
^^ cause of yous fulfc reports against him? Why,
forfooth, because his military talents led him to be
ufeful to, and intimate with ThE man you had
quarrelled with; "and so 'far 'tile! you carry your
resentment, that, 'on dccounrol ^our quarrel with
this Pafage Bird,'you tei/ked an aft to be paged
that no Bird of Passage flould "hold Bus Nice of
# profit or honor, in this 'commonwealths. 'I tunnot
claim the honor of very much intimacy with 'that
gentlemen, on whose account, and from a detefc\on
to whom, you' had ' quarrelled "with the Major. But,
fir, malice itlclf mull be silent, when we recollect
his exertions or this country: his eminent, early,
and continued services ought to glob over any little
warmth arising Adm the perplexities caused by
<,,: 7 Is. /Likely your late antipathy against
. ui, icrghteimd, by your observing, that
t^h entice had taken forhe part in the closing of
u) fo.^ F pels, and aiding me when he thought
I wa: rig, ; v fir, perhaps you arc yet to know,
that it wasohi -y gentleman who firft called me
into service, and pen more of my conduct than
many others did, knd may therefore be supposed
to have afted from a pafhpn too noble to.have ever
fired a bosom, warped, illiberal, and claycold as
yours has been.
D<d not your wretched disposition likewise urge
you to wrangle with another of your neighbours,
because he submitted not to be eternally teazed with
the revifon and correction of your fcandaloks, de
famatory, and inferable productions against the peace
and harmony of his fellow citizens —productions of
which you have been ever fond? And did you net
then level your molt envenomed fliafts againll him,
fhafis which ever after barred the door 10 reconci-
Jiation: Was not you scribbling yettr wretched
jcrawls, ^nd nibbling at characters, till ycu was so
henpecked by a late Worthy citizen for your unkind
^treatment of him, that you dared not wield a goose
qudl for some contidtrable time against any man ?
And when we recoiled your condud, (as Briga
dier) in your long fought for controversy with Ge
neral H , may we not fay, that you designed to
heave the whole date and continental army into con
fuhon, ana was again a difarber cf the 'public peace?
Yes you was; but your cause was even too bad to
raifemany followers : a few, very few adheredto you
in that controversy. He must be a poor devil, indeed,
even poorer than the meanest patfage-bird, that has
no congiechons: had you been connected with a mul
tiplicity of Relatives to abet you, at that time, (when
the date was at open war), in this inllance, 1 think,
in particular, you no doubt would have created
more dihurbancis and tumults in the commonwealth
than have yet appeared.
Although the commander in cWcf (General Lee,)
had left written orders with 'General H ,to
command in Saith-Cafblind, and Georgia; yet, on
General Lee's absence, you 'inftantly disputed his
authority and Gen. fa —'s command; nay, lofar did
you carry your disobedience and petulance, that you
had the riidenefs to ufber in a controversy on conti
nental rank, before a legislative body, which, (had
the confederation been theh.complete) could not have
taken cognizance of it : for surely if the legiflatuie
could not appoint a Brigadier General, it could not
interfere in that matter But intrude upon tliem
you would.— Youfluttered, yot flounced, but after
the mod solemn debate, feutence was finally pro
nounced against you. Now let us fee, how cordially,
in that instance, you had fulfilled the law of ike
land in that house; you indaotly flew up to your
commanding officer (G. H.) and offered him your
commission; on his declining it, you rudely thrust
it into his hat, and with your yfaal moderation, be
reaved yourfelf of the only thing that was refpc&able
about you,—that most refpeCbble badge (the rib
bon) of your rank, —and resigned; resigned at a
time when any Steady and open Republican would
have conceived such a resignation to be the resigna
tion of his honor. —And now Mr. Steady and open
.Republican, was this your beaded acquiescence with
the law of the land'd Was this submitting to the
virtue and authority of your rulers, and conforming
to the decision of the house, as in your late publica
tion you vauntingly assert ? But your words and acti
on's have ever been contradictory.
For instance, let us compare your method efunbajh
ing yourfelf from your prettycrimfok ribbon, and this
under the very roof where your decree had but just
passed. That I mult recte with the following words
as extracted from one of your late performances.
“ I wish every body acquiefeed as pcrfetflyin
" this decision of the house, as 1 do, and have ever
done in nil their decisions !'' But this was not all —
to disturb the peace of the public Bill more, you
must continue to act with your usual violence, and
compel the commander in chief of the army to re
sent your reproaches: and so far did you urge your
abuse, that you was at last conftiained to half fight
the gentleman whom Congress had entruded with
the command of their southern army. Permit me
to tell you, fir, why I call it half fighting: I take
the opinion from d ballad, which (as a record of
the exploit) was soon after publidied on the occasion,
in imitation of the memorable conflids between the
two houses of Percy and Douglas, faithfully re
corded in that old ballad called the Chevy-chafe.
And why may not this monument of your prowess
be republished, left the tooth of time should obli
terate the deed from posterity's memory.
$ Many more inflances could be adduced, to con
vince any impartial person, that you are the man, of
all others, most capable of keeping up difeords in the
Rate, and creating di/linßioiu that me iuvidicus,
1 nm ^^^^y < \..e more 'nn,uh, than ary we
to apprehend from the ses) mifeonduCt of ^
or three c^z^. Arc v,^ t niakes you the mere
dangerous, t; that you c ,. n ~„ on % deceive
. cmmtenmce, (exterior c f fiuceritv) when toe
ward is rank ^h mAc; ddcord, and
rotated fallacy; and what you will not verdure to
do, attempt to invite other to the commhi^ of.
D ° y ° u recalled-, fir, your memorandum in the ron-
Jtitution book you always cany with you? 1- ; s a
inking mark of that unforgiving, ffenctic
that always accompanies yeu. how bu'y ^ e v 1
m,hewing it to every body, particularh to ^fr
who y, ff,g are at variance wim the _/
Wh ch it alludes, UToinrrthem to '
, ' 0 0 LHtm cuing on the en
quuy, why toe Words, SOU F?I-C fMA
were left out by the Ctefol
ft tyCT foes. & c b^n^Jfr
^nd Ds m^Chriilian Majefy, fy.fafo yn
7 y °": tbat y °° c ° u ^ nOT < ^a G:
I^l E on. the buhnefs !N% fr, ru? /, s
any mab offends me, to prefer adjuftin, it i„
mode Jess nkfonte to the public, than by a
and to confine myAB to % own
t the gentleman whom you had denned t^tta^'
(as carman of the aforefaid committee) had Cen."
ceiv^a wron, ideas of me, or of 2ny
nated (1 ought to presume) from wron^ or' so
wantut r.j/.finformati rt.; But, if] ?
he is convinced cf his error. Th^-e^Z
ways of replug breaches. Men of
and niccjeehw, will catc h at a word , at a ,
even, and never feck to wbund the fenfibili^v oft
gentleman, by demanding what h e h i m fe]f ^,l
not , grant. I ray, who were the mifehievouc Would
Be s, (as you term it) in this crie>
Another fbii:% stance ofy^ifafy (when
you pf,, thefr e of a
and of your ®,yto lay ^ ^p^l so)
^ ^ you. ^fr tafo, „a J
% ?; e W'W^ ^ CT 001 of town,
y a va f hrmfetf of the Governors proclamation, of
Wi^W but a native of this date, and fully
.year e^l; i o so, upon kindly proffering you
hts hand you had refaftd yours, an d furthered
as if you had been fmprifed at his ufoce, in thus
approaching ycur little Majesty, toriming birr
with your threats that he ought to A han^ and
for u hat? for toft protection.—R are fw/lt
of principles! Noble few of general amnesty /Vir
tuous president ofour political peace-makers, for living
afde allfofo^^ Bfe^
w th you, is con onant to your intcreft, as yo ur
tereft ever has been the main faring of your t^Wl^
Another infiance may be added, of yon, r e ac ii.
nds to abide by all rtfrif-decifas. ' When the
enemy had so far environed the city, that a surren
der mail inevitably take plac p , and that it was partly
agreed on for the army to retreat, as the o'nly means
of having the ganifon, you threatened to give the
enemy intelligence,-— yert menaced to open the rate's
ind ict them enter. 0 triform acqntefccucc ^ the
Jentiments of a majority!
Havr g run over your riotous and hypocritical cha
racter, let us now defeend to y & ur interred one.
Men who hear you continually bellqw forth, that
you never had received any thing for your public fer
_,ices of thirty years pandit, would readily suppose
you was Pegging— ForMityeftiort ; if not, soy
11 tyWc to b e continually boatting of the services,
which j^ perhaps above had fuppoled you had ren
dered. I know not, neither is it worth my enquiry
to know wh.dt payments you received: but from the:
known hone: of th ; s ftrte, we may presume, that
if you leady rendered this country 'any effmt'iai ser
vices thAe /afl thirty years', (either as a politician
apfomtaMant of mechanical works, o^ a Br^adi^
General) they rewarded ycu for those fervices'; and
1 tru.fi they will punish you too for any disservices
which you may aElually be complotting to do them"
I have fe.n some calculations, whereby it indif,^
tably appears, that, for every year you attended the
House of Keprefentativts, you put the date to an
jy&ence^of ^oc dollars. Is not this paying
dear, even for every service, of which such "abili
ties as you possess would be capable; betides your
tiring out, at every feflion, the aggregate body,
with your arawhag, enditf, and dilgufting debates
and motions. °
Many however are in hopes, that you will keep
' y ™ r 7 r ^ " e ^ r ^^ troubling the members
tnat Jloor. Much the fame may be said of your
famous zig-zag bridge; for furpofe you had received
no compilation for the many fatigues, and hard
earned wetjackets which ycu got there, yet some
think ycu put^ the date to more expence than the
balance against her for her whole navy during the
war, (what may hereafter be clearly pointed out) as
. aLo the many afdo vantages the public were and are
b y. l r h ,e fcrc ^^"g fragments of that, your
,fruttare cf jolly; for, if 1 miflake not, it would
, now cod the date as much as the whole expence
attending her navy, to have the remnant of that
curious edifice removed, which now so obftr, d s the
channel, as that & boats can with difficulty pAs.
If you ju^ge differently, the public, I prefiime, will
, have no objections to your making the experiment
. in order to.ascertain the cost.
Any person who will recoiled how tearing you
are and have been, to plunge the date into a 'need-
Jess expence, in effecting, that BouiMarv-ftreet bc
continued to your wharf, will agree, theie was no
, .uiterfed mW in that ntar.ceuyre; but it is cufc