The Gazette of the state of South-Carolina — Charles-town [S.C.], 1784-08-05 00:00:00, page 2

^uiet citizens, under the protection of our lAvs,
repeatedly received from some lawless members of
your society? -Having thus glanced through what
, you call my three charges, let me now take up your
remaining clauses, chiefly in reference to the firft
charger—You fay, fir, “ you have proof indubit
able and unequivocal, in your possession, of the
reality of the person and name, of the author of
that piece, being possessed of documents the most
authentic, that the performance signed Democratic
Gentle Touch, was not of your privacy or infpet
tion." If you have fuck clear proofs, and to the
point, you shew little regard, fir, to your own honor
not to produce them. But were there not more than
one person concerned in that paper? I have, fir,
rhe' highest reason to think there were more
than one, two, or three. But supposing (and orily
f^ppoj^o) th at your honor was not concerned in
that paper, does it not contain such manifeft falfities
and dfhonorable insinuations, of a public nature,
with regard to a high trust you were HONORED
with by the Rate, that by all the ties of honor
and gratitude, you ought to have publicly contra
dicted long face, circumstanced particularly as you
are and were? For it is now more than eleven
weeks since that publication, and these falfities not
yet contradicted by you. Instead of any thing like
it, are you not steening and favouring this acquain
tance, whodared to treat the public in such an im
pudent manner? He holds your honor up, indeed,
as a man of amazing importance, as if you were
the guardian genius of this country. Xlvuld any
generous mind have fuffered himfelf to be plumed
oil one jingle moment, at the expence and disgrace
of a kind, benevolent public to him? Would he not
have spumed at, and exptfed the flattering fawner
mfantly*, or at least have contradicted so insidious
an attempt upon his honor? W hat I allude to, is,
towards the close of Mr. Gentle Touch's piece,
where my firft paper is quoted not a little cunningly
and pcrvertedly, thus, " This immaculate Writer
adverts to the Carolina frigate, which, he fays,
had a wretched bargain made for her, and from
which more evils sprung than from Pandora's box ;"
and presently after adds, “ the commander of the
Carolina frigate was, on his own credit, obliged to
purchase andft out the flip, as foreigners had not so
honorable thoughts of our nabobs, as they have of
themselves, ft would not trust them." The paper this
is in was published the very next week after myftf
address. is notthat of itfelf an odd circumstance?
Did we hear any thing before of the Carolina fri
gate? Isit not Rrange then that almost immediately
after my mentioning " the wretched bargain made
for us, in the bare hire of one single frigate," this
clause should pop out in ardwer to that affection,
full of falfhoods and scandalous reflections on
the Rate. I cannot help observing here, that this
pafßge from Mr. Gentle Touch, has a friking
resemblance of his honor's letter I am now remark
ing on, and would lead one to think was wrote in
just such another frantic fitof despair. The above
clause I particularly noticed in my last, to which I
beg leave to refermy reader: I shall juftobferve here,
That no ship was " purchased at all."
That one (or rather three-fourths of one) ship
was hired.
That his honor was not " obliged" either to
" purchase, or hire the ship.
That he did not do it " on his own credit."
That foreigners did trust the state for her, as
appears, not only from the articles themselves, but
from the application of foreigners to the state for
payment.
That his honor's name being inserted in the
articles, was of course, as our attorney or agent.
That his honor's estate being particularly inser
ted in his general mortgage, of all our eßates, for
compliance with the articles of agreement, was, if
not a mere form, a mere puff; for it was necessarily
included with the rest, if it had not been men
tioned at all.
That an intercepted letter of his honor's, long
face published in the Britifli prints, shews plainly
that his honor was bent on,™ and would not be dis
suaded from having that frigate; and no wonder,
for she put him into an excellent preferable situation
to any officer here, had our state been irrecoverably
loft. She was certainly a fine frigate, and his
honor's expectations were very sanguine indeed,
with regard to prizes, whereof his own share, and
the state's fourth part, which he had the sole direc
tion of, would have given him a very good chance
of more than indemnifying himfelf for what he
might have loft by this fate: but what chance at all
had any that took an active part here, had such a
dismal event happened?
Lastly, That the whole state are sneeringly
and infolcntly called “ Nabobs" by this writer, his
honor's acquaintance, and by the manner of expres
sion, very contemptible Nabobs.
Now, fir, from whom do all these falfhoods and
insolent abuses come? Does it not plainly, beyond
all contradiction, appear that they come from a
zealous advocate for, and member of the Anti-
Britannic society? Was not your honor the foun
der ofthat society ? Was you not their Prefdent at or
about that vety time? How could you then, when
you knew numbers of good citizenswere extremelv
uncafy at the ungovernable, riotous behaviour of
many members of that society, and jealous some
of them were the writers of such papers, fuffer so
flagrant an insult on the whole Rate, under your
nose, and so many falfhoods of a public nature,
that you^/? knowwere falfhoods, to pass altogether
unnoticed? Was you not bound in a double refpe&,
above any man in the Rate, to have ebntrediard
such falfe assertions? First, asour late 'Commodore
and Commander 'of the Carolina, who was beg
acquainted witli every thing relative to that ship?
Must it not have been expected from you in common
gratitude, to have been Teady upon such an ecca
fion, to vindicate the honor of 'the Rate? For, 'Was
it possible for any man to have been more delicately
treated in every rcfpe&, than you have been by
the Rate? Again, as Founder or Frefident of your
favourite society, ought you not in common pru
dence to have endeavoured to 'check and difeoun
tenance such behaviour in one of its members, as
publicly as possible, to take off or lessen the preju
dices against that society, unless you Want, as I
think you do, that most vartuous society, fir, to be
paramount to cverv thing hit "wotß LITTLE
Majesty?" You have shewn yourfelf, fir, at
lead, a flent abetter of this Mr. Gentle Touch,
and he seems a furious fickler for your honor, in
his admirable vindication of you, published two or
three days since, where he calls you " a gentleman
of his acquaintance." I think he might have better
Riled himfelf your confident, or private secre
tary, (trim tram): for unless he Was that, or some
thing like it, how came he (if the only writer of
that piece) to jump so readily into so many curious
circumßances about the frigate? Unon the whole,
let others judge as they may, for my part, I think
it no breach of charity, from these appearances,
and many more that I could name, had I lime, and
it would not make this paper too bulky, to con
clude, that Mr. Gentle Touch's paper was not
printed without your honor's privacy, and that you
did at leaf abet it; and therefore, as it seems to be
the production of a partnership, whose firm I
know not, TefpeCt for your honor obliges me to
think you must be the head of the house, and
therefore ent tied to the principal credit ofi it.
In the affair his honor alludes to, (near twelve
m'onths since) I carried no arms on purpose, as I
Was hopeful to be more instrumental in afTißihg
the magißrates to undeceive some mis-led citizens,
that were expected to (but did not) make a distur
bance, without arms than with. How hard prefed
his honor muR be, to take notice that I had a pil
low, as well as my cloak, carried to the guard
room upon that occasion ; he fays, more than once,
but his honor is mistaken: however, he is Wel
come to make the most of it, he may make it
twenty times if he pleases. Would he catch at this
trifle if he had any thing more important to fay?
Your honor is Welcome to raise as many masted
batteries, and throw as many random shot as you
please against my " Bag of Feathers." No threats
levelled at my friends and relations, or any other
fort of threats, or dangers, or fears of giving
offence, has, I thanlc God, ever swerved me
hitherto in the least, from the ftraitejl path I could
find out for the general interest of the community
at large : Let me but do my duty, it is all I wish
lor, the rest does not belong to me. But here I
cannot help observing, that your honor has great
advantages in this and another refpc&, over nine
teen in twenty of the citizens of this Rate; for I
believe your relations are as few in this country as
it is possible for any man to have, that has any at
all;—and besides, has not your honor two rights
of citizenship, (so that you can “ take to the bujk"
when you please) one in Europe, one in this state?
And supposing your honor should prefer the former,
and only continue here as a Bird of Passage, until
you have made up your mouth, (as the phrase is):
is it not natural to think you would wish to return,
with some trading preference in favour of your
friends; arid especially when we know your honor
is a double Anti: not only Anti-Britannic, but full
as much Anti-Gallic: But would this suit this Rate?
No, fir! From the moment we give any undue
national preferences in trade, from that moment we
may date the commencement of our ruin.—For na
tional preferences will cause national jealousies,
nothing sooner; and in case of any resentments
againß us in consequence, can your other fellow
citizens protect us? Have they not often employ
ment enough at home to protect themselves? Lord
Rawdon, during the times of the Britifli, was in
defatigable to come country over many honest
Worthy men amongst our citizens, who, or their
ancestors, came from Ireland; and too many good
men were duped by him or his emissaries, much to
their disadvantage, v/hich they have heartily re
pented since. I with no more takes-in of this fort
may be as indefatigably attempting, with another set
of very worthy, industrious, peaceable men, and
as good citizens as any the state has. The way to
guard against such designs, is to look upon our
selves as true citizens of the world, ready to
extract, like the bee, what is sweet and good,
wherever we can find it, in order to encreafe our
common Rock of human happiness, to the utmoß
pitch in our power, so as to invite worthy, indus
trious, well inclined men from all nations, to come
and fettle amongst us, and partake of our fare, and
let us give them a hearty welcome when they do
come,dand accommodate them all we can; but
never let us fuffer ourselves, on any account, to be
embarrassed with any country whatever. Idle and
laughable to the last degree it certainly is, to fuffer
ourselves to be so duped, by early or local preju
dices, however artfully humoured, and played off
upon us, so as to induce us to enthral ourselves
with any particular nation, because forfooth, our
selves, our fathers, our mothers, or grand-mothers
happened to have been born there; I fay happened,
for is not my friends, every thing of this fort a
mere hap ? A true citizen of die world is a noble
cbara&er: such Providence has put it into our
power new to be, if we do not play out cards very
foolifhly, and fuller ourselves to be legerdemaineA
out of our comforts and honors, by plauhblc..
^atio^/fharpers, or dwindle into cautious, sordid,,
felfifh negatives, when it is neceflary to give an
cßeflual, open, clinching opposition, to the deep
laid schemes of fucli fort of gents. The great
trading nations particularly, we may be afared wni
'not be idle: they will have their dexterous, well
trained emiflaries amongst us, that know their er
rand; these will endeavour to secure as many
poftives as they can to favour them, by delufivc
arguments and other artful management; and your
outward- appearance-gentlemen of any consequence,
they will endeavour to compound with, by applying
to their feelings, and douceunug them a thousand
pretty ways into negatives. My friends cannot for
get how often (so long since as under Liberty Tree)
I endeavoured to imprint on them, to attend to the
two grand diftin&ions in our (or indeed in every)
country, the landed and the trading intereft:—
I hat the first, without which the other woul^
not and cannot cxift, ought always to have the
right hand; that trade, in short, (with its appen
dages) was only the handmaid to her mistress, agri
culture; that the mistress would certainly do much
better with the maid than without her; but Rill she
may and can wait upon hetfelf, and do without her,
but the maid is nothing at all without her mis
tress; every country tlierefore, must depend prin
cipally upon tlie farmers and planters, who are its
most natural support on all emergencies. That
merchants as merchants were mere Birds of Paffagc,
that being the best place to thein, where they can
make their quantum upfooneft; V, hen that is done,
it Was quite a chance Whether they continued in the
country they made their Fortunes in; but, that the
landed man was fixed to his plantation or farm.
You must remember, my friends, what offence
this gave at that time; (and have I not often risked
offending, rather than fee you deceived or imposed
on?) But did you not find my words true, except
ing some characters, who gloriously exerted them
selves to their honor, and who, I am peffuaded,
will not tarnish their reputations, by a&ing incon
sistently now . Whence came these fllameful
perversions of honest traffic; those sudden and
artfal depreciations; those pernicious (peculations,
&C. &C. I mention this now to put the Rate on
their guard, left the maid become the mifrefs: the con
sequence mull be nothing but disgrace, difordcr, and
rapid ruin to the Ra-e. Let us encourage all open,
honest and profitable trade, and assist and accommo
date the well meaning generous merchant all we can;
it is our interest so to do; but we cannot take too
much care to prevent national preferences being
smuggled in amongst us. The principal policy
of this country in future, must be to watch the
,course of our trade, for it will make or break us,
according as it is managed.
Your honor may in future advance what you
please, and set all your myrmidons in full cry upon
me, unless your assertions are material, to the
point, well efiabliJhed, and your quotations fair,
without twisting. 1 shall leave you entirely to your
readers, who cannot be too cautious of trusting any
thing to confidence and mere fay so; and I entreat
your honor, always to recoiled, that my signature
was and is, not " THE" but " A Steady and open
Republican:" —this flipt your honor in your faft
notice to the public.
My dear fir, tell your acquaintance, that figured
away so blunderingly for you in last Thursday's
paper, that I was not one of tlie committee, (but
if I was, I do not fee what that is to the main point)
on your accounts, as the journals of the assembly will
shew, and that you know I declined being so, and
more than once whispered you, that had 1 been at
your elbow, I should have done all in my power to
have dissuaded you from the frigate bargain. Long
before, and when your accounts were puffing, and
for months after, I took your honor to be a quite
different man from what I am very sorry to fay,
1 think myfelf obliged to look on you at present,
(though I never did like the circumstance of your
leaving your Command as you did). But fir, were
your accounts now in palling, I should Rill endea
vour to bring so disagreeable a business to a close
as speedily as possible, for the public s fake alone.
This was my principal motive before, subordinate to
this, as the war was in a manner over, arid I had
then no miftiuft of your honor's ungrateful behavi
our to the public, and had every inclination to
ierve you, I never threw one impediment in the
way, and avoided being on the committee, or pry
ing at all into your accounts, as I was not. I do
not recoiled I looked over one account until im
mediately after the house adjourned, when your
papers relative to your agreement witli the Prince
of Luxemburg, about the frigate, were laid be
fore the committee ordered on that matter, of
which I was a member: but that committee, from
an extraordinary circumstance, was obliged to'
break up (not through your fault) without making
any report, so that that matter lies over for future
canvassing; and in my humble opinion, not a
moment's time should be loft to finifh entirely
that unlucky affair; and I think it would not be
unworthy of the frfl attention of the assembly,
whenever it fits, for I confefs, I am apprehensive
of some very disagreeable consequences that may
attend its laying over much longer. Pray, your
honor, whisper your acquaintance, who is trying to
make mifekief with the motto of my last paper flora