Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-02-03
Nistprp uf 8. Gataliua.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES -
OF THE
Early Settlement of South Carolina.

HISTORICAL SKETCdES ~ q
--...--,- OF THE Z
Early Settlement of South Carolina.
BY REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
THE REVOLUTION OF TITO.
A century has passed away since our ia
theirs declared themselves free and independ
ent. When we contemplate that act and the
struggle which followed it in all its results, il
seems more like a highly wrought romance
than the sober details of facts. The Oldest Of
the thirteen colonies which entered into that
struggle, was little more than one hundred
and fifty years old; and the youngest was
less than fifty. The nation whose yoke they
threw of, was powerful in all the munitions
of war. For more than q Thousand years,
she had been growing in wealth and power.
She was the proud mistress Of the sea, and
her land forces had done themselves honor on
more than hundred battle-6elds. The thir.
teen colonies were weak. They had no ships,
no arms, no powder, no standing armies, and,
besides, the whole population amounted to
less than three millions.
For people thus situated to think Of op'
posing the armed forces of England, seems
like unparalleled recklessness. The history
of the world presents no similar case. When
we consider the fact that these thirteen colo.
MES not only dared to oppose the armed forces
of England, but forced that gallant old ma
ton to acknowledge their Independence, we
are struck with amazement. When the Brit
ish soldiers laid down their arms at yorktown,
and the struggle was virtually at an end,
General Washington told his men not to huz.
"a. "Posterity," said he, "will huzza for you.
This was prophetic. So long as noble deeds
are regarded as worthy of admiration, men OF
every nation will delight to honor that hand
full of men which wrung from the British gov
ernment an acknowledgement of their rights
and liberty. Not only so; but the govern
ment which they established, after the conflict
was over and the victory won, was such as
the world had never seen. The good of all
governments of antiquity was adopted and the
evil rejected. Even to-day, abused and cor
rupted as is the government which our faith
ers left US, it is still the best government on
earth.
The part which South Carolina took in the
revolutionary struggle was honorable. No
State in the Union can boast Of q fairer fame
than South Carolina She stands second not
even to Massachusetts, the "cradle of liberty
South CaroIina's revolutionary statesmen were
wise and prudent; her soldiers we're bold and
daring. The descendants of South Carolina's
statesmen and soldiers, have no need to be
ashamed of the record of their ancestors.
led to the Revolutionary war as simply con-
nected with one State The causes of that
event we're common to all the colonies What
effected one effected all. Theproximate cause
was an insignificant tax upon tea, glass and
paints. The avowed object for which the
British parliament proposed to raise this tax,
was to assist in liquidating the debts of the
English government. Some of this debt had
been incurred by the wars which had been
fought on American soil and in defence OF
the American colonies. Not only so, but the
British government had incurred much ex'
pense in founding and fostering some of the
colonies. 1t might appear, at first sight, that
the colonies acted rashly in not submitting to
the tax. It must be remembered that it was
not the amount of the tax that they resisted,
so much as the principle. They claimed that
taxation and representation are inseparably
connected. They felt that, as Englishmen,
they had right to resist all taxation except
such as was imposed by their own proper rep
resentatives. 1t is true that, on several occa'
sions, England had sent over armed forces,
in appearance for the defence of the colonies
but really for the establishing of her own
claims to North America. Both Spain and
France claimed the territory which is now
occupied by the United States, and on moral
principles, the claim of either was as good as
that of England. In fact, then, whatever ex.
pense England had been at in planting the
colonies and defending them against the
French, the Spaniards and the Indians, was
only so much done to extend her own domin'
ions. 1t was not only unwise in England to
impose any tax upon her colonies, but it was
unjust.
The wonder is that the colonies were wise
enough to see the injustice of the attempt or
bold enough to resist it. This can only be
understood by careful consideration of the
characters of the individuals who formed the
bulk of the first settlers of North America.
They were bold adventures, but not in the
ordinary sense. The majority Of them were
subjects of the British government. They
we're protestants as distinguished from papists,
and dissenters as distinguished from the estab'
lished church. They left their native land
not from choice, but from necessity. They
came to the wilds of America, not that they
might amass fortune, but that they might
live in peace and worship God according to
the dictates of their own consciences. Massa-
chusetts could boast of her Puritans and South
Carolina of her Huguenots and Scotch-Irish.
All of these had ceased to love kings before
they came to America. Many of those who
had assisted in beheading one king, and in
banishing another from bis throne, had sought
a,home-an asylum-in the forests Of America.
Even the judges who presided at the trial Of
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