-<doc>

-<mepHeader>

-<sourceDesc default="NO"TEIform="sourceDesc">

-

Recommended Citation:

<title TEIform="title">The Papers of Henry Laurens</title>

, ed. David R. Chesnutt et al (Columbia, S.C.: Model Editions Partnership, 1998). Electronic version based on

<title TEIform="title">The Papers of Henry Laurens </title>

(Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1985) Vol. 10 pp. 305-308. http://adh.sc.edu [ACCESSED (supply date here)]

</sourceDesc>

-<docTitle TEIform="docTitle">

<titlePart type="main"TEIform="titlePart">Commons House of Assembly to Lord William Campbell, 18 August 1775</titlePart>

</docTitle>

</mepHeader>

-<head TEIform="head">

<org TEIform="name">Commons House Of Assembly</org>

-<xref targOrder="U"doc="hlbcampb"from="ROOT"to="DITTO"TEIform="xref">

<person TEIform="name">Lord William Campbell</person>

</xref>

</head>

-<dateline TEIform="dateline">

<place TEIform="name">Charles Town</place>

<date TEIform="date">August 18, 1775</date>

</dateline>

-<docBody>

<salute TEIform="salute">May it please Your Excellency</salute>

-

When we applied to Your Excellency for leave to adjourn it was because we foresaw that we

<add TEIform="add">should continue</add>

wasting our own time without a possibility of rendring any effectual service to His

<person reg="George III"TEIform="name">Majesty</person>

or to our Constituents_ long had we been flattered with expectations of being restored to our Constitutional Right of framing Laws,

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">which</del>

<add TEIform="add">a Right which in the most essential degree,</add>

we have

been deprived of

upward of five Years by an unconstitutional & arbitrary Mandate_ We had

taught to beleive that through Your Excellency's indefatiguable labours His Majesty's Instruction of the [

<ital TEIform="hi">blank</ital>

]

<date TEIform="date">April 1770</date>

was withdrawn nay we were assured that Your Excellency had particularly requested several Gentlemen in

<place TEIform="name">London</place>

to transmit such intelligence to their friends in this Colony_

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">how great then must our M</del>

-<add TEIform="add">

the tidings from such good authority

reached our

Ears

we rejoiced & waited in anxious suspence every day that Your Excy's arrival among us was delayed_

</add>

Consider we beseech you Sir_ how great must have been our Mortification after such flattering expectations to find your Exc¯y totally silent on

<add TEIform="add">a point of such vast importance</add>

If Your Excellency has received no Instruction

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">thereon</del>

it is in vain for us to

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">meet, we know Your Excellency cannot be Ignorant we can</del>

Assemble as the Representatives of the People

-<add TEIform="add">

we can do them no good_ our Meetings

<add TEIform="add"> suppressed</add>

dishonorable to ourselves_

</add>

if you have Sir_ the suspence in which we have been

is painful we view it as an an Act unfriendly to

our Constituents&

treating their Representatives with unmeritted slight.

-

from this & many other Causes

arising from the same source & tending to the same end, of which Your Excellency is not Ignorant,

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">cannot it be</del>

<add TEIform="add">would not be</add>

surprizing

if the People of this Colony

-<add TEIform="add">

<add TEIform="add">should be</add>

</add>

driven to the most unhappy extremities_ they have suffered

<add TEIform="add">many Years</add>

under the oppressive hand of an Arbitrary

<org TEIform="name">Ministry</org>

with amazing patience_ at length wearied out they have adopted measures from whence they hope to derive redress of their grievances,

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">which</del>

And although

their proceedings may

<add TEIform="add">be the effect of Necessity & not</add>

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">not have the Sanction be</del>

warranted by

<add TEIform="add">any of the written</add>

Laws, yet

<add TEIform="add">we are bold to assert</add>

they are all

<add TEIform="add">as Legal & Constitutional</add>

as many of the

<name type="legal"TEIform="name">Acts of Administration</name>

by which

<add TEIform="add">our Constituents are</add>

cruelly bereaved of their dearest priveleges_

-

We acknowledge that we are not unacquainted with the

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">Outrage</del>

<add TEIform="add">Circumstance</add>

of last Saturday of which Your Excellency

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">particularly</del>

<add TEIform="add">so pathetically</add>

Complains, but if Your Excy¯. supposes that we either encouraged or commended that Act you add to the injuries

which we have already received. At the same time that we

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">Censure</del>

disapprove of & Censure such Licentiousness_ We hope Your Excy¯. will not magnify nor exagerate the

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">Circumstance</del>

as if

-<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">

for such

Acts

</del>

was peculiar to this place or

a more

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">atrocious nature than Acts is to be found frequently</del>

-<add TEIform="add">

extraordinary violation of Law

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">& good Government</del>

than is frequently found

</add>

in Cities Renowned for Policy & good Government

-

<add TEIform="add">Upon Enquiry into this Matter we</add>

have been told that the Populace

-<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">

<place TEIform="name">Charles Town</place>

</del>

enraged by the daring & unprovoked Insolence of a Person who

<add TEIform="add">although he was supported by the Public &</add>

eat the Country's Bread had openly & ungratefully uttered the most bitter Curses & Imprecations against the People of this Colony & of all

<place TEIform="name">America</place>

had seized

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">Tared & feathered him & then</del>

-<add TEIform="add">

him_ & after a slight Corporal

had

</add>

Carted him through the Streets_

this we confess was an Outrage

at the same time

<add TEIform="add">Your Excy must do us the Justice to own</add>

it was

in our Power nor within the line of our Duty to prevent it

-<add TEIform="add">

even if we had been

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">Spectators</del>

present which was not the Case

</add>

_ and we appeal to Your Exc¯y if the

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">Outrage</del>

-<add TEIform="add">

Punishment which we suppose to be more alarm

from its Novelty than its severity

</add>

was

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">greater</del>

equal in any comparative degree to that

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">of dragging Men & Women through a vast body of Mud & Water to the destruction of their Apparel, injury of their health always at the hazard & sometimes to the Loss of their Lives</del>

which Your Excellency knows is

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">frequently</del>

<add TEIform="add">very frequently</add>

inflicted by an English Mob upon very pettit Offenders

-<add TEIform="add">

surrounded by an Active

<org TEIform="name">Magistracy</org>

</add>

even in full view of thi

<person TEIform="name">Majesties</person>

Palaces.

-

suppose

<add TEIform="add">the People</add>

were to Duck some of those People as they do in the Canal in

-<place TEIform="name">

James's Park

</place>

to a poor Devil who

only attempted to pick a Hanch¯f. & sell it instantly for a twopenny loaf_

-

Your Excy¯ is pleased to call upon us for aid & assistance_ Alas Sir, what can we do? Your Excellency knows that tis not our Province to Execute or to enforce, but to frame Laws_ & here we cannot forbear repeating with the deepest sorrow & concern_ that

we have been long denied the free exercise of this inestimable branch of our Priveledges &

so far, all our power & consequence in Government is at an End.

-

Could we be so happy as to prevail upon Your Excellency by our

"Advice"_

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">good Order</del>

this Colony would soon be restored to good Order_ His Majesty's Servants & faithful Subjects reestablished in the quiet possession of their Liberties & properties & the hands of Government recover their former vigour & strength, at least the Blessings of this

<add TEIform="add">the present</add>

& future Generations would be insured to Your Excy¯_ for your endeavours to

<del status="unremarkable"TEIform="del">obtain</del>

perform such important services to his Majesty & to the good People of this Colony His Majesty's

<add TEIform="add">faithful &</add>

Loyal subjects._

-

Here's

an Address as

<add TEIform="add">which</add>

may boast its originality_ & be valuable for its rarity_

I might trim it up a little if I had patience to go over it again but once is enough for a person who has nothing to do with it_

-

give me this again to Morrow

10 oClock_

for Mercys Sake deliver Your Answ to Morrow_

</docBody>

-<sourceNote default="NO"TEIform="bibl">

ADraft, S.C.

<org TEIform="name">Council of Safety</org>

Papers, 1775-1779,

; no address; no date; endorsed "Copy / To

-<person reg="Campbell, Lord William"TEIform="name">

Lord W

Campbell

</person>

</sourceNote>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

-<xref targOrder="U"doc="hlbcampb"from="ROOT"to="DITTO"TEIform="xref">

<person reg="Campbell, Lord William"TEIform="name">Governor Campbell</person>

</xref>

addressed a letter to the

-<org TEIform="name">

<place TEIform="name">South Carolina</place>

Commons House of Assembly

</org>

requesting its assistance "in enforcing the laws and protecting his Majesty's servants." This letter was prompted by a tar and feathering incident that had occurred

<date value="1775-08-12"TEIform="date">August 12</date>

<place TEIform="name">Charleston</place>

<person TEIform="name">George Walker</person>

, a gunner at

<place TEIform="name">Fort Johnson</place>

who had made an "insolent speech" about the patriot cause, was carted around the city as an example to the non-Associators.

<person TEIform="name">Peter Timothy</person>

recalled that "there is hardly a street through which he was not paraded nor a Tory house where they did not halt." At each Tory's residence he was forced to "drink damnation to them all."

-<bibl default="NO"TEIform="bibl">

Drayton,

-<xref type="doc"targOrder="U"doc="hlbibl"from="id(hldray)"to="DITTO"TEIform="xref">

<title TEIform="title">Memoirs</title>

</xref>

, II, 17.

</bibl>

The Assembly, which had requested a dissolution, during this period met and immediately adjourned each day before it received Campbell's letter. On

<date value="1775-08-15"TEIform="date">August 15</date>

, an Assembly committee composed of

<person TEIform="name">Miles Brewton</person>

<person TEIform="name">Thomas Heyward</person>

<person TEIform="name">James Parsons</person>

<person TEIform="name">Thomas Bee</person>

, and

<person TEIform="name">George Gabriel Powell</person>

was appointed to write a reply. HL was not a member of the Commons House of Assembly but probably as president of the

<org TEIform="name">Council of Safety</org>

and the

<org TEIform="name">Provincial Congress</org>

was asked to draft an answer to the governor. His draft is printed here. A second draft in Thomas Bee's hand drawn in part from HL's ideas and phrasing, but more radical in tone, is much closer to the final version that the Assembly presented to Campbell

<date value="1775-08-18"TEIform="date">August 18</date>

. Bee's draft is in the HL Papers, ScHi, and copies of the letter can be found in the

-<bibl default="NO"TEIform="bibl">

Journal of the Commons House of Assembly, XXXIX (Oct. 8, 1772-Aug. 30, 1775), pp. 311-312,

</bibl>

; and in the

-<bibl default="NO"TEIform="bibl">

-<xref type="doc"targOrder="U"doc="hlbibl"from="id(hlscagg)"to="DITTO"TEIform="xref">

<title TEIform="title">S.C. General Gazette</title>

</xref>

</bibl>

</note>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

HL's draft was written about

, while in its final form the address was dated

</note>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

"have" written over "had".

</note>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

The

-<name reg="legal"TEIform="name">

Additional Instruction of

<date TEIform="date">April 14, 1770</date>

</name>

, barred the governor of

<place TEIform="name">South Carolina</place>

from approving any money bill which sought to expend funds for items which had not been previously authorized by legislation. This action had arisen because the

<org TEIform="name">South Carolina Commons House</org>

tried to pass a bill which would have reimbursed the colony treasury for £1,500 donated to the Wilkes Fund.

-<bibl default="NO"TEIform="bibl">

-<title TEIform="title">

-<ital TEIform="hi">

<xref type="doc"targOrder="U"doc="hlbibl"from="id(hlhl)"to="DITTO"TEIform="xref">The Papers of Henry Laurens</xref>

</ital>

</title>

, VII, 336n.

</bibl>

<person TEIform="name">Lord William Campbell</person>

had indeed worked to have the instruction repealed, a fact which HL reported on several occasions.

-<bibl default="NO"TEIform="bibl">

-<title TEIform="title">

<ital TEIform="hi">The Papers of Henry Laurens</ital>

</title>

, IX, 345, 381, 390, 402, 522.

</bibl>

</note>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

"as" changed to "all".

</note>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

HL may have intended to write "corporal punishment", which is the wording that appears in the final version.

</note>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

HL probably intended that this paragraph, which appears on the last page of the draft below the closing comments, be inserted here. He marked the draft with an "X X" at this point but made no corresponding designation of the paragraph.

</note>

-<note place="unspecified"anchored="yes"TEIform="note">

The material below this point was obscured by a sheet of paper attached at each corner with sealing wax. In 1978 the sheet was detached by the

<org TEIform="name">Manuscripts and Archives Division</org>

staff of the

<org TEIform="name">New York Public Library</org>

</note>

</doc>