The Gazette of the state of South-Carolina — Charles-town [S.C.], 1784-04-29 00:00:00, page 2

*f your name.-—The Deponent farther added, Had
Jhe, Sir, made mention of your name, depend upon it,
particular attention jhould have been paid to year
commands. ISoid your tongue, (fays Mr. Rutledge,)
I BELIEVE HER BEFORE YOU.—The Depo
nent, thus insulted, then told him, that his wench
lied.—Poh, poh, (fyoined Mr. Rutledge,) it is so
much like all the &t of your conduct, that I must
BELIEVE THE ^XCH BEFORE YOU,—and
I will teach you, Sir, to treat ME with more refpeff.
The Deponent then asked him; — What conduit of
mi ne,'Sir, do you mean? lie made answer have
been injolent to fopie GENTLEMEN orthe niglits of
the dancing aftmUiesJ —No man (replied the Depo
nent) will date to tell taeft.-^lhave had some words
with two Gentlemen only; but that depute is fettled.—
I dcAHmean them, (fays Mr. Rutledge;) Mr. Ma
mgault, (fays he) informed me; that you 'had been
very impudent to faerat GENTLEMEN.—Mr. Ma
migault lies, (replied the Deponent:—) and if he"
afott this to my face, BY THE ETERNALCOD
1 WILL KICK HIS A—-E.—l he Deponent then
informed Mr. Rutledge, that he had used him very
ill, in affecting that he had ' preferred a Ne
gro's EVIDENCE TO His, and that he (Mr. Rut
ledge) fhouki'hear fiwmhim ;—at which he instant
ly left Iris presence.
And further fayeth not.
WTLLIAM THOMPSON.
Sworn this 27th day of f)
Hhrzl, 1784, before me§
'JOHN TROUP. J. P.
Mr. THOMPSON'S
ADDR ESS to the PUBLIC,
Refuelling the above Tranfaflion, and the interior
Events which flowed therefrom.
Triends and Fellow-Citizens.
I OWE a deference to the general opinion, andT
must submit to it.—lt is at your instance, that
T now. proceed to a Statement of further FACTS;—^
of Fa&s not lels irksome to my ieelings, as a Man,
than theyare hostile to your Liberties, as'Frcemen.
drained up from my youth, to the din of Arms, it
cannot be supposed that I am a:writer.^Untutored
as.l have been in erudition's school, and uninspired
in. the lore of Geni^,=-haplefs in thy condition, of
being a Granger to the liberal Arts;and hopelcfs ih
the proved of persuading you by elegance; —my
confidence, therefore, rests on the face only of
artlcjs Truths, and of your impartiality to peruse
them.—The rights which we ald havfe contended
for, in the late Revolution, have been vitally in
jured in my person.—Had this injury been to me,
alone, I fnould, perhaps, for the peace of Society,
have submitted to it.—For the peace of Society I
would hold jnyfclf a victim,--a lawful Sacrifice for
your fake, at the shrine cf Public Tranquility.—
But the injury, My Fellow-Citizens, affects us all,
in common, —those more efpecia4ly, who go at
this day, under the opprobrious appellation of, the
Fewer Orders of Men, and aspire not to the rank of
NABOBS. The Tories of this land are a&uallyy
and indeed, the Low Game of the Community.
%hefc wretches he pro ftrate at our feet,—never more
so rife against us in competition.^-Should they, in
an evil hour, look forward to Equality, and so
worm themfeives into office as to endanger our pre
sent Republican Effablilh merit, their fade is inevita
ble. lhe means of their depression is, at any
moment, within our span.—Like Flies, enamoured
ofjtbe light, they may buzz awhile about Power's
burning Tafer; but Should they seek foolifhly to
flutter in its blaze, it will instantly consume the
vermin.
So little, my Fellow-Citizens, have you to ap
prehend from thisfoot-trodden class of men.—lt is,
however, expedient that they be pryingly watched
and looked after. It is an evil, no doubt, that they
exist among you.—lt is a pungent evil indeed, that,
in the infancy of our Commonwealth, Republicans
Should be forced to coalesce into one Society witli
men, who detest Republicanifa, ^and are detested.
Yet, the hapless case is so; but- whence originated
the misfortune? I look up to the source of so heavy
a calamity to this land, whensoever I contemplate the
fw^e authors of my own., Both evils are de
rived from one corrupted Rock, have one polluted
Parentage. The NABOBS of this State, their fer
vife Toad-eaters-, the BOBS,—and the fervilely
fervile tools and lick-spittles of Power to both, the
BOBBETS are the lofty criminals I allude to.- •
Hitherto you have hunted on a wrong scent.—Hi
therto have you poached dor Low Game.—Like
heedless and inexpert fpoftfmen you have wafted
your beftitrength in the bootless parfuit of ufcm
fcantfauirreL, while those howling wolves of° the
wildemefs either desolate or menace all around you.
• Shall we ouille and unite agaihft the Titlffe abet
ters but of one Tyrant, three thouHfimiles distant,
and prove inattentive to the comfyed and wily,
designs of forty greater Tyrants, who refidc „ our
dors? When, in afree land, (by intermarriage or
otherwise,) Signal opulence and influence conspi
cuously unites in Swelling the ambition, as they en
large the confluence of a few families; it then
behoves (and it is a maxim of found, policy to do so)
all free and independent minds, to regard them as
men, calculated to' Subvert Republicanism, who
ought therefore to he oppgfed—Their perlons and
conduct, in private life, may 'be unexceptionable,
and even amiable; but their pride, influence, am
bition, connexions, wealth and political princi
ples, ought, in public life, ever to exclude them
from public confidence, ^f they aspire Ao be preat
Citizens, let them rife to it by being good, "able,
"J{“' an dfriends to faial equality. What is gre^t
»gs without gooodnejs, rank without 'ability, wealth
without ; utility, or Citizenf/ip without fata/ equa
lity ? Consequence is from the public opinion, and not
from private fancy. Public opinion is the gift~of
the people, freely granted and given, and will not
be extoTted.-=Yhe ^xterevr deportment'of men may
" e fo?ced into Servility;—but not the acquiescence of
the heart. 1 here exifteth in man a noble inflexibi
lity of the blind, which revolts ikterndlly at all that
appeals to coerce. In this case, the mind will be
'elaltic.—A&ion from without will create re-a&ion
_from within, she natural and the moral laivs are
here affimilats Authorings, rind dot Authors,
may engage to prop up the mouldering fabric oftheir
authority.—Such wretches may, (as we fee,) be
hired, tbo'j Authors may not. The hired Author
ling is a fniferable mercenary, therefore a hireling,
an ^ in ^cl the abjurer of his o\vn imperial sove
reignty and principle. An Author is an original, and
wtlnouV Ffototype. lie scorns to becomethe tribu
tary Satellite of any Sun, /will revolt at servility, and
can shine only in the rays of hs "own luflre, fclf
independence and majesty. If the cause of Liberty
cannot' compensate a writer who engages 'in its
defence,— iffrif-approbation is too light in the'fcale
of his ambition, .againfta NABOB'S drofs;—be he
in good will, a NABOB'S hireling. But if an
atom of public virtue still abides in this land;—if
the sons of 1 recdona have ever drfawh in, from her
Holy Altars, that sacred efoquerice which Free
dom aloue can infoire;—if Truth, which assault's
with success, and defends with efficacy, be a wea
pon of terror to evil-doers ;—fuch hireling, I trust,
equally with his abettors, will finatt for their teme^
•Xuiyjui jo tpuay pue 'uonr.naxo jo ooioa oqi ut'
bduirjnj o) uioqi puujumiX[[njip!rj peqj (dtp jjaou
VPIM SD^Bqo tpnouiimp M o WM J° d ^d oqi, -Xfo
Thus far, my Fellow-Citizens, have I prefaced
'on the fubje& before us, to prepare you for events
intimately connected with your own interest.
From my Affidavit you have seen, (and you before
have frequently beheld it,) the arrogance and auferi
ty of the molt inpercilious pride contending with
innocence and pafaity. On my departure from Mr.
Rutledge's presence, I began to recoiled his con
'dud of a ty!s^&^ W^B , feme, and of a
t° r fe,^^^ AccuftomecT
to a Hefubhcan Government, where no inequality
exiils, but that of magiftray; and imbibed from
my infaricy with those principles of honour which
q.nckenfeiifbility, and enliven the sense of a gross
injury, I found the insult debasing me, even as a
'man, but, as an officer insupportable. As an offi
cer also, I considered my relation to those of the
fame class, with whom I communed, and who
served with me in the War. Conceiving Mr. Rut
ledge so have been a man tapable of remorse for
the injury he had done me, and of refpeX for his
town chara&er as * Gentleman; I waited, (but in
vairij) lor the Ipace of eighteen, hoars, lot his apo
l°gy° He conceived me liis inferior, as I supposed;
—nor was I able to comprehend the inferiority.
Defpairirtg of coriceffion, believing h^m a mat
cf honour, and not doubting of his farri, I Rated
his insult by letter, and demanded /ztifzffy. On
the ensuing day, his reply was handed to me in
writing.—lt contained much,—faid little; but an
apology was demanded of me in the close, with a
threat, in case of refufal, of fabmitting my letter to
be difcuffcd befyre the Houß of Representatives,
cf which he was a Member. The Gentleman who
had handed me his letter, again refurned it. He
propefed a compromise; but in vain. My reply
was, that Mr. Rutledge had firfl offended me in
the grofS manner imaginable ; —that I would never
condescend to any apology, after futh treatment;
thatif he did not conform with my reouifitions, I
should pul)lifh him throughout the Union, in the
light I held him in:—and that, if he meant to
ft™Ak himfelf hfftmd privileges as his rampart, he
'Waswelcome tb do it.^ Accordingly on that dav,
my.letter was laid, by- .him, before the Hdufe of
Representatives.
A Committed ts privileges,^ report on thb case,
was.then appointed by that Body. I was summon
ed before the Committee, by order of their Presi
dent; and, on ray appearance, demanded so be
heard by Councri. ;My Council being unprepared,
at that time; for the adjustment ofa matter, involv
ing in itfelf—fo many difficulties refpe&ing Faffs.
and the Law, he requested the Committee, in their
Report, to recommend, that I be allowed the pri
vilege common to Felons and Tories, of being
heard, on the next day, before the House, by both
my Council ; —-but this privilege, {however granted
to a Williamson and other Traitors,) was refuled so
me, tho' a Citizen and Soldier, and in a matter evi
dently not intended to affect the House, but r^
fpeXing only a controversy between man and m^
the injured and injurer.
Hearing, on the next day, that the Report of
,^^eew^ .then in agitation before the
House of Reprefentatives,—that it recommendedno
Council on my part, and that, refuting to enter into
the merits of the Case, the House determined to
condemn me unheard; I immediately effaye'd to
fend in xny Pent <,„„ z o fe foby CfoL
Certain Members refused either to deliver or receive
, however a&tve in the receipt and deliver/ of
the Petitions of the ^ Tories. It was, nevertheT
lels, taken charge of by another honourable Gentle
^ap. Ihis Gentleman had not time to urefent ih
before I had been called before the House.—L
Z as the n Sentenced, not only to apologize to' the
House for a breach of privilege, but also to solicit bar
aon of my enemy, as though I had been the a^ref
for; And that, in case IJhould refufe contpliance'with
this humiliating injunction, I was to be kept in close
confinement, within the common gaol, during the re
mainder of that Session; whereupon the Meflena er
was ordered to take me into custody, and to brm%
me before the House, for the fulfilment of so debofc
hug afenfekce. ° °
On hearing this, I immedialy repaired to the
State-House, and voluntarily delivered myfelfup to
the Messenger. Soon after, I was ordered before
the House, when I had my sentence read to me.
I then requeued, to have the Petition, which I
previously sent in by Capt. Kaltifo, a Member of
t e House, lead before the 'Representatives; the
prayer of which was only to be heard by Council.
1 his request, however reasonable,—the requeftof a
Whig-Citizen and. Soldier, who had fought, and o
(therwife signally Suffered in the American Cause,
was instantly over-ruled, by the Honorable Thomas
Bee, )Efquire, and other Gentlemens who held it as
an abp@nattou, r so condemn unheard the uery'worft
of the 1 ory-fofcreants, and Who strenuously insisted
and obtained, that they, even so, "fodd.be allowed.
Council. Even to debate oh the "merits of the Fall
was hkewife over-ruled by these Hon. Gentlemen,
and every means of defence Was refufed me.—buc
an implicit compliance with every a& of the Housed
Requijitiott.\ J
, Guilty or not guilty of a 'breach of that House's
privileges, I thought it no dishonor, to comply
with the firfl part of their sentence. But it was
not, it seems, the privilege of the House which one
active Framer, at least, 'of the report had so much
in view, as the kaniliatroh of a Publican, a gran
ger, a wretch of no higher rank in the Common
wealth than tnat of a Common-Citizen; for having
cared to difoute with 2 John Rutledge, or any of
the NABOB Trite, on the lub|e& of consequence,
even though they should have degraded him, in his
tefthkony below the rank'pf h Negro. It was not Suf
ficient, that I Should ask pardon of the House,
whofc privilege alone was said to have keen intrenched
on. It could not have been comprehended, that in
asking paidon of that House, in its collective capa
city, every Member thereof, had his Share of my
apology. But the great John Rutledge was indivi
dually offender, by a plebeian; and this great man
must, individual/,, be submitted to. Those felf
exalted characters, who affeft to compose the grand
hierarchy of the State, were not to be controlled,
at least by any of the lower orders; and I, as one of
those, was pitched upon, so to fuffer in their pre
sence, as to deter others from ever rebelling again
against their petty Majesties. But ray-feelings hap
pened then to revolt against this last submission,
and I became instantly reconciled to every, even
the worst of consequences.. The cause I contended
for was, equally, the birth-right of every Citizen. I
acknowledged no higher order of men in any Com
monwealth. The process then against me, I con
sidered, as against you and each of you. I felt a
Citizen's right, and as a Citizen I refilled and
Suffered.
I thought proper, however, as a Citizen, to dis
charge my duty to the House; I informed that
Honorable Body, that, as such, I never intended
to offend them, ihat ho impartial or unprejudiced
Member on the floor could 'lerioufly think) I had
any such intention. That my controversy was on
ly with the the man,_and not with the Member.
Ih'at, instead of intending to offend that Honor
able House, I dared tp go as far as any man in the
Support of its Privileges and Dignity. That Ih^
already fought for the establishment of that free
Government, which then enabled them peaceably.
to deliberate within these walls. That I was ex
tremely Sorry to have incurred that House's dis
pleasure, in deeming me guilty of a breach of
their privileges, which I never intended. That, how
ever, as they thought proper thus to adjudge me
I was willing to make to that Honorable House the
enjoined conceffon.; but, for Mr. Rutledge, (I
said,) I never would aft HIS pardon, because lie
was the injurer; andihat I deemed it would be an
insult on the people's majesty, and on the privi^
leges of every citizen within the land, had i a£