Washington, and convey him to the enemy."[1]
New Hampshire, the year previous, had asked advice, as to the form of government to be adopted in that province, and Congress had recommended that the matter be submitted to the people, and such a form of government be established, as would best secure the ends desired, during the existing difficulties with the mother country. Similar advice was soon after given to Virginia and South Carolina. These colonies acted upon this advice, and thereby gave a considerable impulse forward to the subject of independence, which, at this time, occupied the public mind. On the 10th of May, Congress unanimously resolved, "That it be recommended to the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath hitherto been established, to adopt such government, as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents, in particular, and America, in general." In the preamble to this resolution, adopted five days after, Congress, among other things, declared it to be irreconcileable to reason and good conscience, for the colonists to take the oaths required for the support of the government under the crown of Great Britain. They also declared it necessary, that the exercise of every kind of authority under the crown, should be suppressed; and all the powers of government exerted "under the authority of the people of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue and good order, as well as for the defense of their lives, liberties, and properties, against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies."
The recommendation of Congress was speedily carried into effect; and, as the people had been virtually in possession of the powers of government for some time past, the change from royal authority to that exercised by themselves, was made without noise or difficulty. John Rutledge was elected governor of South Carolina, and Patrick Henry, of Virginia. In South Carolina, a judiciary was also formed, and William Henry Dray ton was appointed chief justice. This accomplished jurist, and ardent patriot, delivered a charge to the Grand Jury, in April, 1776, which concluded in the following terms: "I think it my duty, to declare in the awful seat of justice, and before Almighty God, that, in my opinion, the Americans can have no safety but by the Divine favor, their own virtue, and their being so prudent, as not to leave it in the power of the British rulers to injure them. Indeed, the ruinous and deadly injuries received on our side, and the jealousies entertained, and which, in the nature of things, must daily increase against us on the other, demonstrate to a mind, in the least given to reflection upon the rise and fall of empires, that; true reconcilement never can exist between Great Britain and America, the latter being in subjection to the former.
- ↑ Spark's "Life of Washington," p. 189. See also, Mr. Irving's account of this matter, which is more full of particulars—Life of Washington," vol. ii., pp. 242–46.
