THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Commodore Byron MCCandless
 
 
 
 j- j. L 
 
 c^_
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 OF SOUTH CAROLINA 
 1782-1822 
 
 BY 
 
 MKS. ST. JULIEN RAVENEL 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 ($be fitocrrfi&e J?re^, Cambn&fle 
 
 1901
 
 COPYRIGHT, I9OI, BY HARRIOTT H. RAVENEL 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 
 an 3 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 REBECCA MOTTE RUTLEDGE 
 
 ONLY DAUGHTER OF 
 
 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 IN ACCORDANCE WITH WHOSE EARNEST WISH 
 
 THIS BOOK HAS BEEN COMPILED 
 
 IT IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
 
 957168
 
 PREFACE 
 
 A word of explanation perhaps of apology 
 is necessary in presenting this book to the public. 
 Of apology that the life of a statesman should be 
 attempted by one who has no skill in statecraft, of 
 explanation why it has been so attempted. 
 
 Mrs. William Lowndes during her long widow- 
 hood carefully collected all letters and papers which 
 might be useful for a life of her husband. She died 
 in 1857, bequeathing these letters to her daughter, 
 Mrs. Rutledge, to be used whenever a competent 
 writer should be found. Early in 1860 the Honor- 
 able William J. Grayson, than whom none could 
 be more competent, offered to undertake the work, 
 and by the help of these papers prepared a memoir. 
 But for two curious accidents this present book 
 need never have been written. 
 
 Mr. Grayson died during the war between the 
 States, and his MS. passed into the possession of 
 the late Major Rawlins Lowndes, of New York, and 
 was carried by him to New York with a view to its 
 publication. Before completing the arrangements 
 Major Lowndes also died, and in some unexplained 
 manner the MS. was lost. No trace of it has ever 
 been found. The loss was the more severe since
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 the materials from which it was prepared had all 
 perished in the great fire of Charleston in 18G1. 
 
 Fortunately it had been previously examined by 
 the son-in-law of Major Lowndes, George Chase, 
 Esq., of Boston, who introduced copious extracts 
 into his valuable genealogical work, " Lowndes of 
 South Carolina," thus preserving many important 
 facts. 
 
 These repeated accidents caused an abandonment 
 of the work for years. It was found, however, that 
 a collection of private letters and note-books had 
 escaped the conflagration, not having been thought 
 of sufficient importance to be carefully secured. 
 These, too familiar and slight to be offered to a 
 professional writer, might still furnish some picture 
 of the man, if treated with patient and reverent 
 care. 
 
 It is for the most part from these stones rejected 
 of the builder that the writer has made her book. 
 She was encouraged in so doing by the knowledge 
 that although seventy-eight years have passed since 
 the death of Mr. Lowndes, he is yet remembered 
 wherever the history of the early part of the last 
 century is studied. Among his own people his name 
 is held in honor, and the chief military corps of 
 Charleston, the Washington Light Infantry, still 
 keeps his memory green, delighting to recall, among 
 all its more recent glories, that ninety-four years 
 ago he was its first captain. 
 
 For authorities the writer has relied for the earlier 
 chapters upon Ramsay, Drayton, and Garden, his-
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 torians of Carolina, Mr. McCrady's invaluable 
 work, " South Carolina under the Eoyal Govern- 
 ment," not having appeared when she was writ- 
 ing. Also upon " Elliot's Debates," Wirt's " Life 
 of Patrick Henry," papers by Ex-Mayor W. A. 
 Courtenay in the "Year Books of Charleston," 
 1880-1887, Gregg's "History of the Old Cheraws," 
 etc., etc. 
 
 For the more recent period she has had the as- 
 sistance of a MS. sketch of Mr. Lowndes by the 
 late Mr. Daniel Ravenel, and of another by an 
 anonymous writer evidently well acquainted with 
 his subject. These MSS. are generally referred 
 to when any personal detail not otherwise credited 
 is given. The " Abridged Congressional Debates " 
 and many newspapers of the time have been used. 
 She has also relied upon Mr. Chase's " Lowndes of 
 South Carolina," Mr. Adams's " History of Jeffer- 
 son's, Madison's, and Monroe's Administration," 
 upon Randall's " Life of Jefferson," J. Q. Adams's 
 " Diary," and the lives of Story, Pickering, Cabot, 
 and others, these more particularly for points 
 affecting New England. 
 
 She is greatly indebted to the grandson of Mr. 
 Lowndes, Thomas Pinckney Lowndes, Esq. (who 
 has passed away since this MS. was completed), 
 for carefully collected notes upon his grandfather, 
 and for letters in his possession. 
 
 To James Lowndes, Esq., of Washington, and 
 to Langdon Cheves, Esq., for help of the same 
 kind. To Edward McCrady, Esq., to the Hon.
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 William A. Courtenay, LL. D., and to Prof, della 
 Torre of the Charleston College, for much kind as- 
 sistance. 
 
 Harriott Horry (Rutledge) Ravenel. 
 
 Charleston, S. C, January 24, 1901.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chap. Page 
 
 I. Bikth and Parentage 1 
 
 II. Years of Restoration 19 
 
 III. Childhood and Youth 35 
 
 IV. Early Manhood 53 
 
 V. Congress 82 
 
 VI. In War Time 115 
 
 VII. Domestic and Foreign Affairs .... 149 
 
 VIII. Remainder of Session: Visit to Europe . 172 
 
 IX. Missouri Struggle: Illness .... 198 
 
 X. Nomination for President : Death . . 223 
 
 Appendix 242 
 
 Index 251
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM 
 LOWNDES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 
 
 1782 
 
 The beginning of the year 1782 was a critical 
 period in the history of lower South Carolina. The 
 British forces, recoiling before the successes of 
 Marion, Sumter, and Greene, had abandoned the 
 middle country to the Americans, only to intrench 
 themselves the more securely in Charles Town and 
 its vicinity. From these fortified posts, they made, 
 with their armed galleys, frequent descents upon 
 the plantations and villages of the coast, plunder- 
 ing and destroying everything that they could find, 
 without the slightest regard to the privileges con- 
 ferred by the parole, which, offered after the fall of 
 Charles Town in 1780, was supposed to afford 
 security to the families and property of those who 
 had taken it. Governor Rutledge, writing to the 
 delegates from South Carolina in Congress, says : 
 
 " The enemy seem determined, if they can, to 
 break every man's spirit, and if they can't, to ruin 
 him. Engagements of capitulation and proclama- 
 tions are no security against their oppressions and 
 cruelties."
 
 2 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Nevertheless, the spirit was not broken, and the 
 people now knew that the tide of fate had turned, 
 that Greene was coming nearer day by day, and 
 that the many skirmishes which took place along 
 the coast were the last flashes of the war. 
 
 It was just at this time, February the eleventh, 
 1782, that the subject of this sketch, William 
 Lowndes, was born on the Horseshoe plantation 
 in the parish of St. Bartholomew's, Colleton. And 
 here I may observe that, although when he had 
 achieved national reputation, he was known to the 
 world as " Lowndes of Carolina," he would at any 
 time have described himself as " of St. Bartholo- 
 mew's," for the Carolinian of that day, like his 
 English cousins, always identified himself with the 
 place where his lands lay, and was first, and before 
 all things, a country gentleman. 
 
 He was the youngest and only surviving child 
 of the Honorable Rawlins Lowndes, by his third 
 wife, Sarah, daughter of Colonel Charles Jones, of 
 Georgia. Mr. Rawlins Lowndes had been one of 
 the leaders of the Revolution, even before he himself 
 knew whither he was going ; for as judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions he 
 had, in 1754, ordered the release of one Powell, a 
 printer, who had been arrested and imprisoned by 
 order of the Governor's Council, of which Sir 
 Egerton Leigh was then president. Powell was 
 arrested because he had presumed to print some of 
 the proceedings of the said council, and Mr. Justice 
 Lowndes, then Speaker of the Commons' House, 
 ordered him set at liberty ; asserting that the " law 
 of the land gave the council not the least right to 
 commit," and pointing out, with scarcely veiled 
 irony, that it could not derive such right from an 
 imagined identity with the House of Lords. 
 
 He also, in the same Court of Common Pleas,
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 3 
 
 that unsalaried court in which some of the best 
 men of the province gave their time to their coun- 
 try, gave, in 1776, the first judgment pronounced 
 in America against the Stamp Act, declaring it 
 " against common rights and the constitution," and 
 refusing to enforce it. For these offenses a frivo- 
 lous charge was brought against him, and he was 
 dismissed the bench. 
 
 Of his services there, one of his colleagues, 
 William Henry Drayton (afterwards chief jus- 
 tice of the State of South Carolina), writing, under 
 the signature of " Freeman," a defense of himself 
 and his brother judges, says : 
 
 " A few years ago the bench of justice in this 
 colony was filled with men of property, and if all 
 of them were not learned in the law, there were 
 some among them who taught their brethren to ad- 
 minister justice with public approbation ; and one 1 
 in particular had so well digested his reading, al- 
 though he had never eat commons at the Temple, 
 that he was, without dispute, at least equal to the 
 law learning of the present bench." 
 
 By " the present bench " Drayton means the 
 judges who had been sent from England to hold 
 the office as soon as salaries were attached to it. 
 He also says, " Mr. Lowndes and myself are the 
 only two judges who have ventured (and with 
 success, too) to charge juries in contradiction to 
 the rest of the court." 
 
 Later on, it was Rawlins Lowndes who proposed 
 the erection of the statue of the great Chatham, 
 which still stands in the city square of Charleston, 
 in memory of the gratitude of a spirited people to 
 the defender of its rights. Afterwards he was a 
 member of the various Councils of Safety, etc., 
 which engineered the beginning of the Revolution. 
 1 Rawlins Lowndes.
 
 4 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 But although a resolute and fearless man, he often 
 in these councils provoked his more impetuous col- 
 leagues, Arthur Middleton, William Henry Dray- 
 ton, and others, by the caution of his movements 
 and his unwillingness to take steps which should 
 render war inevitable if liberty could be secured in 
 any other way. 
 
 In the Council of Safety, Middleton and Drayton 
 were the leaders of the " extreme party " Lowndes 
 and Parsons (a distinguished lawyer) of the " Mod- 
 erates," the latter representing the opposition. It 
 was Arthur Middleton who moved to attach estates 
 in case of the flight of the owner, and to excommu- 
 nicate from all social privileges all persons who 
 should refuse to sign the " Provincial Oaths," as the 
 resolutions of non-intercourse, etc., introduced by 
 the Provincial Congress, were called. 
 
 William Henry Drayton says on this point, " No- 
 thing has been determined upon but the tender of 
 the oath to those people. I have twice pushed 
 hard for the ' Resolution for attaching estates in 
 case of desertion,' but have not been lucky enough 
 to get a second ; the matter, however, is not re- 
 jected only postponed. 
 
 " Rawlins, postponator, declares the resolution 
 not fit to proceed from the Committee of South 
 Carolina, and so arbitrary, that only the Divan of 
 Constantinople could think of promulgating such a 
 law." 
 
 This opposition was continued to the very end, 
 for when the delegates to that Congress which 
 signed the Declaration of Independence were 
 elected, Mr. Lowndes pointed out the dangers to 
 which they would be exposed. The opinions of 
 the Northern Colonies were, he said, much more 
 advanced than those of Carolina, inasmuch as they 
 " denied the superintending power of Parliament, a
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 5 
 
 doctrine which no one here admitted ; and unless 
 our deputies from this colony appeared in Congress 
 with limited powers, they, being outnumbered, 
 would be bound by votes upon points which they 
 absolutely denied." 
 
 The event proved the foresight of the objection. 
 The powers were limited, and the outnumbered 
 deputies from South Carolina hesitated long be- 
 fore signing the Declaration, not knowing if their 
 people would support them. The English guns in 
 Charles Town harbor, on the 28th of June, 1776, 
 settled the question. 
 
 It is evident that all these men disputed vehe- 
 mently, but that they acquiesced loyally when the 
 vote was taken ; sometimes deciding an important 
 measure by a majority of one ! acting as became 
 the sons of Englishmen who had not lost their 
 political birthright of good sense. 
 
 Of their differences the son and biographer of 
 Drayton says : " It must not be supposed that the 
 individuals whose names have been mentioned as 
 leading opposition in the public councils had any 
 other than the purest views in so doing ; as every 
 free and independent citizen of this community has 
 from the first settlement of this colony maintained 
 his right to comment on the proceedings of the 
 government." Mr. Drayton remarks on the kind 
 treatment which the colony had received, and con- 
 tinues : " Hence the public mind weighed how far it 
 should support violent measures against the ancient 
 government. . . . For these reasons the opposition 
 members were always kept in place, as eliciting by 
 their opposition more prudent measures. And that 
 their conduct in so doing was not disapproved, the 
 high public stations to which many of them were 
 called during the most critical times of the Revolu- 
 tion will be the best assurance of the public appro- 
 bation."
 
 6 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 That Mr. Lowndes was in no way ashamed of 
 this opposition is shown by his alluding to it dur- 
 ing the debates on the Constitution in 1788 ; when 
 he reminded his hearers how he had opposed a 
 Declaration of Independence, but had yielded it 
 just observance when once adopted. 
 
 His first call to " high public station " was in 
 1778, when Mr. John Rutledge resigned the presi- 
 dency of South Carolina, not approving of the 
 Constitution then adopted, and especially objecting 
 to the insufficient authority conferred by it upon 
 the president, and the withholding the veto power. 
 Mr. Lowndes held the office for a year, acting 
 with energy and resolution, both in rejecting with- 
 out hesitation the British ultimatum sent by a flag- 
 ship into Charles Town, and in making every pre- 
 paration for the invasion, which after the fall of 
 Savannah all knew must surely come. 
 
 His term of office was for one year only, and at 
 the end of that time Mr. Rutledge resumed the 
 position, with the title of " Governor " (instead of 
 " President ") and " dictatorial " powers, conferred 
 on him by the legislature. 
 
 Among all these public employments Mr. 
 Lowndes had found time to marry three times. 
 His first wife was the beautiful Amarinthia Elliott. 
 She lived only one year, and he then married Miss 
 Mary Cartwright, by whom he became the father 
 of many sons and daughters. One little touch of 
 sentiment softens and embellishes his somewhat 
 stern character, for when his first daughter was 
 born he named her, not after her own mother, but 
 Amarinthia, for the young wife who had been 
 buried with her baby in her arms. 
 
 The second wife also was no sooner dead than 
 he married the third, Miss Sarah Jones, he being 
 over fifty and she sixteen. A portrait of this lady,
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 7 
 
 in the possession of the writer, said to have been 
 taken at the time of her marriage, shows a dark- 
 eyed, rosy-cheeked girl, more fit, one would say, for 
 the schoolroom than for the head of a household. 
 Nevertheless, she did so well both as the wife of 
 an old man and as the mother of children as old 
 as herself, that her stepchildren loved her, and 
 counted her son as one of themselves. 
 
 By the end of the war the gout, that tormentor 
 of our grandfathers, had laid its clutches upon Mr. 
 Lowndes. Just a month before his son William 
 was born, he had been summoned to attend the 
 General Assembly at Jacksonborough. This was 
 a matter of great importance to the State, for it 
 was the first assembly that had been held since 
 the fall of Charles Town, two years before. John 
 Rutledge had been keeping up a civil government 
 with little but resolution and an untiring spirit to 
 support it, driving from place to place, as the 
 enemy took, or abandoned, one or another position, 
 and often barely escaping capture. He now saw 
 his opportunity, under the protection of Greene's 
 advancing army, to summon the legislature to ar- 
 range for the new era about to begin, and to resign 
 the authority which he had held through such trou- 
 blous times. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes was chosen a delegate from St. 
 Bartholomew's and did his best to attend, but did 
 not arrive until the assembly had begun its debates. 
 He was reprimanded for want of punctuality, and 
 answered " that he had used due diligence, but 
 that the enemy having carried off all his horses, 
 and he being helpless with the gout, he had been 
 forced to harness six oxen to his coach ; hence his 
 slow progress. Mrs. Horry, of South Santee, had 
 met him on the road, and could testify." It helps 
 one to recognize how short a period our history
 
 8 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 covers, to know that the present writer has heard 
 this scene described, by one who saw it. Mrs. 
 Horry's little daughter, who, looking from the win- 
 dow of her mother's chaise, saw the coach with its 
 clumsy steeds the oxen swaying from side to 
 side, the negro drivers running and shouting, and 
 the old gentleman bowing his powdered head, and 
 apologizing for interfering with Mrs. Horry's pro- 
 gress. 
 
 The assembly sat in safety, though not without 
 apprehension. It had really been summoned to 
 Jacksonborough (which was a little village on the 
 Edisto Biver, about thirty miles south of Charles- 
 ton, and twenty from the coast), as a sort of mani- 
 festo of renewed possession of the low country. 
 But, in truth, the danger was great : the country 
 was intersected by navigable streams, the village 
 was within easy reach of the British galleys, and 
 Greene kept vigilant watch on the approaches. 
 John Kutledge, writing on the 29th of January, 
 says : " The assembly has been sitting every day 
 since the 18th, and has received no interruption 
 from the enemy. I hope they will give us none. 
 Indeed I don't think they will attempt any." 
 An opinion based somewhat on Kutledge's indom- 
 itably hopeful disposition, and also on the know- 
 ledge that the nearest British outpost had been 
 captured some nights before. The assembly did 
 its work, discussed among other things the subject 
 which was to be a burning one for many a day, the 
 punishment to be meted out to Tories and evil- 
 wishers, and adjourned in peace. 
 
 By the time that the little William Lowndes was 
 ten months old (December, 1782), the British finally 
 departed, leaving the State, as it was now to be 
 called, to bind up her wounds, count her losses, and 
 set about repairing them. The losses were indeed
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 9 
 
 heavy, especially to the planters along the coast, 
 whose slaves had been carried off by hundreds, gen- 
 erally to be sold in the West Indies, and whose 
 houses and barns had been burned. But it was 
 not only the coast that had suffered ; every region 
 of Carolina had borne its part. In the letters to 
 the delegates to Congress already quoted, Governor 
 Rutledge writes, wherever he goes, of the trials of 
 the people. From the very northern portion, near 
 the border of North Carolina, he says : 
 
 " It was really melancholy to see the desolate 
 condition of poor Hill's plantation and the situation 
 of his family ; all his fine ironworks, mills, dwell- 
 ing-house and buildings of every kind, even his 
 negro houses, reduced to ashes, and his wife and 
 children in a little log hut. ... I was shocked to 
 see the ragged, shabby condition of the brave and 
 virtuous men who would not remain in the power of 
 the enemy, but have taken to arms. This, however, 
 is but a faint description of the suffering of our 
 unfortunate country, for it is beyond a doubt that 
 the enemy have hanged many of our people, who 
 from fear and the impracticability of removing had 
 given parole, and from attachment to our side had 
 joined it ; . . . they have burned a prodigious num- 
 ber of houses, and turned a vast many women, for- 
 merly of affluent or easy fortune, with their chil- 
 dren, almost naked into the woods. . . . Tarleton 
 at General Richardson's widow's " [this is in what 
 is now Clarendon County, the centre of the State] 
 " exceeded his usual barbarity, for having dined in 
 her house, he not only burned it, after plundering 
 everything that it contained, but having drove into 
 the barns a number of cattle, hogs, and poultry, he 
 consumed them, together with the barn and the 
 corn, in one general blaze. . . . Lord Cornwallis 
 is going on burning and hanging ; Captain Conyers
 
 10 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 assured me yesterday that two hundred houses had 
 been burnt. ... It is said (and I believe it) that 
 of the prisoners whom Brown took at Augusta 
 (Georgia) he gave up four to the Indians, who 
 killed 'em and kicked their bodies about the streets ; 
 and that he (Brown) hung upwards of 30 prison- 
 ers." This was in the extreme west of the State, 
 and in Georgia. In the same letter comes : " Davis 
 says Tarleton is in quest of Marion, and doing much 
 mischief in burning houses on Santee " [which is 
 in the southeast portion of the country]. There, 
 too, were felt the cruelties of Major Wemys ; who, 
 when captured by Sumter, had in his pocket such 
 a damnatory list of houses burnt along the Pedee 
 and in Williamsburg County that he was forced to 
 throw himself upon the mercy of his captor, and 
 implore his protection against the vengeance of the 
 infuriated militia ; while the atrocities perpetrated 
 in the middle and upper country by Cunningham, 
 " the Bloody Scout," probably surpass any ever 
 committed by a white man on this continent. 
 
 With these things fresh in their memories it was 
 not strange that the cry should be for retribution ; 
 but it must not be supposed that revenge alone 
 filled the hearts of the victors. Justice, it seemed 
 to them, was on their side, and demanded that their 
 losses should be repaired. They were poor and 
 ragged, homeless and hungry, the army which had 
 fought so gallantly was unpaid, and despairing of 
 ever being paid, there was literally no money, and 
 no present way of raising any ; while the Tories, 
 active or passive, were comparatively rich. 
 
 The assembly, accordingly, passed acts of confis- 
 cation, banishment, amercing, etc. [not, it may be 
 feared, without laying itself open to charges of in- 
 justice and partiality] ; and besides these acts, 
 affecting property alone, wild justice was sometimes
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 11 
 
 done to those ruffians who had incurred personal 
 enmity by their barbarities. 
 
 Yet, on the whole, considering the provocation, 
 the acts of violence were surprisingly few, owing 
 chiefly, it is said, to the great and wholesome influ- 
 ence of Marion, who, fiercest in the fight, was most 
 forgiving when the fight was done. Even the fines 
 were less numerous and less heavy than might have 
 been expected. For a time, indeed, it was hard to 
 interfere in behalf of the sufferers without being 
 accused of being a " dumb Tory " or a " British sym- 
 pathizer," but gradually the feeling arose that the 
 country could only be a country by the free assent 
 and well-being of all, and that to keep a class of 
 suffering and proscribed people among them would 
 be a horrible element in the body politic. The 
 party of mercy finally prevailed, the greater part of 
 the exiles were permitted to return, their fines were 
 lessened, and half a million pounds sterling, actu- 
 ally in the possession of the State, was returned to 
 them. 
 
 What precise part Mr. Lowndes took in all this 
 controversy there is no way of telling. Probably, 
 as he had opposed confiscation at the beginning of 
 the war, he opposed it still, but it is not recorded. 
 Mr. Bancroft indeed has said that after the fall of 
 Charles Town he had himself taken British protec- 
 tion, but Mr. Bancroft has nowhere given his au- 
 thority for the statement, and the most diligent 
 search fails to discover it. It can only be supposed 
 that he has in this been confounded with his brother 
 Charles, who did so shelter himself. His name is 
 on no list of fine or confiscation, and he was at once 
 called to the public service. From fragments of 
 his correspondence (only fragments remain) it is 
 clear that he strongly upheld the principles of busi- 
 ness integrity, in the vexed question of the pay-
 
 12 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 merit of debts due to " the other side," and that he 
 exerted himself to secure those due to his personal 
 friends. There are several letters thanking him 
 for his kindness in this respect. The following 
 from Mr. Robert Williams (of whom I know no- 
 thing but that he was one of the first pewholders 
 of St. Michael's Church) is interesting, as showing 
 the feeling in England over " the long invocated 
 peace." 
 
 London, April 12th, 1783. 
 
 Dear Sir, I wrote to you on the 12th of Feby. 
 via Bermuda, expressing the earnest desire to be 
 informed of the disposition of my countrymen to- 
 wards me now they have attained the object of their 
 wishes, and requesting you would communicate to 
 me the proceedings of your Legislature from time 
 to time, respecting persons in my situation, that I 
 may be enabled to adopt some plan for reuniting 
 myself to my family, from whom I have not heard 
 since our separation, which is no small addition to 
 my distresses. This Nation is reduced by contend- 
 ing factions to such a state of anarchy, that until 
 these few days we have had no Ministry since the 
 dismission of those who made the Peace with which 
 all Ranks of People are extremely dissatisfied ; how- 
 ever the public Faith being pledged, it is imagined, 
 the definitive Treaty, as well as that relative to Com- 
 merce, will be immediately resumed and brought 
 to a close ; so that by a restoration of the blessings 
 of Tranquillity, I am hopeful my fellow-Citizens 
 will be guided by those principles of Justice and 
 Equity for which they formerly were conspicuous. 
 My Solicitude and your Sensibility will apologize 
 for my writing to you again on this subject, etc., etc. 
 
 I am with the sincerest regret, Dear Sir, 
 Your Most Obdt. humb. Serv. 
 
 Robert Williams. 
 
 The Honorable Rawlins Lowndes Esqr.
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 13 
 
 South Carolina had been remarkably fortunate 
 in her clergy. Sent out by the Society for the Pro- 
 pagation of the Gospel, they appear to have been 
 selected with care, and were, with few exceptions, 
 men of character and merit. Some, such as Com- 
 missary Garden and the Rev. Mr. Clarke, were 
 far above the average, and it was undoubtedly due 
 to this cause that the attachment to the Established 
 Church was so strong as to outlive the establish- 
 ment, and keep so many of the congregations in 
 the ancient ways. 
 
 It was perhaps even more remarkable (consider- 
 ing that almost all of them were Englishmen born) 
 that the great majority of the clergy should have 
 taken the side of the colonists and cast in their lot 
 with the new State. " Out of twenty," says Dalcho, 
 " only five adhered to Great Britain and left the 
 country." Of these five, however, two were men 
 of importance, the rector and assistant rector of 
 St. Michael's. The assistant, Mr. Bullman, had 
 not been very long out from England, when quite 
 in the beginning of the troubles he preached a ve- 
 hement political sermon, proclaiming the supremacy 
 of the government, and warning " silly Clowns and 
 illiterate mechanics not to censure the conduct of 
 Princes and Governors." This was in 1774, when 
 things were becoming stormy, and it was no great 
 wonder that Mr. Bullman was desired " no longer 
 to officiate at St. Michael's Church." 
 
 The case of the Rev. Robert Cooper was a more 
 serious matter. He had been in the colony for a 
 long time and had married there, officiating first as 
 assistant minister of St. Philip's. When the pre- 
 sent St. Michaels was built in 1759, the congregation 
 desired to have a new clergyman sent over from 
 London. They would like one, they said, "mid- 
 dle-aged and of a grave deportment, and with a
 
 14 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 good audible voice," very judicious and reasonable 
 requirements surely, and, one would suppose, easy 
 to find when a comfortable house and a salary of 
 .112 sterling were offered withal. No clergyman 
 came, however, and after some delay the congrega- 
 tion " called " Mr. Cooper from St. Philip's. 
 
 From this time (1701) he officiated regularly, 
 and seems to have been much liked, so the distress 
 must have been great when early in the morning of 
 June 30, 1770, almost before the guns of Fort 
 Moultrie were hushed, the vestry of St. Michael's 
 was hurriedly convened because its rector had re- 
 fused to take the oaths to defend the Constitution 
 of South Carolina established in the March pre- 
 vious. The vestry promptly ordered that there 
 should be no divine service that day, nor until 
 they had time to inquire into it ; whereupon Mr. 
 Cooper declared that he considered himself dis- 
 missed, and left the country. Doubtless he thought 
 of himself as of a non-juror of Charles's or James's 
 time, and comforted himself with the great compan- 
 ionship of Sancroft and Sacheverell. His martyr- 
 dom was neither long nor painful, for when he 
 reached England he was given a pension of <100 
 as a loyalist, and various preferments, becoming 
 eventually rector of St. Michael's, Cornhill. 
 
 The friendship between this gentleman and Mr. 
 Lowndes, who was at one time one of his vestry, 
 appears to have been close, and it is another in- 
 stance of the singular regard for the freedom of 
 private opinion, which was one of the strongest 
 traits of Mr. Lowndes's character, that even such 
 difference as this did not destroy it. When his son 
 William was born, five years after, he made Mr. 
 Cooper (in England) his godfather, and there are 
 several letters of thanks from the latter, such as 
 
 " I have only to repeat my bare but sincere
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 15 
 
 Thankfulness to you for the Continuance of your 
 never-to-be-forgotten services ; and ever shall ap- 
 prove of and admire, the well timed and satisfactory 
 Compromise, accomplished Sir, by your kind Exer- 
 tions ; but must refer you for the just Reward of 
 Goodness so generous and so diffusive, to the De- 
 light and Joy of your own Heart." 
 
 Of all the valuable citizens lost to Carolina in 
 these years, none seem to have been as gently con- 
 sidered and much regretted as Dr. Garden. He 
 was by birth a Scotchman, but had lived for over 
 thirty years in Charleston, practicing medicine and 
 studying the sciences more especially botany. 
 " He never," says Ramsay, u complained that the 
 climate was too hot for study ; " and when one re- 
 members the woods and swamps, in which his speci- 
 mens must have been sought, the simple statement 
 becomes expressive. His botanical learning gained 
 him the coveted F. R. S., and also the friendship 
 of Linnaeus, who has embalmed his name in the 
 beautiful flower, Gardenia. 
 
 He was also a great favorite socially, and his 
 skill as a physician was highly esteemed. The 
 letters of the time are full of allusions to him ; 
 " Our good Dr. Garden says " " The good Doctor 
 and Mrs. Garden beg to be remembered to you " 
 " Doctor Garden is as ever most kind and consid- 
 erate." 
 
 Still, he too, like Dr. Cooper, was British born, 
 and some natural anxiety must have been felt as to 
 what part he would take if the crisis should really 
 come. In May, 1775, Henry Laurens writes to his 
 son John, then studying law in London : 
 
 " Dr. Garden has changed his mind and does not 
 accompany your uncle to London. You will be 
 surprised when you come to know that he has de- 
 clared his readiness to associate with the injured
 
 10 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 inhabitants of this Continent in every article of op- 
 position to the arbitrary power of Parliament ; he 
 excepts only to the actual bearing of arms against 
 the king, in which he is not single, we all agree 
 with him, we will not bear arms against the 
 king." 
 
 Events were to carry both the Lanrenses faster 
 and farther than they knew. The father was very 
 soon to be the President of the Congress defying 
 the king, and the son to lose his life fighting 
 against him. Dr. Garden, as befitted his birth, was 
 more consistent. He remained in Charleston after 
 the surrender, and probably declared himself a 
 British subject, for he went to Europe at the time 
 of the evacuation, as many loyalists did. The 
 general feeling towards him seems to have been 
 friendly, but still he came under the head of those 
 who had abandoned the country, and his property 
 was confiscated, more especially a house which had 
 belonged to Mrs. Garden. 
 
 Very soon after the close of hostilities Mrs. 
 Pinckney wrote to say that, " as soon as her son 
 (Colonel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney) returns 
 to Carolina, he will make every effort for the re- 
 covery of Mrs. Garden's house." The house had 
 been declared " public property," and as such had 
 been occupied by the then governor Governor 
 Mathews. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes and other gentlemen exerted them- 
 selves in the matter, and, not without great trouble, 
 got the house returned. 
 
 Governor Mathews moved out and paid the rent 
 for the time during which he had occupied it. Un- 
 happily the gentleman to whom this money was 
 paid, instead of remitting it instantly, borroiccd it 
 (apparently with no ill intent), and then seems to 
 have persuaded himself that it was quite unreason-
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 17 
 
 able to expect him to return it at all, at least he 
 took certainly fifteen years about it ! Two notes 
 from Mr. Lowndes are given as specimens of his 
 letters of which so few remain : 
 
 Dear Sir, Another request from Mrs. Gar- 
 den puts me to the necessity of again troubling you 
 for payment of the amount of the money which you 
 received for the rent of her House. 
 
 The nature of this debt, Sir, calls loudly not only 
 on your justice, but on your Honour, for Satisfac- 
 tion. It is for money actually received by you in 
 Trust and Confidence for a Friend. 
 
 These applications, especially a repetition of them, 
 are exceedingly disagreeable to me, but Mrs. Gar- 
 den's solicitations I cannot resist, and I hope they 
 will have influence also on your reflections. 
 I am with regard, dear Sir 
 
 Your obdt Humble Servt, 
 
 Rawlins Lowndes. 
 
 Broad St., 26th June, 1790. 
 
 This note, written in a beautiful hand, is copied 
 on the back of the letter answering it ; a long ac- 
 count of bad crops, broken rice banks, and low 
 prices, which goes to the heart of a planter, but 
 protests too much, and is rather shuffling withal. 
 
 In the very year before his death the old man 
 writes again : 
 
 Sir, Mrs. Garden, in a letter just received by 
 my son Thomas, requests of him to solicit you for 
 payment of the money you owe her for the House 
 Rent, rec'd by you on her account from Gov'r 
 Mathews many years ago. She desired that if you 
 cannot pay the whole you will immediately pay the 
 one half, as she is compelled by law in England to
 
 18 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 account for what income she is entitled to receive 
 from America. I shall make no observations Sir 
 on this Transaction, but take the Liberty to tran- 
 scribe an Extract from your letter to me dated 29th 
 of June 1790 (9 years ago) relating to this matter, 
 the promises in which you have over and over re- 
 iterated since (and I hope have not escaped your 
 recollection) which have as often prevented me re- 
 sorting to coercive Measures. I am Sir, etc., etc. 
 
 Whether poor Mrs. Garden ever received her 
 money we have no way of knowing. Dr. Garden 
 certainly never did, for he died in London in the 
 year 1792.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 TEAKS OF RESTORATION 
 1783-1788 
 
 These were but inconsiderable things in com- 
 parison with what the men of that time had to do, 
 and it is astonishing to know how quickly and 
 wisely they set about their work. 
 
 With no loss of time, with the echoes of the war 
 still in their ears, and hatred and revenge still dis- 
 turbing the peace, the legislature and the people 
 of Charles Town (and Charles Town was in a very 
 special manner the mainspring of the State) set 
 themselves to build up their country. Their com- 
 merce was destroyed, their agriculture was re- 
 duced to the planting of provisions ; there was ab- 
 solutely no money, and they had to furnish it, or 
 what would pass for it, to prevent great suffering. 
 They tried to start a bank in the very first year, 
 1783, but failed. Then the legislature issued bills 
 of credit to a limited amount (100,000), which it 
 called " paper medium," and lent these bills on mort- 
 gages. The merchants, with great public spirit, 
 came forward in a body and agreed to take these 
 paper bills at par. They might well have expected 
 them to turn to dead leaves on their hands (there 
 had been such sad experiences before), but so far 
 from it, all parties behaved with good faith, the 
 depreciation was very slight, and the interest hon- 
 estly paid was clear gain to the State.
 
 20 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Not only were tradesmen and craftsmen thus en- 
 abled to make a fresh start in life, but the planters, 
 borrowing money upon their lands, could get to 
 work once more, and restore the agriculture upon 
 which the State depended. Charles Town itself put 
 on a new fashion, and the legislature, " taking into 
 consideration the situation and circumstances of 
 Charles Town, as it had then become a great place 
 of trade, with a full population and a growing and 
 vastly increasing commerce," decided, in August, 
 1783, to incorporate it " into a body politic by the 
 name of the ' City of Charleston,' " with intend- 
 ants and wardens accordingly. The name was 
 changed, but the old fashion of speech remains, and 
 in the low country of Carolina to this day " going 
 to town " is going to Charleston. 
 
 It is impossible to help suspecting that this ac- 
 count of the place at that time was somewhat pro- 
 spective. Eight months had not passed since the 
 liberated town had been described as " prostrate," 
 and a hopeful and helpful spirit must have dictated 
 the above. 
 
 In the new little city everything was astir. New 
 societies were formed and old ones revived, wisely, 
 for the touch of the shoulder helps to action. The 
 chamber of commerce and the agricultural so- 
 ciety arose in those years, the latter established by 
 a lottery, as Faneuil Hall had been built, not so 
 many years before ! The agricultural society of- 
 fered prizes for improvements in agriculture and 
 machinery, and concerned itself with everything 
 
 Sertaining to the plantation. Under its influence 
 lichaux, the French botanist, established himself 
 and his botanic garden in Charleston in the year 
 1786, and stocked it with " curious exotics as well 
 as American species." 
 
 After a time, and especially after the war debt
 
 YEARS OF RESTORATION 21 
 
 due to the State had been paid (it amounted to the 
 unexpectedly large sum of nearly a million and a 
 half of dollars), three banks were founded, so that 
 within eight years of the departure of the English 
 the city might be said to be fairly equipped for com- 
 mercial enterprise. 
 
 All other interests in the State were as nothing 
 compared with its agriculture. This had been kept 
 alive astonishingly during the war by the women 
 and their faithful people, but now there came grad- 
 ual changes, which were to give it immense devel- 
 opment. In one particular, indeed, it declined. 
 Indigo, which had for more than forty years been 
 the chief highland crop of the province (amount- 
 ing in 1775 to over one million, one hundred and 
 seven thousand pounds, worth $1.50 a pound), now 
 had to contend in the market with the cheaper pro- 
 duct of the East Indies, and was deprived of the 
 " British bounty," which had done much to foster 
 its cultivation. Moreover, the Georgians were 
 planting cotton, which grew in the same kind of 
 land as indigo, was much more easily made, and 
 was not so exhausting to the soil. Slowly the old 
 industry gave place to the new, and by 1795 Caro- 
 lina also was a cotton-growing State. 
 
 Rice, however, was the chief staple of the low 
 country, and with rice Mr. Lowndes was chiefly 
 concerned. He had lands on the Combahee, the 
 Ashepoo, and the Santee, and his fortune was 
 largely derived from them. Up to this time rice 
 had been planted only in inland swamps, that is, 
 low places formed by the sluggish streams of the 
 low country, and watered by embanked ponds 
 called reserves. The spots convenient for this cul- 
 ture were limited ; therefore the supply was limited 
 also, although fair fortunes had been made by it, 
 and in 1770 the export had amounted to over a mil- 
 lion and a half of dollars.
 
 22 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 By the close of the Revolution, however, the idea 
 had got abroad that the great body of absolutely 
 level swamp land bordering the great rivers, and 
 the deltas lying between their mouths, might be 
 cultivated by the tides, and that the water might 
 be made to do the work of the hoe. Ramsay says 
 that a Mr. Gideon Dupont first suggested this, but 
 it has been ascertained that the scheme had al- 
 ready to some small extent been tried. At all 
 events, about that time when the State most needed 
 help this new plan came. The planters set to work, 
 and the work was enormous. 
 
 Miles upon miles of splendid cypress forests, 
 melancholy and majestic, but terribly hard to fell, 
 covered the ground ; the ground was half land 
 and half water, " the haunt of coot and hern," dear 
 to the heart of the sportsman, but icy cold in win- 
 ter and pestilential in summer. The forests were 
 felled and the land was embanked and drained. 
 The mighty rivers had to be kept out, and the em- 
 bankments must be continuous, for a break on one 
 man's land would drown his neighbor as well as 
 himself. A whole system of banks and drains, 
 cross-drains and quarter-drains, was devised ; canals 
 were dug, flood-gates and trunks (a trunk is a small 
 flood-gate) made and put down. If the work were 
 badly done, and the least leak occurred, the trunk 
 " blew out," and all had to be done over again. It 
 was a struggle of man's body and brain against 
 the powers of nature, and sometimes nature would 
 arise in her strength, and in a few hours of rush- 
 ing flood or sweeping hurricane would destroy the 
 fetters which man had put upon her. They were 
 destroyed for the time, but always replaced. Of 
 course it was years before the splendid culture was 
 reached which we remember prior to 1860 ; when 
 the fields with their cross-banks looked like gigan-
 
 YEARS OF RESTORATION 23 
 
 tic checker boards, and stretched from the river 
 mouths to the head of tidewater : but the profits 
 began early, and when a clever young machinist, 
 Mr. Jonathan Lucas, came out from England with 
 an invention for threshing and pounding (or sep- 
 arating the husk from) the rice, which had hitherto 
 been done by the old flail and the hand mortar, the 
 battle was won. The work became comparatively 
 light and easily accomplished, the returns were 
 great, and the planters reaped the reward of their 
 care and labor. 
 
 When General Washington visited the State in 
 1791, he crossed in his journey all the large rice 
 rivers from the Waccamaw to the Savannah, and 
 he expressed to Mr. Charles Pinckney, then gov- 
 ernor, his admiration of what he saw. " He had 
 no idea that the United States possessed such agri- 
 cultural improvement as the tide-lands showed." 
 
 I have advanced the story to show at once what 
 gave the State its great impulse. The first mill was 
 built in 1787, and those put up later were improve- 
 ments, but wealth and comfort came early and con- 
 tinued for seventy years. How early it came the 
 carefully kept account books show. From a heap 
 of old bills is learned that in 1786 one lady orders 
 from London " that article of luxury, a Coach," 
 price 320 ; and sends a hundred tierces of rice to 
 pay for it. A gentleman buys a pair of horses 
 from New York for <53, and a " pair of brown 
 geldings," which Mr. Lowndes imported from Eng- 
 land, cost, delivered in Charleston, X200. There 
 are smaller things mentioned, too, dresses, liveries, 
 " sett of Mad-de-Genlis," etc., all showing easy, 
 comfortable fortunes. 
 
 While South Carolina was thus reclaiming her 
 swamps and clearing her uplands, her sister States 
 were not all as much at ease, and the general
 
 24 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 government, the much harassed Congress, was 
 having a troubled and undignified existence. 
 
 The letters of Adams and Jefferson show how 
 painful was the position of the Ministers abroad. 
 They were sneered at, and asked whom or what 
 they represented, were twitted with the powerless- 
 ih'ss of Congress to enforce certain articles of the 
 treaty of peace (with which the rights of the States 
 conflicted), and were frightfully snubbed when they 
 tried to borrow money, and told that their credit 
 was not good. 
 
 At home vexed questions of boundaries arose, 
 and the settlers from Connecticut in the valley of 
 Wyoming had very nearly endured another mas- 
 sacre " on Susquehannah's side," not at the hands 
 of Indians, but of the Pennsylvanians, who claimed, 
 and gained, possession of the district. 
 
 New York and New Hampshire were at daggers 
 drawn about the Green Mountain region, and people 
 got accustomed to seeing the militias of the differ- 
 ent States arrayed against each other. In Massa- 
 chusetts in the confused emeute known as the 
 " Shays's Rebellion," caused by " rag " (or paper) 
 " money," there was actual fighting, and when the 
 ringleaders were taken and tried, it was only 
 " executive clemency " that saved them from the 
 gallows. 
 
 Then there were many troubles about trade and 
 navigation acts. New England, the chief ship- 
 owner, not unnaturally expected that her vessels 
 should be privileged, and would have sacrificed all 
 other commerce to serve her own ; and New York, 
 quite alive to her geographical advantages, taxed 
 everything and everybody impartially to bring coin 
 to her coffers. There was endless confusion over 
 discriminating duties, and differing customs. 
 
 The great States, whose boundaries reached out
 
 YEARS OF RESTORATION 25 
 
 to the Mississippi, were furious when they found 
 that New England (advised by John Jay) wished 
 to yield the free navigation of the great river as 
 the price of a commercial treaty with Spain (who 
 behaved with audacity and insolence curious to 
 read of now) ; and the smaller States looked with 
 envy upon the almost boundless claims of New 
 York and the Old Dominion. The far Southern 
 States were happier. Georgia was planting cotton, 
 and improving rapidly, and neither she nor South 
 Carolina had any ships to quarrel over. They 
 furnished cargoes and collected duties with equal 
 satisfaction from Old or New Englanders. In South 
 Carolina there was some trouble, which did not go 
 very far, over paper money, but bounded as she 
 was by powerful neighbors, she knew that there 
 was no hope for her of territorial expansion. It 
 did not trouble her much, for she also knew that 
 in her soil and climate there lay possibilities of 
 wealth which would occupy and suffice her people 
 for generations to come ; provided, that she could 
 get slave labor in abundance. This labor might 
 be cut off ; this was the cloud, as yet a very small 
 one, on her horizon. This was not a pleasant 
 condition of things for States supposed to live 
 under a " league of friendship," as the Articles of 
 Confederation were called. New England threat- 
 ened secession on the one hand, and Kentucky on 
 the other, and it seemed as if the kingdoms of 
 Europe were to be gratified by the falling to pieces 
 of the young Republic. 
 
 Things had come to such a pass that there were 
 but few dissentient voices when, Virginia, as be- 
 came her, taking the lead, circulars were sent to 
 all the different States, requesting them to send 
 commissioners to meet and discuss matters concern- 
 ing the public weal. Then met that convention
 
 26 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 which framed the Constitution of the United States, 
 pronounced by the highest authorities to be the 
 most wonderful work ever wrought by man's brain, 
 but which was adopted by the States with great 
 hesitation and small majorities. In Virginia, 
 Massachusetts, and South Carolina the opposition 
 was decided, but in Carolina the fight was fought 
 not so much in the convention of ratification it- 
 self as in the state legislature which met the 
 preceding January. 
 
 The great peculiarity of this debate was that it 
 was fought by one man against ten or more, and 
 those ten the ablest men in the State. The attitude 
 of Mr. Lowndes in this great controversy is like 
 nothing so much as that of the boy who, setting his 
 back to a tree, dares the whole school to come on. 
 Of course the boy loses the fight, we know before- 
 hand that it must be so, but he hopes, trusting to 
 his strong right arm, and we praise his pluck and 
 prowess. The whole story is told in " Elliot's 
 Debates," and I do not know more interesting 
 reading. 
 
 The legislature listened to the reading of the 
 "proposed Federal Constitution," and then went 
 into committee of the whole to discuss it. It was 
 apparent from the very first that, while the dele- 
 gates from the coast parishes would almost unani- 
 mously favor the new plan, the sturdy farmers of 
 the middle and up-country, representing, as one of 
 them said, " a people, brave, honest, and virtuous, 
 caring for nothing so much as their liberties," 
 would oppose it with almost equal unanimity. 
 
 They cared little for commercial relations, and 
 still less for diplomatic ; but they knew that they 
 had fought and suffered for seven years to shake 
 off the authority of the king, and they had no 
 mind to construct for themselves a government
 
 YEARS OF RESTORATION 27 
 
 which should be as powerful as any king. These 
 men looked, in peace as in war, to the gallant 
 Sumter as their chief ; he was present in the legis- 
 lature but did not speak. They found a spokesman 
 in Rawlins Lowndes. 
 
 The debate was opened by speeches from Charles 
 Pinckney and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
 cousins, and both members of the Constitutional 
 Convention ; the former said to have been the 
 youngest man there. They explained and advo- 
 cated their work. Then Mr. Lowndes rose and 
 spoke. 
 
 His whole argument was based upon the convic- 
 tion that in politics as elsewhere interest would 
 guide, and the strongest would prevail. He did not 
 think the rights of minorities sufficiently guarded. 
 He objected strongly to the two thirds representa- 
 tion in Congress, not considering it at all equal to 
 the rule of the Confederation, which required nine 
 States. " Was it consonant with reason, with wis- 
 dom, with policy, to suppose that in a legislature 
 where a majority of persons sat, whose interests 
 were greatly different from ours, we had the small- 
 est chance of receiving adequate advantages ? Cer- 
 tainly not." 
 
 He objected to the great powers given to the 
 Senate ; especially to the treaty-making power, 
 which was to be supreme, " anything in the Con- 
 stitution or the laws of any State notwithstanding." 
 He declared that " in the known world " no ruler 
 could do so much. 
 
 Colonel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney answered, 
 " That the Honorable gentleman's arguments were 
 ad captandum, and did not coincide with the hon- 
 orable fair mode of reasoning he in general made 
 use of." He, Mr. John Rutledge (also of the 
 Federal Convention), and the speaker, Mr. John
 
 28 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Julius Pringle, all eminent lawyers, poured forth a 
 flood of legal lore on the point of treaties. Dr. 
 Ramsay, who was to be the historian of South 
 Carolina, and Mr. Ralph Izard also spoke. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes answered " that he hoped gentle- 
 men would consider that his antagonists were 
 mostly gentlemen learned in the law, who were 
 capable of giving ingenious explanations to such 
 points as they wish to have adopted." lie then re- 
 iterated his objections to the two thirds representa- 
 tion and to the article on treaties, and observed 
 that he " believed that the gentlemen who went 
 from this State to represent us in Convention [i. e. 
 Messrs. John Rutledge, C. and C. C. Pinckney, 
 and Major Pierce Butler], possessed as much 
 integrity and stood as high in point of character as 
 any gentleman that could have been selected ; he 
 also believed that they had done everything in their 
 power to secure us a proportionate share in the 
 new government, but the very little we had gained 
 proved what we may expect in the future." lie 
 then passed to the question of the slave trade, which 
 had been limited to twenty years. He objected 
 strongly to this limitation, and thought for his 
 part this trade could be justified on the principles 
 of religion, humanity, and justice, for certainly to 
 translate a set of human beings from a bad coun- 
 try to a better was to fulfill every part of those 
 principles ; and he reminded Charles Cotesworth 
 Pinckney that in a speech not long before he had 
 said, " that as long as an acre of swamp land re- 
 mained unreclaimed in South Carolina he should 
 resist restricting the importation of negroes." 
 
 lie (Mr. Lowndes) "did not see that the right 
 to import slaves for twenty years was much of a 
 ' reciprocal bargain ' for agreeing to New England's 
 commercial policy forever, . . . how call that a
 
 YEARS OF RESTORATION 29 
 
 reciprocal bargain which takes all from one party 
 to bestow it on the other ? " 
 
 This drew down a storm of argument from all 
 the " Constitution men." Some of the statements 
 made and convictions expressed sound strange 
 enough to-day, but Charles Cotes worth Pinckney, 
 who had fought this point, inch by inch, in the 
 Federal Convention, spoke out boldly, as was his 
 wont. He was, he said, " of exactly the same 
 opinion as when he had spoken before, but that the 
 religious and political prejudices of the Middle and 
 Eastern States, and the inconsistent opinion of 
 Virginia, had controlled them " (in convention). 
 After much difficulty the freedom of importation 
 was granted for twenty years, and " only granted 
 by the assistance of the delegates from the Eastern 
 States, as a bargain for their trade." 
 
 He did not think it a very poor bargain because 
 " we have a security that the genei'al government 
 can never emancipate the slaves, for no such author- 
 ity is granted, and it is admitted on all hands that 
 the general government has no powers but what 
 are expressly granted by the Constitution, and that 
 all rights not expressly granted are reserved to the 
 States. We have obtained a right to recover our 
 slaves in whatever part of America they may take 
 refuge, which we had not before. In short, consid- 
 ering all circumstances, we have made the best 
 terms for the security of this species of property 
 that it was in our power to make. We would have 
 done better if we could, but on the whole I do not 
 think them bad." 
 
 There were many other speeches, all on the one 
 side, the opposition mute. Mr. Lowndes made yet 
 another effort ; praised the Confederation and the 
 men who had made it, for the large amount of 
 liberty which it secured to the States, and the pros-
 
 30 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 perity which they had enjoyed under it. He dis- 
 cussed the question of electing a President, and 
 said that " there was one man to whom all 
 America looked up, and for whom he most heartily 
 should vote, but when his term of office was over, 
 where should they find another who could unite 
 ninety-six votes in his favor ? " He touched on some 
 minor points, and protested that " although he had 
 been accused of obstinacy in holding out against 
 such a formidable opposition, he could sincerely 
 assure the House that he was as open to conviction 
 as any gentleman on that floor." In conclusion he 
 thanked the House for permitting him to take up 
 so much of its time : the importance of the subject 
 must be his excuse. If the proposed Constitution 
 should be sanctioned by the people, it should have 
 his hearty concurrence and support. He had been 
 originally against a Declaration of Independence, 
 and also against the installment plan, but when they 
 received the approbation of the people, it became 
 his duty as a good citizen to promote their due 
 observance. He also thanked the gentlemen on 
 the other side of the House for the candid, fair 
 manner in which they had answered his arguments. 
 Popularity was what he had never courted, but 
 now he spoke merely to point out the dangers to 
 which his fellow-citizens were exposed, dangers 
 which were so evident that when he ceased to exist, 
 he wished for no other epitaph than to have it in- 
 scribed on his tomb, " Here lies the man who op- 
 posed the Constitution because it was dangerous to 
 the liberties of America." 
 
 This was too much for Mr. John Rutledge. 
 Hitherto the debate had been carried on in the 
 most courteous manner, the speakers generally pre- 
 facing their remarks with complimentary phrases, 
 " the great abilities and experience of the honorable
 
 YEARS OF RESTORATION 31 
 
 gentleman," and so on ; but John Rutledge had 
 been chairman of the committee that framed the 
 Constitution, and he could not hear it so abused. 
 He sprang up and made a fiery little speech, 
 " Often he had listened with pleasure to the honor- 
 able gentleman, but now he wondered at his wasting 
 the time of the House that his boasted Confed- 
 eration was not worth a farthing, and if Mr. Chair- 
 man was intrenched in such instruments up to his 
 chin, they could not save him from one national 
 calamity," etc., etc. He wound up, having 
 apparently talked himself into good humor, by 
 saying that the " honorable gentleman's allusion to 
 obstinacy reminded him of what had been said of 
 another gentleman once a member of that House 
 ' It has been imputed to me that I am obstinate : 
 it is a mistake, I am not so, but I am hard to be 
 convinced.' " Mr. Rutledge sat down, and Mr. 
 Lowndes, probably feeling that anything would 
 weaken the force of his (own) last words, made no 
 reply. This was the last time that these two men, 
 both working for the same ends, but ever since the 
 elections for the first Congress in opposition, ever 
 met in debate. Mr. Rutledge's son, years after- 
 wards told his wife that his father had always con- 
 sidered Mr. Lowndes his most formidable antago- 
 nist, " not that he feared him, or any man, but 
 when he was going to speak against ' old Rawlins ' 
 he always thought beforehand of what he was 
 going to say." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, of " Ninety Six," then rose, and 
 modestly disclaiming the ability to speak in that 
 assembly, yet in the name of his constituents, 
 whom he praised, as has been said above, " re- 
 turned hearty thanks to the gentleman who had 
 so nobly opposed this Constitution, it was support- 
 ing the side of the people ; if any one ever deserved
 
 3'2 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 the title of man of the people, he, on that occasion, 
 did." Colonel Mason offered a vote of thanks to 
 Mr. Lowndes for upholding the cause of the oppo- 
 sition, " by the desire of several gentlemen, mem- 
 bers of this House," and also thanked the gentle- 
 men on the other side for explaining their views 
 so fully that they (the country members) could go 
 home and make all things clear to their consti- 
 tuents ! 
 
 So all ended peacefully at last and the legislature 
 adjourned, after agreeing to call the convention to 
 meet in Charleston in May. 
 
 In that convention Mr. Lowndes refused to 
 serve. The people of St. Bartholomew's were 
 anxious to send him, but he refused firmly. He 
 knew that he had failed, and accepted defeat. 
 
 In the convention the fight was short and slight 
 in comparison. General Sumter made a gallant 
 effort to gain a postponement until September, 
 hoping to secure another convention and perhaps 
 a Southern Confederacy, but the tide was too 
 strong and the point was defeated. The Constitu- 
 tion was then adopted by a vote of 140 to 73, and 
 ratified by the State in May, 1788. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes has been much praised and much 
 blamed for the part he took in this struggle prob- 
 ably both praise and blame depend on the latitude 
 whence it comes. Mr. Bancroft calls him " queru- 
 lous," which is hardly a descriptive epithet, and 
 Mr. Fiske calls him " silly," for his praise of the 
 old Confederation ; yet few men have called Patrick 
 Henry " silly," and Henry used almost the same 
 language in the Virginia Convention which met 
 soon after. He says, " I represent their feelings 
 (of the people of this commonwealth) when I say 
 that they are exceedingly uneasy, being brought 
 from that state of full security which they enjoyed
 
 YEARS OF RESTORATION 33 
 
 to the present delusive appearance of things. A 
 year ago the minds of our citizens were in perfect 
 repose," etc. " The Confederation, in my opinion, 
 merits the highest encomium ; it carried us through 
 a long and dangerous war, it rendered us victorious 
 in that bloody conflict with a powerful nation," etc. ; 
 " and shall a government which has been thus 
 strong and vigorous be accused of imbecility, and 
 abandoned for want of energy ? " etc. 
 
 The truth was that Lowndes and Henry were 
 speaking for Virginia and Carolina ; the Confedera- 
 tion had worked well for them, as their peace and 
 prosperity showed. No impoverished State could 
 have made the magnificent gift of lands to the 
 Union which Virginia made in 1789. No impov- 
 erished State could have made the progress which 
 Carolina had done, actually causing her to be 
 taunted for her wealth (by the member for Dela- 
 ware) in the Federal Convention. They were 
 fighting like Harry of the Wynd, each " for his 
 own hand." 
 
 The present writer has no political opinions, and 
 is absolutely impartial, as she must needs be, 
 seeing that her two great-grandfathers led the 
 opposing hosts. Yet, looking at things in the light 
 of accomplished facts, she can but see that although 
 undoubtedly Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was 
 right when he said " it was the best we could do," 
 Mr. Lowndes was also right when he pointed out 
 the dangers. Within a very few years the Jay 
 treaty drove the South to such wrath that Judge 
 Iredell, of North Carolina, Associate Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, says in his 
 letters that the " sentiments publicly expressed by 
 Mr. John liutledge, on the subject of the treaty, 
 which procured his rejection by the Senate as Chief 
 Justice, although nominated by General Washing-
 
 34 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 ton, were shared by almost every man south of the 
 Potomac ; even by those personally friendly to 
 Mr. Jay, and stanch Federalists." 
 
 Of other points : the two thirds majority did 
 overwhelm the South ; the Supreme Court, with 
 Judge Taney at its head, could not enforce the 
 fugitive slave law, when public opinion of the North 
 decided against it ; and the " reserved rights of the 
 States " could not protect slavery when a "military 
 necessity " demanded its abolition. 
 
 Even now, when that vexed question is forever 
 at rest (and no one can desire its revival), there is 
 dread of overcentralization, and few States would 
 like to " try a fall " with the creation of their own 
 hands at Washington. 
 
 This was Mr. Lowndes's last appearance in 
 public life : he refused all offers for the legislature, 
 etc., and devoted himself to his family, his friends, 
 and his affairs, in which he was always active ; 
 there are memoranda of lands purchased within a 
 short time of his death.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 
 
 1788-1800 
 
 The domestic life which Mr. Lowndes had prob- 
 ably expected to enjoy on his retirement from 
 public affairs was not to be his for some years 
 longer. Mrs. Lowndes's health had been much 
 impaired by grief for the loss of her first two chil- 
 dren, and she now became seriously ill. The doc- 
 tors advised a residence of two years in England, 
 and it was decided that her little son should accom- 
 pany her. Business made it impossible for Mr. 
 Lowndes to leave Carolina at the moment, but he 
 hoped to join her the next year, and her old friends, 
 the Coopers and Gardens, were still in London, and 
 from them she was sure of kindness and attention. 
 Letters from Dr. Cooper show that Mr. Lowndes 
 had requested him to prepare for her coming. 
 
 London, June 22d, 1789. 
 
 Dear Sir, Your very obliging favour of the 
 28th of March came to hand by the 29th of April, 
 and hoping that the " Amelia " might have as short 
 a passage 1 suffered the only opportunity that of- 
 fered till the Present, to pass without acknowledg- 
 ing my friend's letter, and how pleased I was to 
 receive his commands to look out for a proper place 
 for the reception of the beloved passengers. 
 
 Just then the town was more full than ordinary,
 
 3G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 owing to the great resort of people from the Coun- 
 try, to participate in the Festivities and Galas, 
 given in Commemoration of our Sovereign's happy 
 .Recovery, and there was at that instant no great 
 Choice, but I engaged Apartments the moment we 
 learned that the ship was in the Downs, and the 
 second day afterwards we had the great Happiness 
 to congratulate the welcome strangers on their safe 
 arrival. . . . 
 
 From experience I can figure to myself something 
 of what you felt on making the voluntary Sacrifice, 
 which I assure myself will be amply made up to 
 you next year when with the young Ladies you pay 
 the passengers a visit. . . . 
 
 Exclusive of seeing several old acquaintances, 
 our winters (not all like the last) being neither so 
 long nor vigorous as to the Norward, and our sum- 
 mers always temperate and pleasant, an Invalid, 
 which will not I hope be Mrs. Lowndes's case long, 
 has more chances to become a Convalescent here 
 than in any of the States, I believe. 
 
 Dr. Garden, whose own ill health confin'd him 
 at Paris until a short time before Mrs. Lowndes ar- 
 rived, and soon after hurried him to Scotland, has 
 not recommended nauseous draughts, but to leave 
 all to change of air, and climate and Nature, which 
 combined there is no doubt will in Time render 
 Medicine unnecessary. . . . 
 
 As you will be informed that my Godson is in- 
 tended for some school near Town (where I shall 
 not seldom see him) by a readier and better Scribe 
 (tho' not of the Pharisaical tribe), I shall here take 
 my leave for the present. . . . 
 
 It must have been very pleasant to the poor ill 
 lady to have kind old acquaintances about her in 
 her solitary journey ; and Dr. Garden seems to
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 37 
 
 have been a physician ahead of his time, judging 
 by the prescription given above. The project of a 
 visit from her husband and daughters never was 
 carried out, nor did she improve as rapidly as had 
 been hoped. A letter from Messrs. Bird, Savage 
 & Bird, who seem to have been the factotums of 
 half the people in Charleston, mentions to Mr. 
 Lowndes their regret at her continued ill health 
 " which will oblige her to spend another winter in 
 this country, . . . and that they will have great plea- 
 sure in furnishing her with money." This was in 
 November, 1790, and she remained abroad three 
 years in all, her health by that time being entirely 
 reestablished. Unfortunately, however, the Eng- 
 lish visit had not as happy an effect upon her son. 
 He was upon his arrival in England an extremely 
 pretty and healthy child. A miniature taken there 
 shows a lovely complexion, beautiful blue eyes, and 
 a quantity of softly curling fair hair. He was just 
 seven, too young, we should say, for a boarding 
 school, but it was the fashion of the time, and to 
 school he went. He is said to have made great 
 progress and to have been a general favorite, but 
 on one unlucky day, being tired after a game of 
 ball, with schoolfellows all older than himself, he 
 sat down on a bank to rest, and fell asleep. The 
 game being finished the boys went home, not re- 
 membering their little playmate. Some time passed 
 before he was missed, and then search being made 
 he was found in a heavy sleep and half buried in 
 snow. It seems hard to believe that such a little 
 fellow was scolded and threatened with florins: in- 
 stead of being put into a warm bed ! No care was 
 taken and by morning rheumatic fever had begun. 
 For some time his life was despaired of. He re- 
 covered, but never had any health again. 
 
 Upon their return home, in 1792, he was placed at
 
 38 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 the school of Mr. Henry Osborne, an Englishman, 
 he being then ten years old. The school bills show 
 that he continued here until 1795. One of his 
 schoolfellows, Mr. James Deas, afterwards of 
 Mobile, wrote of him in 1859: "Mr. Osborne was 
 an Englishman, strict and severe in his discipline, 
 as was the order of the teachers of that day. Young 
 Lowndes, then in the Latin classics, was called up 
 for recitation and translation, without his having 
 paid the least attention or knowing a word of his 
 lesson. His preceptor told him that he deserved 
 and would receive the rod, unless he gave him a 
 translation, without the book, and at his little table, 
 and to attend to the only chance he should have 
 of saving himself. He read to him fifty lines of the 
 ' Satires ' of Horace and closed the book. Such 
 was his intellect at that early age that he furnished 
 a correct translation, to the astonishment of all his 
 schoolfellows. He was always regarded by them 
 as possessing a wonderful intellect." He could not 
 at this time have been over thirteen and perhaps 
 this feat was rather one of memory than of intel- 
 lect, properly speaking, although of course it im- 
 plied a good knowledge of Latin. 
 
 At thirteen William Lowndes was removed to 
 what was then the best school in the city (in the 
 bills it is called " the college "), which was probably 
 quite unique in one respect, in that it was kept by 
 three clergymen, all of different denominations. 
 
 The head was the Rev. Dr. Gallagher, a Roman 
 Catholic priest, and his associates were the Rev. 
 Dr. Buist, of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, and 
 the Rev. Dr. Purcell, Rector of St. Michael's. 
 Here the boy soon distinguished himself. "His 
 mind," Dr. Gallagher said, "drank up knowledge 
 as the earth drinks up water." His health put 
 him at times to all sorts of inconvenience ; occasion-
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 39 
 
 ally he had to recite lying on the school bench, and 
 sometimes had to submit to being taken to school 
 in a chair. His inordinate growth had probably 
 much to do with this weakness, for by the time that 
 he was nineteen he was six feet six, and terribly 
 thin and narrow-chested ; however, in his intervals 
 of comparative health he was gay and bright, and 
 a great favorite with his schoolfellows, who thought 
 his memory simply marvelous. One of them, Mr. 
 Charles Fraser, the distinguished artist, who long 
 outlived him, said that by once reading a passage 
 in any book he could repeat it correctly. He trans- 
 lated the " Odes " of Horace into verse, and wrote 
 some original verses on the death of a schoolfellow. 
 Very often, however, he could not go to school for 
 weeks at a time, and then " he was dependent on 
 his parents for his various sources of amusement, 
 reading with his mother, or discussing with his 
 father (with whom he lived on terms of singular 
 familiarity) questions, as they would arise, or mak- 
 ing them for the exercise of his reasoning faculty." 
 This sentence is taken from an unsigned manu- 
 script sketch written in 1835, evidently by one who 
 had known the persons of whom he wrote. There 
 is no clue to the authorship. In after years Mr. 
 Lowndes told his wife that these discussions with 
 his father and brothers had been of great service 
 to him, teaching him to look at every side of a sub- 
 ject and sift it thoroughly. He added that at first 
 his father had been angrily impatient of opposi- 
 tion, but that when he had ventured to suggest 
 " that it spoiled the game," he controlled his tem- 
 per, and the arguments were continued. 
 
 " To my brothers," he said, " he was imperious, 
 but my youth and my miserable health made him 
 very tender of me, except when he thought that I 
 needed rousing, and then he would give me a rub
 
 40 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 with the rough of his tongue, which did me good." 
 These two elder brothers, Thomas and James, were 
 Mr. William Lowndes's best friends through life, 
 helping and advising him in every possible way. 
 3 1 is sisters also were devoted to him and to his 
 mother, and one of them, who lived to a great age, 
 used to speak of her stepmother as " a very sweet 
 
 S irl " 
 
 By this time society in Charleston was wider and 
 
 gayer than it had ever been before. The news- 
 papers of the day, the " Charleston Courier " and 
 the " Gazette," are full of advertisements of amuse- 
 ments of all sorts. Of these, the races were per- 
 haps the most important. From early colonial days 
 the planters had bred and run their own horses 
 among themselves for country sport, and the " York 
 Course," near the old town of Dorchester, had long 
 been a place of general meeting. From 1786 the 
 chief course was the " Newmarket," just outside of 
 Charleston, and here the " race week " was held 
 once a year, in February. Horses from all parts 
 of the State came, and their owners, with their fami- 
 lies, came also, to what was to them the most im- 
 portant event of the year. Dr. Irving, in the " His- 
 tory of the Turf in Carolina," and Mr. Fraser, in 
 his " Reminiscences," give glowing accounts of the 
 excellent sport ; of the fine horses, the careful man- 
 agement, and the good tone of the whole affair. 
 They are also animated in describing the assem- 
 blage ; the handsome equipages (many four in 
 hand), the fine carriage horses, the liveried out- 
 riders, and the gallant cavaliers in attendance. The 
 ladies were all in their best array, the gentlemen 
 well mounted and equipped in boots and buckskins ; 
 all classes went ; the schools gave holiday and the 
 law courts adjourned, for no schoolboy could be 
 kept to his books, and the lawyers were as eager as 
 the boys.
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 41 
 
 The judge and the master went too, and forgot 
 for the day wig and rod. It was bad to be ill in 
 race week, for the doctor abandoned his patient, 
 and invalid and nurse chafed at their own detention. 
 The shops in Broad and King streets closed for the 
 racing hours, and the clerks hurried to the course, 
 while the negroes, who crowded the surrounding 
 fences and walks, were the gayest of the throng, 
 proud sometimes to recognize a son or brother in 
 the funny little jockey who wore the winning colors. 
 It was a great open-air festival, enjoyed in hearty 
 fashion by the whole people. 
 
 The Jockey Club ball (always on Friday) was 
 the handsomest and gayest of the whole year ; for 
 it the ladies kept their best gowns, and the gentle- 
 men their best wines. Many who never went to 
 any other festivity made a point of coming out to 
 meet " the Jockeys," and greeted friends from far 
 and near. 
 
 This condition of things (with inevitable changes 
 of fashion) lasted to 1860, and many still living 
 can remember those merry days. 
 
 One very important change, which threatened 
 indeed to break up the club, took place before the 
 end of the century, when the " Newmarket " course 
 was abandoned, and the " Washington " substituted 
 for it. It was then proposed that the horses should 
 run, not for plate as they had hitherto done, a 
 cup, a bowl, a tankard, or a salver, worth 100, 
 but for a purse of the same value. This was vehe- 
 mently opposed, Dr. Ramsay says, by Mr. Daniel 
 Ravenel, an ardent turfman, and others, on the 
 ground that it would result in the intrusion of pro- 
 fessionals into what had hitherto been in the exclu- 
 sive management of gentlemen, and would lower 
 the tone of the amusement. 
 
 The point was carried, however, and " from con-
 
 42 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 scientious scruples Mr. Ravenel left the turf in 
 consequence." It may be feared that the dread 
 was well founded it could hardly be otherwise ; 
 and it was a pity to give up the pretty old bowls 
 and cups still to be seen on many sideboards 
 " won on the York (or the Newmarket) course " by 
 Mr. A's mare " Lucy," or Mr. B's horse " Conquest," 
 for money soon spent and lost to sight. Eager 
 among the schoolboys on these occasions was the 
 young William Lowndes. Years afterwards he 
 writes that he " always enjoyed the races and had 
 a passion for horse-flesh," and one of his first inde- 
 pendent purchases was " a chestnut mare, thorough- 
 bred, from Colonel Wade Hampton." 
 
 Besides the races there were the St. Cecilia con- 
 certs, the dancing assemblies, and many private 
 entertainments. The St. Cecilia was still a musi- 
 cal association, the performers all amateurs, gen- 
 tlemen of the city. In 1792, it sends to Major 
 Thomas Pinckney, then Minister to England, a re- 
 quest that he will have purchased for it " a grand 
 piano-forte with twenty pounds' worth of the best 
 modern music for a concert." The Dancing As- 
 sembly Association gave three balls every winter ; 
 the subscription to each of these societies was five 
 pounds per annum, as we see by Mr. Lowndes's 
 carefully kept receipts. 
 
 The theatre had no permanent existence in 
 Charleston, Mr. Eraser tells us, until 1793, but be- 
 fore that there were many transient attempts at 
 one. Then it became at once the favorite amuse- 
 ment, and " all classes of the community were en- 
 chanted by the representations." The theatre, 
 which was in Broad Street, was large for that day, 
 and was built, according to the custom of the time, 
 with a pit, sunk below the level of the stage and 
 boxes, and occupied entirely by men ; next came
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 43 
 
 the boxes and dress circle, more boxes and the 
 " family circle were above," and the " gallery of 
 the gods " above all. 
 
 The scene was said to have been very brilliant 
 on a full-dress night, as ladies and gentlemen were 
 in evening clothes, and, judging by the jewelers' 
 advertisements of necklaces, " carcanets," and 
 aigrettes, there can have been no lack of gems to 
 enlighten the picture. The system of " stars " was 
 not then established, and the theatres depended 
 upon their stock companies, although, of course, 
 distinguished actors appeared from time to time. 
 The orchestra owed much of its reputation to the 
 French refugees from St. Domingo, as many of 
 them performed in it. These poor people came in 
 1792, flying from the horrors of a servile insurrec- 
 tion. They were naturally most warmly welcomed 
 in Charleston, and were received as guests into 
 many private homes until permanent arrangements 
 could be made for them ; nor did any one ever 
 have cause to regret the kindness thus shown. In 
 all their misfortunes these courageous people kept 
 their Gallic grace and cheerfulness. Arriving as 
 they did, absolutely destitute, help was imperatively 
 needed. The general government sent $1750, 
 and the city gave 812,500, besides the proceeds of 
 a concert and gifts of food and clothing ; but they 
 exerted themselves honorably, as soon as possible, 
 for their own support. Those of the lower class 
 practiced various crafts ; within the memory of the 
 present writer, the best baker, confectioner, man- 
 tua-maker, milliner, hairdresser, and clear-starcher 
 in Charleston were refugees, or children of refugees, 
 from St. Domingo. Many of them were gently 
 born and bred, accomplished and elegant ; but few 
 had any knowledge of business ; those who had 
 succeeded well in various branches. Most of them
 
 44 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 became teachers, musicians, singers, actors, or 
 artists. By their presence and tuition the more 
 graceful arts became much more widely known than 
 when those accomplishments were within reach 
 of the rich only. Most of the pretty pastel and 
 water-color drawings with which Charleston houses 
 were adorned forty years ago were done by them 
 or their pupils, and every beau and belle of the 
 beginning of this century had learned to dance 
 from M. Tastet or M. Fayolle. The advertisement 
 of this last is a curiosity : 
 
 "Le Soleil se leve pour tout le Monde. 
 
 " Mr. Peter Fayolle's Dancing Academy will 
 open for the season at 8 : 30 in the morning for 
 young ladies, and at 12, for young men. Mr. P. 
 Fayolle will attend in schools, and also in private 
 residences if called for.'' 
 
 For young ladies who want the more useful arts 
 " Madame "Widow Marineau " offers her services 
 to teach " young females " French, embroidery, 
 and lacework. The principal girls' schools in 
 Charleston for almost the first half of this century 
 were taught by ladies from St. Domingo, one a 
 mere child at the time of the flight. At the first 
 of these schools there was a peculiar class. When 
 the carefully conducted young lady took her books 
 from her maid and entered the house door, the 
 maid entering by the gate proceeded to the ser- 
 vants' hall, and while res demoiselles were saying 
 their verbs, reciting Racine, or reading Telemaque, 
 the maids were learning 1 fine sewing, darning and 
 
 ft ft" ft 
 
 marking, lacewashing and manners, all taught by 
 the Ma'amselle's good Creole maid, Annette. A 
 very old woman showed her still beautiful sewing 
 to the writer a few years ago. Her manners and 
 b.er curtsies spoke for themselves.
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 45 
 
 The Charleston Library, almost destroyed by 
 fire during the Revolution, had arisen from its 
 ashes, was conveniently housed, and was gathering 
 in books. By 1808 it had 4500 volumes. The 
 churches were flourishing and well attended. The 
 Rev. Mr. Smith, who had proved his patriotism 
 during the Revolution, still held St. Philip's, and 
 was soon to be the first bishop of the diocese. 
 The same carefully kept accounts, quoted before, 
 show that five pounds a year was the pew rent both 
 for city and country churches ; for little St. Bar- 
 tholomew's as well as for St. Philip's. " Pon-Pon 
 Chap pel," which is constantly needing repairs, gets 
 the same annual amount, and the " Protestant 
 Episcopal Society " is five pounds also. With a 
 larger population came also the need for larger or- 
 ganized charities, and the Orphan House, still the 
 pride of Charleston, was begun about this time. 
 
 Like most institutions of the sort, it owed its 
 origin to public and private charity, the city ap- 
 propriation being augmented by a long and lib- 
 eral subscription list ; the stimulus being the fre- 
 quent epidemics of yellow fever, leaving many 
 orphans behind them, to which, in those quarantine- 
 less days, the city was subject. Every one helped, 
 from Mr. Thomas Coram, a childless merchant, 
 who left it his whole estate, to the amateur per- 
 formers who gave a concert (of which Mrs. 
 Pinckney says, in a letter to her daughter, " the 
 concert was very successful, the little choir-boy 
 sang a solo like an angel "), and " the young ladies 
 of Mrs. Mason's English School, who ' request the 
 ladies who superintend the female economy of the 
 Orphan House ' to accept their trifle towards the 
 support of the orphans under their direction." 
 
 " The Ladies Superintendents of the Female 
 Economy " were by no means figure-heads in this
 
 46 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 business. It is not a thing of to-day that " women 
 of good," as the Scotch have it, should take their 
 share of management, and the dignified and deter- 
 mined manner of their interposition is worthy of 
 note ? They write with a sanitary sense ahead of 
 their time. 
 
 To the Gentlemen Commissioners of the 
 Orphan House, The ladies superintending the 
 female economy of the Orphan House, having 
 understood that your honorable body was about to 
 j)ass a resolution to appropriate a part of the in- 
 closure of the Orphan House as a place of inter- 
 ment for the deceased of the Institution ; and think- 
 ing (for the reasons hereinafter stated) that it is 
 not going beyond the line of their duty to express 
 their disapprobation of such a measure ; they beg 
 leave, with due reference to your superior judgment, 
 TO state : 
 
 1st. That in their opinion the healthiness of the 
 Institution will in some sort be jeopardized by the 
 establishment of a cemetery so near to it ; they feel 
 their conviction on this subjeet strengthened by the 
 opinion of the Physician of the Institution, which 
 coincides with theirs. 
 
 2d. That the ground which would be appropri- 
 ated for the purpose aforesaid must be taken from 
 that which is now used as a garden ; and that such 
 an appropriation would be a deprivation to the 
 children, of so much comfort as they now enjoy 
 from the vegetables produced therefrom ; and that 
 not only on the score of comfort, but of health, the 
 Ladies would recommend an increase instead of a 
 diminution of vegetable diet in the Institution ; and 
 
 3d. That all the inconveniency arising from the 
 great distance of, and the delicacy on the subject of 
 interring 1 the children of the Institution in the com-
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 47 
 
 mon Burial Ground, may be obviated by the appro- 
 priation of part of the City Lands, which have 
 formerly been used as a Burial Ground, to such a 
 use for the Institution only. 
 
 The Ladies therefore suggest the expediency of 
 an application to the City Council on this subject. 
 (Signed) Harriott Horry. 
 
 Rebekah Edwards. 
 Susan McPherson. 
 Ann Ferguson. 
 Mary Smith. 
 Indorsed : 
 
 The Commissioners, having taken into consid- 
 eration the above Memorial, yield without hesita- 
 tion to the opinion of the ladies, and unanimously 
 agree to rescind the Resolution. 
 
 W. Johnson, Jr., 
 
 Chairman protem. 
 
 So the poor children were spared the constant 
 contemplation of their playfellows' graves. 
 
 Again the ladies, " understanding that some 
 complaints have been brought forward against the 
 Matron, take the liberty of mentioning to the 
 Gentlemen Commissioners that as far as they are 
 able to judge, they are unanimously of opinion 
 that she has been extremely assiduous in the per- 
 formance of her duties," etc., etc., etc., "very much 
 to their satisfaction." The matron stayed ! 
 
 Mr. Lowndes had always taken a great interest 
 in the Orphan House, and the year before his death 
 wrote the following letter : 
 
 Charleston, June 28, 1799. 
 Gentlemen, Reviewing some very old Trans- 
 actions which passed under my Directions many 
 Years ago I find there is a Sum of Money remain-
 
 48 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 ing in my Hands of 1192 old Currency, which 
 does not belong to me. It was received in virtue 
 of a Power of Attorney from England, and recov- 
 ered from a mercantile Bankrupt House in this 
 Town, which consisted of various Firms of Copart- 
 nership, and involved a Diversity of Claims, which 
 could not be arranged & adjusted without great 
 Difficulty, nor legally proportioned without recur- 
 ring to the Court of Chancery : the Parties declined 
 or never resorted to this Mode of Settlement, & I 
 have not for near forty years heard anything more 
 of the Matter. As there is now scarcely a Possibil- 
 ity of reviving or bringing this Transaction to any 
 legal Decision or of ascertaining in whom the Right 
 may exist after so long a lapse of Time, & the 
 great Changes & Revolutions consequent thereto, 
 it has occurred to me as an expedient, in which all 
 Parties would readily concur, could they be con- 
 sulted or known, to appropriate this Money to the 
 Use and Benefit of the Orphan House in this City ; 
 an Institution in which every benevolent Mind 
 must feel an Interest, in contributing to the Sup- 
 port of, and which is placed immediately under 
 your Patronage and Government. I therefore, 
 Gentlemen, request that you will receive this 
 Money, amounting to about 170 cy, which I 
 have desired my Son James to deliver into your 
 Hands to be applied in such manner as you shall 
 judge most conducive to the Interests of the said 
 Institution. 
 
 With Respect & Consideration, I remain Genm, 
 Your most obed't Servt, 
 
 Raw 8 Lowndes. 
 
 To the Hon. Intendant & Wardens of Cha'ton met 
 in Council. 
 
 A few months later he writes again, resigning the
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 49, 
 
 honor of being commissioner ; a step, absolutely,' 
 necessary, he says, on account of failing health: 
 and the commissioners accept the resignation solely 
 on account of the reason given, and assure him 
 that they have always "considered him a Father 
 and Benefactor." 
 
 In the mean while Carolina, like the rest of the 
 western world, had felt the stirring influence of the 
 French Revolution. The fair promises and beauti- 
 ful theories with which that terrible time began 
 had fascinated the mind and fired the imagination 
 of American youth. And not Americans only, for 
 does not Wordsworth himself say, 
 
 " Good was it in that dawn to be alive, 
 But to be young was very Heaven." 
 
 Even the elder men, who had given their own 
 youth to labor and pain in the service of Liberty, 
 when they heard her once more invoked by their 
 former allies, believed for a moment that their 
 history was to be reenacted, and that the country- 
 men of Lafayette would form for themselves a 
 republic of the same fashion as that built by the 
 countrymen of Washington. 
 
 From sympathy and enthusiasm they established 
 Jacobin clubs ; then when came the excesses of the 
 Reign of Terror, they shrank from the very name 
 of Jacobin. The delusion did not last long, but 
 enough had been said and done to leave much 
 bitterness behind ; Washington had been insulted 
 and the country taunted by insolent foreigners and 
 by her own deluded sons. Happily, perhaps, the 
 ordrecuidance of the French and their followers 
 became so absolutely unendurable that when the 
 envoy, Citizen Genet, undertook to defy the 
 President and raise levies in Charleston to attack 
 the Spaniards in Florida, Governor Moultrie, who
 
 T>0 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 could tolerate no such nonsense, stopped the whole 
 proceeding abruptly, appealed to the law-abiding 
 citizens, and sent the mischief-maker to Washing- 
 ton himself. 
 
 The French insolence roused the war spirit, and 
 the people prepared for defense. They subscribed 
 for the John Adams frigate, and built, by the 
 freely offered labor of the mechanics of the town, 
 Fort Mechanic on the last point of solid land on 
 East Battery. 
 
 Happily the war scare blew over, and the events 
 of the day do not affect this narrative, except that 
 the leaven of democracy thenceforth leavened the 
 intense conservatism which had been the character- 
 istic of the State. It was the parting of the ways 
 between the old Federalism and the new spirit 
 of unrest, thenceforward called Kepublican-Demo- 
 cracy. 
 
 In this time the young William Lowndes grew 
 up, precociously clever but fearfully delicate. 
 At fifteen he left school, his master, Dr. Gallagher, 
 who was esteemed a learned man, telling his father 
 that he " had learned all he could teach him, and 
 was beyond him." His health prevented his being 
 sent to a Northern or European college, and after 
 reading (especially history and the classics) for 
 some time at home, he entered the office of De 
 Saussure & Ford, and began the study of law. 
 
 While still a student he had to endure his first 
 great sorrow the death of the stern old father, 
 who had, as he said, "been always kind to him." 
 Between the man of eighty and the boy of eighteen 
 there seems to have been a genuine affection. 
 
 Air. Rawlins Lowndes, although he had been for 
 years a sufferer from the gout, was fortunate in 
 preserving to his last days unimpaired vigor of 
 mind and faculties, the letters already given show
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 61 
 
 this, and he is said to have kept every part of his 
 large estates under his own direction to the end. 
 Perhaps it is even more remarkable in a man of 
 his rugged character that he should also have kept 
 a touch of his early romance, the love of his first 
 wife. A short time before his death he gave to his 
 young, favorite son, a small Queen Anne salver, 
 and told him " if he should ever marry and have a 
 pretty daughter, to give it to her, for it had be- 
 longed to Amarinthia." It is marked in the old 
 
 A 
 
 fashion, " R = L," for Rawlins and Amarinthia 
 Lowndes. 
 
 The men of the Revolution were passing away. 
 Mr. Lowndes died May, 1800, and Mr. John Rut- 
 ledge a few months later. So these two dominant 
 figures left the stage almost at the same time. 
 Constantly in opposition, they yet aimed in different 
 ways at one object only, the good of their country, 
 Mr. Lowndes, nearly twenty years older than 
 his eloquent opponent, thoroughly English and 
 thoroughly conservative, always willing to give the 
 present order an opportunity to show itself worthy, 
 and dreading nothing so much as the " experiments 
 in politics " which Mr. Rutledge's keener imagina- 
 tion easily adopted, but upholding them loyally 
 when once they became law. 
 
 He has been called narrow and stubborn, but he 
 was a great instance of the man of his kind, the 
 man of his State. He had come as a child to 
 Carolina from his West Indian birthplace ; had 
 remained here, a boy, when his family returned to 
 the Islands, had won for himself friends, considera- 
 tion, influence, and wealth. It was no wonder that 
 he loved the country which gave him all these, and 
 held her liberties his dearest good. To him, his 
 country was his State. His horizon, perhaps, was
 
 52 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 narrow. The son whom lie had reared and taught 
 was to take a wider, calmer, more benign, but 
 hardly a clearer view, and to his own chosen 
 epitaph might be added one line, 
 
 " That with all his strength he loved Carolina."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 
 
 1800-1811 
 
 If in the preceding chapters too much time and 
 space have been given to the earlier years of Wil- 
 liam Lowndes, it has been not only from the wish 
 to show as much as might be of a place and people 
 whose peculiarities were then well marked, but 
 also to show the influences of men and things 
 under which he grew to manhood. Those influences 
 must have been especially strong upon a youth 
 whose want of health and strength made his life 
 peculiarly a home one, and brought him into the 
 close companionship of a father, said by his con- 
 temporaries to have been " of great power of mind 
 and energy of character." Thus his training had 
 been exclusively English and Carolinian ; there is 
 no reason to suppose that up to his thirtieth year 
 he had ever visited the Northern States, and all 
 his teachers had been natives of Great Britain. 
 Yet, as we shall see, William Lowndes's views 
 were modified by the newer day about him ; the 
 concentrated patriotism of his father was widened 
 by greater culture, and by a youth of lettered lei- 
 sure such as Rawlins Lowndes had never known. 
 But though widened it was not weakened. The 
 habit of debating and weighing all questions as 
 described had undoubtedly encouraged a dispas- 
 sionate habit of mind in the young man, whose
 
 54 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 especial characteristics were already great honesty 
 of thought and a wise gravity beyond his years. 
 
 In his town life he had seen the more recent 
 events here related, and had heard the changing 
 politics of the day discussed, while in the country, 
 where the winter months were generally spent, he 
 had read and thought. Those long plantation 
 evenings, with only books and talk to occupy them, 
 were great helps to study and reflection ; and the 
 planter who read his Locke and Burke, or pon- 
 dered over the " AVealth of Nations " or the " Esprit 
 des Lois," came not unprepared to public life, when 
 his neighbors summoned him " to serve the State." 
 
 Since writing the above, I have found in the 
 " History of Mr. Jefferson's Administration," by 
 Mr. Henry Adams, a passage which sums up so 
 admirably what I have tried to show of Carolina and 
 its people that I may be pardoned for quoting some 
 sentences here. In a sketch of the chief cities of the 
 Union, about the year 1800, he says of Charleston : 
 ''Nowhere in the Union was intelligence, wealth, 
 and education greater in proportion to numbers than 
 in the little society of cotton and rice planters who 
 ruled South Carolina. . . . Not even New York 
 seemed more clearly marked for prosperity than 
 this solitary Southern city, which already possessed 
 banking capital in abundance, intelligence, enter- 
 prise, the traditions of high culture, and aristocratic 
 ambition." And again : " The small society of 
 rice and cotton planters at Charleston, with their 
 cultivated tastes and hospitable habits, delighted 
 in whatever reminded them of European civiliza- 
 tion. They were travelers, readers, and scholars ; 
 the society of Charleston compared well in refine- 
 ment with that of any city of its size in the world, 
 and travelers long thought it the most agreeable 
 in America. . . . Before the Revolution large
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 55 
 
 numbers of young men had been educated in Eng- 
 land, and their influence was still strong in the 
 society of Charleston. The younger generation 
 inherited similar tastes. Of this class the best 
 known name that will appear in this narrative was 
 that of William Lowndes, and no better example 
 could be offered of the serious temper which 
 marked Carolinian thought than was given by the 
 career of this refined and highly educated gentle- 
 man, almost the last of his school." 
 
 William Lowndes was at the time of his father's 
 death just eighteen. He alludes to this in a letter 
 written four years later to one of his brothers, who 
 had referred to him some family disagreement 
 which had arisen out of the settlement of the estate. 
 " To the best of my recollection," he says, " the 
 facts were " so and so, " but you know that, al- 
 though named executor by the will, my minority 
 prevented my acting in that capacity." It is pe- 
 culiar that the brothers make this much younger 
 half-brother the arbiter of their dispute, with a 
 perfect trust in his ability and justice. 
 
 A sharper grief than even the loss of his father 
 was at hand, for a few months later, as he was driv- 
 ing his mother along a country road in a chair (as 
 a high two-wheeled vehicle was then called), the 
 horse took fright and dashed into the woods. The 
 chair was overturned, and while the young man 
 was taken up insensible, his mother, who had been 
 thrown against the trunk of a tree, was killed on 
 the spot. 
 
 Mrs. Lowndes had been a most amiable woman ; 
 her son loved her passionately. It was months be- 
 fore he rallied from the shock of her death, and it 
 made the lasting and painful impression on him that 
 it was due to his own want of strength and skill. 
 He never again, fond as he was of horses, would
 
 50 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 drive a lady or a child, invariably giving the reins 
 to a coachman unless accompanied by men only. 
 The sole letter of his remaining, which belongs to 
 these early years, shows this feeling ; it is a frag- 
 ment and undated, but must have been written be- 
 fore his marriage in 1802. It is to a lady, a very 
 distant connection. 
 
 Dear Madam, On my return last evening 
 from the play, I was told that you had obligingly 
 offered to take a ride to the races in my Curricle. 
 I confess that with horses unused to the tumult of 
 the course, I should feel apprehensive with a lady 
 in my charge. In case of any apparent danger, the 
 little skill in driving which I might otherwise pos- 
 sess would be lost in excessive solicitude for her 
 safety. The recollection of what I have lately suf- 
 fered will, I am sure, induce you to excuse me. 
 
 But as Mr. T has been much more practiced 
 
 in driving than I, if he be in town, my Curricle 
 and horses, which otherwise will not be used, are 
 quite at your service. 
 
 To this time belongs also another letter from his 
 half-sister, Mrs. Brown, given to show the affec- 
 tionate feeling between the different branches of 
 the family. Mrs. Brown was a widow with one 
 son, Lowndes Brown, who afterwards married a 
 
 daughter of the Hon. John K. Livingston and re- 
 ts o 
 
 moved to New York. I do not not know what was 
 the " present " to which she refers. 
 
 Accept, my dear William, on paper, those 
 thanks my conscience reproves me for a deficiency 
 in before you left Town. To a feeling mind, a re- 
 missness in acknowledging an obligation is even 
 more distressing than a repetition can possibly be
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 57 
 
 to the conferrer. Your very handsome present to 
 my son, rendered doubly so by your manner of pre- 
 senting it, ought certainly to have called forth my 
 warmest gratitude ; but my heart was full of what 
 I may with truth say was unwished for on my part, 
 nevertheless the obligation was not the less for my 
 being perfectly satisfied with what I had already 
 received. You will, I hope, approve of my keeping 
 it a secret from my son, until I find him capable 
 of making a right use of it. And now to have 
 done with acknowledgment, save what is engraved 
 on my heart, let me ask are you never to con- 
 fer Trifling obligations ? Here have you whisked 
 out of town, without giving a moment's notice to 
 any one, which occasions my shelves still to be in- 
 cumbered with empty phials, when you cou'd so 
 conveniently have obliged Mrs. T. and poor sick 
 negroes ! You never sent to let Mrs. X. send one 
 kind message or sweet sugar plum to her grand- 
 son ! It is a very great reflection on your character, 
 Mr. William, and I foresee the pangs of remorse 
 will certainly seize upon you. ... I have no news 
 to write you, or if I had I should be afraid (as a 
 certain lady) to trespass too much on the time (not 
 attention) of a man so full of business ? I took 
 a ride the evening you left Town to your House 
 [probably " The Grove," just outside of the 
 town], to have done what your lazy nephew neg- 
 lected to do before he went to the dance. I met 
 with Mr. Tunno [the family factor], who observed 
 that the most secure way to keep wine is in barrels 
 headed up well. For a Bachelor, moreover a care- 
 less one, 't is particularly clever. I would recom- 
 mend, then, your sending down a few empty bar- 
 rels for the purpose and direct to have them made 
 strong [by his plantation coopers at the Horse- 
 shoe]. If you will give yourself the trouble to re-
 
 58 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 member, pray remember me to all the family at 
 Woodville [his brother James's place], and do your 
 best to make sweet Thomas [his little nephew] 
 comprehend you. . . . God bless you, my dear 
 Brother. 
 
 Thus ends my epistle, or whatever you may call 
 it. H. L. B. 
 
 For the next year Mr. Lowndes gave himself to 
 reading and studying at home ; reading " particu- 
 larly Greek and the works of La Place." Under 
 this judicious regimen his mind recovered its tone, 
 and he returned to his law books. He also fell in 
 love with and proposed to Miss Elizabeth Pinck- 
 ney, the eldest daughter of Major (afterwards 
 General) Thomas Pinckney, a quiet, thoughtful 
 girl about a year older than himself. 
 
 The offer was very agreeable to the lady, and 
 would have been accepted at once, but marriages 
 were then family affairs, and "my dear papa " was 
 by no means favorable. 
 
 Major Pinckney objected first on the score of 
 age. Great disparity of years in marriage was then 
 common, and had the lover been twenty or even 
 thirty years the senior, no one would have thought 
 of objecting ; but the superiority of even twelve 
 months on the lady's side was held to be a mon- 
 strous drawback. Besides the elder gentleman 
 thought the younger (of twenty) too young to be 
 married at all, and few persons will disagree with 
 him. A second well-founded objection was his 
 health. How Mr. Lowndes argued Major Pinckney 
 out of this point does not appear. On the first he 
 is said to have asserted, very truly, that he was 
 older than his years, and would soon be older still ; 
 but it is not easy to see how he could have estab- 
 lished any reassuring fact about the latter, although
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 59 
 
 this does seem to have been the strongest period of 
 his life. 
 
 The third objection, much worse than any other 
 could possibly be, was his political degeneracy ! 
 The dreadful tale had gone forth that " Lowndes 
 was a Republican," " a Republican-Democrat ; " 
 shocking but true ! And, moreover, others of the 
 younger men Joseph Alston (son-in-law to Aaron 
 Burr), Daniel Huger, and many more had wan- 
 dered from the Federal fold, led by that wolf in 
 sheep's clothing, the brilliant author of the Decla- 
 ration of Independence. 
 
 But though the new doctrines had made political 
 way in the State, society in Charleston was still 
 ruled by the older gentlemen, who had called Wash- 
 ington their friend and knew no faith but his. To 
 them republicanism was synonymous with Robes- 
 pierre, Danton, and all their wild deeds. It meant 
 irreligion, immorality, and all that was bad. To 
 bring such a thing into one's own household was 
 not to be thought of, and Mr. Lowndes's suit was 
 rejected. 
 
 Besides his principles (or prejudices), which 
 were those of his class, Major Pinckney had a per- 
 sonal reason for detesting the new party. The 
 strongest affection of his life was perhaps that for 
 his elder brother, General Charles Cotesworth 
 Pinckney. 
 
 In 1801 this adored brother had been invited by 
 the Federal party to stand for President, in the 
 hope that the regard felt for him in the South 
 would counteract the Republican influence. The 
 hope was vain : the Republicans offered to vote for 
 him if lie would allow his name to be associated on 
 their ticket with Mr. Jefferson's instead of Mr. 
 Adams's, but he firmly declined the offer as in- 
 consistent with principle. He received the Federal
 
 60 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 votes, but the all-important casting vote fell to 
 South Carolina, in which by that time the Republi- 
 cans had the majority, and the State, to which 
 political fidelity has always been the supreme duty, 
 gave it, against her own son, to Jefferson. 
 
 General Pinckney bore the defeat silently and 
 proudly ; saying, when it was pointed out to him 
 that one of his own kinsmen had acted against him, 
 " That a vote should express public policy, not pri- 
 vate consideration." His brother felt the party 
 action more keenly than he, and when very shortly 
 after Mr. Lowndes's suit was presented, it was un- 
 doubtedly distasteful to him. 
 
 However, ce que femme vent, Dieu vent, and 
 here the lady knew her own mind. Moreover, the 
 young man was, notwithstanding his politics, too 
 highly esteemed to be easily dismissed. His brother 
 Thomas, and his friend Mr. Frederick Kutledge, 
 both stanch Federalists (the latter the son of Gov- 
 ernor John Rutledge, and the husband of General 
 Pinckney's niece, Miss Horry, and highly esteemed 
 by him), exerted themselves in the lover's behalf, 
 declaring that " although a Republican, Lowndes 
 was a moderate one, and from his temper of mind 
 would never be otherwise." The father yielded 
 and gave his consent, and the marriage took place 
 on the 16th of September, 1802 ; the groom still 
 lacking five months of one-and-twenty. It may 
 at once be said that it turned out a very happy 
 marriage. Miss Pinckney was intelligent, well 
 educated, and sympathetic. During her father's 
 English ministry she had had the instructions of 
 excellent masters, and of a capable governess, and 
 during his Spanish mission she had remained for 
 two years at the Parisian school of the famous 
 Madame Campan. To these advantages she owed 
 her familiarity with and enjoyment of the literature
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 61 
 
 of both languages, an enjoyment which never failed 
 her. She had also a good clear head for business, 
 such as her grandmother Eliza Pinckney's had 
 been. In connection with this may be told an an- 
 ecdote, which she herself told to show how soon her 
 father had begun to appreciate her husband. It 
 was, she said, but a few weeks after her marriage, 
 and she was busy writing in a blank book. Her 
 father, who was walking up and down his library 
 apparently deep in thought, asked what she was 
 copying. She answered, " Recipes from my grand- 
 mother's book to take with me when I go to ' The 
 Grove ' " (Mr. Lowndes's place near Charleston). 
 " Very good," answered her father ; " but I advise 
 you, Elizabeth, also to study the plantation books, 
 and learn to keep your husband's ; you will find it 
 necessary." She answered modestly that "Mr. 
 Lowndes already kept his books carefully, and 
 would probably prefer doing so himself." " He 
 will have no time," answered Major Pinckney. 
 " Before many years Lowndes will undoubtedly be 
 called to public life. A man once embarked on 
 that career, his private affairs must suffer. Lowndes 
 cannot escape it, for the country will demand it, and 
 you must learn to manage his business for him." 
 She took the advice, and was in every respect a 
 helpmate, managing judiciously during his many 
 absences in Washington, and through thirty-five 
 years of mourning widowhood. 
 
 The young couple established themselves at the 
 Horseshoe Plantation, which Mr. Lowndes had in- 
 herited from his father, and instead of a house in 
 town, they had for a summer residence " The 
 Grove," a pretty place just outside of Charleston, 
 opposite the race-course. This place had during 
 the Revolution belonged to an old Mr. Gibbes, and 
 had been adorned with many rare shrubs and ex-
 
 C2 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 otics. The British had wantonly destroyed these 
 lovely plants, and it was said that the shock had 
 been so great to the owner that he had died in a 
 fit in consequence. 
 
 In Mr. Lowndes's time these exotics had been 
 replaced by oaks and orange-trees. A double row 
 of the latter edged the river bank from the gate to 
 the house, and line oaks dotted the lawn. 
 
 The road leading to this pretty home was beauti- 
 ful with oaks, jessamines, and the Cherokee rose, 
 and was for years the favorite drive in the environs 
 of Charleston. The trees are almost all gone now 
 from the road, and the place has long since passed 
 from the family, yet they are still generally known 
 as " Lowndes's Grove " and the " Grove Lane." 
 It must be confessed that the place was not as 
 healthy as beautiful in the late summer months 
 it was liable to fevers ; and much ill health in Mr. 
 Lowndes and his family might have been traced 
 to their residence there. 
 
 In 1804, as has been said, Mr. Lowndes was ad- 
 mitted to the bar, and formed a copartnership with 
 Mr. Cogdell, then city attorney. On proposing 
 this partnership, Mr. Lowndes asked modestly to 
 be taken as a nominal partner only, with no share 
 of the profits of the firm, but receiving his reward 
 in the advantage of the elder lawyer's advice and 
 guidance. Mr. Cogdell, nevertheless, recognizing 
 the young man's character and ability, refused the 
 offer, and made liberal arrangements in his behalf. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes soon found, however, that, although 
 the science of law interested him greatly, the prac- 
 tice was most distasteful ; and when a year later a 
 hurricane which swept the coast ravaged his plan- 
 tation and laid waste his fields, he resolved to with- 
 draw from the bar, and devote himself to the re- 
 storation of his estate. This resolution distressed
 
 EARLY MANHOOD G3 
 
 his friends, who had anticipated for him a brilliant 
 success ; and Mr. Fraser remarked to him that " his 
 career was short." " Yes," he answered, " very 
 short ; and in that time I have had but one case in 
 which my conscience and my duty concurred." 
 
 From this time to 1810 he devoted himself to the 
 restoration and improvement of his property. The 
 plantation book shows every detail of work. The 
 names and positions of the different fields, which 
 needed ditching and banking, and which were in 
 good condition. How many " squares " of rice were 
 planted on each, what labor was spent on them, and 
 what they yielded. Lists of negroes on each place, 
 their ages, their children, their ailments, their needs ; 
 the things "given out," so many blankets, so many 
 shoes, and so on. How many were coopers and 
 carpenters, what houses were built or repaired, how 
 many barrels made for the rice. Now and then 
 there are entries of experiments and a little theo- 
 rizing on what might be done. His right hand was 
 A lick, his colored overseer, or, as we should now say, 
 " foreman ; " a very intelligent, faithful negro, in 
 whom he had great confidence. During this time 
 two sons and a daughter, Rawlins, Thomas Pinck- 
 ney, and Rebecca Motte, were born to him the 
 last in 1810. These were the happiest and healthi- 
 est years of his life, but while thus busy and inter- 
 ested at home, he was watching with earnest, 
 thoughtful eyes the course of public affairs. 
 
 Those were by no means tranquil days when Mr. 
 Jefferson held sway at the White House, trying to 
 rule his countrymen by a kindly but somewhat im- 
 practical genius, and to combat those grim warriors, 
 England and France, by commercial restrictions 
 and non-importation acts. 
 
 Few men in our national history are more inter- 
 esting in our day, or were more misjudged in their
 
 64 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 own, than Jefferson, the trouble lying not in him- 
 self or in his contemporaries, but in the changing 
 time in which they lived. New England had passed 
 through her visionary period, and could not under- 
 stand the gentle-hearted theorist at Washington ; 
 and the Southern Federalists, by this time a small 
 but influential class, although patient, because the 
 President was a Virginian, hardly knew what to 
 make of the declaration, " peace is our passion," 
 by the man whom the Emperor called " the friend 
 of France." 
 
 France, which then meant Napoleon, was the ob- 
 ject of their dread and their hatred, and they could 
 not but believe that Jefferson, who had openly pro- 
 fessed " French ideas," was in some way the ally, 
 or the tool, of the terrible Corsican. Jefferson, in 
 truth, held and loved the theories of the Revolution, 
 which were beautiful, but the practices and the 
 excesses of the Revolutionists and of Bonaparte 
 were abhorrent to his benevolent nature. In his 
 youth he had believed that the " brotherhood of 
 man " would make all peoples happy ; but he was 
 no youth now when he filled the presidential chair, 
 and might have said, as Southey did, that he " was 
 no more ashamed of having been a radical than of 
 having been a boy." 
 
 There can be no doubt that he immensely over- 
 rated the importance and influence of his own coun- 
 try with the great nations of Europe, and really 
 believed in, and tried passionately to bring about 
 an era of peace, a time when the kingdoms should 
 stand back and hold their fleets and armies in 
 check, lest they should lose the advantage of com- 
 merce with the still young and insignificant re- 
 public across the seas. So, he thought, might the 
 awful miseries of war be averted, and peace and 
 plenty bless his people.
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 65 
 
 If ever this condition of things does come to 
 pass, before the millennium, it should be re- 
 membered that it was the dream by night and aim 
 by day of the much struggling Virginian, who left 
 the White House a broken man, reviled by half 
 the nation, but carrying with him the conscience of 
 an honest endeavor for the good, or, as he would 
 have said, " the happiness " of his countrymen. 
 Virginia at least was true to him, and it is pleasant 
 to think that at Monticello he had peace and friends 
 around him. 
 
 England and France were then almost in the 
 death grapple : all other interests circled round that 
 great struggle. Each country claimed that who- 
 ever was not for, was against her ; but America, 
 safeguarded by the Atlantic, remained neutral ; 
 she even contended that neither combatant had the 
 right to forbid her trading where and with whom 
 she pleased. It was of special importance, because 
 the rich products of the West Indies were locked 
 up in their ports, and could seek no markets in 
 their own ships. Jefferson's great doctrine, that 
 " neutral flags make neutral goods," was of especial 
 value here, and he was bent upon supporting it. 
 
 For answer England simply seized and searched 
 the vessels, and Napoleon jeeringly declared that 
 what America called " her flag " was " only a piece 
 of striped bunting," since it could not protect the 
 ships beneath it. 
 
 The system was ably attacked in a very remark- 
 able pamphlet called " War in Disguise, or the 
 Fraud of the Neutral Flags," written by James 
 Stephen, the distinguished father of a more dis- 
 tinguished son. Stephen denounced the whole 
 theory as false, and claimed that in practice the 
 ships were not really American, but French or Span- 
 ish, carrying the produce of their own countries
 
 GO WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 and fraudulently covered by American flags. There 
 probably was some truth and more exaggeration in 
 what Stephen alleged ; but the pamphlet gave Mr. 
 Lowndes an opportunity of expressing his views 
 on a subject of national interest. lie wrote a series 
 of articles in the " Charleston Courier," over the 
 signature, "A Planter," examining and discussing 
 the question. They were said at the time " to be 
 good for any one, but excellent for so young a 
 man." Pie himself afterwards wrote of them : 
 " After all, though as an argument I think well of 
 the ' Planter,' it was not adapted to its purpose, it 
 was not adapted to the readers of a newspaper." 
 
 The work, however, attracted public notice and 
 approbation, and he was elected a member of the 
 General Assembly of the State, for the parish of 
 St. Bartholomew, in the year 1806. The legisla- 
 ture of South Carolina, the lawmaking body of 
 one of the smallest of States, has (or rather had) 
 peculiarities about it which I might try to describe, 
 had not that been already done by a pen which I 
 cannot hope to emulate. 
 
 The most perfect of Carolinian writers, William 
 Henry Trescot, who has but lately passed from 
 among us, has left in his " Sketch of the Life of Gen- 
 eral Johnson Pettigrew" a picture of that legisla- 
 ture, so vivid, so truthful, and so discriminative, that 
 I cannot resist the temptation of inserting some part 
 of it here. He says that to compare a very small 
 to a very great thing, the English Parliament, 
 " The legislature of South Carolina has preserved 
 much curious resemblance to its great ancestor. 
 . . . The reverence for parliamentary law, the 
 influence belonging to the silent body of country 
 gentlemen, the long continuance of individual re- 
 presentations . . . the peculiar respect and dignity 
 attached to the office of Speaker, the antiquated
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 67 
 
 and stately costume of the presiding- officers of 
 both branches of the General Assembly, the un- 
 written and unbroken law of adjournment, so that 
 the parish representatives should be uj^on their es- 
 tates at Christmas, all were traditions of the habits 
 and thoughts of our English blood. Session after 
 session the same men, the natural leaders of the 
 State, the men who represented broad acres and 
 thousands of slaves, the men who had won power 
 and honor by professional labor, the men who in less 
 conspicuous walks of life had made for themselves 
 names for industry, honesty, and ability, met to 
 make the laws of the State. A member's name 
 was an indication of the district he represented, and 
 the public life of the State was developed in full 
 and fitting sympathy with the personal affections, 
 the traditional associations, the local attachments, 
 that made its private life. They were bound to- 
 gether by that unity of spirit which sprang from a 
 deep but unaffected devotion to the State, whose 
 honor and whose interests were intrusted to their 
 keeping. They had trained and disciplined many 
 men whose fame as orators and statesmen had be- 
 come national, and, with the exception of Mr. Cal- 
 houn, I do not know a great reputation in the State, 
 the foundation of which was not laid broadly and 
 solidly in the legislature." 
 
 In this sedate body William Lowndes sat, as his 
 father had sat before him, as the member for St. 
 Bartholomew's. Happily no such stormy scenes 
 were to occur in his time as had marked the last 
 year of Rawlins Lowndes's term of service. One 
 matter only of more than usual importance came 
 before him. It arose from the increase in popula- 
 tion and importance of the upper part of the State. 
 South Carolina had been settled originally by emi- 
 grants from England and other countries of Europe,
 
 08 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 all coming by sea, and landing at the port of 
 Charles Town, or, as the old people used to say, 
 " coming by the front door." They settled in the 
 lower part of the State, which was afterwards divided 
 into parishes ; and these parishes, none of which lay 
 more than a hundred miles from the sea, contained 
 at the time of which we speak by far the greater num- 
 ber of wealthy men and large plantations. The 
 great body of the negro population was massed here, 
 along the rice rivers, upon the sea islands, and 
 where the black seed cotton grew, all in the " low 
 country." In the mean while the " up country," 
 which might be said, roughly speaking, to begin 
 about the latitude of the present city of Columbia, 
 where " the ridge " crosses the State, had filled up 
 with settlers who came down generally from North 
 Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They began 
 to come about 1750 (urged, it is said, by the Indian 
 depredations upon the frontiers of those States), 
 moving in wagons with teams of horses, driven by 
 the long smacking whips which for generations 
 gave the name of " crackers " to the country peo- 
 ple. Hardy yeomen farmers, what were called 
 " plain folk," they settled and throve in the healthy 
 uplands above the ridge and back to the mountains, 
 but with few exceptions they did not make large 
 fortunes. Their farms were not as large, or their 
 negroes as numerous, as those of their wealthy 
 neighbors of the coast ; but they fought splendidly 
 at Hanging Rock and King's Mountain, and even 
 claimed that they were better rebels than their 
 more Europeanized countrymen. 
 
 These people now had a grievance. Until the be- 
 ginning of the present century the legislative repre- 
 sentation of the State was apportioned by wealth 
 alone. A parish or district (as the counties were 
 called after the Revolution), assessed at so much
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 69 
 
 property, sent two representatives ; if richer it sent 
 three, quite irrespective of population. The par- 
 ishes were rich, but small in extent, and often had 
 but comparatively few white inhabitants. The dis- 
 tricts were large, poor, and increasing in popula- 
 tion every year. The Senate was arranged in the 
 same way. Every parish had its senator, while 
 Fairfield, Richland, and Chester had between them 
 but one member of the " Upper House," as the 
 people still called it. 
 
 But by 1806 the white men of the up country 
 began to resent this. They felt their rights in- 
 fringed by the fact that " the silent negro vote " 
 (viz. the wealth invested in negroes) should pre- 
 vail over the numbers of the free white men of 
 the upper part of the State ; numbers which now 
 equaled, if they did not exceed, that of " the par- 
 ishes." 
 
 The point had been under discussion for some 
 time, and there was much hard feeling excited be- 
 tween the sections. The legislature appointed a 
 committee to find some plan of adjustment, and a 
 bill was brought forward proposing that hencefor- 
 ward population and wealth should both be repre- 
 sented, and that (a new census being taken, and a 
 new assessment made), to use the words of the 
 act, " The House of Representatives shall consist 
 of one hundred and twenty-four members : to be 
 apportioned among the several election districts of 
 the State, according to the number of white inhabit- 
 ants contained, and the amount of all taxes raised 
 by the legislature . . . paid in each. ... In assign- 
 ing representatives to the several districts of this 
 State, the legislature shall allow one representative 
 for every sixty-second part of the whole number of 
 white inhabitants in the State, and one representa- 
 tive also for every sixty-second part of the whole 
 taxes raised by the legislature of the State."
 
 70 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 There are many careful details about fractions of 
 representation, etc., but the above is the gist of the 
 whole matter. The election districts remained the 
 same, except in some small rectification of bounda- 
 ries between some of the up-country divisions. 
 
 This proposition brought peace, and became a 
 law in 1808. It continued in force until 18GG 
 swept all things away. The bill was reported to 
 the House by Colonel Blanding, of Columbia, and 
 Mr. Lowndes (although of the committee) never 
 laid any claim to the credit of it. After his death, 
 however, his friend, Judge Iluger, who was in the 
 House at the time, stated that the plan was Mr. 
 Lowndes's, that the original draft was in his 
 handwriting, with corrections and emendations, and 
 that it was presented by Colonel Blanding because 
 it was thought more likely to allay the irritation of 
 the up-country men that " the proposition should 
 have the approbation of a judicious member from 
 that quarter." Both gentlemen being on the com- 
 mittee, and good friends, the arrangement (neces- 
 sarily a private one) was made between them, and 
 never divulged in the lifetime of either. The 
 Honorable William Grayson, the biographer of 
 Mr. Lowndes, to whom this statement was made by 
 Judge Iluger, examined the draft and recognized 
 the handwriting. I have no wish to put forward 
 any claim for Mr. Lowndes which he did not make 
 for himself: but as the above has been published 
 by Mr. Chase in his " Lowndes of South Carolina," 
 I give it here from deference to the memory of the 
 two gentlemen on whose authority the account rests. 
 Possibly the scheme may have been a joint work, 
 suggested by the brain of each, put on paper by the 
 hand of one. Mr. Lowndes claimed no share of it, 
 and Colonel Blanding was of much too high char- 
 acter to have maintained pretensions to which he 
 had no <rood risfht.
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 71 
 
 I may say here that the plan had the high appro- 
 bation of Mr. Calhoun, who said of it years after- 
 ward, that it was the best system of representation 
 ever devised. 
 
 At the time when Mr. Lowndes thus entered 
 public life, the aggressions of England had become 
 yet more open and violent. Claiming the high seas 
 as her kingdom, she there knew no will but her own. 
 Ships might sail here, and might not sail there, as 
 she bade them, and anywhere or everywhere she 
 would search an American vessel, whether man-of- 
 war or merchantman, and take from it sailors whom 
 she called hers. In the discrimination a British 
 officer was not nice : an able-bodied blue- jacket was 
 apt to be carried off, whether he hailed from Old or 
 New London, from Boston in Lincolnshire or Bos- 
 ton in Massachusetts. They were clapped, despite 
 papers and protestations, into English frigates, and 
 set to work the English guns. Several of these 
 men were killed serving under the Union Jack at 
 Trafalgar. The wonder was that New England, 
 the nursery of seamen, stood it. She nevertheless 
 deprecated resistance, advised every possible con- 
 cession, bore the insolence of Canning and the irony 
 of Wellesley, saw her sons imprisoned, and her 
 commerce ruined, and yet endured, so averse was 
 she to quarrel with the only power which openly 
 resisted France. Some years later one of her repre- 
 sentatives actually called the wrong " endurable," 
 since " only twenty-five men had been taken in the 
 last twelve months." It is hard to believe that 
 such things were only ninety years ago. Fancy 
 Germany, for instance, stopping the Pacific fleet, 
 and carrying off any American born Hans or Fritz, 
 who might be found under the Stars and Stripes. 
 
 The country was roused, however, when in 1807 
 occurred the intolerable outrage of the massacre of
 
 72 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 the Chesapeake by the Leopard at the very doors of 
 New York. The justly enraged people demanded 
 the vengeance due on those who " shed the blood 
 of war in peace," and it was only the strong aid 
 of the Federalists which strengthened Jefferson to 
 resist their cries. 
 
 England, tardily, and with great reservations, 
 disowned the act of her officer, and apologized 
 lamely enough. The government professed itself 
 satisfied, but the people were not, and the angry 
 feeling grew. In South Carolina, always prompt 
 to take the sword, it had the very fortunate effect 
 of calling attention to the militia. Drilling and 
 training took a new impulse ; for, despite the apo- 
 logy, the scent of war was in the air. Several new 
 companies were raised, of one of which William 
 Lowndes was made captain. " lie was in appear- 
 ance the least military of men," his friend Judge 
 Huger said to the present writer, "but his talks 
 and speeches were invaluable in inspiring and 
 maintaining the patriotic spirit." His captaincy 
 did not last long, but the company, the " Washing- 
 ton Light Infantry," named after the Father of his 
 country, and observing the 22d of February as its 
 anniversary, is still the " crack " company of the 
 State, and has borne a gallant part in two wars. 
 The leopard skin on its helmets keeps the memory 
 of its origin. Twenty years later the widow of Colo- 
 nel William Washington, the great cavalry leader 
 of South Carolina, presented to the company the 
 little battle-flag, made from her crimson silk gown, 
 which she had given to her husband's troop during 
 the Revolution. It is still carried on state occasions, 
 tattered and faded, but bearing the proud name 
 " Eutaw," to which other names as proud might 
 now be added. It is believed to be the only Revo- 
 lutionary flag still in existence.
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 73 
 
 Mr. Lowndes, thus introduced to the notice of 
 his fellow-citizens, seems to have increased in their 
 esteem, and in 1810, " as soon as he was old 
 enough," as one of his biographers remarks, he was 
 chosen to represent " Beaufort and Colleton of 
 South Carolina" (the district in which his property 
 lay) in the national Congress, and took his seat in 
 November, 1811. His elder brother, Mr. Thomas 
 Lowndes, had represented Charleston in Congress 
 from 1800 to 1805. See Appendix II. 
 
 In the last two years the condition of the country 
 had gone from bad to worse, the greatest evils 
 coming from the French and English wars, and 
 from the dissentient feeling at home concerning 
 them, and the efforts of both powers to implicate 
 America in the conflict. Besides the annoyances 
 already mentioned, England had declared a block- 
 ade, mostly upon paper, of all ports " under French 
 influence," which meant practically western Europe, 
 and forbade intercourse with French or Spanish 
 colonies ; while Napoleon retaliated with his Berlin 
 and Milan decrees, forbidding all nations to trade 
 with England, and asserting his right (or power) 
 to seize all vessels from her ports. Between them 
 the Yankee skipper had a dreadful life. If he tried 
 to take his salt fish to Barcelona or Marseilles, an 
 English cruiser pounced upon him even in mid- 
 ocean, under the plea that he was " breaking the 
 blockade," and not only impressed his men but con- 
 fiscated his ship. If he tried to run a cargo of 
 cotton or lumber into Liverpool or Bristol, a French 
 corvette would bear down upon him, declare his 
 goods " colonial," and therefore " contraband of 
 war," and carry him a prize to Havre or Bordeaux. 
 Still, America adhered steadily to her peace policy, 
 and to all these grievances opposed only the re- 
 monstrances of her ministers and a (constantly
 
 74 . WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 evaded) non-importation act, to which had latterly 
 been added an embargo. 
 
 This peace policy had been inaugurated by Mr. 
 Jefferson, who in so doing had doubtless remem- 
 bered the example of his great predecessor in sign- 
 ing the Jay treaty, which, while it sacrificed much, 
 secured that peace without which the infant coun- 
 try could not have grown to manhood. It had 
 now so grown, but the policy remained, and induced 
 a passivity which, to countries accustomed to win 
 every advantage, and defend every right at the 
 point of the sword, seemed pusillanimous in the 
 extreme. They could not understand how a people, 
 which apparently cared for trade alone, could as- 
 pire to treat with them on an equal footing, and 
 ask position and respect for her envoys at their 
 warlike courts. The unfortunate envoys endured 
 much and gained little, although many of them 
 were men of tact and talent. The taunts and 
 sneers borne by William Pinkney, of Maryland, 
 and by Mr. Monroe in England, and by General 
 Armstrong in France, are hardly to be believed to- 
 day. Their most reasonable demands were scorned 
 or slighted, and their complaints treated as imper- 
 tinence. In that very amusing book, the " Bath 
 Archives," Sir George Jackson says : " Such is the 
 exasperation felt at the impertinent conduct of the 
 Yankees that there exists a general inclination to 
 give them a drubbing." The impertinent conduct 
 consisted in remonstrating on the injuries detailed 
 above, and on the insolence of Captain Douglass, 
 who had threatened to burn down the city of Nor- 
 folk because his watering casks had been damaged. 
 America was simply despised. 
 
 If these measures of commercial retaliation had 
 resulted in prosperity and unanimity at home, they 
 might have proved acceptable to those members of
 
 EARLY MANHOOD . 75 
 
 the community who preferred peace to praise ; but 
 the last measure, the embargo, had been to a large 
 part of the country an almost intolerable burden ; 
 a burden which, instead of oppressing England and 
 France, paralyzed many of the American States. It 
 had been supposed that New England, which Quincy 
 had described in picturesque language, as living 
 by the ocean alone, would suffer most. " Of the 
 land," he said, " they think very little. It is, in 
 fact, to them only a shelter from the storm, a perch 
 on which they build their eyrie and leave their 
 mate and their young, while they skim the surface, 
 or hunt in the deep." But with characteristic clev- 
 erness New England turned to manufactures, her 
 genius took a new development, she made shoes, 
 hats, cotton goods, etc., and throve by supplying 
 the wants of her neighbors. The embargo proved 
 the beginning of her great wealth, and when a few 
 years later it was proposed to remove the non-im- 
 portation act which she had so fiercely opposed, it 
 was found that her interests had changed, and she 
 now insisted upon its retention. 
 
 On the agricultural States the embargo bore hea- 
 vily. Virginia, perhaps, suffered most of all ; Car- 
 olina suffered also. Neither possessed the flexible 
 habit of mind and hand of their Northern country- 
 men : their laborers were negroes, good at their 
 own work, but hard to turn to unaccustomed ways. 
 They manufactured nothing, and their tobacco hogs- 
 heads and cotton bales stood piled in their barns, 
 while the necessaries of life were wanting. They 
 did not repine, and each man among his own people 
 did what he could. The people had to be clothed, 
 and the planters hunted out their old looms and 
 set the women to work. They wove not only cot- 
 ton homespun, but a serviceable stuff of wool and 
 cotton something like jeans, eking out the scanty
 
 76 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 supply of wool by recourse to the high-piled mat- 
 tresses ou the old-fashioned bedsteads. Wool was 
 indeed so scarce that the sheep led charmed lives, 
 and even the locks left on the brier patches were 
 gathered up, as by the pious " shepherd of Salis- 
 bury Plain." 
 
 Some weavers acquired a certain degree of skill : 
 the present writer has seen a very decent table- 
 cloth, of a wide-checked pattern, woven on her 
 grandmother's plantation at this time. Ladies and 
 children wore shoes from the hides of their own 
 cattle, tanned and made by the plantation crafts- 
 men. " If the embargo had lasted long enough we 
 should have been a manufacturing people," the old 
 men used to say. But, in truth, their works did 
 not amount to more than home industries ; there 
 was no concerted action, the intense individualism 
 of their training prevented that, and except these 
 few plain things, they went without, or bought 
 from their clever neighbors. In South Carolina, 
 trade resolved itself into a species of barter in 
 which new men made great fortunes. Shopkeepers 
 who had laid in a good stock of goods before the 
 ports were closed could sell them for what they 
 liked. I have seen some coarse, horn-handled 
 knives (inferior kitchen knives now) which were 
 bought a dozen of them for three bales of 
 cotton, equal to about one hundred and twenty 
 dollars. If money had to be raised (taxes, for 
 instance, must be paid), the same obliging shop- 
 keeper would possibly give five dollars for a couple 
 of tierces of rice worth perhaps fifty. 
 
 When the embargo was removed, these men had 
 their yards piled with bales and barrels of price, 
 which had cost them hardly anything, while the 
 planters were impoverished and their debts had 
 accumulated. Many such tales were told fifty
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 77 
 
 years ago. They were impoverished, but they took 
 it with wonderful spirit and firmness. The older 
 men, stanch Federalists though they were, shook 
 their heads grimly and cursed the French (it was 
 always the French who were supposed to have done 
 the harm), but made no resistance, for these were 
 political experiments, and, in such, Carolina is 
 always interested ; and was not the President, 
 whose plan it was, a Virginian, and is not Virginia 
 the chief of all the Southern States ? Dr. Ramsay, 
 writing while the trouble was fresh, says : 
 
 " A chain of suffering encircled the community ; 
 all this was magnanimously borne by a great ma- 
 jority of the inhabitants. Their reproaches fell 
 not on the administrators of their own government, 
 but on the authors of British orders and French 
 decrees. . . . While others contended that they 
 suffered most from the embargo, the Carolinians, 
 with justice, preferred their claim to the honor of 
 bearing it best. ... It might be added that if 
 the embargo had been as faithfully observed and 
 as patiently borne in every part of the Union as it 
 was in Carolina, the issue would probably have 
 been very different, and certainly more to the honor 
 of the United States ; " (written apparently in 
 1808). 
 
 The effect upon the younger men, although 
 Republican-Democrats, was to give them an in- 
 tense dislike to all these measures, by which their 
 so-called party had striven to avoid the taking 
 of arms. With clearer sight than their fathers, 
 or than their Federal contemporaries, they saw 
 that the time had come when the country must as- 
 sert herself or lose her self-respect forever. The 
 new representatives sent by South Carolina to the 
 Twelfth Congress were Langdon Cheves, William 
 Lowndes, and John C. Calhoun, all young, able,
 
 78 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 and ardent, unshackled by previous bonds, and 
 owing allegiance to no especial leader. Calhoun 
 and Lowndes were nine-and-twenty, born within a 
 month of each other ; Cheves, about five years 
 older. There was also David R. Williams, a man 
 of much force and integrity, who had vainly endeav- 
 ored to rouse the spirit of the last inert Eleventh 
 Congress. The desire of all these men was to 
 awaken the patriotism of the country and achieve 
 for her a place among the nations, without regard 
 to politics or party. 
 
 They had set themselves no easy task. To those 
 who have lived through the great changes of the 
 last fifty years, it is curious to look back to the 
 great excitements and agitations which very slight 
 causes produced when this government was new. 
 Men, not foreseeing the wonderful way in which a 
 free and self-governing people can adapt itself and 
 its laws to the exigencies of an untried system, 
 thought every new move a mighty matter, and cried 
 ruin and disaster whenever their theories were op- 
 posed. 
 
 The Louisiana purchase, whereby territory large 
 as an empire was secured on the easiest and hon- 
 estest possible terms, had, in 1800, driven the 
 Northern Federalists to fury ; and now the applica- 
 tion of the southernmost portion of that territory 
 to be admitted as a State renewed their agitation. 
 Their opposition was based on the point that such 
 an acquisition, not having been provided for in the 
 Constitution, must be repugnant to it, and they 
 seem really to have believed that " the framers " 
 expected the country to retain always its original 
 bounds, despite the designs upon Canada which had 
 been agitated from the beginning of the Union. 
 They especially dreaded the addition of a State 
 southern in position and institutions ; and uncon-
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 79 
 
 sclous of the extraordinary powers of assimilation 
 to be developed by the United States, they regarded 
 the Spanish and French people, language and laws 
 of the newcomer, as the Hebrews regarded the 
 wedge of Achan. They could never consider it a 
 State like their own, they said ; its people would be 
 natives " of a foreign country girt upon us, but 
 never citizens of the United States." One such vio- 
 lation of the Constitution, as they deemed it, broke, 
 they thought, all bonds, and in their indignation 
 they were ready to dissolve the Union, lest they 
 themselves should be corrupted. Nor did they con- 
 sider this as any desperate deed. We must remem- 
 ber that no peculiar sanctity attached to the Union 
 in the minds of the men who made it. They had 
 bound their States together for mutual advantage : 
 should that advantage cease to exist, they were 
 ready with small scruple to cut the bonds them- 
 selves had made. 
 
 Jefferson and Fisher Ames might be held to 
 represent the political poles : but in 1803 Ames 
 gravely declared, " Our country is too big for 
 Union ; " and Jefferson, also alarmed at what seems 
 to us this very moderate vastness, said, a little later, 
 " Whether we remain in one confederacy, or break 
 into Atlantic and Mississippi confederations, I be- 
 lieve not very important to the happiness of either 
 part." These were geographical considerations, 
 more important were the political ones ; but the 
 famous Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 were mod- 
 erate in comparison with the demands and plans 
 of Pickering, Griswold, Quincy, and others, men 
 of New England, " where there is," says Cabot, 
 " among the body of the people more wisdom and 
 virtue than in any other part of the United States." 
 They, in 1804, in order to " save New England" 
 (by which they meant the Federal party), decided
 
 80 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 that they must part her from the South and West 
 as from an evil thing, and they prepared to form a 
 New England Confederacy (hoping much to carry 
 New York with them), with as strong a sense of 
 right as the Southerners had in 1861. They were 
 held in check by the wiser heads among them, 
 George Cabot, Adams, etc., not that their plan 
 was wrong, but that the time was not yet ripe ; " al- 
 though," Cabot says, " a separation at some period 
 not very remote may probably take place." They 
 desisted for the moment, but not until their under- 
 standing with the English cabinet was such that 
 there can be little doubt that if the " Essex Junto " 
 had carried its measures, it would have done so 
 under the protection of a British fleet. It seemed 
 as if Lord North's " rope of sand " was beginning 
 already to dissolve. The South was tranquil ; 
 wishing for relief from its financial embarrass- 
 ments, but not willing to force the President's hand, 
 or depart from those " peace principles " which 
 formed the guiding star of the Jeffersonian Demo- 
 cracy. The West had rejoiced at the purchase of 
 Louisiana (Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee were 
 then the West), securing to them as it did the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi and unlimited com- 
 merce. It had never felt safe before, remembering 
 Jay's proposition to surrender this right to Spain 
 in order to secure the Spanish trade to New 
 England. The Pinckney treaty of 1795 had in- 
 deed assured, as well as might be, the free naviga- 
 tion and " right of deposit " (i. e. of warehouses) 
 at New Orleans, but treaties are but paper and 
 may be broken : the purchase made it sure. The 
 West, therefore, was willing to admit the new State ; 
 but the feeling of apprehension was genei-al, for, 
 although the proceedings of the Essex Junto were 
 not known, Quincy's famous speech, eloquently
 
 EARLY MANHOOD 81 
 
 declaring the right of a State to shape her own 
 destiny, had startled all men. In January, 1811, in 
 the last session of the Eleventh Congress, he had 
 said : " I hold my life, liberty, and property, and the 
 people whom I have the honor to represent hold 
 theirs, by a better tenure than any which this 
 national government can give. . . . We hold them 
 by the laws and customs of the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts. Behind her ample shield we find 
 refuge and feel safety. ... If this bill passes [viz. 
 to admit the State of Louisiana], it is my de- 
 liberate opinion that it is virtually a dissolution 
 of this Union, that it will free the States from their 
 moral obligations, and as it will be the right of all, 
 so it will be the duty of some, definitely to prepare 
 for a separation, amicably if they can, forcibly if 
 they must." 
 
 Such was the feeling at home and abroad when 
 the Twelfth Congress met.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 CONGRESS 
 1811-1812 
 
 In the year 1811 the journey from Charleston 
 to Washington was long and tedious. To traverse 
 the two Carolinas and the State of Virginia re- 
 quired from ten days to three weeks, according to 
 lightness of vehicle and swiftness of horse. One 
 had to cross great rivers, often swollen by fresh- 
 ets, in flats poled by negroes. Sometimes the car- 
 riage would slip down the muddy banks into the 
 river, sometimes it stuck in a swamp, and again 
 the horses stalled in a sandy waste. The old jour- 
 nals are full of these misadventures. The wayside 
 taverns were abominable, and although the neigh- 
 boring planters were delighted to receive travelers, 
 their houses were apt to be so widely surrounded 
 by their own acres that it lengthened the journey 
 too much to go in search of them. To avoid this 
 fatigue and trouble, Mr. Lowndes, on his first jour- 
 ney to Congress, went by water, taking the Phil- 
 adelphia packet, which was esteemed better than 
 that to Baltimore or Norfolk. 
 
 His letters to his wife begin at this moment, and 
 as they show his disposition and character more 
 clearly than any mere account can do, passages 
 from them are given here. The constant careful 
 directions for the plantation work are generally 
 omitted, as are also the kindly messages to his
 
 CONGRESS 83 
 
 brothers and sisters, and much of the affectionate 
 talk of and to the children. This, not compressed 
 into a sentence or two at the end, as in many 
 paternal epistles, runs throughout most of them in 
 a loving and tender strain. These early letters give 
 also his first impressions of many of the distin- 
 guished men of the time ; impressions which were 
 to be confirmed or modified by further acquaint- 
 ance. He writes : 
 
 Philadelphia, Oct. 23d, 1811. 
 I will adopt hereafter, my dear Elizabeth, the 
 same plan of numbering my letters which your 
 sister practices. This will enable you to discrimi- 
 nate between the negligence of the Postoffi.ce and 
 mine. My first was written on shipboard and put 
 into the office at Newcastle immediately upon my 
 landing. ... I am very comfortably lodged here 
 at Mrs. Benson's, where I found Mr. and Mrs. 
 Cheves, Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, Hugh Rutledge, 
 and Mr. Toomer. It is a Carolina house [all the 
 above were from Carolina] ; Mrs. Cheves is a very 
 pleasant and amiable woman. Mr. Cheves and I 
 have occasionally touched on the subject which in 
 conversation you know I very much dislike poli- 
 tics. But I felt much anxiety to know his opinions, 
 because I believe that they either are or will be 
 those of nearly all the members from Carolina. He 
 carries his wife and two children to Washington. 
 ... I shall set off in a day or two for Washing- 
 ton, by the way of Lancaster, traveling slowly and 
 spending two or three days at some of the farms 
 upon the road. I begin to long for a peep at you 
 and the children, but I must make a requisition 
 upon my patience for six months.
 
 84 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Washington, Saturday Night. 
 
 November 2 or li, 1811. 
 
 Here I am, you see, at the end of my journey, in 
 a comfortable room with a good fire, and I believe 
 in a pleasant mess. I do not well know all of 
 them, but I think it will consist of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Cheves (and two children for the musical part of 
 the company), Mr. Clay, whom they call " the 
 AVestern Star " (I believe he is a clever man), and 
 his wife ; Mr. Calhoun from our State, and perhaps 
 two other gentlemen. 1 have so far done better 
 than I had expected. I came from Baltimore in 
 the stage-coach with the elite of the Federalists. 
 I liked the little I saw of Mr. Emmott [representa- 
 tive from New York] very much. Of Mr. Quincy 
 [of Massachusetts] I have seen more and think 
 less. He is always looking out for a prettiness in 
 thought or language, always declaiming he de- 
 claims ill ; and even his language (which is doubly 
 offensive in a pretty speaker) is very inaccurate. 
 But what are Mr. Emmott and Mr. Quincy to 
 you ? I had better write about myself : I mean 
 to do so. I am quite recovered from the slight in- 
 disposition which I had at Philadelphia . . . and 
 Dr. Physick says it will be my own fault if it ever 
 returns again. I await the winds of the Capital 
 without tremor. 
 
 I will not return to Carolina by water, I will not 
 return in the stage : how I shall return I do not yet 
 know, but these stages are not the things for me. 
 My present disposition, if my health continues 
 good, is in favour of returning on horseback. But 
 I must not yet think of the manner of returning. 
 ... I meant to have written some directions to my 
 overseers and to the carpenters, but my plantation 
 ideas have got so completely to the bottom of my 
 brain that I shall " tumble up everything," as the
 
 CONGRESS 85 
 
 ladies call it, if I rummage for them. ... If I 
 keep this letter two days I may frank it : if I send 
 it now you will have to pay for it : however, I feel 
 so anxious to have to pay for a letter from you, 
 that I will impute the same anxiety to you and send 
 off my letter. When you answer it, it is not ne- 
 cessary that I should say, " tell me everything about 
 the children." I suppose you will soon be going 
 into the country. . . . You can send word to Boi- 
 neau [an overseer] to break Napoleon for Rawlins, 
 who will want him next summer, for I am afraid 
 Glum's [the old pony] night is setting in. If my 
 letter is to go to-day I must send it now. I wish 
 myself at home. 
 
 Such letters require but little comment. Dr. 
 Physick, then the head of his profession in this 
 country, certainly benefited him, for his health im- 
 proved for some time. A recent brilliant novelist 
 makes one of her characters remark that " General 
 Washington never was anything but a homesick 
 country gentleman ; " to which an English traveler 
 replies that " the same might be said of most mem- 
 bers of Parliament." It certainly is, or was, true of 
 those Southern members of Congress who left their 
 beloved plantations for the unfinished city and raw 
 society of Washington. The letter just given, and 
 the following, written only a few days after the open- 
 ing of a session which must last six months at least, 
 are striking proofs of this, but it is visible in every 
 letter. This also gives his first impressions of Mr. 
 Calhoun. 
 
 Washington, Nov. 7, 1811. 
 
 From this place one who does not write politics 
 can hardly find anything to write, and I never feel 
 any disposition to write, nor would you to read 
 them. I find my notions on the subject less singu-
 
 8G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 lar than I had supposed them, and there is some 
 degree of satisfaction in receiving for one's opin- 
 ions the confirmation afforded by another's. Of 
 opinions, however, in respect to our best policy, the 
 diversity is very great, and the want of some con- 
 trolling or at least some concentrating influence is 
 very obvious. 
 
 I think our mess a pleasant one, the most so, 
 perhaps, in the place. We have, too, the honor of 
 having the Speaker [Mr. Clay] among us. [Mr. 
 Clay had been made Speaker since his previous 
 letter]. Mr. Calhoun, of S. Carolina, has joined 
 tis within a day or two. I had heard a very favour- 
 able character of him ; but skeptical as I am on 
 the score of character, this did not at all lessen by 
 preparing me for the pleasure of an acquaintance 
 with a man, well informed, easy in his manners, 
 and I think amiable in his disposition. I like him 
 already better than any member of our mess, and 
 I give his politics the same preference. . . . This 
 delay affords no encouragement to try the Norfolk 
 packet for expedition in returning home, and in- 
 deed I have written to you that I had determined 
 against it on other grounds. I shall indeed, I think, 
 return in a very convenient way with Mr. Calhoun, 
 who wishes to buy a carriage here. Each of us 
 wishes to buy a pair of horses, but if we cannot do 
 that, then each will buy one low-priced horse, and 
 we shall travel, a little more leisurely perhaps, to 
 Carolina together. In regard to my health, there 
 is no reason for your feeling any solicitude ; I am 
 quite well, and take nearly, or perhaps quite, ex- 
 ercise enough. The streets will soon be too bad 
 for walking, and I am looking for a saddle horse. 
 . . . Tell Rawlins [his eldest son, about eight years 
 old] that I am very impatient for his message, 
 and would turn from Mr. Randolph's most brilliant
 
 CONGRESS 87 
 
 harangue to read it : tell him his father thinks of 
 him every day, and a hundred times a day, and 
 never without wishing to be with him. 
 
 It seems curious that having been so long in the 
 legislature, and therefore necessarily in company 
 with men from all parts of the State, Mr. Lowndes 
 should never have met either Mr. Cheves or Mr. 
 Calhoun until their congressional life began. It 
 may as well be said at once that the friendship for 
 these two gentlemen, which arose early in their ac- 
 quaintance, continued unbroken to his life's end. 
 No rivalry or personal ambition interfered with 
 their high estimation of each other, the kindest 
 offices were exchanged between them, and twenty 
 years after Mr. Lowndes's death, Mr. Calhoun, 
 visiting his widow, said, with an emotion rare in 
 that great man, "that there had never been a 
 shadow between his friend and himself." 
 
 In the House Mr. Lowndes had as yet been silent, 
 a silence which annoyed his friends at home, 
 most of all, his old preceptor, Dr. Gallagher, who 
 exclaimed impatiently, " Why does he not speak ? 
 Let him speak and show what he is." His reasons 
 for not doing so he gives in the following : 
 
 November 24, 1811. 
 
 Of what are usually considered comforts of life 
 we have as much here as could reasonably be de- 
 sired while we are separated from our families. 
 This separation, when we get busily engaged in poli- 
 tics, may possibly be less vexatious than now, as 
 one subject of anxiety may expel another. At pre- 
 sent there is nothing here which interests me : not 
 but that the subjects of deliberation in the House 
 are important, but because I am not vain enough
 
 88 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 to expect to alter, or sanguine enough to think that 
 I shall approve, the result. 
 
 And again a little later : 
 
 December 1, 1811. 
 
 I write every Sunday and I shall certainly at 
 no time of the session be too busy to do so. In 
 fact I do not expect to be at all busy. I have not 
 yet made any other effort at speaking in the House 
 than an " aye " or " no," and I am not sure but that 
 these may continue to be the only specimens of my 
 eloquence. I never have spoken, and I think I 
 cannot speak without the expectation (perhaps al- 
 ways a mistaken one) of making some converts, 
 but I am not vain enough to think of making a 
 convert here in public debate. Something in this 
 way is done in conversation ; much, I think, has been 
 done by the open declarations of the new members, 
 behind which the timid may rally, and on whose 
 opinions the lazy may in some measure repose : but 
 this is something very different from conviction. 
 
 A young and modest man might well be doubtful 
 of his influence in such an assemblage as the Twelfth, 
 or, as it was called in the peaceful years after 1815, 
 the " War Congress." A new spring of life and 
 talent seemed to have come to the House, presided 
 over by the " Western Star," Henry Clay. The 
 more prominent men whom he had with him from 
 the South, besides the four from Carolina, were 
 Johnson of Kentucky, Felix Grundy of Tennessee, 
 Barton Key of Maryland, Macon of North Caro- 
 lina, Forsyth and Crawford of Georgia, and Ran- 
 dolph of lloanoke, now an old man, but who still 
 dominated the House. From New England came 
 Quincy, the leader of the Federals, and Pickering 
 of the " Essex Junto." Grosvenor of New York
 
 CONGRESS 89 
 
 was chief speaker from the Middle States, and Sey- 
 burt of Pennsylvania, a physician, who was there- 
 fore, Mr. Lowndes says, nicknamed " the Chemical 
 Congressman." These were the leading men, gath- 
 ered, as the Carolinians firmly believed, to shape 
 their country's future for glory or disgrace. 
 
 The session opened, of course, with the appoint- 
 ment of committees, and it is said that the Speaker 
 was " somewhat embarrassed at finding upon his 
 hands three men of powers so entitled to recognition 
 as Mr. Cheves, Mr. Lowndes, and Mr. Calhoun, all 
 coming from one State, and that one of the smallest 
 in the Union." However, he made the following 
 appointments : Mr. Cheves to the Naval Commit- 
 tee, Mr. Lowndes to Commerce and Manufactures, 
 and Mr. Calhoun to Foreign Affairs ; Mr. Cheves 
 being chairman of the Naval Committee. The slow 
 progress of affairs was very trying to impatient 
 spirits. " Our politics scarcely move, they crawl," 
 Mr. Lowndes writes at this time. Still, the first 
 positive word is given in the next letter : 
 
 Washington, December 7, 1811. 
 You ask whether I go to balls, etc. I suppose 
 they do not think it cold enough for balls, for I 
 have not heard of any, but there will, I think, be 
 no probability of my going to one during the win- 
 ter. I have never derived any pleasure from seeing 
 other people play cards, or dance, or eat. I do not 
 like the entertainment in which I cannot share, 
 and you know that six years ago I thought myself 
 too old to dance. But Mrs. Madison's levee I think 
 I shall like pretty well. I have not yet attended it 
 on account of the little accident I mentioned in 
 one of my earlier letters [his horse had fallen with 
 him and bruised his face]. I have seen the great 
 man [President Madison], however, and had an
 
 1)0 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 invitation to dine with him, which I declined, as 
 1 did not consider my health quite established. I 
 am to dine with him next Tuesday, and if there 
 be anything very peculiar in his dinner, I will set 
 it down for your edification. They say his dinners 
 are not very good. ... I can answer your grand- 
 mother's " [Mrs. Motte] question as to the prob- 
 able price of rice during the winter, on authority 
 much better than my own. Mr. Monroe [Secre- 
 tary of State] supped with us last night, and ex- 
 pressed the opinion that until war shall be actually 
 declared, flour and rice will sell higher than if war 
 were not expected. I do not place much confi- 
 dence in this opinion myself, but you may learn 
 from it at least how familiar we are with the great 
 men of the nation. 
 
 As to your " symptoms of accommodation with 
 England," they were never less. Our government 
 has not sent and will not send a minister to nego- 
 tiate on our present differences with England. 
 Nor has our charge d'affaires, nor will he have, 
 directions to make any proposition to that govern- 
 ment. We have, indeed, nothing to propose, but 
 England, if she chooses to avoid a war, may pos- 
 sibly repeal her Orders in Council. On this it 
 would be very foolish to calculate, and without it 
 we shall certainly have war before the close of the 
 session. There did, indeed, at one time prevail 
 some doubt as to the disposition of the Administra- 
 tion for war, but Mr. Monroe has given the strong- 
 est assurances that the President will cooperate 
 zealously with Congress in declaring war, if our 
 complaints are not redressed by May next. 
 
 In the next letter is a reference to what was to 
 be for many years his chief thought : the condition 
 of the navy, at that time a neglected and unpopu-
 
 CONGRESS 91 
 
 lar branch of the service. It is to Mrs. Lowndes 
 spending her Christmas with her father at Santee. 
 
 December 25. 
 
 You have my best wishes for a Merry Christ- 
 mas, although the expression will not reach you 
 until the festivity of the season is forgotten. My 
 Christmas too, or at least this Christmas day (for 
 we have no longer holiday), will not in common 
 opinion be a dull one, as it will be spent at the 
 French Minister's and enlivened, I suppose, with 
 burgundy and champagne. I should not be averse 
 to company if the custom of the place permitted 
 me to go in boots, but the exposure of a leg unpro- 
 tected by flesh or leather is, in this windy place, an 
 uncomfortable thing. ... As to Pinckney [his 
 second son] being a sailor, as you say your brother 
 recommends, I have but one objection, and I still 
 hope that that will be surmounted ; I mean that the 
 prejudices against the navy here are such as to 
 render it doubtful if he can ever be an admiral. I 
 have not, therefore, as yet applied for even a mid- 
 shipman's warrant. The weather here is now very 
 cold. I am told that the Potomac was frozen in a 
 single night. Unluckily, too, our coals failed us 
 in our utmost need. The boat which was bringing 
 them sunk in the river, and wood in a grate we 
 found but a bad substitute. I cannot say, however, 
 that I have been at all incommoded by the severity 
 of the weather, although the old members say they 
 never knew it greater. It is luckily clear and dry, 
 but the wind almost takes away the breath. Al- 
 though the accommodations here are better than I 
 expected, yet the comforts of a city are such in 
 winter that I think I shall spend the next (if I 
 come here at all) in Georgetown.
 
 <>2 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Looking at Washington to-day, it is curious to 
 think of leaving it for Georgetown, in order to 
 secure the comforts of a city, lint Washington 
 was then only a straggling village, hardly even 
 deserving its nickname of the " city of magnificent 
 distances." Sir .James Jackson, who was British 
 Minister in 1808, said in the "Bath Archives," 
 " The City of Washington (as they call it) is five 
 miles long, the scattered houses are intersected with 
 woods, heaths, and gravel pits. I put up a covey 
 of partridges within three hundred yards of the 
 House of Congress, yclept the Capitol." He says 
 it is "more like Ilampstead Heath than a city," 
 but that the neighborhood is beautiful and he ad- 
 mires the scenery compassed by the Potomac and 
 the hills about it. 
 
 The new year opened with anxiety both public 
 and private. 
 
 January 2, 1812. 
 
 I have put off writing my letter for this week 
 so long that it may serve as well for the ensuing 
 Sunday as the last. . . . Although I have had no- 
 thing to do, my mind has been anxiously occupied 
 within a few days by the business of the House. 
 I had great fears of the failure of a measure which 
 seemed to me important. It has been carried by 
 a large majority, but many a reluctant vote was 
 given in its favour. I am now in better spirits, be- 
 cause I see many disposed, and many obliged, to 
 vote rightly. ... I ought not to have gotten so 
 far in my letter without thanking you for the in- 
 formation you have given me in respect to the 
 Horse Shoe. The loss which has been suffered, 
 and which probably will be still greater, is of the 
 kind the most distressing:. ... I meant to have 
 written long letters to the overseers, but have
 
 CONGRESS 93 
 
 given up the plan as much from judgement as from 
 laziness. 
 
 This alludes to an epidemic of malignant fever 
 on the plantation, which Mrs. Lowndes, at her own 
 imminent risk, had gone to attend. She took strong 
 measures, removed the people from their custom- 
 ary quarters to huts hastily built in the high pine- 
 land, changed their diet (persuading them with 
 great difficulty to eat mutton broth), stopped the 
 epidemic at last, and was said by the doctor to 
 have saved many lives, although many were lost. 
 In the letters for weeks to come there are constant 
 passages on the subject, Mr. Lowndes being very 
 anxious on her own account as well as about his 
 people. The letter continues : 
 
 " The dreadful event at Richmond " [the burn- 
 ing of the theatre on the 26th of December, 1811], 
 " which, living as we do here among the friends 
 and relations of the sufferers, seems to be nearer to 
 our view than it would otherwise be, has been, I 
 suppose, particularly described in the newspapers. 
 The best consolation, it seems to me, which the 
 mind can feel in such a calamity is afforded by the 
 instances of courage, and disinterestedness, and 
 affection, which in this case were very distin- 
 guished. Many who had it in their power to escape 
 remained with their families, whom they could not 
 extricate. One gentleman (Lieut. Gibbon of the 
 navy) after having got out of the playhouse re- 
 turned to endeavour to save a lady to whom he 
 was attached, but who was engaged to be married 
 in a day or two to another." 
 
 Notwithstanding the quiet tone of these letters, 
 it is easy to see the anxiety of the writer. 
 
 He and his colleagues knew, none better, that 
 the country was unprepared for war, and that
 
 94 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 every day not spent in preparation was a day lost. 
 The state of the navy engaged the earnest atten- 
 tion of Cheves and Lowndes. This greatest of the 
 services had been neglected on principle by Mr. 
 Jefferson, who considered it a wanton expense and 
 a temptation to sinful warfare. He had indeed 
 expressed the belief that all that was needed was a 
 few small vessels to look after the Barbary pirates, 
 and that the frigates might be laid up in the east- 
 ern branch of the Potomac. Over the Barbary 
 pirates, Preble, Kodgers, and Decatur had gained 
 signal victories, even in Mr. Jefferson's time, but 
 this, the sole military achievement of his adminis- 
 tration, had not made him more favorable to the 
 navy. His successor had followed the same plan 
 of neglect, and it was difficult to repair it quickly. 
 
 On November 19, 1811, Mr. Cheves, in behalf 
 of the Committee on Naval Affairs, had addressed 
 a note to Paul Hamilton, of South Carolina, then 
 Secretary of the Navy, requesting a full statement 
 of its condition. The account that Mr. Hamilton 
 had to give was frightful. 
 
 There were half a dozen frigates, several gun- 
 boats, all in bad order, hardly any stock of muni- 
 tions, and not a single dry dock. The vessels, he 
 said, had to be " heaved down," i. e. turned over 
 on their sides, for repairs. It was not Mr. Hamil- 
 ton's fault : he had received the navy in this condi- 
 tion, and Congress would vote it no money. How 
 the war party dared throw down the gage of battle 
 with the fleet in this state, when England had a 
 thousand ships, God and their own stout hearts 
 only knew. . . . This correspondence was followed, 
 on January 18, 1812, by a bill brought in by Mr. 
 Cheves, in favor of appropriations for both army 
 and navy, advising a levy of two millions of dollars 
 and possibly ten millions more, a monstrous sum
 
 CONGRESS 95 
 
 according to the ideas of that day. It so shocked 
 the Washington correspondent of the " Charleston 
 Courier " that he writes : " If the good people of 
 South Carolina do not shortly request your Cheves 
 and Williams and Lowndes, notwithstanding their 
 abilities, to stay at home, they will deserve the evils 
 they must suffer." 
 
 Mr. Cheves spoke eloquently in support of his 
 bill, saying proudly that he did so " irrespective of 
 party, for the great interests of the nation," thus 
 stating the policy of himself and his colleagues for 
 the coming struggle. 
 
 Little opposition was made to the grants for the 
 army, and David R. Williams for the military com- 
 mittee carried through the bill which he proposed. 
 The objections made to the navy are almost incred- 
 ible ; the debate is curious reading. Mr. Sey- 
 bert, of Pennsylvania, declared that a navy was a 
 dangerous thing, and brought countries to ruin : 
 Holland and Venice had fallen because they had 
 navies. Mr. McKee thought that America should 
 have none, " because our little navy has already con- 
 tributed much to the irritation which exists between 
 this country and England." Mr. Johnson, of Ken- 
 tucky, avowing the most absolute sectional selfish- 
 ness, said that great difference of opinion existed 
 between the States lying upon the seaboard and 
 those distant from it. He declared a navy most 
 dangerous to public liberty, much more so than 
 an army ; went to ancient history and bewailed the 
 " plunder and piracy " of Tyre and Sidon, Crete, 
 Rhodes, Athens, and Carthage ; dreaded that the 
 possession of a navy might lead the United States to 
 similar deeds ; thought commerce could exist unpro- 
 tected by one, but recommended letters of marque 
 and privateering, probably as unconnected with 
 " plunder and piracy ! "
 
 9G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 To privateering Mr. Lowndes was uniformly and 
 strongly opposed. lie had already given his vote 
 against permitting merchant vessels to arm, when 
 a bill to that effect had been brought in, in Decem- 
 ber. It had been carried by the Federalist vote as 
 profitable to the New England shipping. Now Mr. 
 Lowndes spoke his convictions. On January 21, 
 1812, he made his first speech in support of Mr. 
 Cheves's motion, and, strange to say, there is not the 
 least allusion to it in the letters to his wife. We 
 can only conclude that those letters, being of more 
 general interest, maj r have been put into the parcel 
 of " important papers" and so burned ; none remain 
 written between the 12th and lGth of January. 
 
 Few of Mr. Lowndes's speeches remain except in 
 the most abridged form. Reporting was then a new 
 art, and his voice was so low that often members 
 left their seats and crowded round to hear him. 
 His speech was never written out beforehand ; a 
 card or a half sheet of note-paper, with a few lines 
 numbered 1, 2, 3, etc., to recall to him the heads of 
 his proposed address, were all that he ever used. 
 Mr. Benton, in his "Thirty Years in Congress," says 
 that only one speech was ever prepared by him for 
 publication, but in his letters he speaks of another, 
 and two in manuscript found among his papers (not 
 in his own handwriting) were probably submitted 
 for his approval. This first, on the navy, published 
 in the " Charleston Courier," is tolerably full, and 
 I give some extracts. 
 
 " The honorable gentleman from Kentucky, who 
 spoke yesterday, offered objections to a navy which, 
 if they were well founded, would supersede all 
 further reasoning. ' lie opposes a Navy now, he 
 will oppose it forever. It would produce all possi- 
 ble evil and no possible good. It would infallibly 
 destroy the Constitution.' Will the honorable gen-
 
 CONGRESS 97 
 
 tleman tell us why ? How ? He sees the clanger 
 clearly, will he explain it ? An ambitious general 
 might corrupt his army and seize the capital, but 
 will an admiral reduce us to subjection by bring- 
 ing his ships up the Potomac ? The strongest re- 
 commendation of a navy in free governments has 
 hitherto been supposed to be that it was capable of 
 defending but not of enslaving its country. 
 
 " The honorable gentleman has discovered that 
 this is a vulgar error. 'A navy is really much more 
 dangerous to liberty than an army,' etc., etc. Yet 
 there is a view in which this question of a navy is 
 closely connected with the Constitution. That Con- 
 stitution was founded by the union of independent 
 States, that the strength of the whole might be em- 
 ployed for the protection of every part. The States 
 were not ignorant of the value of the rights which 
 they surrendered to the general goverment, but they 
 expected a compensation for their relinquishment in 
 the increased power which should be employed for 
 their defense. 
 
 " Suppose this expectation disappointed, suppose 
 the harbor of New York blockaded by the English 
 seventy-fours. The commerce of that city (which 
 exists only by commerce) destroyed, the protection 
 of the general government claimed. Your whole 
 navy could not drive these seventy-fours from their 
 station. Would the brave and enterprising people 
 of New York consent to see their capital emptied 
 of its inhabitants, and their whole country beggared 
 by so contemptible a force ? Their own exertions 
 would raise a fleet which would drive off the enemy 
 and restore the city to its owners. But if a single 
 State shall find herself able to raise a greater fleet 
 than the general government can or will employ 
 for her defense, can it be expected that she will 
 consider that government essential to her safety, 
 entitled to her obedience? "
 
 98 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 He goes on to show clearly the duties of the 
 government, sweeps aside the comparisons from 
 ancient history, and examines those from modern ; 
 shows that Venice fell, not from possessing, but 
 from neglecting, her navy ; points to the long pros- 
 perity of England, and her fostering care of her 
 fleets ; makes elaborate calculations of expense (a 
 bagatelle to the sums we hear of now), and ends, 
 looking to the conclusion of the war : " To succeed 
 in negotiation with a rival people, you must convince 
 them that they will gain as much as you by the 
 treaty which you propose. To terminate your war 
 with England honorably, you must show that she 
 will lose as much as you by its continuance. But 
 when your whole trade, your foreign and your 
 coasting trade, are destroyed (and without a navy 
 it seems to me that they must be destroyed), what 
 argument would your most dextrous negotiator em- 
 ploy, to show that the loss of England would be 
 equal to your own, from the continuance of the 
 war? What equivalent could we offer her for the 
 restoration of that commerce which peace would 
 give you? I know not ; but if the resources of the 
 country be employed prudently, economically, vig- 
 orously, in the acquisition of a naval force, the com- 
 mand of your seas obtained, your coasting trade 
 protected, the West Indian trade of your enemies 
 threatened, then indeed you may negotiate on equal 
 terms. You may then obtain respect for your flag 
 without sending a national ship into every sea of 
 Europe and Asia, and you will be paid in return 
 for the safety which peace with you must give to 
 the trade of England with her colonies. Your war 
 will then have been honorable, your peace will be 
 secure." 
 
 These selections have been made with a view to 
 showing, as much as possible, the line of thought
 
 CONGRESS 99 
 
 which pervades Mr. Lowndes's public utterances, 
 which seems to have governed his life. There 
 is, it will be noticed, not one single appeal to the 
 passions of his audience, no invective against the 
 enemy, no fiery patriotism, no deification of naval 
 glory or renown. He addresses himself immedi- 
 ately to the questions : Do we need this defense ? 
 Is it the best that we can employ ? Do the Consti- 
 tution and the laws justify us in so doing ? These 
 are the points which all through his career engage 
 his attention. What is expedient ? Is the expedi- 
 ent right? 
 
 Another characteristic, his oft-quoted courtesy, 
 is shown in the speech, but not in the extracts. At 
 one point Mr. Seybert, of Pennsylvania, interrupted 
 him to make some explanation of his own previous 
 remarks. Mr. Lowndes on resuming said: " I always 
 hear my friend with pleasure and often with con- 
 viction, but on this occasion am forced to differ with 
 him." 
 
 This speech placed him, it is said, at once " in 
 the foremost rank in the House, and satisfied the 
 expectations of his friends." 
 
 It did not, however, carry its object. The pre- 
 judice against the navy, as an aristocratic institu- 
 tion, the tool of the Administration, was too strong. 
 The Republicans who had voted the army appropri- 
 ation resisted this, and Cheves, Lowndes, and Cal- 
 houn voted against them with the Federals. The 
 House gave one dock, and gunboats, but refused 
 the frigates for which Cheves pleaded. It was ill 
 preparing to fight England with cockle-shells. 
 
 From this time to the end of the session I find 
 no speech of any length, only a few remarks now 
 and then, and votes always in support of the war- 
 like side. The legislators waited while the diplo- 
 mats made their last moves. I give a few extracts 
 from the letters :
 
 100 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 January 26, 1812. 
 The session has now lasted three months, and I 
 suppose you must begin to think yourself what 
 they call in Connecticut, and perhaps elsewhere, a 
 " widow bewitched.'" I believe I have not told 
 you that since my last letter I have been to an as- 
 sembly and to a grand ball at the British Minister's. 
 To the assembly I went in the most agreeable 
 manner : I mean half an hour before supper with 
 a senator of the mess, Mr. Bibb (of Kentucky), 
 who is I think as lazy as myself. We took a look 
 at the ladies, whom you may be sure we thought 
 inferior to those of Carolina and Kentucky, but 
 when supper was announced I was disappointed to 
 find that a third only of the party could sup at a 
 time, and we were of course excluded by the ladies. 
 ... I am also going to a ball at the French Min- 
 ister's to-morrow. The truth is, that here as in 
 Carolina I do not like these parties, but I am more 
 ready to go to them, because I do not like home 
 as well here as there. I begin to be very tired of 
 absence from my family. I think I would will- 
 ingly have the trouble of putting Pinckney every 
 night to bed, if I could have him to play with dur- 
 ing the day. For want of him, however, a little 
 boy of Mrs. Cheves's comes into my room to hear 
 stories and make boats, so that when I return to 
 Carolina the boys will still find me a good play- 
 mate. 
 
 February 9. 
 
 As our mess is certainly the strongest war mess 
 in Congress, we excite, I believe, not a little sur- 
 prise and perhaps some suspicion by our attending 
 the parties of Mr. Foster [the British Minister]. 
 Mr. Duane [editor of the "Aurora"], they say, 
 means to give a list of all those who attended 
 on the Queen's birthnight. Our whole mess, male
 
 CONGRESS 101 
 
 and female, were of the party, so that you will see 
 us in print. But we have committed the yet more 
 unpardonable offense of inviting him (Mr. Foster) 
 to dinner, and I dare say some of the papers will 
 consider this as an overt act of treason. 
 
 February 16, 1812. 
 
 I have not been quite as gay as usual for the 
 last fortnight. I was invited, indeed, during that 
 time to a small party, as the note expressed it, at 
 which I am told there were 180 persons, but I felt 
 too lazy to go. Mr. Monroe inquired particularly 
 after your health and your father and sister's, 
 when I first saw him, and very politely told me that 
 Mrs. Monroe would be glad to see me on account 
 of her regard for you. But I have been so very 
 lazy, that though I like him, from the little I have 
 seen of him, very much, I have been rude enough 
 to neglect his invitation to call, although I did not 
 that to dine with him, and everybody agrees that 
 he gives the best dinners in Washington. 
 
 At this time the coming event cast its shadow 
 so markedly that there are frequent allusions to 
 applications for commissions in the army. One of 
 these was from Mr. Lowndes's nephew, Lowndes 
 Brown. Mr. Lowndes, " not liking to ask a favor 
 for so near a relation," gave the application to Mr. 
 Cheves, " as Brown is one of his constituents," not 
 without some not unnatural trepidation as to what 
 his sister's feelings might be on the subject. He 
 was relieved, however, for in the same letter quoted 
 above he says : 
 
 My sister bears Lowndes's plan of going into 
 the army much better than I expected. She says 
 she thwarted him in one of his plans [that of be-
 
 102 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 coming a planter], and she does not think it right 
 to object to this. Yet if anything unfortunate 
 should happen, I should rather not have been the 
 instrument of his appointment. 
 
 There are at this time frequent mentions of loss 
 of crops from storms and other causes that try the 
 sold of the planter, but Mr. Lowndes was fortunate 
 that his brother James lived near the Horse Shoe 
 and gave kind assistance in its management. The 
 next letter alludes to an often discussed but never 
 accomplished plan, of moving to the up country. 
 He had been much struck. by the health and other 
 advantages of that section, and thought seriously 
 of settling there. Paris Mountain is an outlying 
 spur of the Blue Ridge, which rises suddenly near 
 Greenville, S. C. 
 
 March 15. 
 
 I am more disposed than ever to get a place in 
 the back country. But I prefer Paris Mountain so 
 much to any other place that I have seen, that 1 
 shall make no purchase until I hear your news in 
 regard to it confirmed or contradicted. The labour 
 of our negroes will, I think, be unproductive in 
 war, and the most advantageous employment of 
 them, therefore, must be in the improvement of 
 land. The spirited planter will clear and ditch 
 and dam ; but as I am not a spirited planter I 
 should be satisfied with settling myself on a back- 
 country farm. 
 
 "Washington, March 2.'>d, 1812. 
 
 It is still as doubtful as ever when we shall ad- 
 journ. It will certainly be late enough to make 
 me expect to find you at the Grove. We hear from 
 all quarters that the people do not expect war ; I 
 look forward with great uneasiness to the shock 
 which an unexpected declaration will give to the
 
 CONGRESS 103 
 
 mercantile class. Nothing is more true than that, 
 in political as in private life, popularity should be 
 the result, and not the object of our measures. No 
 artificial excitement should be resorted to ; yet I 
 am much afraid that in the present state of the 
 public mind the slow but steady approach of our 
 government to war is unnoticed, and without an 
 embargo, which I fear will not be resorted to, the 
 war at its commencement must be necessarily dis- 
 astrous. My politics are too hastily expressed for 
 any ear but your own. There is much to disap- 
 point us at Washington ; many follies which we 
 cannot conceal from ourselves, and which in the 
 present state of the country we cannot with pru- 
 dence publicly censure. But you must be almost 
 as weary of politics as I am. 
 
 The letter of the next week was to convey a 
 piece of news both interesting and unexpected. 
 
 March 28th, 1812. 
 I am glad to hear that you have got to Alderly 
 [her sister Mrs. F. K. Huger's place on the Wac- 
 camaw River], where I dare say you will spend 
 your time more to your satisfaction till summer, 
 than you could do anywhere else. As to your ar- 
 rangements for going to Charleston with your 
 father's family, the news from this place may per- 
 haps affect them. You have probably already 
 heard of his appointment as Major-General. We 
 are afraid here that he may not accept. There was 
 some little objection in the Senate to the confirma- 
 tion of his appointment, the result probably of that 
 illiberality of faction from which no public body 
 can be expected to be altogether exempt. The op- 
 position, however, consisted, I believe, of one or two 
 men only, and even as good a Federalist as you are
 
 104 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 will, I think, allow that this circumstance (as four 
 fifths of the Senate are Republicans) is honorable 
 to the party. The universal approbation (without 
 the Senate and House) which the appointment has 
 met with here, the gratification which it has af- 
 forded to the present officers, and the high testi- 
 mony to the military merits of your father which it 
 has brought forward from several Revolutionary 
 officers (particularly from General Lee and Colo- 
 nel Hammond), it must give you pleasure to hear, 
 although if he accept the commission you will, I 
 suppose, regret the occasion. You will let me 
 know (if you hear them) his plans. 
 
 This appointment created much surprise, for 
 Major Pinckney, thus created Major-General to 
 command the Southern States, was an unswerving 
 Federalist, absolutely identified with that party. 
 He felt this so strongly that he proposed to decline 
 the appointment, saying that " the views of the 
 Administration could best be executed by those in 
 sympathy with it." It was pointed out to him, 
 however, that the war would surely come, when it 
 would be the duty of every man of whatever opin- 
 ion to serve his country to the best of his ability, 
 and that by his example a broad and patriotic sen- 
 timent would be encouraged in the community. He 
 yielded, not very willingly, and the result justified 
 the expectation of the President, for the nomina- 
 tion was received with pleasure by all classes in 
 Carolina, where General Pinckney was generally 
 popular. The Southern Federalists, a small but 
 influential body, were pleased that one of their 
 leading members should be so distinguished, and 
 the " peace Democrats," who found it hard, even at 
 the instigation of their brilliant representatives, to 
 abandon their constant policy, were pleased that
 
 CONGRESS 105 
 
 the defense of their homes should be intrusted to 
 one whom they had long known and trusted and in 
 whose knowledge and energy they believed. At 
 Washington, the appointment gave rise to a report, 
 that under the influence of his son-in-law he had 
 become a Democrat. An amusing idea, since Mr. 
 Lowndes used to complain that " so stubborn were 
 the Pinckneys that he had never been able to con- 
 vert his own wife," who remained an unflinching 
 Federalist to the end. 
 
 The satisfaction in Charleston was shown by 
 addresses of congratulation, etc., of which the 
 papers are full. One very touching one from the 
 veteran comrades of the Cincinnati asks that he 
 will place them where by counsel, at least, they 
 may serve their country. 
 
 Mrs. Lowndes evidently indulged in a little Fed- 
 eral exultation, for her husband writes : 
 
 " I see that you have assumed the politician as 
 well as I, and as I make your father's appointment 
 the subieet of praise to my party, you make the 
 necessity for Federal appointments an occasion for 
 sarcasm against the party that you are opposed to. 
 Now as I do not think that we live in a glass house, 
 I have no objection to the amusement of throwing 
 stones. To be serious, however, though I should 
 abhor the persecution which would exclude from 
 office the talents or virtues of any party, I do be- 
 lieve that what is called the Republican party, hav- 
 ing so large a proportion of the population of the 
 States, has enough of talents and of virtue to serve 
 the country, if the administration knew how to 
 select and employ them. There is certainly some- 
 thing to be dissatisfied with here. I feel my sit- 
 uation a very unpleasant one ; keep this, however, 
 to yourself. As to my going into the army, the 
 mode of appointment (really by the delegation)
 
 10G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 made it awkward for me to apply. I have regretted 
 frequently since, however, that I did not get over 
 the scruple. Yet the circumstances which render 
 Washington unpleasant to me would perhaps have 
 made the army equally so. 
 
 " The newspapers, which, thanks to my silence 
 and obscurity, had before treated me civilly, are 
 now beginning a pretty lively attack on me. I do 
 not know, however, anything which anybody could 
 consider as an evil, which I can bear with more 
 Philosophy, or rather with more indifference. The 
 sentence which they quote against me, if I used it 
 (and my friends here say that I did not), seems 
 really to be susceptible of the construction which 
 they give it. They represent me as being implicitly 
 governed by the majority of my own party, in say- 
 ing that I would not call up a bill which I had sup- 
 ported for admitting English manufactures. I said 
 that I would not do it unless a change should take 
 place in the opinions of a majority of those with 
 whom I usually acted. I had before said that I 
 would do it if there were any hope of its passage, 
 and my meaning clearly was (and my friends here 
 say my words were) that I would not call it up 
 to provoke unavailing discussion. 
 
 " These little attacks are fair enough in newspa- 
 pers, and the caucus principle which they impute 
 to me is so abominable, that I should have deserved 
 all their censure if I had adopted it. My writing 
 so long a paragraph on this subject is, however, a 
 bad proof (but I do not think that you will re- 
 quire any) of my indifference to it." 
 
 This idea of entering the army, extraordinary as 
 it seems to us, w r as a favorite one with Mr. Lowndes, 
 lie frequently returns to it. I can find nothing 
 of the newspaper criticism of which he speaks ex- 
 cept the following from the " Charleston Courier " 
 (Federalist) :
 
 CONGRESS 107 
 
 Washington, April 20th. (Private Correspondence.) 
 The Vice-President died this morning. Mr. 
 Lowndes took occasion to say that he should not 
 call up the Importation Bill, as he had no expecta- 
 tion that it could be carried in its present or any 
 amended form. I drop these lines, as the remarks 
 of Mr. Lowndes may be considered of much impor- 
 tance. 
 
 If there is any hidden sting here, it is at least 
 well hidden. 
 
 By this time the public was becoming impatient 
 of the long delay, and accusations were not lacking 
 of false play on the part of the Cabinet. Vacillation 
 there undoubtedly was. A letter to the " Courier," 
 signed " Virginia Patriot," says, on April 24, 
 1812 : " A large portion of the present members 
 of the House are new members, almost all inexpe- 
 rienced in the pitiful contrivances and electioneer- 
 ing intrigues of the Cabinet. Such men as Mr. 
 Calhoun, Mr. Lowndes, Mr. Cheves, and many 
 others, seriously believed the Executive in earnest 
 when hostile measures were recommended. They 
 see very differently now," etc., etc. (abuse of Mr. 
 Madison and his Cabinet). 
 
 It could hardly have been more agreeable to 
 have been considered such a dupe, than to have 
 been accused of trickery one's self. 
 
 These various annoyances, and the weariness of 
 the endless talk, found relief in a jaunt to Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 29th, 1812. 
 
 I think it will surprise you a little to receive a 
 letter from me dated at this place. It was, indeed, 
 rather a foolish plan to come here. I had, indeed, 
 something to do here, and this is the reason I give 
 for coming ; but I could have done it as well by
 
 108 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 letter. My true reason was a wish to run away 
 from Washington and its politics. I came here on 
 horseback, in three clays, which, on a hard trotting 
 horse like mine, is good riding. I shall stay two, 
 and take three to return, which, as I set off and 
 shall return on Sunday, will make one Congressional 
 week. If anything in which one vote will have 
 been of consequence shall have passed, my constit- 
 uents I suppose will quarrel with me ; but I had 
 reason to think that I might leave Washington 
 safely, and perhaps it would be a lucky thing for 
 me if my constituents should quarrel with me. I 
 have just returned from seeing, but I ought not to 
 tell you of it, a famous picture, of which I suppose 
 you have heard, by Westmuller. 
 
 It is the picture, in a very licentious taste 
 (though the ladies here all go to see it), of Danae, 
 with a shower of gold breaking into her apartment. 
 The gold, and the bars, and the absurdities of 
 pagan mythology are kept out of view, and the at- 
 tention is absorbed by the figure, not of a divinity, 
 she breathes too much of human passion, but 
 of an exquisitely beautiful woman, who has no other 
 dress than a braid of pearls for her hair. I do not 
 mean, however, to give you a description of this 
 fascinating picture, for though it may do you no 
 harm to read, it may do me some to write or think 
 of it. I had so little taste as to think that if the 
 painter had given her a little drapery (as trans- 
 parent as he pleased) of cambric or lace, so that 
 she might have thought herself covered, the effect of 
 the picture would have been heightened. . . . You 
 will have heard of the failure of the plan for a re- 
 cess [a recess of Congress, to enable the members 
 to visit their homes]. ... I have now no expecta- 
 tion of getting away before the expiration of the 
 embargo [the 3d of July]. ... I shall then have
 
 CONGRESS 109 
 
 been absent more than ten months, and shall prob- 
 ably not be able to spend more than three at 
 home. This business of a Congressman is cer- 
 tainly fit only for young men without families who 
 are fond of traveling. They would have more 
 comfort, and I believe quite as much wisdom as 
 we have. 
 
 Washington, May 10th. 
 
 Of the plans of our Administration I know no- 
 thing, and wish to know nothing. The Committee 
 of Foreign Relations [Mr. Calhoun, chairman] 
 say that we may get away in the first half of June ; 
 and I dare say that they suppose the projects of 
 government fully formed and fully communicated 
 to them. I still think, however (though not from 
 any communication with those who are in the 
 secret, if there are any such), that the chances are 
 that we shall get away in the beginning of July. 
 
 I am afraid that there is not as much variety in 
 your amusements (at Waccamaw) as in mine. 
 This country affords pleasanter rides than Wacca- 
 maw or even Horse Shoe. I went yesterday with 
 a large party of ladies and gentlemen, to see the 
 falls of the Potomac, ten miles off. The view was 
 a pleasing one to me, who had never seen anything 
 of the sort before. The ride was, on the whole, 
 pleasant, but I met with a disappointment of which 
 I ought not, for the credit of my gallantry, to com- 
 plain. The party was, as I thought, very well ar- 
 ranged, five ladies and six gentlemen. Now as I 
 dislike extremely to have the beauties of a scene 
 pointed out to me, and as I knew that I could walk 
 a great deal faster and see a great deal more alone 
 than in company, I set out to clamber over the 
 rocks by myself. 
 
 One of our gentlemen, however, had an unlucky 
 headache, which compelled me (not a little reluc-
 
 110 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 tantly) to take a lady (and a pretty one, too) under 
 my protection. I like company very well in a 
 drawing-room, but with ten talkers it is impossible 
 to feel the beauty of a cataract. 
 
 Mrs. Lowndes seems to have been scandalized 
 by the " Danae ; " when in France, she, as a jeune 
 fille, had probably not been taken to see such pic- 
 tures, for Mr. Lowndes answers 
 
 May 27th, 1812. 
 I think that you were not in quite as good humour 
 when you wrote your reflections on the Philadelphia 
 " Danae " as I was when I wrote the description. 
 I do not now remember what I said about her, but 
 there is a matronly gravity in your style, which 
 makes me fear that your disgust towards the 
 painter is joined to some little displeasure against 
 the describer of the painting. lie must be strangely 
 unreasonable who is not satisfied that his wife 
 should now and then scold him in proof of her 
 modesty. And though I do not require such a 
 proof of yours, yet I think your remarks on the 
 painting, on the ladies who visit it, and the sensual- 
 ists who admire it, perfectly just, and in a lady of 
 Carolina natural. 
 
 The picture alluded to above is now owned by 
 Mr. Ileaton, of New Haven, Conn., and is said by 
 Miss Wharton in her recent work on miniature 
 painting to be the " celebrated Danae," one of the 
 most remarkable examples of purity in the nude 
 composition in America. "Autre temps, autre 
 moeurs." The views of that day in relation to art 
 were certainly primitive, for Miss Wharton adds : 
 "The English artist named Pine brought with him 
 a plaster cast of the ' Venus de Medici,' which
 
 CONGRESS 111 
 
 was kept shut up in a case, and only shown to per- 
 sons who particularly wished to see it, as the man- 
 ners of our country at that time would not tolerate 
 the exhibition of such a figure." 
 
 There are no letters between this of May 27th 
 and June 28th, which strengthens the belief that 
 those (even to his wife) of public interest were 
 burned, for in this interval the die had been cast. 
 
 It is well known now that there was reason for 
 suspecting the firmness of the Cabinet, and espe- 
 cially of the President. But his first term of office 
 was drawing to a close, and there were doubts of 
 his renomination. Mr. Clay, the most important 
 then of his supporters, speaking in the name of 
 those who felt with him, assured Mr. Madison, in 
 a private interview, that he would not be renomi- 
 nated unless he gave the desired pledge of support 
 to the war party. The President yielded, and was 
 named in the Democratic caucus. Of this caucus 
 the " Charleston Courier " of May 30th says, that 
 it was a meeting " exclusively Democratic " for " the 
 Presidential Hard Scrabble," and that " Messrs. 
 D. R. Williams, Cheves, and Lowndes from South 
 Carolina, and Macon of North Carolina, all Demo- 
 crats, refused to attend the late meeting of mem- 
 bers of Congress to nominate a President and Vice- 
 President of the United States, on the ground that 
 it was improper, inexpedient, indelicate, unconsti- 
 tutional, and a monstrous usurpation of the rights 
 of the people." Things are differently managed 
 now. Mr. Lowndes's expression, " the caucus 
 principle which they impute to me is so abomin- 
 able," etc., has been already quoted, and he never 
 changed his opinion on the subject. I know not if 
 it is to this caucus that the memorandum refers, 
 but among the few notes in the handwriting of 
 Mrs. Lowndes is, " Mr. Lowndes never would at-
 
 112 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 tend a caucus, deeming them unconstitutional. On 
 one occasion, being pressed to do so by Mr. Cal- 
 houn, he answered, ' No, Calhoun, I shall give my 
 views in the House.' " Mr. Benton, in his ''Thirty 
 Years in Congress," says of Mr. Lowndes, " He 
 never would use any party machinery, shrinking 
 from such as from the touch of contamination." 
 
 The support of the Executive being thus assured, 
 Mr. Calhoun, for the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
 tions, brought in the report which determined the 
 declaration of war. The report might have been 
 termed the formal indictment of Great Britain, 
 being a grave recital of the wrongs sustained at her 
 hands and the fruitless efforts for redress. There 
 was much discussion. The representative who 
 should declare such views to-day as many did then 
 would not hold his seat for half an hour. One 
 long-suffering gentleman protested that England 
 was not so bad after all, as she had only taken 
 ninety-three seamen out of our ships that year ! 
 
 On June 19, 1812, war was formally proclaimed. 
 The news, as Mr. Lowndes had feared, was in many 
 places received with profound dissatisfaction. The 
 chief cities of New York and New England pro- 
 tested against it, and promised no support to the 
 Administration. The South had by this time become 
 indignant, and in Charleston, where the opposition 
 had been so strong, the declaration was received 
 with unexpected favor. A meeting was held in 
 St. Michael's church, attended by all the princi- 
 pal citizens, with Mr. John Julius Pringle, long 
 Speaker of the General Assembly, in the chair. 
 Mr. Pringle was then the leading lawyer of the 
 State, and all men knew that General Washington 
 himself had made him District Attorney of South 
 Carolina, and that Jefferson had offered him the 
 position of Attorney-General of the United States.
 
 CONGRESS 113 
 
 His opinion Lad great weight. The meeting passed 
 resolutions of approbation and promised loyal sup- 
 port to the government, commending at the same 
 time their congressmen for the position which they 
 had taken. There were many similar expressions of 
 opinion from other bodies. On June the 28th the 
 weary Representative wrote his last letter for the 
 session. 
 
 My dear Wife, I hope that this will be the 
 last letter which you will receive this session from 
 me. This is Sunday, and the latest day that is 
 spoken of for an adjournment is to-morrow week. I 
 shall go home very comfortably, in a carriage nearly 
 as light as our volante, with a very good pair of 
 horses [bought a few weeks before from " the 
 Jerseys "], and my riding horse, which draws very 
 well, may if necessary assist the carriage horses. 
 Mr. Gaillard [Senator from South Carolina] goes 
 with me. We hope to travel between forty and 
 fifty miles a day. 
 
 He goes on to explain how he had tried to get a 
 commission in the army, but that finding that it 
 would only be given on political grounds, and would 
 not allow of active service, he had in disgust with- 
 drawn the application ; he adds sorrowfully (so little 
 do even the wisest men know what is best for them), 
 " Not engaging in the army now, I must give up all 
 hope of ever leaving the pursuit of civil life. To 
 make rice in Carolina and speeches in Washington 
 must be the narrow limit of my ambition. . . . 
 I cannot but think that the scheme of your two 
 brothers to take their sick wives under the guns of 
 Fort Moultrie [to General Pinckney's summer 
 home on Sullivan's Island] is a strange one. I
 
 114 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 certainly think an attack upon the fort very im- 
 probable, but many an alarm may be given by the 
 appearance of a strange sail. . . . After receiv- 
 ing this letter you had better direct none to me 
 north of Fayetteville."
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN WAR TIME 
 1812-1815 
 
 This being the biography of a single individual 
 and not the history of the War of 1812, it is not 
 necessary to give an account of the various small 
 battles and skirmishes of those poorly conducted 
 campaigns. It must be said that for the first two 
 years things went badly. Along the Canadian 
 frontier, where the fighting was done, a series of 
 blunders and mishaps, often caused by contradictory 
 orders and unseemly squabbles between the Secre- 
 tary of War and his generals, brought discredit 
 upon the country. There was very little military 
 spirit ; at one place the general failed his men, at 
 another the men would not support their general ; 
 they were on most occasions far more inclined to 
 lay down their arms, or to retreat, than to fight 
 to the death like the men whom we remember. It 
 was not until the sifting power of events had 
 brought good men Harrison, Winfield Scott, etc. 
 to the top that any success began. 
 
 In the Southern department (which at first in- 
 cluded North and South Carolina, Georgia, the 
 lands west of them to the Mississippi, and the new 
 State of Louisiana) the enemy for some time gave 
 little trouble. General Pinckney did the best he 
 could with the small forces at his command, garri- 
 soning and fortifying all important places from the
 
 110 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Virginia to the Florida line, except Port Royal 
 entrance, which, weak from its own magnificent 
 proportions, could not be fortified. The largest 
 guns of that day could have done nothing for it. 
 The Florida frontier General Pinckney esteemed 
 his most dangerous quarter, expecting attack thence, 
 but for a time there was an idea that Don Onis, 
 the Spanish governor of Florida, might "cede" 
 that province to the United States. Very soon 
 after his return to Washington, Mr. Lowndes wrote 
 to General Pinckney about this. 
 
 This year Mrs. Lowndes accompanied her hus- 
 band, having taken a house in Georgetown for the 
 winter, so until the spring the letters to General 
 Pinckney are the only ones that we have. 
 
 Georgetown, November 27th, 1812. 
 
 My dear Sir, I suppose the intentions of 
 Government in respect to Florida may have been 
 explained to you before this by Mr. Monroe, who 
 speaks of having lately heard from you. If they 
 have not (although I have had no conversation on 
 this or any other political subject with any member 
 of the Administration), I believe that I am enabled, 
 by the report of persons more in its confidence, to 
 state what are its present views. No attempt will 
 probably be made, or at least none will be recom- 
 mended by the President, to pass a law authorizing 
 the occupation of Florida, at any rate before Feb- 
 ruary, and there is reason to believe that a cession 
 may be made of it, by Don Onis, before that time. 
 I have no doubt that Administration expects the 
 cession, although if Don Onis be at all the char- 
 acter I have heard him represented to be, he will 
 give any promises to induce a recognition of his 
 authority, without the influence, and perhaps with- 
 out much anxiety to procure their performance.
 
 IN WAR TIME 117 
 
 There are no news here ; the case of the merchants' 
 bonds has been reported on, but their fate is very 
 doubtful. 
 
 It is needless to say that Don Onis was true to 
 his character, and that Florida remained to Spain. 
 A letter from General Pinckney details the arrange- 
 ments which he has made ; the small assistance 
 given him by the government : " No gunboats for 
 the protection of the harbors ; and ... we have 
 not on the whole extent of this frontier, which 
 is 600 miles in length, a singular regular officer 
 above the grade of captain except at Charleston, 
 where I have placed Colonel Drayton. ... As 
 we are situated, an officer of the militia would prob- 
 ably take the command at any other place than 
 where I may happen to be at the time." The old 
 gentleman had seen the rout of the militia at Cam- 
 den (where he had been severely wounded), and 
 had small confidence in untrained soldiers. The 
 worst grievance was the threatened bill for making 
 the term of service only twelve months, a measure 
 said to be popular with all except the officers, who 
 knew the impossibility of keeping an effective army 
 on those terms. At Point Petre, on the St. Mary's 
 River, the boundary between Georgia and Florida, 
 he had collected what he thought a sufficient force, 
 and was busy drilling the men and fortifying the 
 position, which he considered a good one ; but how 
 will it be when " I understand that the term of 
 service of our riflemen is nearly expired, and that 
 almost all who are here must be discharged in 
 August next"? Mr. Lowndes's letters show how 
 annoying these bids for popularity are to his sim- 
 ple, straightforward mind.
 
 118 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Georgetown, December 13, 1S12. 
 I am sure that no difficulty on the subject of 
 your letters would arise from the committee of the 
 House to which I belong [the Military, to which 
 he had lately been assigned], if the Executive 
 Government would propose its plans, or give us 
 reason to believe that anything that we could do 
 would be useful. The disposition to support any 
 plan of the Administration which may offer the 
 faintest hope of giving vigor to the war was strongly 
 proved by the increase of pay, which a majority of 
 the committee thought to be injudicious, but which 
 they agreed to report to the House, in compliance 
 with the urgent wishes of the Cabinet, which was 
 unanimous in its favour until it was passed. It is 
 impossible that any advantage can arise from mea- 
 sures forced upon them, and they seem to me to 
 adopt no measure voluntarily from which they do 
 not expect an effect upon the elections, or, as their 
 phrase is, " to give an impulse to the public mind." 
 Under these circumstances the situation of a man 
 who has voted for war may be a painful one, but 
 his duty is plain : in the House to give his vote for 
 every measure which may enable the Administration 
 to conduct the war successfully, and out of it to 
 avoid as much as possible intercourse and connec- 
 tion with men who have no higher object than to 
 secure their places, and who expect to effect this 
 object by " management " at home. ... In appoint- 
 ing committees the precaution is always used, and it 
 is very necessary that it should be, of securing a ma- 
 jority of each in favour of the Cabinet, and in prac- 
 tice they are the organs through which the schemes 
 of the Administration are most frequently intro- 
 duced to the House. It has, I suppose, commonly 
 happened that the committees have been ready to 
 adopt whatever has been proposed to them, but dur-
 
 IN WAR TIME 119 
 
 ing this session and the last we have frequently had 
 to regret the want of this concurrence of opinion. 
 In respect to this last military plan, I have been un- 
 able to convince myself as one member of the com- 
 mittee which is desired to report it, that the enlist- 
 ments for twelve-months' men can be wise ; but, 
 anxious not to embarrass the Administration, I have 
 agreed that the bill should be reported, although I 
 could not vote for it in the House. I believe that 
 a more consistent course would have been to move 
 the substitution of some other member in my place, 
 but I should wish to avoid this as long as possible. 
 There can be little doubt but that the loan required 
 for the next year will be twenty-three millions of 
 dollars at least. As yet we have appeared much 
 more fruitful in expedients for spending money 
 than for raising it. 
 
 There are other letters much to the same effect. 
 On January 16th he writes that the whole army bill 
 has been carried, although " there were not half a 
 dozen men who approved it. Every one was sensible, 
 however, that to deny to the Executive the means 
 which he thought necessary to carry on the war 
 would be a measure of very doubtful propriety. . . . 
 It was fortunate for the Administration, or at least 
 for their wishes in this particular measure, that the 
 opposition selected it as the occasion of a general 
 discussion of the war, its causes, and the necessity 
 for its continuance. The vote was by many consid- 
 ered a vote of approbation to the war, rather than 
 to the measure." 
 
 It may be as well to say at once that there were 
 no important actions on the South Atlantic coast. 
 The enemy did, as General Pinckney expected, at- 
 tack Point Petre on the St. Mary's, sending fifteen 
 hundred men in boats up the river for that purpose ;
 
 l'JO WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 but the fortifications were good, and the garrison, 
 under an old Revolutionary officer, Major Messias, 
 made so brave a show, that the English concluded 
 that the post was too strong to be carried and with- 
 drew. They also threatened the little town of 
 Beaufort, some distance up the river above Port 
 Royal ; but there, too, the small force succeeded in 
 daunting the enemy, who, believing its numbers 
 much greater than they really were, retreated. 
 The English, however, as they had done in the 
 Revolution, entered Port Royal and the many un- 
 guarded inlets along the coast, and made predatory 
 attacks on the coast plantations to the alarm of the 
 inhabitants. Many allusions to these are in Mr. 
 Lowndes's letters. The letters also show constant 
 efforts to procure the cannon and arms and money 
 for which General Pinckney asked, but apparently 
 with very little success. Money was indeed becom- 
 ing already a very serious question, and to this was 
 due the debate about the merchants' bonds already 
 mentioned. 
 
 As early as November, 1812, Mr. Gallatin, the 
 very able Secretary, looking about him with an 
 empty treasury and no means of filling it, bethought 
 himself of the large sums then at hand from a pe- 
 culiar source. During the long negotiations prior 
 to the declaration of war, America had said that if 
 Great Britain would rescind her Orders in Council 
 she woidd withdraw her Non-Importation Acts, and 
 there should be peace and commerce between the 
 countries. After long hesitation Great Britain did 
 rescind the Orders : she might as well have done so 
 long before, but one of her recent historians has 
 whimsically said that " she overlooked the provoca- 
 tion that she gave." It was certainly not for want 
 of being reminded of it that she did so, as the long 
 diplomatic correspondence shows. Be that as it
 
 IN WAR TIME 121 
 
 may, she did at last repeal them, and the merchants 
 rushed into the market to buy and ship goods to 
 America. It was not for American purchase only, 
 but to be reshipped to those ports, " under French 
 influence," where England herself could not trade. 
 
 In the mean while, four days before the repeal of 
 the orders, on the 19th of June, war had been for- 
 mally declared at Washington. Not until Septem- 
 ber was the news received and an answering declara- 
 tion proclaimed at London. For the intervening two 
 months, richly laden vessels had been daily sent 
 across the seas to the American ports. On arriving, 
 the American acts being still in force, the goods 
 were seized and sold. Five millions of dollars, and 
 bonds worth eighteen millions more, were in charge 
 of the treasury, but had not been confiscated, for 
 the purchases had been made in good faith, and 
 the matter had not been adjudicated. Mr. Gallatin 
 now proposed that the government should, as a pen- 
 alty, confiscate the five millions, seizing it as the 
 fine due under the act. He sent this proposition 
 to Langdon Cheves, the chairman of the Committee 
 of Ways and Means, to whose necessities it must 
 have seemed like water in a thirsty land. The 
 need was sore, the temptation great, and technically, 
 perhaps, the plan was legal. But Mr. Cheves, 
 though seeing the help that five millions would be 
 to a depleted treasury, could not in conscience re- 
 commend it to the House. He was in the same 
 predicament as the Military Committee mentioned 
 in the last given letter. He stated the plan to the 
 House, su^jjested that it should be referred back to 
 the department, warned the House that it should 
 not without extreme consideration put its hands into 
 private pockets, and withheld all further advice. 
 
 There was much difference of opinion. Gallatin, 
 a just man, thought it a perfectly justifiable mea-
 
 122 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 sure, and many agreed with him. Mr. Calhoun 
 spoke strongly against the bill, and Mr. Lowndes 
 is said to have done so also. I can find no mention 
 of this speech in the " Abridged Debates," but 
 Mr. Henry Adams (whom I have quoted before) 
 says : " Lowndes fortified Calhoun's position by 
 showing, that ' if the plan of confiscation, and of a 
 rigid execution of the law were dismissed, no just 
 principles of policy, not even the interests of the 
 treasury, could justify an exaction which would 
 resolve itself into a tax.' ' I have told this long 
 story chiefly to be able to introduce the first of the 
 many compliments which from this time forth were 
 frequently paid to Mr. Lowndes by his fellow 
 members in debate, which show the impression 
 made by him upon his contemporaries. Mr. Gros- 
 venor, of New York, speaking March 2, 1813, 
 says : 
 
 " I shall not enter into any argument to show the 
 impolicy, the injustice, the danger of such a mea- 
 sure ; that task has been most ably and successfully 
 performed by an honorable gentlemen from South 
 Carolina (Mr. Lowndes). He has shown that, 
 connected with the maritime power of the enemy, 
 and with other bills already passed this House, this 
 measure has all the blasting qualities, without even 
 the few equivocal benefits of a broad restrictive 
 system. And he has demonstrated the irreparable 
 mischief which must result from such weak and 
 mongrel measures. His reasoning has not been 
 met ; it cannot be refuted. I will not weaken its 
 effect on the House by attempting to enforce it." 
 
 Finally a bill was sent down from the Senate 
 remitting all penalties on goods owned by Ameri- 
 cans and shipped from England before September 
 the 15th, when the declaration of war was pub- 
 lished there. It was carried in the House by the
 
 IN WAR TIME 123 
 
 votes of Cheves, Lowndes, and Calhoun, who, voting 
 with the Federalists, gave them the narrow major- 
 ity of three which turned the scale. This proceed- 
 ing so amazed their party that Felix Grundy, of 
 Tennessee, complained : " Gentlemen have assumed 
 a strange high-minded position in this argument, 
 the force of which is, I confess, beyond my com- 
 prehension." 
 
 To a strict party man it must have been bewil- 
 dering ; but the strength of these men lay largely 
 in the fact that they were thinking, not of their 
 party, but of their country. To them it did not 
 matter what a policy was called, or by whom pro- 
 posed, so that to their judgment it was right. 
 And so, when occasion came, they threw their 
 weight now to this side, now to that, voting some- 
 times with the Federalists, sometimes with the 
 Republicans, caring most for the character of the 
 country. 
 
 The sentiment was short-lived perhaps ; perhaps 
 it could only have existed in the presence of a 
 foreign foe, but it was beautiful while it lasted, 
 " when none was for a party, and all were for the 
 state." 
 
 They had in them that pure element of enthusi- 
 asm which, not stopping to count the cost, or think- 
 ing of individual interest, insisted, as upon a right, 
 on what was noble, just, and honest. 
 
 Calhoun struck the note when he said, early in 
 1813: 
 
 " Our union cannot exist on the cold calculations 
 of interest alone, it is too weak to withstand politi- 
 cal convulsions ; we cannot without hazard neglect 
 that which makes a man love to be a member of 
 an extensive community, the love of greatness, the 
 consciousness of strength." 
 
 The failure of this plan (viz. the merchants'
 
 124 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 bonds) had the unfortunate effect of causing the 
 resignation of Mr. Gallatin, the ablest financier 
 (with the exception, perhaps, of Robert Morris) 
 whom the country had ever produced. He knew 
 that there was an absurd prejudice against him 
 because of his foreign birth, and conceiving the re- 
 jection of the bill as a censure upon himself, he 
 insisted on resigning. Many considered this resig- 
 nation, in the then troubled condition of affairs, as 
 that of a soldier in front of the enemy, that is, as 
 desertion, and he was much abused in conse- 
 quence. The first letter to Mrs. Lowndes, after her 
 return home in June, alludes to this, and to a most 
 distressing event. 
 
 Washington, June 7th, 1813. 
 
 As yet, my dear wife, our weather is very plea- 
 sant, and I hope your journey to the Grove will 
 have been less painful than I thought you had 
 reason to expect. I believe that your father will 
 spend this summer upon Sullivan's Island, as I 
 learn that the camp at St. Mary's is to be broken 
 up and the troops dispersed along the coast. AVe 
 have just heard news from the land and the water, 
 of victory and of most unexpected defeat. But 
 the success at Fort George cannot compensate us, 
 at least cannot reconcile us to the capture of the 
 Chesapeake. There are still persons, however, who 
 disbelieve the afflicting narrative ; but I cannot see 
 any opening for doubt. 
 
 The length of the session will depend very much 
 upon the disposition of the Federal gentlemen to 
 enter into the discussion of the general question of 
 war. If they waive it and confine themselves to 
 the question of finance, I yet think we may get 
 away by the 15th of July, but I have little hope of 
 their taking this course. We have a hundred new 
 members eager to break a lance, and nearly as
 
 IN WAR TIME 125 
 
 many old ones who will talk from habit if they 
 have nothing to say. For myself, unless it shall 
 be proposed to shoot Mr. Gallatin for desertion, I 
 shall maintain my accustomed silence during the 
 session. 
 
 The bad news of the Chesapeake was but too 
 true. The only satisfaction hitherto since the 
 beginning of the war had been the naval victories ; 
 no one had expected to cope with England on the 
 sea, and the elation was the greater for the surprise. 
 
 When Lawrence, in the Hornet, captured the 
 Peacock, men felt that the murders of the Chesa- 
 peake were avenged ; unhappily, Lawrence, in the 
 same ill-fated Chesapeake, went out to meet the 
 Shannon, and met more than his match. The 
 Chesapeake was, as the sailors say, " ill found," 
 and the Shannon, under the gallant Broke, was 
 in splendid fighting trim. Lawrence and many of 
 his men were killed, and, in spite of his dying cry, 
 which has become almost a proverb, the ship was 
 given up. It was the first great reverse at sea, and 
 a severe one, for there were so few frigates. 
 
 I give a few sentences from the other letters of 
 this session (1813), most of them on the danger 
 of attacks by the English vessels already mentioned, 
 and on the unnecessary talking in Congress, written 
 with annoyance worthy of Carlyle. 
 
 Washington, June 23d, 1813. 
 At last, my dear wife, we have the tax bills be- 
 fore us. We got yesterday half through one of 
 them, and if all general discussion be avoided, if 
 we say nothing on either side of the origin of the 
 war, do not accuse of moral murder, or recrimi- 
 nate by charge of moral treason, we may, I think, 
 adjourn in a month. You may readily suppose
 
 12G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 me anxious for the event, for the present state of 
 our polities makes me at once inactive and restless. 
 Besides ordinary motives, too, I never felt the 
 same anxiety for a crop, and it never indeed was 
 so absolutely necessary. . . . Tell Mrs. Brown 
 [his sister] that we have here from New York a 
 Connecticut man, Oakley, a great favourite of 
 Dr. Dwight, who has given us one of the best 
 speeches I ever heard. The papers of his own side 
 mention it only as a good speech, but I believe that 
 every man in the House who can be considered in 
 any degree capable of judging (whatever may be 
 his party) considers him as raising Connecticut to 
 the highest form on our floor. I know she loves 
 to hear the praise of Connecticut, and for my part 
 I can praise merit wherever I find it. 
 
 A little later Mr. Lowndes writes : 
 " I am very sorry that your mother has decided to 
 spend the summer on the Island. I have thought 
 hitherto that the objection to staying there was the 
 danger of being frightened, rather than that of 
 being hurt. But now I should not be surprised at 
 the English landing on the Island. They seem to 
 have adopted the plan of alarming us by debarka- 
 tions, doubtless to prevent reinforcements being sent 
 to the North as well as to increase the expense and 
 unpopularity of the war. They have lately landed 
 a considerable force in the neighborhood of Nor- 
 folk, and I really do not see why they might not 
 land one near forts Moultrie or Johnson." 
 
 These little invasions were doubtless annoying, 
 but the blockade which the British had established 
 from New York to Darien was still more so, and 
 the " pocket pinch " was already beginning to be 
 felt. Only the New England ports were open, 
 for in order to foster the well known disaffection
 
 IN WAR TIME 127 
 
 there, Boston, Salem, etc., were not only left free 
 by Great Britain, but the West Indies were li- 
 censed to trade with them, as a reward for their 
 friendship. By some curious process of reasoning 1 , 
 their merchants persuaded themselves that, as they 
 thought the war unjust, they might " religiously 
 and morally " give aid and comfort, and derive 
 profit, by trading with the enemy. So they sent 
 droves of cattle and wagons of provisions to the 
 Canadian frontier, and victualed the British ships 
 whenever they got a chance ; much as if in June, 
 1898, Florida had sent food to General Blanco, or 
 supplied the fleet of Admiral Cervera. 
 
 Their bias was yet more clearly shown by the 
 notice which Decatur declared they gave of his 
 movements to the enemy. Having put into the 
 port of New London for repairs, he was kept there 
 for months, for whenever he proposed to steal out, 
 blue lights and other signals told the watchful 
 Englishmen of his design, and he was forced to 
 remain inactive. There was great reason to fear 
 that Massachusetts and Connecticut would openly 
 declare for England. 
 
 From New York to Georgia, on the other hand, 
 the blockade was strict. Planters and merchants 
 could sell nothing ; rice in Charleston and Savan- 
 nah sold for three dollars a hundred, and cotton at 
 nine cents a pound, while in Boston they brought 
 twelve dollars, and twenty cents, respectively. Im- 
 ports were the other way. Sugar was eighteen 
 dollars at Boston and twenty-six at Baltimore. It 
 was a matter of endurance for principle, and was 
 borne patiently. 
 
 To this state of things the Administration put 
 on an embargo, primarily intended to check this 
 treasonable trade, but in 1814 Calhoun brought in 
 a bill to repeal it, embargoes and non-importation
 
 128 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 acts being against the Carolinian creed. It was 
 better for the interests of the treasury that one 
 part of the Union, at least, should be prosperous 
 and have customs to pay, than that all should fail 
 alike. Lowndes supported Calhoun's bill, and it 
 was carried ; but it brought them into opposition 
 with the government, for Madison and his Cabinet 
 had inherited the " commercial restriction " policy, 
 and it went hard with them to give it up. 
 
 Some of the devices resorted to at the South to 
 help the poor to help themselves remind one of 
 the efforts of the Irish ladies during the great 
 famine, as the following taken from the " Charleston 
 Courier : " 
 
 " Donations of cotton will be thankfully received 
 by the Ladies' Benevolent Society, for the purpose 
 of employing indigent women in spinning, who 
 cannot at this time obtain a sufficiency of work to 
 earn a subsistence. Jan. 12, 1814." 
 
 For the public service, and fortifications, too, 
 money had to be raised, as this letter shows. 
 
 " On reading your letter over I observe that you 
 have determined to subscribe rather labour than 
 produce or money. I believe that you have deter- 
 mined correctly, but I would much rather err on 
 the side of liberality than of penuriousness, and if 
 many people have subscribed produce, and my sub- 
 scription of labour is not already among the most 
 liberal, I should wish to add fifty barrels of rice to 
 my subscription. If there be no peace, the rice, if 
 I keep it, will be without value, and if there be 
 peace, I hope we shall be able to get along without 
 it." 
 
 This letter, however, was not written until spring, 
 and in January, 1814, Mr. Lowndes had the great 
 pleasure of moving a vote of thanks and praise to
 
 IN WAR TIME 129 
 
 many gallant sailors, living and dead. He was at 
 this time chairman of the Naval Committee, and so 
 had the right to present it, and the navy was al- 
 ways, as has been said, his dearest care. 
 
 To Lawrence, thanks for the capture of the Pea- 
 cock were mingled with mourning for his death 
 on the Chesapeake, so quickly had the actions suc- 
 ceeded each other. Congress voted a gold medal 
 to each of his surviving officers. Mr. Lowndes in 
 support of this resolution said : 
 
 " I should be inexcusable if I were long to detain 
 the committee from the vote I hope the unani- 
 mous vote which they are prepared to give upon 
 the resolutions. The victories to which they refer 
 are indeed of unequal magnitude and importance ; 
 but the least important of them, if it had been ob- 
 tained by the subjects of any nation on the conti- 
 nent of Europe, would have been heard with ad- 
 miration and rewarded with munificence." 
 
 He spoke of each battle, and enumerated the offi- 
 cers concerned in it with care ; dwelling peculiarly 
 on the battle of Lake Erie by Perry, from which 
 he hoped that the House would learn a lesson fa- 
 vorable to his great desire, large ships and fleets. 
 The other sea fights had been by single ships, but 
 Commodore Perry's little fleet, built by himself 
 from the forests around, had achieved so much, 
 the safety of northern New York, and the opportu- 
 nity given to General Harrison to repulse the In- 
 dians without an English army in his rear, that 
 it was easy to point out the value of concerted 
 action. He eloquently praised the courage and 
 daring, and the " fertility of resource," which had 
 changed almost certain defeat to victory, and con- 
 cluded : " Captain Perry and his gallant associates 
 have not only given us victory in one quarter, but 
 shown us how to obtain it in another yet more im-
 
 130 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 portant. How deep is now the impression on every 
 mind that we want but ships to give our fleet on the 
 Atlantic the success which has hitherto attended 
 our single vessels. We want but ships. We want 
 then but time. Never had a nation when first 
 obliged to engage in the defense of naval rights by 
 naval means, never had such a nation the advan- 
 tages or the success of ours. . . . To such men we 
 can do no honour. All records of the present time 
 must be lost, history must be a fable or a blank, or 
 their fame is secure. To the naval character of 
 the country our votes can do no honour, but we 
 may secure ourselves from the imputation of insen- 
 sibility to its merit ; we can at least express our 
 admiration and our gratitude." 
 
 Mr. Chase says of this speech that " it was re- 
 ceived and read with enthusiasm in every part of 
 the country," and that " it deserves especial atten- 
 tion from the extensive popularity that it gave to 
 its author." The approbation, however, was not 
 universal, for Mr. Quincy declared, speaking of 
 the action of the Peacock and the Hornet : 
 
 " It is not becoming a moral and religious people 
 to express any admiration of military or naval ex- 
 ploits which are not immediately connected with 
 the defense of our seacoast or soil." To how many 
 maritime leagues of distance should our fleets be 
 limited ? 
 
 Soon after this Mrs. Lowndes joined her hus- 
 band in Washington, and there are therefore no 
 more letters to her to the end of the session. It 
 may as well be said here that notwithstanding the 
 fatigue of the long journey with three little chil- 
 dren, the difficulties of housekeeping, etc., she en- 
 joyed the Washington life on the whole. Besides 
 the privilege of being with her husband and watch- 
 ing over his health, she liked the varied society.
 
 IN WAR TIME 131 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Monroe, whom she had known in 
 her girlhood when abroad with her father, received 
 her most kindly, and introduced her at once to all 
 that was best. An exceedingly quiet and reserved 
 person, she yet took her part becomingly, and par- 
 ticularly liked the foreign element which already 
 began to give a cosmopolitan tone to " the capital." 
 She spoke French fluently, and Italian tolerably, 
 accomplishments rarer then and more esteemed than 
 now, and this made her society agreeable to stran- 
 gers. With the wife of the French Minister, Ma- 
 dame la Baronne Hyde de Neuf ville, a very charm- 
 ing woman, she became intimate, and corresponded 
 for years. A much greater aid and comfort was 
 the friendship of Mrs. Langdon Cheves, the wife 
 of her husband's colleague and friend. Mrs. 
 Cheves, a woman whose great beauty adorned an 
 admirable character, had preceded Mrs. Lowndes 
 in Washington by some years, and could give many 
 useful hints. The two Carolina ladies held together, 
 as their husbands did, to the same advantage, as 
 their letters and notes testify. Now sympathizing 
 over domestic difficulties, now lamenting the pranks 
 of their schoolboys, now offering help in entertain- 
 ments, and now planning to buy together and di- 
 vide "a bolt of nankin, which is cheap by the 
 piece, and will be a great help for the boys," viz. 
 for their trousers. Mr. Calhoun was another con- 
 stant visitor, and Mrs. Lowndes would often in 
 after years point to an old brown volume of maps, 
 and tell how Lowndes and Calhoun would bend 
 over it, eagerly debating where the roads and canals, 
 for which both longed, should go. There could be 
 no doubt that good roads were a military necessity, 
 and Mr. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, had the 
 question at heart. Mr. Lowndes wished for them, 
 too, as means of interstate communication, particu-
 
 132 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 larly with the western country, " that the people 
 might know each other better and commerce be 
 facilitated." Canals, too, were discussed. Where 
 were the best lines, the easiest levels? Could the 
 newly invented steamboats be used on them ? 
 Then the rights of the States. How without in- 
 fringing them could these long roads be made? 
 Could the States be induced to consent and to ac- 
 cept assistance ? Should it be loans or subsidies ? 
 So planned the two friends, ignorant of railroads 
 yet to come. 
 
 For the rest of the session (winter and spring of 
 1814) Mr. Lowndes continued busy with the naval 
 affairs. Mr. Chase (to whose careful research I 
 am greatly indebted) says that " the bills passed 
 under his influence at this session were laws in aid 
 of the naval establishment and the general system 
 of national defense ; to authorize an increase of the 
 marine corps, and the construction of floating bat- 
 teries ; to allow rank to be bestowed on naval 
 officers for distinguished conduct ; to provide for 
 the appointment of flotilla officers, for bounties for 
 prisoners captured on the high seas and brought 
 into port, and for pensions for the widows and chil- 
 dren of those slain in action." A good amount of 
 work for one session. 
 
 By this time the American privateers were the 
 terror of the seas. Light, swift schooners, they 
 darted about like sea birds, pouncing on every 
 English merchantman which came in their way, and 
 doing, undoubtedly, great damage to the enemy's 
 commerce. The country at large delighted in and 
 prided itself upon them. But to privateering Mr. 
 Lowndes was unalterably opposed ; and as he had 
 two years before, so now again he spoke and voted 
 against it, though quite aware that he ran the risk 
 of incurring much unpopularity by so doing. He
 
 IN WAR TIME 133 
 
 admitted that the country had unusual facilities for 
 this species of warfare, and might, or did, derive 
 some immediate benefit from it ; but he objected 
 to putting into private hands what was, he thought, 
 the duty of the government alone, viz. waging 
 war and thereby increasing its horrors. No good, 
 he thought, would in the long run result from a 
 measure evil in itself. He failed to produce any 
 effect, however, and it was reserved for another 
 generation to approve his ideas. 
 
 There are a few letters to General Pinckney, 
 from which I give some extracts : 
 
 Georgetown, January 19th, 1814. 
 My dear Sir, I have not as yet seen the 
 Secretary of War, a disappointment caused by his 
 having been unwell for some time after he came 
 here, and in part by the House having lately re- 
 mained in session pretty regularly for the whole 
 time of office hours. I communicated to Mr. 
 Monroe your wishes on the subject of any agency 
 which it might be proposed to give you in the set- 
 tlement of our Indian affairs. He tells me that the 
 President approves very much of the position which 
 you have taken for headquarters, and of the plan 
 which he understands you have adopted. ... It 
 appears to me very plain that it was not the want 
 of means of remittance, but the want of money, 
 which prevented your being supplied in Georgia. 
 The department, however, has now got a vote for a 
 million and a half, and I hope that the South will 
 receive some of it. I can hardly think it possible, 
 indeed, that they will incur the mischief and disgrace 
 of allowing the militiamen to return home without 
 their pay. 
 
 This letter refers to that Indian war in which
 
 134 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 General Jackson won his first laurels. The savages 
 incited by the English, who sent them arms, and 
 bestowed upon their chief Hilishago the title of 
 brigadier-general, together with a splendid uniform 
 and a rifle, tomahawk, and scalping-knife, all em- 
 blazoned with the royal arms burst upon the set- 
 tlers in Tennessee and Georgia with their usual 
 ferocity. Jackson marched upon them instantly, 
 sending also to General Pinckney for aid. General 
 Pinekney did all that the distances and the pathless 
 state of the country permitted, sending the Georgia 
 militia to his assistance, and following himself as 
 fast as possible. He arrived only in time to see 
 the victor sign with the red men the treaty of Fort 
 Jackson, which ended hostilities for a time. It 
 was after this that General Pinckney advised that 
 his department should be divided, as altogether too 
 large for one man's handling ; and that the South- 
 west and Gulf coast should be made into a separate 
 division, with General Jackson as its commander. 
 
 The battle of New Orleans showed the excellence 
 of the advice. The painful want of money alluded 
 to was greatly caused by the hostility of the large 
 cities to the Administration. They would make 
 no loans, the banks protesting incapacity, and this 
 led to the effort to form another United States 
 Bank, which was to be the chief occupation of the 
 coming session. 
 
 Georgetown, February 15th, 1814. 
 My dear Sir, I put into the Postoffice this 
 morning some packets containing General Arm- 
 strong's [Secretary of War] report on the failure of 
 our arms [against Canada]. The correspondence 
 must be read with interest, but not I think with 
 pleasure ; the publication of Colonel Purdy's letter 
 seems to me to have been a very wanton attack
 
 IN WAR TIME 135 
 
 upon an officer, whom it was the less necessary to 
 assail as he seems from the correspondence to have 
 announced his determination of resigning. Of this, 
 however, I have heard nothing except from this 
 correspondence." 
 
 April 16th, 1814. 
 
 We have rumours here of an armistice, or rather 
 of a proposition for one, which I have not heard 
 from any good authority, but which many circum- 
 stances induce me to believe. The repeal of the 
 embargo and non-importation laws, which passed 
 the House of Representatives by a very large 
 majority, and will, I believe, pass the Senate by a 
 much larger proportionally, has by some persons 
 been supposed to be connected with a negotiation. 
 If the President, however, has this reason for his 
 change of policy, he did not think fit to communicate 
 it to the House, nor even, I believe, to confide it to 
 one of its members." 
 
 This was the repeal of the embargo already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Before Congress met again Washington had 
 fallen, perhaps the only instance of the capital of 
 a country being taken by an enemy with hardly a 
 blow struck in its defense. It is a curious story 
 altogether, but does not belong here, the modera- 
 tion of the victors being perhaps the strangest part 
 of it. It was rather a keen mortification than a 
 crushing blow, for Washington did not then contain 
 anything of irreparable value. The mortification 
 seems to have stirred the army to greater efforts and 
 from that time the tide of fortune began to turn ; 
 the first letter for the autumn session mentions a 
 military success, the battle of Lundy's Lane. It 
 also shows the feeling of insecurity about Wash- 
 ington which the event had caused, and the talk of 
 removing the capital.
 
 130 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Washington, September 25th, 1814. 
 I am now settled here, and shall remain in this 
 mess to which I am now attached while Congress 
 continues in this place (I mean for the session). 
 They talk, however, of moving the seat of govern- 
 ment, at least for a time ; an attempt at least will be 
 made to move it, and its success is not improbable. 
 I have not told you who compose our mess. We 
 have Mr. Gaillard, Mr. Giles, Mr. Brown, and Judge 
 Tate (Senators), Mr. Cheves, Seybert, and myself 
 (Representatives). We shall have such an addi- 
 tion to our number as to make it twelve, but we are 
 not yet sure who they will be. As yet the mess is 
 
 a pleasant one, although chatters incessantly. 
 
 But as I have no great respect for his character, I 
 do not condemn myself to be a very patient lis- 
 tener. ... I have not yet mentioned the articles 
 which we left here [in the house which they had 
 rented for a year, the previous session], but I believe 
 that we have hot lost much. Our house, like almost 
 every other on the hill, has been very much injured, 
 not by the English but by a severe storm the night 
 after they were here. I think that I shall get rid 
 of it by paying half the rent. ... I have not yet 
 told you, I believe, that Mrs. Cheves is to stay at 
 Philadelphia this winter. Mr. Madison has been 
 very ill, so ill that his recovery has been extraordi- 
 nary. You have, I suppose, heard of General 
 Brown's success. He has made a sortie, killed and 
 taken about 800 men, and destroyed the works 
 which the English had advanced against him, and 
 which indeed endangered his army. 
 
 On October 9th comes the first definite hope of 
 peace. Commissioners from the United States 
 and his Britannic Majesty had been named and 
 accepted. Mr. Lowndes writes :
 
 IN WAR TIME 137 
 
 Washington, October 9th, 1814. 
 I write so often that you will begin to think the 
 privilege of franking a valuable one, but as you are 
 no doubt very anxious for peace, I send you last 
 evening's paper, which contains an account of the 
 arrival of the " John Adams " at New York. Mr. 
 Dallas has arrived with dispatches there, and the 
 negotiation is, I believe, undoubtedly going on at 
 Ghent. Its prospects of success are, however, still 
 the subjects of speculation, not of information. 
 My own opinion is (what it has been for some time 
 past) that the English Government, in protracting 
 the negotiation until the conclusion of the campaign, 
 is influenced by the natural policy of leaving on our 
 recollections, when peace shall have been made, 
 impressions of her power, which may discourage 
 future wars against her. I continue, therefore, to 
 think (in private) that we shall have peace this 
 winter. But the hope of peace is so apt to dis- 
 courage exertion that it ought hardly to be ex- 
 pressed in public until it becomes confidence, if not 
 certainty. 
 
 October 16th. 
 
 You will have seen the communications from our 
 ministers at Ghent. The prospect is a gloomy one. 
 I have no doubt of our ability to defend the coun- 
 try, but the effort must produce great individual 
 sacrifices and distress. Of the disposition of the 
 Government of this country to make peace on any 
 terms which any honourable man in the nation 
 could be disposed to accept, a full proof has, I 
 think, been given. How long the war shall last 
 must be determined by the enemy, although that 
 determination will be much affected by our manner 
 of conducting it. He will only wish for peace 
 when persuaded that war will give him neither ad- 
 vantage nor glory.
 
 138 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 It is commonly supposed here that Lord Hill will 
 attack either the Southern ports or Louisiana. At 
 such a moment, to be absent from one's family is 
 very painful. I cannot think that the English will 
 attempt to maintain the scat of war in the Southern 
 States. If they were to attack Charleston and 
 take it, their European troops would suffer more 
 in the first summer than from the severest European 
 campaign, yet our calculation should be that they 
 will attack it. 
 
 We do not hear at this place a whisper of peace. 
 If the Administration think it in any degree prob- 
 able, they keep the secret of their opinions better 
 than usual. It is, indeed, very important that our 
 exertions should not be weakened by the opinion 
 that they may be unnecessary. Yet the hope in 
 which I sometimes indulge myself I cannot refuse 
 to communicate to you, but I must beg you to say 
 nothing of it to any one else. 
 
 This caution reminds me of an anecdote told by 
 Mrs. Lowndes to her granddaughter. Being, she 
 said, naturally silent and reserved, it was not hard 
 for her to be extremely prudent as to her husband's 
 communications to her, putting aside all indiscreet 
 questions with a civil disclaimer of any particular 
 information. She carried this, however, a little 
 too far, for the inquirers thought her badly treated, 
 and whispers arose of " poor Elizabeth, her hus- 
 band gives her so little of his confidence. She 
 knows less than the newspapers, absolutely no- 
 thing." She was naturally annoyed, and in order 
 to avert these suspicions, she begged her husband 
 always to put a word of warning, when facts or 
 opinions were to be kept to herself, while those 
 meant for the public were to be left unguarded,
 
 IN WAR TIME 139 
 
 and thus succeeded in restoring Mr. Lowndes's re- 
 putation among her friends. 
 
 October 23d, 1814. 
 
 I meant to have written to you to-night, but the 
 House has adjourned to-day at one o'clock in con- 
 sequence of the sudden death of the Vice-President, 
 Mr. Gerry. He was on his way to the Senate, 
 where it was his habit not only to insist upon 
 punctually fulfilling all the duties of his office, but 
 from the weak fear of confirming the opinions of 
 those who thought him too old for his situation, to 
 exert himself in doing as president much which a 
 younger man would have allowed to devolve on a 
 clerk. He is now dead, and his friends may, I be- 
 lieve, justly boast that in every political situation 
 he firmly pursued the policy which he believed to 
 be right ; while his enemies, if they permit their 
 enmity to survive its object, can say little more 
 against him than that nature denied him the talents 
 (even in the most moderate degree) which his po- 
 litical offices required. His country made him 
 ambassador and vice-president, but he was certainly 
 not one of nature's nobles. . . . You see by our 
 last accounts that the negotiations at Ghent have 
 not been broken off. Lord Hill will not be in 
 America this winter. I feel less anxiety from the 
 expectation of an attack on South Carolina than I 
 have done. 
 
 The omitted portions of this and the other letters 
 of this time are filled with anxious inquiries about 
 crops, plantation work, overseers, etc., and the 
 pressing question of ways and means. Mr. 
 Lowndes's long absences, and the fact that his 
 lands were liable to overflow from " freshets " in 
 the river, had by this time begun to impair his for- 
 tune. Nowhere in the world is the master's eye
 
 140 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 more needed than on a rice plantation ; few are 
 the overseers who can supply the intelligent vigi- 
 lance which the situation demands. Ellick had 
 proved incapable of conducting matters on his own 
 responsibility, and Mrs. Lowndes was worried by 
 fears that, while remiss about his own work, he, 
 being dressed in a little brief authority, was severe 
 to the people. The white overseers were little 
 better, and Mrs. Lowndes determined to remain at 
 Jacksonborough (the village nearest to the Horse 
 Shoe) throughout the summer, in hopes that her 
 presence would serve at once as a check and a 
 stimulus. There were difficulties, of health and a 
 school for the boys, and Mr. Lowndes writes, " I 
 hope if your sister [Mrs. linger] should go to 
 the Horse Shoe (or, indeed, if she should not), 
 that you will have everything done to your gloomy 
 residence which can make it more tolerable. I 
 fear that while war lasts we can calculate in Caro- 
 lina only on the comforts which are to be obtained 
 without buying; but whatever you can obtain either 
 by the labor of the negroes or by credit I earnestly 
 wish you to obtain." And again 
 
 November 6th. 
 
 Our situation certainly requires great efforts and 
 sacrifices. If the war should last many years, I 
 believe that the nation possesses resources which 
 will enable it to support it with honour. As to 
 our private interest, I believe that should the war 
 last thi*ee years longer, I shall not be worth more 
 than fifty negroes after paying my debts. With 
 these we must retire to some situation where we 
 may enjoy health and tranquillity. And then it 
 will be some consolation to reflect that if in my 
 public situation I have supported measures which 
 have impaired the fortunes of many of my country-
 
 IN WAR TIME 141 
 
 men, at least I cannot be accused of having made 
 my own. About the pounding of the rice, etc. . . . 
 Do inculcate upon Ellick, the necessity of turning 
 the winter to as much account as possible, by put- 
 ting his lands into high order [ample directions 
 how to do this], I am sorry to hear of your diffi- 
 culties in establishing a boarding-house [for the 
 next summer, in Jacksonborough], though they 
 have not been unexpected. I certainly did not 
 think when I left Carolina that the difficulties of a 
 school were half removed. 
 
 Such were some of the troubles of a planter's 
 wife. On November 30th Mr. Lowndes writes 
 that the dispatches from Ghent are encouraging, 
 and continues : 
 
 " I now frequently pass my evenings at Cheves's 
 [Mrs. Cheves had now joined her husband in 
 Washington], and I find particular relief in the 
 conversation of the children. Louisa and Sophia 
 propose no projects of a bank, and Joseph has 
 never started the subject of a conscription." This 
 alludes to a passage in a recent letter, in which he 
 says that the conversation at the " mess," turning 
 entirely on politics, affords no relaxation from the 
 labors of the day. He adds, " As to our own chil- 
 dren, I am very anxious to know what you have 
 done with them. If we have peace, I must spend 
 next summer in the back country, and we shall 
 therefore be as much at a loss about them in 
 summer as in winter. It would not be easy to say 
 what it is which recommends public life, and yet 
 how few willingly quit it. I am sometimes sur- 
 prised that I should have remained in it so long. 
 Some men indeed want offices of honor or of profit, 
 and three years ago I should have been glad of 
 military employment. But at present I am sure
 
 142 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 that there is no office from that of President to an 
 ensigncy or a collectorship which I would accept. 
 I cannot retain the place of Member of Congress, 
 then, from the hope of its leading to anything else, 
 and yet I have not fully resolved to decline. I 
 sent you, a day or two ago, a pamphlet containing 
 the dispatches of our commissioners. There seems 
 to be some difference of opinion on the prospects 
 of peace which it opens. . . . There are really in 
 Congress (in both Houses, as I think) a good deal 
 of zeal and of political courage. But although a 
 vigorous system of policy may be adopted and pur- 
 sued by the legislature, it must originate in the 
 Cabinet. I have got too near the end of my paper 
 to begin a political disquisition." 
 
 Peace was really much nearer than they knew, 
 but for the time the terrible want of money made 
 the bank question almost the chief interest of the 
 session. Writing to General Pinckney early in 
 December, Mr. Lowndes says : 
 
 " In respect to ordnance, fortifications and men, 
 I believe our difficulties are pecuniary. We have 
 every reason to believe that as many recruits could 
 be obtained as we could support, if we could supply 
 bounties and clothing ; but every post brings ac- 
 counts of contractors and commissaries who are un- 
 able to furnish to the men already enlisted their 
 ordinary supplies. The tax bills are passing with 
 considerable expedition through both Houses, and 
 their amount is very great in comparison with any 
 internal revenue which the government has ever 
 yet enjoyed, but very inadequate to the expenses of 
 the year, if the hope of effecting a loan is to be re- 
 nounced. When the new bank, if it shall pass (as 
 I think it will), will be able to lend, or what will 
 be the credit of its notes if it shall lend largely, are 
 points on which there is much difference of opinion
 
 IN WAR TIME 143 
 
 here. There is none, however, in respect to the 
 necessity of recurring either to such a loan or to an 
 issue of government paper. I do not believe that 
 an interest of ten per cent, would enable govern- 
 ment to negotiate a loan of twenty millions with 
 private contractors." 
 
 In such a condition of financial distress it was 
 no wonder that the plan of a bank should be eagerly 
 discussed. The difficulty, however, was that the 
 first, the original United States Bank, established 
 by Federalists, had undeniably failed. Would an- 
 other, under Republican auspices, do better ? No 
 good Federalist could believe it. Mr. Dallas, the 
 newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, had a 
 hard task before him, for money had to be raised 
 in some way. 
 
 The private banks paid no specie ; would a pub- 
 lic one, a Bank of the United States, do more ? 
 Would the public, through faith in and desire to 
 help the government, receive its notes as specie? 
 If so, what amount of notes would it be safe to 
 issue ? Around these questions the discussion 
 raged, painfully embittered by personal and by party 
 feeling. Mr. Dallas proposed one scheme, Mr. Cal- 
 houn another. Mr. Lowndes supported Mr. Cal- 
 houn's plan with some slight alteration. The 
 speeches were long, and some violent, and curious 
 things were said. 
 
 The anti-war men considered the bank as an out- 
 come of that iniquitous measure, and spoke accord- 
 ingly. Mr. Law, of Connecticut, wailed over our 
 " having struck the first blow in the dark, against 
 the defenseless provinces of Canada, which re- 
 sisted and repelled our attacks, and disgrace and 
 mortification followed." He intimated that we 
 richly deserved the punishment we met. Mr. Han- 
 son, of Maryland, was even stronger in denuncia-
 
 144 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 tion. lie as a " moral man " rejoiced in the confu- 
 sion of " those fell destroyers of its [the country's] 
 rights, peace, safety, and honour, whose misdeeds 
 have brought upon the people the suffering under 
 which they smart, the burdens which force from 
 them deep groans which are heard throughout the 
 land. No man feels for the wicked authors of our 
 affliction [the war members] a more thorough sov- 
 ereign contempt than I do, and if it is said that 
 in contributing to the relief and salvation of the 
 country [by voting for the bank], I incidentally 
 relieve them, I justify it by replying that even 
 such men must be relieved in preference to certain 
 national bankruptcy," etc. After this it is not 
 surprising that Mr. Calhoun was at once upon his 
 legs. His speech is not given in the " Abridged 
 Debates," but is described as " energetic," and " the 
 Speaker [Mr. Cheves] called both gentlemen re- 
 peatedly to order, and earnestly endeavored to pre- 
 vent the introduction of personal matter into the 
 debate." At length, after two months of speech- 
 making, and innumerable votings, the bill was re- 
 jected. Another, much to the same effect, sent 
 down by the Senate, was taken into considera- 
 tion, with apparently no more hope of a satisfac- 
 tory conclusion. At last, February 17, 1815, Mr. 
 Lowndes moved to postpone the Senate bill inde- 
 finitely. " He made this motion not from any hos- 
 tility to a National Bank, wishing, as he did, that 
 a National Bank should be established, but because 
 he wished it done at a time and under circum- 
 stances which would give the House opportunity 
 to decide correctly on the subject. ... In the 
 fragment of the session which now remains there 
 would not be time to enter into a consideration of 
 these points. . . . The new state of things which 
 now presents itself ought to suggest a reason for
 
 IN WAR TIME 145 
 
 postponement. Congress could not now establish 
 a bank half so eligible, or half so durable, as it 
 could at a future session." 
 
 This motion, which was carried by a close vote 
 of 74 to 73, was of course made in view of the fact 
 that on that same day President Madison was to 
 announce to the Senate, and two days afterward to 
 the House, the conclusion of the treaty of peace 
 and amity between the United States and his Brit- 
 annic Majesty, which had been signed on the 24th 
 of December, 1814, at Ghent, by the commissioners 
 of both parties. 
 
 The battle of New Orleans, the most important 
 victory of the war, had been fought on the 15th of 
 January, 1815, three weeks after the treaty had 
 been signed, and a month before the news of it had 
 been received at Washington. The English force 
 had been the most important yet sent to America, 
 and the apprehension had been great. On New 
 Year's Day, 1815, Mr. Lowndes wrote to his wife : 
 
 " The beginning of a new year has been by long 
 custom made the season of congratulation and en- 
 joyment, but our present situation and our prospects 
 here seem neither of them compatible with unmixed 
 enjoyment. However, I do not mean to write about 
 politics, and the gloom of the last sentence could 
 only be justified by our political situation." 
 
 January 8th. 
 
 We have to-day an account of the English hav- 
 ing destroyed our little flotilla on Lake Ponchar- 
 train, after suffering a very severe loss in proportion 
 to the numbers engaged. If they mean to attack 
 New Orleans, of which no doubt is entertained 
 here, this success will enable them to get within a 
 couple of miles of the city conveniently and safely, 
 but the difficulties of marching from the lake to the
 
 14G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 river are such as to afford a reasonable hope that 
 they may be repelled. However, you will see more 
 about it in the papers than I could get into a 
 letter. . . . But you must be tired of reading of 
 the danger of New Orleans, and my own gloomy 
 speculations on the effects of its loss, if it should 
 be taken, prevent my writing with interest on any 
 other subject. 
 
 His depression at this time was undoubtedly in- 
 creased by a very severe cold, which made attend- 
 ance at the House extremely irksome, and caused 
 him to remain entirely in his own room when re- 
 leased from his duties there. Its influence is shown 
 in this passage about his children : 
 
 "Tell Rawlins he must ride as much as he can 
 now, for M. de Grasse will not let him keep a horse 
 at Georgetown. I am glad that he likes his present 
 school, however, for the comforts of a man after he 
 gets his reason are so small and so precarious, that 
 I should like (if I knew how) to crowd as many 
 into the years which precede reason as they could 
 be made to contain. ... As for Pinckney, I hope 
 that he will be on board a frigate at 12 or 13. I 
 will give my consent to his learning to dance as 
 soon as he has assisted in taking down an English 
 flag. This, I suppose, you will think shows more 
 patriotism than parental fondness, but there is 
 no patriotism in it, as the country apparently will 
 never want for midshipmen. But I have tried civil 
 life myself and found it very vapid. I am willing 
 that my children should have one of stronger ex- 
 citement. Let them have to complain of fatigue, 
 disappointments, and hardships, but let them have 
 something to do." 
 
 About the same time he says on the same subject : 
 " I should like my sons to be, one a good general,
 
 IN WAR TIME 147 
 
 the other a good admiral. You will not agree in 
 this wish, so I will change it : may they be both 
 good men, a paternal benediction in the sense of 
 which the fairy may share." The fairy was his 
 little daughter, then five years old. 
 
 After all this gloomy apprehension, victory and 
 peace must have been an immense relief. There is 
 no letter just after the battle, but he says : 
 
 February 17, 1815. 
 I wrote you a few lines on Monday to give you 
 the news of the peace. The papers by the time this 
 reaches you will give you the treaty. It contains 
 no stipulation on any question or controverted right, 
 and I do not know that it is the worse on that ac- 
 count. The time of making it is more fortunate 
 than the peace itself. When the war in Europe 
 was over I sometimes expressed the opinion that it 
 would perhaps be best for both nations that Eng- 
 land should try her undivided strength against a 
 power whose resources she probably little under- 
 stood. But I little expected that a well-appointed 
 army of ten thousand veterans could have been 
 foiled with the loss of half their number, by men 
 who two months before had not left their ploughs. 
 Orleans was our weakest point, and the best effect 
 of the war is the deep impression which our enemy 
 must feel, that on our own soil we are unassailable. 
 
 The relief was great, greatest of all to Mr. Mad- 
 ison and his Cabinet, who felt themselves saved. 
 The Hartford Convention with its inadmissible de- 
 mands and thinly veiled threats of disunion could 
 hurt them no more. There was at first some dis- 
 satisfaction at the absence of definite stipulations 
 referred to above ; but it was hoped, and the hope 
 has been happily fulfilled, that on those points time
 
 148 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 would bring just decisions. We now know, better 
 perhaps than the actors in that strife ever knew, 
 what had been gained by the war. By it America 
 had earned the respect of the world. Englishmen 
 had learned that a Yankee frigate equaled an Eng- 
 lish one. Frenchmen heard that a handful of men 
 on a sandbank at the mouth of the Mississippi had 
 beaten back the proud English regiments before 
 which they themselves had recoiled in the penin- 
 sula. Best of all, the people, when not blinded by 
 hate or fanaticism, respected themselves, felt them- 
 selves a nation. The flag at which Napoleon had 
 jeered had won its place by battle. Victory and 
 poetry had touched it. It was no longer a " piece 
 of striped bunting," but " The Star Spangled Ban- 
 ner.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
 1815-1818 
 
 The much-longed for adjournment was delayed 
 by the fact that peace had hardly been proclaimed 
 when the President was obliged to call the attention 
 of Congress to trouble in another quarter, and to 
 ask consent to sending a squadron against the Al- 
 gerine pirates. These audacious marauders infested 
 the Mediterranean and the adjacent waters, preying 
 indifferently upon the vessels of all nations, and 
 at this very moment ten or twelve American mer- 
 chant sailors were in the galleys or the dungeons of 
 the Dey. Decatur and Bainbridge were sent against 
 them, and speedily reduced not only the Algerines, 
 but all those Barbary States whose corsairs had long 
 been the terror of the seas. Perhaps nothing has 
 ever made a deeper impression upon the nations of 
 Europe than that this shameful evil at their very 
 doors should have been put down by a power from 
 across the ocean. It had also a happy effect upon 
 the American mind, for when the rejoicing people 
 instantly proceeded to cut down its army to ab- 
 surdly small proportions, the navy was left un- 
 touched for another session. 
 
 The utmost effort could only secure an army of 
 ten thousand men, and the appropriation for its 
 support was characterized as a burden hardly to be 
 borne. This done, the weary congressmen were
 
 l.->0 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 allowed to adjourn, and on March 3d Mr. Lowndes 
 wrote joyously for his horses to meet him at Fay- 
 etteville, North Carolina. The Cheves family were 
 to follow shortly after, and he hoped for a long visit 
 from them at the Grove ; but letters here fail, and 
 we know no more until the reopening of Congress. 
 From this time the records of the House and con- 
 temporaneous notices are the sole materials at hand 
 until the year 1819. Mrs. Lowndes spent the in- 
 tervening sessions in Washington, and there is no 
 correspondence. 
 
 The war being over, the war debt was the first 
 consideration. The President's message at the be- 
 ginning of the session of 1815-16 earnestly re- 
 commended a bank and measures for revenue. 
 Mr. Lowndes was appointed chairman of the Com- 
 mittee of Ways and Means ; but his first speech 
 was a personal one on the question of pensions, 
 urging great precaution in their bestowal, and that 
 proof of actual service and suffering should be de- 
 manded. Afterwards the constant labor of his com- 
 mittee prevented his sharing in the great debates 
 upon the treaty-making power, and upon the bank, 
 which occupied so much of the session, although in 
 his notebook there are pages of reflection and study 
 upon both subjects. 
 
 He made his first report for the committee upon 
 the 15th of January, 1816, to the House sitting 
 as committee of the whole, " upon so much of the 
 President's message as relates to the revenue," 
 and offered resolutions based on the calculation that 
 the revenue required was 25,369,000. He pro- 
 posed to add forty-two per cent, to the rates of per- 
 manent duty, and by so doing relieve the internal 
 tax of the burden of seven millions annually, this 
 to be derived from the customs. He proposed to 
 keep three millions of direct tax, and to devote
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 151 
 
 $13,500,000 to the interest and principal of the 
 national debt. 
 
 The question was, " How should these customs 
 be most justly distributed?" The resolutions were 
 closely scanned and were discussed day by day for 
 the rest of the session. It would be tedious now 
 to give in detail such a by-gone question ; yet it is 
 interesting to note the fair and just anxiety of the 
 chairman to do right by each commodity. As far 
 as can be judged by the scanty reports, he made no 
 set speeches, confining himself to explaining and 
 defending, giving facts and figures, but no elo- 
 quence, in support of his propositions. 
 
 His committee proposed, 
 
 " Be it Resolved, that it is expedient to continue 
 in force, until the 30th day of June next, and until 
 an act shall be passed establishing a new tariff of 
 duties, the act entitled ' an act for imposing addi- 
 tional duties upon all goods, merchandise, wares 
 imported from any foreign port or place, and for 
 other purposes, passed on the first day of July 
 1812.' " 
 
 This was called "the double tax," and was in 
 fact a tariff, and the discussion instantly began. 
 Federals and Republicans alike tore the resolutions 
 to pieces. Mr. Huger, the only Federalist repre- 
 sentative from South Carolina, spoke strongly 
 against the tariff as a whole, as injurious to the 
 agricultural interest, and Mr. Lowndes answered 
 that money had to be raised, and that this method 
 distributed the burden more evenly than any other. 
 Mr. Calhoun supported his friend. 
 
 Every point was contested ; the relative deserts 
 of common salt and brown sugar took days to dis- 
 cuss. Did they require protection, and if so, how 
 much? Finally each received a duty. Salt fish 
 exported was granted a bounty, but refined sugar,
 
 1.72 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 " used only by the wealthy," was put into the direct 
 tax list as a luxury. These imports were conces- 
 sions to the " new acquisition," Louisiana, and to 
 New England, so the extremities of the Union were 
 content ; but one gentleman deplored " the hard 
 fate of those unfortunate States [the Middle] who 
 are taxed to support the manufactures of the East 
 and the products of the South." There was (per- 
 haps of historic necessity) some debate on the 
 stamp duties, but they were kept, and a proposal 
 to reduce the rates of postage was, very naturally, 
 eagerly agreed to. But fiercer grew the fighting 
 when the wording of the " resolution " itself was 
 brought forward, and Randolph of Roanoke joined 
 in the fray. 
 
 He opposed the bill vehemently as " dependent 
 on a contingency which may happen [' until an 
 act shall be passed,' etc.], a curiosity of legisla- 
 tion such as I do most potently believe no man 
 living or that ever lived did hear of." Nothing 
 can be more entertaining than John Randolph's 
 witty and brilliant speeches, a delightful relief from 
 the monotony of congressional debate. With the 
 instinct of genius he seizes on the point of vantage 
 and darts his shafts at the joint of the armor. He 
 told Calhoun sharply that he was legislating against 
 his section, for the tariff would bear heaviest on 
 the poor man and the slaveholder, a truth which 
 Calhoun probably felt keenly enough in after days, 
 but for which, conscious that he was doing his 
 best for his whole country, he then cared nothing. 
 He furiously attacked Clay for some expressions 
 looking to war with Spain, and declared that he 
 (Randolph) " would not be frightened by the raw 
 head and bloody bones of old Spain." Even the 
 members most accustomed to his eccentricities must 
 have been amused to hear him extol " the great
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 153 
 
 principles of Mr. Jefferson " and sigh for " the 
 good old times of his administration," he who had 
 been a thorn in Jefferson's flesh long before his 
 administration had ended. In our day we are 
 amused to know that he reproached Calhoun with 
 " tendencies to consolidation and to destroy state 
 government." His darts evidently told, for although 
 he treated Lowndes more gently than the others, 
 I find in Mrs. Lowndes's notes that " Mr. Lowndes, 
 who was always scrupulously courteous, so resented 
 some of Mr. Randolph's attacks, that although al- 
 ways observing the politeness due to an old and a 
 distinguished man, he for years never offered him 
 his hand, and never addressed him except on the 
 business of the House." 
 
 It is evident, however, that in these debates the 
 men charged with the help of the treasury strug- 
 gled for that, and that only. They knew that with- 
 out money the country could not be safe. The 
 experience of the war had taught them, but had 
 apparently taught the Congress at large nothing. 
 Though its house had been burned over its head in 
 1815, it now, two years later, hesitated and hag- 
 gled over every appropriation for the services ; and 
 only the seaboard States thought of the long, un- 
 guarded coast line, although the ruins of the Capi- 
 tol were before their eyes. 
 
 These independent measures often brought re- 
 proach upon the Carolinians as deserters from 
 their party. Lowndes was reproached for the 
 tariff he proposed. The tariff was in truth so 
 moderate that it has since been spoken of as " for 
 revenue only;" but Lowndes, who had the spirit of 
 the line, " Don't be consistent, but be simply true," 
 frankly avowed that he thought some protection 
 due to infant industries, and that the question was, 
 " What measure of protection do they require ? "
 
 154 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 The most important debate was over cotton and 
 woolen goods, and was participated in by the 
 leaders on both sides. Mr. Lowndes spoke only to 
 facts and figures. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Ingham, 
 of Pennsylvania, spoke for manufactures, and Mr. 
 Randolph, like a precursor of Mr. Kuskin, depre- 
 cated all except " those conducted in the families 
 of our citizens." The last act was to regulate the 
 duties on " imports and tonnage," and after long 
 debate the bill in its chief clauses was carried by 
 a vote of 88 to 54, April 8, 1816. Thus the tariff 
 was established and in a short time gave a surplus 
 to the treasury ; the duties were so light that no 
 one suffered ; on the contrary, the effect upon the 
 immediate prosperity of the country was wonder- 
 ful. Mr. Charles Fraser, in his " Reminiscences 
 of Charleston" (1854), says: ""In 1816 prosperity 
 returned, and has continued unbroken to this day." 
 
 In other hands the measure has had a far differ- 
 ent result ; but it is one of the curiosities of legis- 
 lation, that the first tariff avowedly for protection 
 should have been brought in by Lowndes and 
 Calhoun. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes may have had some misgivings as 
 to the ultimate effect of his policy, for the late 
 Colonel William Elliott, of South Carolina, told 
 the writer that he distinctly remembered being, as 
 a very young man, at a dinner party at which Mr. 
 Lowndes was present. The conversation turned on 
 recent measures, and the hostess, Mrs. Horry, re- 
 proached Mr. Lowndes (who was the husband of 
 her niece) with the imposition of the tariff, saying 
 that it " was the worst thing done since universal 
 suffrage." Mr. Lowndes answered quietly that 
 " neither was altogether good, but the best possible 
 for the time." She persisted that " she should not, 
 but he would, live to feel the evils of both." He
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 155 
 
 answered again, " We are obliged to leave some 
 questions to posterity. We do our best with those 
 that come to us, and future generations must bear 
 their share of the trouble." 
 
 A measure about which there could be no mis- 
 giving was the support of the navy. Mr. Lowndes 
 had the pleasure of speaking and voting for the re- 
 port and resolutions brought in by Mr. Pleasants, 
 of Virginia, chairman of the Naval Committee, for 
 an " annual appropriation of one million dollars, 
 for the next eight years, for the gradual increase 
 of the navy." The navy was always his first 
 interest, and it consoled him for the reduction of 
 the army. In a memorandum he says : " With a 
 navy strong enough to prevent invasion by sea, a 
 small, efficient army on our northern and western 
 frontier may perhaps be all that is absolutely ne- 
 cessary." 
 
 In Mr. Madison's last annual message, December, 
 1816, he was able to assure the country that the 
 success of the financial measures adopted by the 
 last Congress had been so great that " the revenue 
 has far exceeded all the current demands upon the 
 treasury, and that under any probable diminution 
 of its future annual products which the vicissitudes 
 of commerce may occasion, it will afford an ample 
 fund for the effectual and early extinguishment of 
 the public debt." ..." At the close of the year 
 there will be a surplus in the treasury of about 
 the sum of nine millions of dollars." 
 
 This being the case, it was perhaps not extraor- 
 dinary that many should think the taxes, and es- 
 pecially the hated internal revenue tax, too heavy. 
 The management of the treasury was blamed, and 
 it was asked if " the laws imposing taxes are to 
 remain fixed and unalterable except at the pleasure 
 of the chairman of the Committee of Ways and
 
 15G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Moans ? " The sinking fund (for the payment of 
 the national debt) was especially attacked in a 
 long speech by Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, 
 on the 17th of February, 1817. It is clear that Mr. 
 Lowndes defended his favorite financial measure, 
 but I find no mention of his speech except in Mr. 
 Williams's quotations from it. Mr. W. was at least 
 a generous antagonist, for he says : " That gen- 
 tleman, Mr. Speaker [pointing to Mr. Lowndes], 
 at all times, and on all occasions, has so con- 
 ducted himself on this floor as to secure, not only 
 the confidence and esteem, but I believe the admi- 
 ration of every member of this House ; but while I 
 pay this just tribute to the merits of that gentle- 
 man, I must be allowed to say, that I think he was 
 incorrect when he stated in reply to the remarks I 
 made on Friday, that I had failed to show any 
 sufficient reasons in support of the resolutions then 
 under consideration." 
 
 There was much talk, but little was done. In a 
 few days Congress adjourned, and Mr. Madison's 
 administration drew to its close. 
 
 It should perhaps have been mentioned before, 
 that in October, 1816, Mr. Madison had offered the 
 portfolio of War to Mr. Lowndes, who had re- 
 spectfully declined it, " conceiving himself to be of 
 more use to the country in his present position in 
 the House," as a mutilated rough draft of his 
 answer expresses it. In the next session Mr. Mon- 
 roe made the same offer, and Mr. Lowndes replied 
 in the same manner. An undated fragment of a 
 letter to his wife does not refer to either of these 
 offers, but it shows so clearly his determination to 
 be absolutely independent of all administrative 
 favors that I give it here. 
 
 They would have thought of offering the place
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 157 
 
 of Secretary of the Navy to me, if they had be- 
 lieved that I would take it, but they know very 
 well that I would not take it. 
 
 Your Federal suspicions lead you to attribute 
 this to hostility to the Administration, but the plain 
 truth is that I would not accept any office in any 
 administration. Now how to reconcile this to some 
 Federal prejudices against office hunters is more 
 than I shall undertake to do. 
 
 Your affect, husband, 
 
 W. Lowndes. 
 
 The following letter, kindly sent me by Mr. 
 Salley, of Orangeburg, shows that a report of Mr. 
 Lowndes having accepted one of these offers was 
 generally believed. It is from Mr. Govan, after- 
 wards a member of Congress, but then a very 
 young man, to the Hon. George E. Salley. He 
 says : 
 
 New York, July 19th, 1816. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes has been within a few days ap- 
 pointed Secretary of the Treasury Department, and 
 is I suppose as well qualified to discharge the duties 
 of it as any person in the Union, a man not only 
 qualified for that office, but for any that govern- 
 ment might give him. I had the pleasui'e of his 
 acquaintance on my way to Philadelphia, which 
 caused the time to pass very agreeably. He is 
 perfectly sociable and easy in his manners, . . . 
 does not treat with contempt the opinions of any 
 man, whatsoever they may be, provided they are in 
 strict unison with his conscience. I went on a few 
 days ago in company with him to the city of 
 Washington, at which place I was frequently in 
 his company, which was highly interesting as well 
 as instructing. He supports the highest standing 
 here, as a modest, unassuming man, and also a man
 
 158 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 of the greatest and most profound erudition ; in 
 fact, I think him the greatest man unequivocally I 
 have ever seen. I am surprised to hear that he 
 does not support that standing at home that he 
 does abroad." 
 
 By this time Mr. Lowndes had become very 
 generally known to the country at large, and his 
 name was seldom mentioned without commenda- 
 tion ; but there are always persons who cannot 
 endure to see others admired, and on one of his 
 journeys from Philadelphia to Washington the 
 following amusing instance of this occurred. 
 
 He was traveling with his friend Mr. Rutledge, of 
 South Carolina (who told the story), and stopped 
 to dine at a wayside inn, where at table the con- 
 versation turned upon politics, and after leaving 
 it, one of the guests said to Mr. Lowndes, " Sir, I 
 want you to do me a favor. I have written a 
 piece for our paper, but 1 am not used to writing, 
 and though I know what I mean, there may be 
 mistakes. You seem to be a fair-minded man ; 
 will you correct it for me ? " Mr. Lowndes took 
 the paper, corrected it carefully, and returning it 
 said, " What do you know of this gentleman that 
 makes you think so badly of him ? '' " Nothing 
 positively," replied the man, " but I am tired of 
 hearing him praised ; every one talks of him, and 
 praises him ; and when you hear nothing but good 
 of a man there must be something very bad some- 
 where." Mr. Lowndes smiled, and said no more. 
 When they had resumed their journey Mr. Rut- 
 ledge asked of whom the man had written. " Of 
 me ; he considers me a snake in the grass, and 
 warns the world against me." " And you have 
 corrected his letter ? " " Certainly, every man 
 has a right to express his opinions." 
 
 In the next year or two the mission to France
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 150 
 
 and special missions to Constantinople and to St. 
 Petersburg were offered him, but he declined them 
 all, still thinking that the House was his most use- 
 ful position, and that " a public man should remain 
 where he is of most use to the public." 
 
 The Fifteenth Congress met on the 1st of De- 
 cember, 1817, and Mr. Monroe was able to begin 
 his first message by saying : 
 
 " At no period of our political existence have 
 we had so much cause to felicitate ourselves at the 
 prosperous and happy condition of our country. 
 The abundant fruits of the earth have filled it with 
 plenty. An extensive and profitable commerce 
 has greatly augmented our revenue. The public 
 credit has attained an extraordinary elevation," 
 etc. 
 
 How much of this happy condition of things was 
 due to wise financial legislation it is easy to per- 
 ceive. It did, however, fully justify the desire for 
 relief from the internal taxation, which had been so 
 much disliked. Mr. Lowndes accordingly brought 
 in a bill to abolish these taxes entirely (three 
 millions had been kept by the last Congress), 
 frankly stating that he did so by desire of his 
 committee, as he himself should have preferred to 
 retain some portion of them for the present. He 
 pointed out the happy effect of the tariff upon the 
 country, and said that, moderate as it was, it had 
 produced a revenue far beyond his expectations. 
 The bill was passed at once without debate. 
 
 His favorite measure of the sinking fund, which 
 had been so vehemently opposed, proved most ben- 
 eficial. It consisted of an annual appropriation 
 of '110,000,000, with the proviso that all the money 
 remaining in the treasury over $2,000,000 should 
 at the end of each year be added to it. By this plan 
 the whole debt of $130,000,000 was paid off in four-
 
 1G0 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 teen years, to the great advantage of the national 
 credit. Of this measure, Mr. Calhoun, speaking in 
 1839 of the final discharge of the debt, said : 
 
 " For this important step at so early a period the 
 country is indebted to my friend, now unfortunately 
 no more, the amiable, the talented, the patriotic 
 Lowndes ; the author of that simple but effective 
 measure, the sinking fund act, passed shortly after 
 the conclusion of the late war." 
 
 For some years past there had been felt in this 
 country that spirit of disapprobation of the Spanish 
 government, and of sympathy with the Spanish 
 American colonies in their struggle for liberty, 
 which has but just reached its culmination. Presi- 
 dent Monroe alluded to this in his message quoted 
 above, saying : 
 
 " It was anticipated at an early stage that the 
 contest between Spain and her colonies would be- 
 come highly interesting to the United States. It 
 was natural that our citizens would sympathize 
 in events which affected their neighbors," etc. 
 " Through every stage of the conflict the United 
 States have maintained an impartial neutrality, 
 giving aid to neither of the parties in men, money, 
 ships, or munitions of war. They have regarded 
 the contest, not in the light of an ordinary insur- 
 rection or rebellion, but as a civil war between 
 parties nearly equal, having, as to neutral powers, 
 equal rights." 
 
 This was a perfectly truthful statement as re- 
 garded the government ; but it was equally true 
 that notwithstanding the many acts passed from 
 time to time for the enforcing of this neutrality, it 
 was constantly violated. Vessels were fitted out 
 in our ports, and " men, money, and munitions of 
 war " were furnished by private citizens. 
 
 Filibustering had begun.
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 161 
 
 In the previous Congress Mr. Forsyth, of Geor- 
 gia, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
 tions, had introduced a bill, which had been passed 
 by a large majority of both Houses, to " prevent 
 the fitting out, in the ports of the United States, 
 of armed expeditions against nations in amity with 
 the United States, and requiring bond and security 
 that all vessels while at sea should respect the 
 neutral obligations of the country." 
 
 In November, 1818, Mr. Monroe was obliged to 
 send a message to Congress, saying that che laws 
 were being evaded, and asking more power to 
 enforce them. Mr. Forsyth offered an amendment 
 to his bill of the year before, looking to its greater 
 efficiency. The object was to maintain the good 
 faith of the government by preventing its subjects 
 from waging war on a nation with which it was on 
 terms of peace and amity as strong as treaties could 
 make. The popular sentiment and action were 
 natural, considering our own Revolutionary associa- 
 tions ; but it was not an honorable position for the 
 government to hold, and so Mr. Forsyth declared. 
 The Speaker (Mr. Clay) and Mr. Robertson, of 
 Louisiana, however, warmly resented this interfer- 
 ence with the liberty of individuals, declared that 
 the bill was "unjust and vexatious," and "had 
 been enacted for the benefit of his Majesty the 
 King of Spain." They even went so far as to im- 
 pute improper influence upon the President, insinu- 
 ating that his recommendation had been obtained 
 by the " teasing of foreign officials," viz. the foreign 
 ministers. 
 
 Forsyth ably defended his bill, and Mr. Lowndes 
 supported him. He began his remarks by " re- 
 deeming the Act of 1817 from the charge which 
 had been alleged against it, as far as his opinion 
 went, by declaring that act not to have been adopted
 
 1G2 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 in consequence of any foreign remonstrance, but to 
 have been the deliberate expression of the judgment 
 of this and of the other House. He had listened 
 with the greatest attention to the remarks of the 
 gentlemen from Kentucky and Louisiana, but they 
 had failed to convince him that the deliberate 
 opinion of Congress at its last session ought to be 
 reversed. But there was less difference on prin- 
 ciple than he had expected to have found between 
 those gentlemen and those who approved the act 
 of the last session. The Speaker had conceded 
 that the acts were unlawful which that law was 
 designed to prevent, and the only difference between 
 us," said Mr. Lowndes, " is that for the prevention 
 of those unlawful acts we propose a remedy which 
 they will not accept. On the question of the 
 criminality of enlistment in a war between two 
 powers with which we are in amity we perfectly 
 agree. The opinion of the House and of the coun- 
 try must be that as long as we profess neutrality 
 we ought to observe it, that our neutral obligations 
 should be fairly and honestly fulfilled, and it was 
 because he thought it the duty of Congress to pre- 
 vent our citizens, by requiring bond and security 
 to that effect, from engaging in the existing war, 
 that he was willing to continue the act which the 
 Speaker desired to repeal." lie spoke of the dan- 
 ger of irresponsible parties in armed vessels turning 
 their arms against any power which they might 
 please to attack, and denied Mr. Robertson's asser- 
 tion, that it was impossible to judge from the cargo 
 of a vessel what her purpose might be ; " fixed am- 
 munition, etc.," he considered offered a strong pre- 
 sumption. 
 
 " For such depredations we are responsible, and 
 have recognized the principle by paying claims 
 founded on it. We have bound ourselves to respect
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 1G3 
 
 the principle in a manner equally obligatory, by 
 preferring claims founded upon it against other 
 nations. Having done so, every consideration of 
 prudence, of respect for the character of our coun- 
 try, requires that we should exact the security which 
 is demanded by the Act of 1817." "No duty," 
 said Mr. Lowndes, "is by the Act of 1817 exacted 
 from any individual which the Speaker does not 
 think, as well as myself, ought to be performed ; a 
 bond only is executed that in certain suspicious 
 cases that duty shall be performed. Where the 
 hardship, then ? Where the commercial inconven- 
 ience of being required to give bond that while on 
 the high seas the suspected vessel shall not violate 
 the laws of the country ? " 
 
 Mr. Clay said " it was always with very painful 
 regret that he found himself differing from the 
 honorable gentleman who had just taken his seat, 
 and from the chairman of the Committee on For- 
 eign Relations. When differing from them he 
 almost doubted his own perceptions, but," etc., and 
 then follows a curious speech which puts one in mind 
 of the old legal joke, " No case, abuse the plaintiff's 
 attorney," viz. the foreign ambassadors, and the 
 gentlemen opposed to him. Mr. Lowndes at last, 
 in the sharpest speech that I find recorded of him, 
 rose and said that " He must vindicate himself 
 from the charge of inconsistency, alleged against 
 him by the Speaker, but which could not be properly 
 established by taking a sentence or a half a sentence 
 from a speech and founding an argument upon it. 
 The Speaker infers that because I will not take 
 measures to punish him who, without the jurisdiction 
 of the United States, enters into a vessel armed by 
 a foreign authority and cruises on the property of 
 foreign nations, that I must therefore be willing that 
 a citizen of the United States, within the limits of
 
 1G4 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 the United States, in a vessel belonging to the 
 United States, shall involve the government in a 
 responsibility for his acts with equal impunity. 
 Mr. Lowndes submitted to the committee [the 
 House in committee of the whole] whether there 
 was any resemblance between the two proposi- 
 tions." 
 
 Mr. Forsyth spoke again on the facts, and the 
 question was continued, the chief importance of 
 the debate now being that the system of neutrality 
 of the United States had been developed on the 
 lines then suggested. 
 
 Only another branch of the same exciting ques- 
 tion was the debate on the proposed recognition of 
 the Spanish-American Provinces, which was moved 
 by the Speaker a few days later. With the revolt- 
 ing provinces there was, as has been said, great 
 sympathy ; but there was an equally great lack of 
 knowledge as to their real condition and people. 
 The average American citizen took it for granted 
 that the Spanish South Americans only wanted 
 some assistance to throw off the yoke of Spain in 
 order to establish regular and orderly governments, 
 and to follow in all things the example of their 
 northern neighbors. Old John Randolph had said 
 bluntly that it could not be, and that " You cannot 
 make liberty out of Spanish matter; you might as 
 well try to build a seventy-four with pine saplings." 
 In order to gain positive information, President 
 Monroe had, in November, 1817, given a sort of 
 roving commission to three gentlemen, "three dis- 
 tinguished citizens of the United States, Messrs. 
 Rodney, Graham, and Bland," to visit in a ship of 
 war different places and countries in South America 
 " on just and friendly objects." They were in fact 
 to see and judge whether the state of the provinces 
 justified interference ; but it might be wondered
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 165 
 
 whether traveling in that style was the best way 
 to acquire information, and whether what is called 
 in India " official whitewashing " might not be 
 expected. Now, in March, 1818, an appropriation 
 of $30,000 to pay their expenses was asked. Mr. 
 Clay instantly pounced upon the act and tore it to 
 pieces. He demanded to know by what authority 
 the commissioners had been sent, and disputed 
 both the utility of the mission and the legality of 
 the appropriation. He declared that "of most 
 of those countries our knowledge is complete," 
 an absolutely untenable assertion. Mr. Forsyth 
 endeavored to defend the act, and Mr. Lowndes 
 moved to "postpone consideration until further 
 information was received." Mr. Clay immediately 
 moved to send a minister with a salary of $18,000 
 to "the Independent Provinces of the River La 
 Plata in South America." John Quincy Adams, 
 Secretary of State, sent at once a report, showing 
 the utterly unsettled condition of things in South 
 America, winding up with, " It should be added 
 that these observations were connected with others, 
 stating the reasons upon which the present acknow- 
 ledgment of the Government of La Plata in any 
 mode was deemed by the President inexpedient in 
 regard as well to their interests as to those of the 
 United States." 
 
 Mr. Adams thus quietly asserted the rights of 
 the Executive which Mr. Clay had ignored. 
 
 Mr. Clay made a long and splendid speech, de- 
 picting in glowing colors the iniquities and cruelties 
 of Spanish rule, a tale which we, alas, know too 
 well. Mr. Forsyth followed, dwelling on the fact 
 that although the Spanish rule was bad, we had no 
 reason to suppose that that of the revolted colonies 
 would be better, an apprehension which the his- 
 tory of the past seventy years has surely justified.
 
 ICG WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Mr. Clay's magnificent rhetoric had dwelt largely 
 on the resemblance between the struggles of these 
 colonies and our own. Mr. Forsyth replied that 
 the resemblance was confined to their being colonics 
 revolting against the mother country, and gave 
 many facts to prove that there was in La Plata no 
 government worthy of the name. 
 
 There is in the " Abridged Debates "no mention 
 of Mr. Lowndes having spoken on the question 
 at all, but Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana, who there 
 follows Mr. Forsyth, addresses almost his whole 
 speech not to Mr. F., but to Mr. Lowndes, quoting 
 him largely. I find among Mr. Lowndes's papers 
 a speech, probably the reporter's copy, beginning 
 "Mr. Lowndes of S. C. followed Mr. Forsyth." 
 It is poorly reported, but I give some extracts to 
 show his line of thought on this now interesting 
 subject. 
 
 It is said that it was Mr. Lowndes's custom in 
 speaking to begin by giving a synopsis of the views 
 and arguments of his opponents, setting them forth 
 as strongly and clearly as might be, and then pro- 
 ceeding to give his own opinions and arguments. 
 On one occasion John Randolph is said to have 
 exclaimed, " He has done that too well this time. 
 He cannot answer that argument." But at the close 
 of the speech Randolph was compelled to admit 
 that the counter-argument was conclusive. So, in 
 accordance with this habit, he began by stating Mr. 
 Clay's propositions and remarking that to some of 
 them he agreed. " There were many of the prin- 
 ciples laid down by the Speaker which had his most 
 unqualified concurrence. One of these was that 
 Peace was a leading object connected with the best 
 interests of the country. . . . Fully concurring with 
 the Speaker in this position, he also agreed with 
 him that, however desirable, however important to
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 1G7 
 
 the country, Peace was not an object to be sought 
 under any circumstances which would lead to or in- 
 volve a sacrifice of the rights of the country. Or, 
 if the Speaker had satisfied that House that any 
 nation had a just claim to a recognition of its inde- 
 pendence by this nation, to which an injury was 
 done by the delay to recognize it, Mr. Lowndes 
 would admit that the recognition should be made 
 without too nice a calculation of probable conse- 
 quences." He then proceeded to show how very 
 important peace was at that time to the country 
 which was making giant strides in the arts and in- 
 dustries ; gave many facts to show how much more 
 rapid her progress had been than that of Russia, for 
 instance, or of Prussia, both of which had. been 
 successful in war, and left free for improvement at 
 about the same time as ourselves. On another sub- 
 ject he concurred most fully with the gentleman 
 from Kentucky : that it was not necessary to refer 
 to writers on the law of nations to prove the right 
 of an oppressed people, such as those from South 
 America undoubtedly are, to assume the right of 
 self-government. On this head there could be no 
 question in this House, or in the country, and the 
 right to assist them in their efforts no reasonable 
 man could deny. He then argued on the " propri- 
 ety or policy " of exercising that right at that time ; 
 showed that the colonies were not agreed among 
 themselves, so much so that the royal arms had 
 been successful in Mexico simply because of the 
 differences among the people. The force which had. 
 put down the republican party was an American 
 and not a Spanish force. Were he even to admit 
 the expediency of recognizing the independence of 
 the Provinces of La Plata, he could not consent 
 tli at that power which, whether wisely or not, was 
 reposed in the Executive by the Constitution, should
 
 1G8 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 be directed in its exercise, if not actually exer- 
 cised, by Congress. As to the wisdom of that pro- 
 vision of the Constitution, he thought there could be 
 but little difference of opinion. Congress should, 
 he thought, only interfere with the duties of the Ex- 
 ecutive when there was reason to believe that those 
 duties had been neglected. Unless some such cir- 
 cumstances were made out, the same motives which 
 had induced the giving to the Executive the power 
 to appoint and receive ministers rendered it highly 
 imprudent in Congress to interrupt him in the ex- 
 ercise of it. He pointed out the fact that the Pre- 
 sident had many more means of gaining informa- 
 tion as to the condition of foreign nations than 
 Congress could possibly have, showed mistakes in 
 Mr. Clay's facts, not to be wondered at since he 
 himself had sought information wherever he could 
 expect to obtain it, and that he found that infor- 
 mation, particularly in relation to the country em- 
 braced by the Speaker's motion, radically defective. 
 He showed the anxiety of the Executive for fuller 
 information by his sending the three commissioners 
 to obtain it, and proved that in 1815 contests were 
 going on in La Plata between the colonists them- 
 selves, " without the presence of a single Spanish 
 soldier." The principle on which this discussion 
 certainly turned, Mr. Lowndes said, was that pro- 
 vision of the Constitution which intrusts not only 
 the commencement but the conduct of negotiations 
 with foreign powers to the Executive. On this 
 point there could scarcely be a difference of opinion, 
 certainly none as to the terms of the constitutional 
 provision, and he should suppose very little as to 
 the wisdom of it. He knew of no other way by 
 which that worst of all effects (so far as our foreign 
 interest is concerned), the interference of foreign 
 powers with our deliberations, could be avoided.
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 169 
 
 There is much more to the same effect too long 
 to be entered here. He showed the evils that 
 would follow a possible war with Spain, and the 
 improbability that the trade of the South American 
 provinces would in the event of their independence 
 flow to this country instead of to England, with 
 which their relations were already close. He did 
 not believe that any advantage of maritime or nav- 
 igating interests would follow to this country ; " it 
 is the navigation of England, and not our own, 
 which is to flourish with the independence and in- 
 creased opulence of the Spanish colonies." But 
 these considerations weighed not on his mind. He 
 anxiously wished the independence of South Amer- 
 ica, and should deplore as a calamity worse than 
 war any indifference to the interests, to the liberty, 
 to the happiness, of the people of South America. 
 He carefully examined the different clauses of Mr. 
 Clay's argument on the " advantages " of the South 
 American support, he had not understood the 
 Speaker that these advantages were territorial, 
 " for surely we want no foreign aid in defense of 
 our own soil ; " the maritime advantages would go 
 to England, and wound up by saying, that with 
 these views thus cursorily expressed he hoped the 
 motion of the Speaker would not prevail. 
 
 No one can feel more strongly than the writer 
 how poorly this extract represents Mr. Lowndes's 
 speech. She has, however, found it impossible to 
 condense its twenty-seven pages more clearly, but 
 fears that the argument has lost its weight in her 
 treatment. The prediction has certainly been ful- 
 filled, for English commerce rules in South America 
 to-day. No speech of Mr. Lowndes's ever provoked 
 such comment and such opposition as this. Mr. 
 Robertson, of Louisiana, declared that " there are 
 certain cabalistic words of great efficacy with old
 
 170 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 women and with old men of weak minds, of the use 
 of which the gentleman from South Carolina has 
 availed himself. I allude, sir, to his remarks on 
 the dangers of war and the propriety of casting 
 censure on the conduct of the Executive ; " and 
 so on through three closely printed pages without 
 adding information or reason to the case. This is, 
 it may be observed, the only uncourteous remark 
 that is recorded in the debates as being addressed 
 to Mr. Lowndes in his whole career. 
 
 Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, laments " that the hon- 
 orable chairman of Ways and Means should sup- 
 pose that an acknowledgment of this kind [viz. 
 independence] might involve us in national diffi- 
 culties : can he, who is so well versed in the laws 
 of nations, suppose," etc. He too regrets that the 
 charge of interference with the prerogatives of the 
 Executive should have been made, and says " from 
 his iisual benevolence of character it was not to 
 be expected of him," etc. 
 
 Mr. Tucker, of Virginia, curiously mixed com- 
 pliment and reproach when he said : " There is, 
 Mr. Chairman, another course of remark, which I 
 cannot but regret. It has been said that this pro- 
 position implies a censure on the Executive. I 
 am well aware that the gentleman from South Car- 
 olina did not mean to intimate anything personal 
 by the remark, yet it cannot but have its effect." 
 Mr. Lowndes said that " as he frequently differed 
 from the Executive himself, he could not disapprove 
 a similar conduct in others." Mr. Tucker : " The 
 observation from the gentleman was unnecessary. 
 His uniform urbanity furnished a sufficient assur- 
 rance that the remark was not intended with any 
 personal view. But though this is the case, the 
 intimation that the proposition is not in consonance 
 with executive opinion is not without effect. The
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 171 
 
 high standing and commanding talents of the gen- 
 tleman render it personally unimportant to him 
 whether he conflicts with executive opinion or not. 
 It is not always so with others." 
 
 Only Mr. Smyth, of Virginia, supported Mr. 
 Forsyth and Mr. Lowndes, yet Mr. Clay's resolu- 
 tion (to send a minister to the United States of 
 La Plata) was defeated by a vote of 115 to 45. 
 It was a triumph for the supporters of the govern- 
 ment ; but a spirit had been raised which it was 
 not in the power of legislation to lay. 
 
 Perhaps the most striking point of this discus- 
 sion in regard to Mr. Lowndes is the scrupulous 
 care to prevent the House (his own favorite branch 
 of government) infringing upon the privileges or 
 usurping the rights of the Executive, and thus 
 disturbing the just balance of the Constitution.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 REMAINDER OF SESSION : VISIT TO EUROPE 
 1818-1819 
 
 Of even more consequence to the prosperity of 
 the country than its foreign relations were its fis- 
 cal conditions at home, and of these the most im- 
 portant was the position and management of the 
 United States Bank, then in great difficulties. On 
 this subject Mr. Lowndes made two speeches, both 
 of influence. The second, in February, 1819, was 
 one of the few which he ever gave to the press. 
 By that time, Mr. Jones, the first president, had 
 resigned under much dissatisfaction. His letter of 
 explanation and defense had been ordered to " lie 
 on the table," and Mr. Langdon Cheves had been 
 made president, taking the helm at a moment of 
 great difficulty and danger. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes wrote to Mr. Cheves : " I have 
 written off my speech on the bank, and given it to 
 Gales. I was obliged to give him the rough draft, 
 as I had not time to copy it, and I think it impossi- 
 ble that he should print from such a copy without 
 mistakes which will make part of it unintelligible. 
 I had calculated upon an opportunity of correcting 
 the proof sheets instead of the draft, as Mr. Gales 
 promised to have it printed in two days after re- 
 ceiving it. Some other business, however, has 
 intervened ; but it is likely that those who under- 
 stand the subject will attribute that part of the 
 errors which is really owing to those causes to the
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 173 
 
 pen or the press, and that others may not discover 
 them at all." He continues, in a long letter on 
 different points of vital interest to the bank, but it 
 may be doubted if at this time, when the system is 
 so much altered, whether either letter or speech 
 would find interested readers. The speech was 
 published in pamphlet form, and by its wide circu- 
 lation added greatly to the reputation of its author. 
 The argument is, however, too close, and the matter 
 too technical, to admit of condensation or extract. 
 These years of 1818-19 were years of great 
 activity with Mr. Lowndes ; besides the speeches 
 already mentioned, he presented, as chairman of 
 the Committee on Coinage, a very carefully written 
 report on the relative value of the coins of different 
 nations and their relation to our own. The prepa- 
 ration of this report, judging by the notes which 
 remain, cost him great labor. He concludes, speak- 
 ing of a contract between the Bank of the United 
 States and Messrs. Baring & Reed : " Under this 
 contract gold and silver were to be furnished, if 
 it were practicable in equal amounts, according to 
 the American relative valuation of 1 to 15. Up- 
 wards of two million ounces of silver have been 
 accordingly supplied, but not an ounce of gold. 
 As the committe entertain no doubt that gold is 
 estimated below its fair relative value, in compari- 
 son to silver, by the present regulations of the 
 Mint, and as it can hardly be considered as having 
 formed a material part of our money circulation 
 for the past twenty-six years, they have no hesita- 
 tion in recommending that its valuation shall be 
 raised, so as to make it bear a juster proportion 
 to its price in the commercial world. But the 
 smallest change which is likely to secure this ob- 
 ject (a just proportion of gold coins in our circula- 
 tion) is that which the committee prefer, and they
 
 174 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 believe it sufficient to restore gold to its original 
 valuation in this country of 1 to 15^." 
 
 The country was greatly agitated at this time 
 about the conduct of the Seminole war, which had 
 just been concluded. The Seminoles, living along 
 the borders of Alabama and Georgia, had com- 
 mitted all sorts of atrocities, murdering men, women, 
 and children with impartial barbarity. There was, 
 as usual, much reason to suppose that the savages 
 were incited by England and Spain. English 
 emissaries furnished arms and supplies, while Spain 
 offered a refuge upon her territories. Against 
 these savages, Jackson, the greatest of Indian 
 fighters, had been sent. He easily routed them, 
 and pursuing as they fled, found them sheltered and 
 protected under the walls of Pensacola and Fort 
 Barrancas, Spanish territory. "Old Hickory," 
 as his soldiers fondly called him, was not the man 
 to hesitate under these circumstances ; he pushed 
 on, and as a " military necessity," as he wrote to 
 the President, occupied the Spanish towns, wrung 
 submission from the Indians, and hung with short 
 shrift two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 
 who were found aiding and abetting them. 
 
 Public opinion differed so widely about these 
 proceedings that in Congress the Committee on 
 Military Affairs, divided against itself, brought in 
 two reports. The majority (a majority of one) 
 offered the resolution, " That the House of Re- 
 presentatives of the United States disapproves the 
 proceedings in the trial and execution of George 
 Arbuthnot and Kobert C Ambrister." The mi- 
 nority resolution is, " That General Jackson, his 
 officers and men, are entitled to the thanks of the 
 country in terminating the Seminole war." The 
 House promptly referred the reports to the Com- 
 mittee of the Whole on the State of the Union,
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 175 
 
 and a most excited debate began, which embraced 
 every possible point in connection with the subject 
 and every possible difference of opinion. 
 
 Mr. Clay (then Speaker) spoke in eloquent con- 
 demnation of Jackson, and of all his dealings with 
 the Indians from 1814 down. He made a rather 
 amusing comparison of the treaty of Ghent, to 
 which he had himself been one of the commission- 
 ers, with that of Fort Jackson, amusing, because 
 what resemblance could there be between a treaty 
 arranged by the stately commission of Ghent and 
 that concluded at the sword's point between Jack- 
 son and a Redstick Indian? He spoke quite 
 beautifully of the wrongs of the Indians, a theme 
 which unhappily admits of much piteous truth- 
 telling, and arraigned, not only Jackson for oppres- 
 sive tyranny, but the government for accepting his 
 treaty and upholding his present acts. The Presi- 
 dent, he said, might weakly pardon the general, 
 but the House should not shrink from its duty. 
 " Let us assert our constitutional powers, and vin- 
 dicate the instrument from military violation." 
 
 Mr. Clay's colleague, Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, 
 who had been a soldier himself, warmly defended 
 Jackson, showing that had he taken any other 
 course, he would have lost the fruits of victory, and 
 the war be still continued. Mr. lihea, of Tennes- 
 see, produced a fearful account of massacres and 
 scalpings perpetrated by the Indians, of women 
 butchered and children thrown into the flames ; and 
 depicted Jackson as a hero and a saviour ; while 
 one kind-hearted gentleman suggested that if the 
 general had made a speech to the savages, remind- 
 ing them of their crimes, and bidding them go and 
 sin no more, had set them free, " it would better 
 have accorded with the principles of humanity and 
 with the laws of nations." The rhetoric is curious.
 
 176 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 One border statesman declared, " I shall never 
 fear that the keen prying sense of squint-eyed sus- 
 picion will ever find a spider's egg among the 
 leaves, much less a serpent entwined about the 
 branches of the full-grown wreath of laurel that 
 adorns my general's brow. No, sir, Jackson's 
 laurels can never scatter the seed that may hatch 
 some future Tarquin to wound the tender breast of 
 some chaste Lucretia." 
 
 The worst aspect of the affair was when the 
 attack was turned from the general to the Presi- 
 dent. It could hardly be supposed that a victori- 
 ous soldier who had just delivered the people of 
 two States from a horrible danger would receive 
 any severe rebuke for over-ardor in the field ; but 
 it might well be that the President, who it was 
 claimed had permitted, or at least had not re- 
 strained that ardor, as the law demanded, might 
 meet with severer judgment. 
 
 Mr. Tallmadge, of New York, closed his speech 
 on this point with the words : 
 
 " If I am correct in this position, General Jack- 
 son is justified, and the question only remains be- 
 tween the Executive and the country." 
 
 Mr. Lowndes did not rise until fourteen days of 
 speechmaking had gone by ; then he took up the 
 defense of the President. Beginning, as he usually 
 did, by recalling the statements of his opponents, 
 he spoke directly to Mr. Clay, and said : 
 
 " That before he entered into the consideration 
 of the arguments on which he supposed that the 
 determinations of the resolutions before the com- 
 mittee would principally depend, he should advert 
 for a moment to some observations made by the 
 Speaker in relation to the treaty of Fort Jackson. 
 His absence from the country at the period of the 
 treaty (at Ghent), and for some time after it,
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 177 
 
 sufficiently accounted for his information being in- 
 correct on this topic. He had said that it would 
 have been worthy the generosity of the government 
 to have given some consideration to the Indians 
 for the cession of land which it obtained. The re- 
 cords of the country would show that this was the 
 course actually pursued. After the ratification of 
 the treaty of Fort Jackson the journal of the com- 
 missioners who made it was laid before the House. 
 
 It contained a declaration of the chiefs who 
 signed the treaty that they were not satisfied with 
 its terms. The same paper furnished the proof that 
 the cessions in the treaty were not made with the 
 free consent of the chiefs and an exposition of the 
 terms on which that consent would have been 
 given. The House of Eepresentatives, by, he be- 
 lieved, a unanimous vote, passed a bill which gave 
 to the Indians the terms with which at the confer- 
 ence at Fort Jackson they had declared that they 
 would be fully satisfied. This bill had become a 
 law, and if the conditions of the treaty had been 
 such as it was harsh to exact, the government, 
 which gave a sum exceeding one hundred thousand 
 dollars as an equivalent for a cession which by 
 treaty was to have been made without any equiva- 
 lent, had pursued precisely the conduct which the 
 Speaker had declared he could have wished. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes, then courteously remarking that he 
 will follow the example of the gentleman from Ken- 
 tucky (Mr. Anderson), puts aside all irrelevant 
 questions and goes straight to the heart of the matter. 
 " Had General Jackson the right to take St. Marks 
 and Pensacola ? Had the President of the United 
 States such a right? The rights of his subordi- 
 nate officer were not greater than his own." He 
 went into a statement of the constitutional powers 
 of the President and of the Congress, pointing out
 
 178 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 that the capture of these places was an act of war, 
 and that Congress alone had the power of declaring 
 war. He therefore considered it clear that the 
 President had no right to authorize the capture of 
 St. Marks and Pensacola ; and the documents upon 
 the table proved that such was the view which the 
 President had taken of his own powers. To have 
 retained Pensacola even until the meeting of Con- 
 gress would have been to have changed the rela- 
 tions between the two countries. To such a change 
 the power of the Executive is incompetent. To 
 have retained Pensacola for a month or two against 
 the will of Spain would have been war. The order 
 for its restitution was therefore given promptly, 
 and without the slightest intimation of any change 
 in the condition of the Indian enemy, or of our own 
 army, which would make its retention less necessary 
 or less justifiable than its original capture. 
 
 He proved conclusively that the President's 
 orders had been not to follow or attack the Indians 
 within the Spanish frontiers, and not to occupy St. 
 Marks or Pensacola. The responsibility thus rested 
 with General Jackson alone. He then showed that 
 the condition of things found by Jackson gave 
 great provocation. The forts were not acting a 
 neutral part ; they were giving " aid and comfort, 
 access and information, ammunition and provision 
 to the Indians." " On these grounds they became 
 associated in the war." He nevertheless maintained 
 that Jackson was not authorized to occupy the 
 forts, but dwelt on the difference between the acts 
 of a soldier on the field pursuing his enemy and 
 those of the civil government. What occasion, 
 it has been said, is there to do anything on the 
 subject ? None, if General Jackson did not exceed 
 the powers with which he was intrusted ; but if he 
 exerted one of the highest prerogatives of govern-
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 179 
 
 ment, which is confided to no less authority than 
 the entire legislature of the country, are we willing 
 to employ our own powers when we think it right, 
 and when we do not to let any one else assume 
 them ? The character of General Jackson is said 
 to be implicated in the vote proposed. The opinion 
 of the world and of posterity will not be affected 
 by that vote. There is nothing in the fact or the 
 resolution to impeach his military glory or his pa- 
 triotism. But the character of the country does not 
 depend alone upon its military exploits. Its civil 
 institutions, its liberty and laws, are elements of 
 the national reputation quite as valuable. To sup- 
 press our disapprobation, if it were merited, would 
 not raise the character of General Jackson, but 
 would impair our own. He could, indeed, suppose 
 cases where powers not given by the Constitution 
 might be assumed by an Executive rightly and 
 necessarily ; but he could suppose none in which 
 this assumption should be passed over in silent ac- 
 quiescence. Indemnity might be extended to the 
 officer and justification to the act, but the absolute 
 necessity which could alone furnish that justifica- 
 tion should be recorded by the vigilant guardians 
 of the Constitution. He examined carefully the 
 different circumstances of Ambrister and Arbuth- 
 not, deciding that in his opinion the execution of 
 the first was justifiable, but that of the latter was 
 not. He implored the House not to run into hasty 
 legislation on any of the disputed points. He 
 could not willingly add to the evils of an act which 
 he deeply regretted by making it the occasion of an 
 improvident law. 
 
 I have given so much of this speech because it 
 shows, I think, Mr. Lowndes's peculiar power, a 
 power not at once understood by the student of his 
 speeches. . On this occasion, almost every other
 
 180 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 gentleman speaks with fire and fervor, appealing to 
 the patriotism, the passions, and the prejudices of 
 his hearers. Mr. Lowndes alone speaks calmly 
 and judicially of the matter in hand, seeking first 
 to ascertain the simple facts, and then the rights 
 of the case. There is no oratory, no rhetoric, but 
 a clear exposition of what has been done, and a 
 statement of the laws and rights infringed or vin- 
 dicated in the so doing, what justice and char- 
 acter require of the country. 
 
 Every other speaker must have added something 
 to the painful excitement of the House. He alone 
 reminded them that its duty was not to inflame but 
 to calm the people, and to show itself worthy of 
 its powers as the lawmaking body of the nation. 
 
 The speech explains the remark often made of 
 him, which has been quoted before, that he was 
 " not the leader but the mediator of the House." 
 
 The House finally, after six weeks of constant de- 
 bate, rejected all motions of censure (Mr. Lowndes 
 voting with the minority that the seizure of the 
 forts was illegal), but the affair was never forgot- 
 ten. When Jackson was proposed for President 
 it was popularly said that " it was absurd to choose 
 a man as guardian of the laws who had in his whole 
 life done nothing but break them." 
 
 This was Mr. Lowndes's last speech for the ses- 
 sion. The House adjourned early in March, and 
 he left immediately for a voyage to Europe. His 
 health was failing and his doctors insisted upon the 
 journey. He needed all the strength he could gain, 
 for the painful Missouri struggle was already ap- 
 proaching. 
 
 His family remained in Washington that the 
 boys' schooling might not be interrupted. The last 
 sentence of the letter to Mr. Cheves, given before, 
 is :
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 181 
 
 Mrs. Lowndes and myself are very sensible of 
 your kindness in proposing that she should spend 
 the next summer with Mrs. Cheves. She desires 
 me to say that it would be a great inducement to 
 her to go to Philadelphia, that she might be with 
 Mrs. Cheves or near her. But she has moved about 
 so much for some years past that she is anxious 
 for the next twelvemonth to be as stationary as 
 she can. I tried some time ago to persuade her to 
 join her brother, who will go to Ballstown, but I be- 
 lieve that she will confine herself to the ten miles 
 square. 
 
 With great respect and regard, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 W. Lowndes. 
 
 This letter is written on the 4th of March from 
 Washington. Later he writes to his wife : 
 
 New York, March 9th, 1819. 
 
 I arrived here, my dear wife, about 8 o'clock 
 last night, after a journey which some of my com- 
 panions pronounced very distressing, but which 
 would not have appeared even uncomfortable to 
 me if it had not been carrying me from home. My 
 first business this morning was to see my sister, 
 who looks wonderfully better, fatter, and younger 
 than when she left Charleston. She promises to 
 go to Washington to see you, and perhaps she may 
 tell me when I go to dine with her to-day when she 
 will go. 
 
 The ship, which I have seen, is, they tell me, a 
 very fine one, and I do not doubt it. Her accommo- 
 dations are certainly excellent and my berth is as 
 good as any in the vessel. You know I felt some 
 solicitude as to whether the berth would be inclosed 
 so as to give me a little cabin of my own to dress
 
 182 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 in ; they are all so, and I shall have my little cabin 
 to myself. . . . We have but seven passengers, one 
 of whom is a lady ; . . . I have been introduced to 
 one who seems to be a decent man. 
 
 You know that the children were all up when I 
 left home, and I was not a little pleased with their 
 farewell. Mr. Pinckney had a tear in his eye as 
 well as the rest, and all felt, and all restrained, the 
 distress which a father wishes his children to feel, 
 when he leaves them. May they be happy, is my 
 second wish in relation to them. May they deserve 
 to be so, my first. 
 
 I was going to express the wishes for your welfare, 
 and the sense of your kindness and virtues, which 
 at the time of leaving the continent on which you 
 are to remain it is natural that I should feel with 
 peculiar strength ; but as the subject places me in 
 the situation in which I left my children I will not 
 dwell on it. Be happy as you deserve to be. And 
 to conclude with the wish which is directed, I hope, 
 to the happiness of both : May we never again be 
 separated as long as we now expect to be. 
 Your affect, husband, 
 
 W. Lowndes. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes's sister, Mrs. Brown, referred to 
 in this and many other letters, was now living 
 in New York, where her only son had married a 
 Miss Livingston. Her affectionate kindness to her 
 brother and his family ceased only with her life. 
 
 Liverpool, March 30th, 1819. 
 The date of my letter, my dear wife, will at once 
 give you the information which it is the chief object 
 of my letter to communicate ; that of our arrival 
 after a passage of 19 days, (as I think) of 20 
 days. ... If I intended to fill my letters with what
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 183 
 
 I have seen and observed here, it would not be in 
 my power as yet to write on other subjects. If 
 I make any remarks on the country which I think 
 worth communicating, I will consign them not to a 
 journal, but to a sort of memorandum book which, 
 if it be worth reading, you may read after my 
 return. My letters, therefore, will be very short, 
 but it will be only for want of opportunities if they 
 are not very frequent. 
 
 He goes on with tender messages to the children, 
 talk of the beloved plantations, and suggestions for 
 her comfort, ending with, " I still hope that you 
 may break the tediousness of the summer by some 
 excursion. If Mrs. Madison invites you, I think 
 that the visit would be better for health and plea- 
 sure than a long journey would be, but I wish you 
 to take the journey, whatever that may be, which 
 you should expect to find most pleasant." 
 
 No letters remain from this date to May 13, so 
 that all record of personal experience is lost, with 
 the exception of what can be gleaned from the 
 note-book. The note-book is chiefly interesting at 
 this date as showing the unwearying activity of 
 mind, and constant search for what might be use- 
 ful to his country, which made this tour rather a 
 laborious search for information than a season of 
 rest and refreshment. He begins with a careful 
 computation of the different wealth of cities, the 
 causes thereof, is the wealth real or apparent, Liv- 
 erpool and New York, etc. He examines the ves- 
 sels, the docks, the buildings, the navigation laws, 
 and the manner of enforcing them, talks with mer- 
 chants and manufacturers on all that they can tell 
 him, and puts it down with " This may be useful " 
 constantly recurring. Things are so changed that 
 few of these notes would be interesting, and Amer-
 
 184 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 ica has not now to go to Europe for machinery or 
 invention. 
 
 He mentions dining with Mr. Roscoe, the histo- 
 rian of the Medici, and hears from him the story, 
 then not known publicly, but often printed since, 
 of the overthrow of the Catholic Emancipation and 
 Dissenters' bill, by the personal action of the king, 
 entailing the fall of the Grey and Grenville minis- 
 try. On leaving Liverpool he visits Birmingham, 
 making studies of the canals, factories, etc., and 
 the gentleness of the horses. " Everything here is 
 trained." 
 
 Mr. E. S. Thomas, a native of Boston, but after- 
 wards a resident of Charleston and Cincinnati, says 
 in his " Reminiscences of Sixty-five Years : " 
 
 " I was there [in Europe] in 1820 and followed 
 directly in his [Mr. Lowndes's] path. The first 
 question put to me upon almost all occasions was, 
 4 Do you know Mr. Lowndes ? ' . . . His greatness 
 and goodness were the theme of every tongue. Mr. 
 Roscoe related to me the following anecdote : Mr. 
 Lowndes was a very early riser, and so arranged 
 matters with the porter of the Athenaeum that he 
 could have admission at an early hour ; it was here 
 he whiled away time until breakfast. One morn- 
 ing while he was thus engaged another gentleman 
 entered, . . . they got into conversation together, 
 neither having any knowledge of the other. . . . 
 Some hours after, the Englishman met Mr. Roscoe 
 and related to him his morning interview with ' the 
 great unknown,' and said that he was ' the tallest 
 man, the most unassuming man, he ever saw, and 
 the man of the greatest intellect he ever heard 
 speak.' Mr. Roscoe immediately replied, ' It is 
 the great American, Lowndes, you have been con- 
 versing with. Come and dine with me to-morrow, 
 and I will introduce you to him.' "
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 185 
 
 In London the same observations continue. On 
 the docks, the dredging machines, the construction 
 of bridges, etc. ; also studies on the banks and 
 the system of banking, and coinage. He seems to 
 have been disappointed at his letters of introduction 
 not having been more honored, and argues quaintly 
 with himself why this should be. 
 
 27th. " I have been to the House of Commons. 
 An American is struck with something of terseness 
 and neatness, with the tone of good society on the 
 part of all the speakers (with the exception of a 
 few lawyers), and great disorder in the House. If 
 they had had desks it could not have been greater. 
 A bill to carry into effect the convention with the 
 United States. Mr. Robinson said that it would be 
 necessary to provide by law, etc., etc., inter alia for 
 carrying into effect the Com. Convention prolong- 
 ing the former law for ten years." 
 
 He has much conversation with some of the di- 
 rectors of the Bank of England, and declares that 
 ne finds " Mr. Brill, the great projector of large sea- 
 going vessels, more interesting than all the lords 
 and commons." 
 
 " As my scribbling is only to be seen by myself, 
 I will say to myself that there is much more of the 
 spirit of chivalry (so to flatter it) in England than 
 of representative government. I have once got ad- 
 mission to the floor of the H. of Commons as a 
 foreign gentleman, not as a member of a foreign 
 legislature. But I dined to-day in company with 
 two Italian counts, who have no more share in the 
 government of their country than my cook has in 
 that of America, and they are admitted frequently. 
 I went upon the floor because it was convenient, 
 and because I thought it a fair return for our cour- 
 tesy to the English parliament ; but if I have the 
 opportunity (which in candor I do not expect) of
 
 186 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 declining it, I shall, without assigning any reason 
 for it, prefer fighting ray way into the gallery of 
 the Commons, and paying it into the Lords. . . . 
 My two objects of observation in England are the 
 people and the leading men. Thinking Rome like 
 Mantua, ' Urbem quam Romam vocant, Meliboe, 
 putavi stultus ego huic nostrae similem,' and hav- 
 ing letters to Lords and Members of the Commons, 
 I expected to see them ; but as my letters have not 
 procured me the compliment of a card, I must be 
 satisfied to improve my acquaintance with the peo- 
 ple. The manufactures and agriculture I hope to 
 see something of upon my return from the Conti- 
 nent, where I shall go the sooner because I have 
 been disappointed in the expectation of seeing some- 
 thing of the public men here. I do not think this is 
 a want of hospitality. It is indeed probable that real 
 hospitality is always less in populous societies sat- 
 urated with strangers. ... In England, I believe 
 that a foreign Duke would be very hospitably 
 treated by an Earl. I am sure that he would be 
 by a baronet. If there is (as I believe) a differ- 
 ence on this point between England and the Con- 
 tinent, perhaps it may be that the English feel less 
 respect for those who have any public station in 
 other countries, and indeed less respect for other 
 countries, and indeed that in England every man 
 is trying to raise his situation by improving his ac- 
 quaintance. ... I am very sorry that I have not 
 been able to get near enough to these great men to 
 take their measure ; but it would be impossible to 
 be more kind and polite than some gentlemen have 
 been to whom I brought no letters whatever." 
 
 " I have just returned from a visit to a highly 
 improved seat and farm in Herefordshire (Mr. Du- 
 rant's), where I have seen a great deal to admire ; " 
 describes wire fences, cast-iron sheds, subsoil tile
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 187 
 
 drainage, etc. " I did notice a circumstance at 
 Mr. Durant's which is, I think, worth observing, to 
 show how much, among the causes which discrim- 
 inate, wealth predominates. He lives at the edge 
 of two parishes. The rector of one and curate 
 of the other live very near him. The rector has 
 about 1,200 a year ($6,000), the curate 70 or 
 80 ($400), and though neighbours their families 
 never visit. The rector, who supped with us, is a 
 polite, well-informed man, and they say liberal, but 
 my question, ' Does he visit ? ' seemed to surprise. 
 It was not expected." 
 
 So there were snobs before the day of Thackeray. 
 
 He visited hospitals, asylums (which he did not 
 think as well arranged as those in Philadelphia), 
 and New Market, and returns once more to the 
 House of Commons. " Attended the H. of C. A 
 part of the business (not formal) done with six 
 members. Still pleased with the style, in which 
 there was great clearness of narration, and general 
 neatness in the sentences, but except in Sir James 
 Mackintosh great want of impressiveness. The 
 * hear him ' is an exclamation given very profusely, 
 and with at least as little sense of excellence as the 
 clapping of a theatre. In praising Lord Camden's 
 generosity some of the principal speakers attempted 
 eulogiums, many of which studied. Tiernay fluent 
 and clear, Castlereagh sensible, a little obscure, 
 perhaps, to the hearer (his sentences too long), but 
 his own views sufficiently clear. Wilberforce in- 
 terrupted and not strong. Their greatest merit was 
 that they were occasionally elegant. I could not 
 help on another question contrasting the Secretary 
 of War (Lord Palmerston) with Calhoun. The 
 lord, if he had understood his subject, would have 
 wanted language to explain it ; but his knowledge 
 was all of circumstances, not of essentials."
 
 188 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 One would like to know who the persons were 
 whom he did see ; but he mentions in his diary 
 only " where I dined yesterday I heard," or " at a 
 breakfast I was told the secret of so and so," but 
 no names. All those, of course, were in the letters 
 to his wife, which have been lost. One note of in- 
 vitation from Mr. Canning is found among his 
 papers, and that is all. 
 
 He returns to the subject in the only letter to 
 his wife which we have from London : 
 
 My dear Wife, I have put off writing . . . 
 until the last hour of my stay in this city that you 
 might hear of my being well just before I leave 
 England. ... I have rec'd yesterday the President's 
 and your father's letters of introduction, and of 
 course can make no use of them before my return. 
 ... I have so much reason to think that the Lords 
 and Commons of this land disregard all letters of 
 introduction (from the U. S.) that to spare myself 
 the mortification, as an American, of finding the 
 President's neglected, I think I shall keep it in 
 my portefeuille. 
 
 You must not conclude that I have met with no 
 hospitality. I have met with a great deal where I 
 had no sort of right to expect it the freest and 
 largest ; but, with the exception of Mrs. M.'s bro- 
 ther, it certainly has not been from those to whom 
 I brought letters. It all illustrates the country, 
 " you know ; " but of all this say nothing until you 
 hear more. 
 
 The President's letter was to Lord Holland ; 
 it still remains undelivered among his papers. 
 With due submission it must be said that he made 
 a mistake in not delivering it ; for Lord Holland 
 was the kindest hearted and most charming of
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 189 
 
 men, and belonged to the school of Fox, well in- 
 clined to Americans. A dinner at Holland House 
 would have given the close observer much to see 
 and hear ; but by this time his national pride was 
 evidently up, and he preferred asking no notice. 
 
 In France he enjoyed meeting Mr. Gallatin, 
 then minister, and met interesting persons, Hum- 
 boldt and others, at his table. He writes to his 
 wife : 
 
 " I do not find, as you may have expected, any 
 difficulty from my want of French as yet. I do not 
 mean that I always remember the word I want to 
 use ; on the contrary, I am often obliged to confess 
 my ignorance and use a paraphrase. But I do not 
 find this a serious obstacle to conversation, and if 
 my readiness in the language improves as it has 
 done in the last two days, I shall do very well in a 
 week." 
 
 Through Mr. Gallatin Mr. Lowndes saw some- 
 thing of the public men of the day in France, and 
 attended several meetings of the House of Deputies, 
 which he thus describes : 
 
 " House of Deputies. It is usual in England and 
 even in France to laugh at this body, and perhaps 
 it would provoke an incredulous sneer to remark 
 that in some respects their mode of procedure is 
 better than ours. In England the protraction of 
 debate is prevented by clamour, and by the obsti- 
 nacy of the House, which refuses to adjourn. By- 
 the-bye, this obstinacy would bend were it not for 
 the rule, at least a convenient one, which allows 
 40 out of to form a quorum. Their previous 
 question is only a motion for postponement which 
 is debated. In America we have borrowed the 
 name of " the previous question," but changed en- 
 tirely its character. With us it is a motion that 
 the discussion shall close and the question be taken.
 
 190 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 But as might be expected from a new application 
 of an old machine, it is never employed without 
 embarrassment. In France, when the Chamber of 
 Deputies thinks that the discussion has lasted long 
 enough, they move " la cloture de la discussion." 
 The importance of the subject, the short time the 
 debate has lasted, any reason to show that the debate 
 should go on is admitted. There is no difficulty 
 in France, would be none in America in prevent- 
 ing a general discussion. Why not as easily as 
 in a question to lay upon the table ? The French, 
 however, have the previous question, ' prealablej 
 which they apply either to substantive motions or 
 to amendments, and which, as in England, is sub- 
 stantially the motion that the question shall not be 
 put. 
 
 " Their reading of speeches is of the very worst 
 kind. When they speak a Vimproviste they are 
 fluent, and neither declamatory or affected. But 
 as soon as they write a speech they press their 
 scholastic rhetoric into service. Their manner of 
 delivery, too, is somewhat tedious ; their speeches 
 are not committed to memory and spoken, nor are 
 they simply read ; their reading is interrupted and 
 the sense perplexed by the awkward attempts at 
 gesture of the orator. It puts me in mind of Roman 
 acting, where one man furnished words and another 
 gesture. Each was probably good of its kind, but 
 in the French chamber each is bad. I see but one 
 advantage in the practice. The more interesting 
 the subject, and the rougher the altercation, the 
 more certainly does this French assembly recur to 
 its pen. The effect in moderating violence is here 
 very plain, and in this view the plan is almost as 
 good as if they were obliged to set their philippics 
 to music and sing them. 
 
 " We have a difficulty to contend with in addi-
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 191 
 
 tion to many commonly remarked in America, in 
 restraining useless and impertinent debate which 
 exists nowhere else to the same extent. Public 
 opinion of the town, and of the body to which they 
 belong, has very little influence with members at 
 Washington. The want of a public at Washington 
 is in some measure the cause of the first, but both 
 result in great measure from the dependence upon 
 our constituents. " Populus me sibilat, sed ipse 
 me plaudo contemplans nummuni in area." 
 
 "The members may talk or leave their seats, 
 and the galleries be emptied, the member means 
 his speech for his constituents and he goes on 
 with it. A press which should state the truth, 
 which speeches are heard and which not, would do 
 some service, but such a press would not be sup- 
 ported." 
 
 Through Mr. Gallatin, also, Mr. Lowndes heard 
 the following story of how Louis XVIII. managed a 
 change of ministers. The Due de Richelieu's min- 
 istry had split in a contest over the electoral laws, 
 and the duke found it difficult to form a new one. 
 He called to consult with the king (one of the 
 most astute of men), told him of his failure, but 
 said that in a day or two he would do better. " By- 
 the-bye," says the king, " what do you think of 
 that literary controversy which took place in Louis 
 the Fourteenth's time ? " They talked on literary 
 subjects for some time, the king resisting every 
 attempt to give the conversation a political turn. 
 Upon the last attempt, the king reminded the duke 
 of a pretty song written by his grandfather the 
 courtier-general, and sang it to him. The con- 
 ference closed and the duke retired. He had been 
 unwell for some days, and fell down in a fit as soon 
 as he returned to his own house. The king im- 
 mediately sent for Decazes, etc. Decazes was a
 
 192 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 personal favorite, and the king had wished for him 
 him as minister all along. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes admired Paris extremely. " He 
 could imagine nothing more beautiful than the 
 part where the public buildings are," and found 
 public affairs very interesting ; but he was anxious 
 to make a journey to the south before it should be 
 too warm for comfort, and he left Paris after a ten 
 days' visit, mentioning " General Lafayette says," 
 the day before leaving. 
 
 He traveled malle-poste, he tells his wife, be- 
 cause in this way he could see something of the 
 people of the country, his compagnons de voyage ; 
 and stopping at all the principal places, he hired a 
 horse at each, and explored the vicinity by riding 
 about. In this way he crossed the Pont du Gard 
 and examined the Roman ruins of Nismes with 
 great satisfaction. From Nice to Genoa he went 
 in a small felucca, what should have been the 
 pleasure of the voyage spoiled by the " incredible 
 dirt " of his fellow passengers. At Milan he hired a 
 carriage and, joined by an English officer, Colonel 
 Temple, who had been in command of the Ionian 
 Islands, traveled in six days over the Simplon to 
 Geneva, and after a short stay, thence to Paris. 
 Through all this rapid journey the note-book is filled 
 with jottings, often curiously minute, of roads, 
 bridges, canals, machines, roofing, agriculture, 
 etc. All that he can learn either by sight or con- 
 versation that may serve his beloved country he 
 sets down. " This may be applied to our roads in 
 Carolina ; " " this bridge is strong enough for our 
 largest rivers." His notion of rest seems to have 
 been learning ; for when the diligence stopped, as 
 it usually did for five hours in the middle of the 
 day for repose, then he rode about as described 
 above. His health had certainly improved wonder-
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 193 
 
 fully, for on the day of his return to Paris he says 
 to his wife, " I assure you that not only am I well, 
 but I have not had a moment's indisposition on my 
 journey." At Paris he found letters telling- of some 
 financial trouble in America ; but he answered 
 cheerfully : 
 
 " I am, as you may suppose, sorry to hear of the 
 distresses of different classes in America, and par- 
 ticularly of the failure in trade of persons with whom 
 I am acquainted. As to the country itself, I feel 
 when I hear of such dangers and difficulties much 
 as I do when I meet with descriptions of the dan- 
 gers and difficulties of the hero in a novel. I am 
 sure to find all removed in the last page. Do not 
 think that I would speak slightingly of individual 
 distress, but there are many people in Europe who 
 confound the disappointments of individuals (to 
 which the enterprising character of our people 
 peculiarly exposes them) with the embarrassment 
 and almost the decline of the country itself, so that 
 I am forward in expressing here the mixed senti- 
 ment which I feel, of sympathy for the individual, 
 and of proud confidence in the resources of the 
 country, whose advance in power and wealth these 
 distresses cannot prevent and can hardly inter- 
 rupt." 
 
 His impressions of the French he sums up in 
 this way, saying first modestly that it is a mistake 
 to trust too much to such rapid observations : 
 " The disposition to place this [commercial] con- 
 fidence is greater in England, and it must be 
 admitted, too, that the inducement to place it is 
 stronger. With my little opportunities I am satis- 
 fied that it is common in England in the smallest 
 business to set out on the principle that character 
 is more important than the profits of each particular 
 bargain can be. In France, each sale is a conflict
 
 194 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 between buyer and seller." He instances the bar- 
 gaining, the two prices for everything, and ends, 
 " Shall I say the truth ? Honesty and its com- 
 panion confidence are, I think, less common in 
 France." Nevertheless, he liked Paris, as who does 
 not ? especially the theatres ; the salons to which 
 he had been invited he found dull. He mentions 
 visiting Mrs. Lowndes's old schoolfellow Madam 
 Ney's " superb hotel " (but unfortunately the letter 
 is so torn as to be undecipherable), and says that 
 he has declined the honor of being presented to the 
 king. After a fortnight spent in Holland and 
 Belgium, where he saw many things most instruc- 
 tive to the rice-planter which he would have liked 
 to apply to the Horse Shoe (pumping engines, 
 etc.), but where he found his want of Dutch very 
 embarrassing, he returned to England. The note- 
 book of this second English visit is entirely occupied 
 with accounts of docks, breakwaters, lighthouses, 
 and machinery of all kinds. A letter to Mrs. 
 Lowndes, dated Birmingham, September 10, 1819, 
 tells her that he is on his way to Glasgow to " visit 
 the great highland canal ; " and also that he had 
 been compelled to walk twenty miles the day be- 
 fore in order to get back from Warwick Castle, 
 which he had gone to visit, and " where the Prince 
 Regent having arrived the day before, they had the 
 bad taste to prefer his company to mine." He had 
 made the walk in five hours without over-fatigue, 
 which shows how much he had benefited by his 
 travels. He says : " A part of the two preceding 
 days I passed with Lord Gambier, and as I have 
 had but little opportunity of talking of lords, I 
 might write to you about this nobleman. . . . But 
 as I like him too well to be willing to draw a very 
 imperfect likeness, and yet do not want to fill my 
 letter with him, I must reserve him for parlour chat.
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 195 
 
 I certainly never became in so short a time more 
 familiarly acquainted with an untitled man. His 
 family, too, are pleasant," etc. Lord Gambier was 
 a naval lord, had been in command of the British 
 fleet in the attack upon Copenhagen, and was after- 
 ward head of the commission at the treaty of 
 Ghent. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes also speaks of great kindness 
 received from a Mr. Shaw to whom he had brought 
 a letter from Mr. Sergeant, representative from 
 New York, and adds quaintly, " I do not attribute 
 all this to Sergeant's letter, which was in common 
 form. I improved my opportunities. By-the-bye, 
 I certainly never in my life have laboured half so 
 hard to ingratiate myself even with people whom 
 I have accidentally met as since I have been in Eng- 
 land, and as to my success, I have often thought as 
 Bonaparte said on raising the siege of Acre, ' but a 
 few days more, and the place would have been 
 mine.' I am sure that I have never succeeded so 
 well in making favourable impressions, and never 
 derived fewer advantages from them. The only 
 consequence of all this is, that I have got a habit 
 which I hope to lose before I return to America, 
 of talking myself, and trying to make others talk a 
 great deal too much." 
 
 An accomplished scholar points out to the writer 
 that neither of the two quotations given above is 
 accurate. The first from Virgil (Eclogues, I. 21) 
 reads in the original, " quam dicunt liomam." 
 Mr. Lowndes has it, "quam Romam voeant;'''' 
 and the second from Horace (Satires, I. 166) is in 
 the original, " Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo. 
 Ipse domi simil ac numeros contemplor in area." 
 Mr. Lowndes has it, " Populus me sibilat, sed 
 ipse me plaudo contemplans nummuni in area ; " 
 "but," he goes on to say of these quotations, writ-
 
 196 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 ten hurriedly in traveling, and of course without 
 book, " while not accurately cited they are still 
 good Latin, and express substantially the sense of 
 the original. In fact, to my mind the departures 
 from the text are a better evidence that William 
 Lowndes was a good Latin scholar than an exact 
 quotation would have been. It is the careless- 
 ness of the native, not the ignorance of the for- 
 eigner." 
 
 Mr. Lowndes returned to America in October, 
 bringing with him " the prettiest toy in England, a 
 perfect little steam-engine to play with next summer 
 at the Grove. It shall saw wood, grind corn, raise 
 water, turn a lathe, etc. Although I have got for 
 fifty guineas what would have cost me 250 if I had 
 ordered it, I am afraid that I have made rather a 
 foolish purchase. I do not believe, however, that 
 the largest machine in England is more perfect in 
 all its parts." 
 
 As an offset, perhaps, to this little piece of ex- 
 travagance he says in his note-book, " Sent from 
 Paris a box of lace and millinery and one of silk 
 stockings." 
 
 He also brought with him a number of books, 
 many of them handsome and valuable, as an addi- 
 tion to the library which he had been forming 
 since he was fourteen. This library at the time 
 of his death completely lined the walls of a room 
 thirty feet square, besides covering many desks and 
 tables. It comprised, besides handsome editions 
 of the classics, and those works of history and lit- 
 erature which might have been expected from his 
 chosen vocation in life, many French books, every- 
 thing (then) new upon natural science, physics, and 
 agriculture. Unhappily it was completely destroyed 
 in the great fire of 1861, only a few odd volumes 
 which had been separated from the rest escaping.
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE 197 
 
 But to a man of his habit of mind no material ac- 
 quisition can have been as precious as the sentiment 
 which remained to him from his journey, expressed 
 in a letter : " Nothing can make a man so proud of 
 being an American as traveling in Europe."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE : ILLNESS 
 1819-1822 
 
 Mr. Lowndes reached Washington before the 
 opening of Congress and wrote to General Pinck- 
 ney: 
 
 Wash. Nov'r. 11th, 1819. 
 
 My dear Sir, I arrived a few days since and 
 found my family well. My visit to Europe has 
 been more interesting and amusing to me than I 
 expected, and yet my expectations were not low, or 
 I should not have undertaken the voyage. I have 
 been fortunate, too, in my passages, as I made two 
 in little more than the time supposed necessary for 
 one. It is very gratifying to see the improvements 
 which the arts have made, especially in England, 
 but it is much more so to believe, as I do very sin- 
 cerely, that in those which are most worthy of imi- 
 tation we shall improve upon our models. 
 
 To Mr. Cheves Mr. Lowndes had written fully 
 from London, upon the supply of specie for the 
 Bank of the United States (California being yet 
 afar off), giving information derived from the Mr. 
 Shaw already mentioned, and from some of the 
 directors of the Bank of England with whom he 
 had become acquainted. He now wrote again 
 (first speaking with great feeling of the alarming 
 illness of Mr. Calhoun), to introduce another mer-
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE 199 
 
 chant who might assist in this difficult business, 
 the supply of specie. It is through the kindness 
 of the grandson of Mr. Cheves, Langdon Cheves, 
 Esq., that these letters have been placed in the 
 hands of the present writer. Unfit as she feels 
 herself to profit by their discussions of banking, 
 currency, bullion, etc., she is consoled by the know- 
 ledge that an admirable account of this chapter of 
 the financial history of the country, the manage- 
 ment of the Bank of the United States, has been 
 prepared by the great-granddaughter of Mr. 
 Cheves, Miss Louise Cheves Haskell. 
 
 After thoroughly discussing all these questions, 
 Mr. Lowndes adds in a letter dated Washington, 
 November 21, 1819 : 
 
 " I do not know whether you have ever heard me 
 confess my almost indiscriminate skepticism in re- 
 spect to historical narration. Yet with this feeling 
 as strong as ever upon me, I have a very great in- 
 clination to attempt the annals of a short period, 
 and thus on my own principles to add to the num- 
 ber of fables for grown men. Could you now and 
 then, at an odd moment, when the business of the 
 bank allows you such, note in the historical way, 
 any of the strange facts of which we have been 
 witnesses? Three words sometimes are sufficient 
 to bring to our minds what we have forgotten. 
 Have you still Mr. Gallatin's project for carrying 
 on the war ? and if you have, have you any objec- 
 tion to giving me a copy ? The truth is that this 
 fancy, which occurred to me in the idleness of my 
 last voyage, has gone no farther, and possibly will 
 not go, than to the collection of a very few articles. 
 I have mentioned it to no one else, because, unim- 
 portant as it is, I should be sorry that it should be 
 known." 
 
 This was a favorite plan, and he frequently refers
 
 200 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 to it in his letters of the next two years. In a note- 
 book are some of the materials which he intended 
 to use. It begins, " In this book I propose to col- 
 lect the historical anecdotes which I hear, i. e. 
 those not obtained from published books." Then 
 follow a number of anecdotes chiefly derived from 
 conversations with Mr. Madison, Mr. Jefferson, 
 Mr. Quincy, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Craw- 
 ford, Mr. Forsyth, etc. The latter gentlemen had 
 all been foreign ministers at exciting periods ; but 
 with time the interest of many of the stories has 
 lapsed, and others have already been given to the 
 public. 
 
 He had paid a visit to Mr. Madison in 1817, 
 and to Jefferson, at Monticello, at the same time. 
 The following is curious as an opinion of the great 
 Virginian orator. 
 
 " He [Mr. Madison] thought Patrick Henry a 
 man of genius, exactly suited to the body to which 
 he belonged. He did not believe that he would 
 maintain a high rank in the present Congress. To 
 express my own opinion as to his meaning, it was 
 that I, whom he thought a mere logician, would not 
 estimate him highly. Mr. Madison thought the 
 journals or debates of the convention should have 
 no influence in the construction of the Constitution. 
 An argument was often used in defense of a clause 
 which its friends generally thought erroneous, but 
 they had no interest in answering it. 
 
 " Mr. Madison has been more agreeably disap- 
 pointed by the beneficial operation of that part 
 of the Federal Constitution which relates to the 
 Judiciary than by any other. He thought it 
 necessary, and had voted in favour of such a pro- 
 vision that Congress should have a negative upon 
 the State laws." 
 
 " Mr. Jefferson told me, that iu his administra-
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE 201 
 
 tion, when a war seemed probable with Spain, he 
 directed General Wilkinson to state what number 
 of troops would be necessary to conquer Cuba and 
 Mexico. For Mexico, he required only provisions, 
 landed at Vera Cruz. For Cuba, 20,000 men to 
 take and hold it. 
 
 " I do not think General Wilkinson's estimates 
 entitled to much credit. I remember seeing (in 
 the first session of the Twelfth Congress) a memoir 
 written by him, which proved that in a war with 
 England Louisiana could not be defended by less 
 than 20,000 men." 
 
 There are many other notes, but of course the 
 plan came to naught, the time was too brief ; but it 
 served to please and occupy some weary hours. 
 
 Congress met December 6th, and in a few days 
 Mr. Lowndes was appointed chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Foreign Affairs, and became at once 
 engrossed in public business. 
 
 The fateful question of the admission of Missouri 
 to the Union, which had been opened in the last 
 Congress, was to be the chief occupation of this ; 
 but before Mr. Lowndes had said more than a few 
 words upon it he had the pleasanter duty of pre- 
 senting a motion for the relief of the family of 
 Commodore Perry, a measure which afterwards pro- 
 duced the most carefully reported of all his speeches. 
 The law then was that only the families of those 
 men who died from wounds should be pensioned. 
 Perry had died from ill health consequent upon 
 service, and the relief was not due to his family, 
 therefore the resolution : " That the Committee on 
 Naval Affairs be instructed to inquire into the ex- 
 pediency of extending to the widow of Captain 
 Oliver Hazard Perry, the provision which is now 
 made by law for the widows and children of naval 
 officers who die from wounds received in action."
 
 202 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 In support of the resolution, Mr. Lowndes 
 merely said that " it was conceived that the family 
 of Commodore Perry was embraced by the exist- 
 ing laws which provide for pensions, as it was 
 not to be supposed the generosity or magnanimity 
 of Congress did. not intend to comprehend such a 
 case ; but as this appeared to be doubted, he had 
 deemed it proper to propose the inquiry which he 
 had submitted." 
 
 " Resolution adopted nem. cony 
 
 The affair is remarkable for one of the very few 
 compliments which John Randolph ever paid to a 
 living man (of dead ones he spoke beautifully) ; 
 he said : 
 
 " He rose to offer a motion. He believed it 
 would be very difficult for any member of this 
 House certainly it was not possible for him to 
 keep pace with the honorable gentleman from South 
 Carolina [Mr. Lowndes] in the race of honor and. 
 public utility. That gentleman had by the motion 
 which had just been adopted anticipated him," etc., 
 etc., and after a short and beautiful speech he 
 moved " that provision be made by law for the 
 support of the family of the late Oliver Hazard 
 Perry, Esq., of the United States Navy, and for 
 the education of his children." 
 
 Mr. Lowndes " concurred with great cordiality," 
 and confessed his own motion to be " very infe- 
 rior." 
 
 Mr. Hazard, of Rhode Island (Perry's State), 
 offered thanks to all, and the resolution being 
 adopted, a committee of three was appointed to 
 bring in a bill, etc. 
 
 Yet so slow was Congress that it was not for 
 nearly a year later that Mr. Lowndes was able to 
 write to his wife the only exultant letter to be 
 found among his papers.
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE 203 
 
 January 28th, 1821. 
 I have received more gratification lately from 
 carrying our bill for the relief of Perry's family 
 through the House than anything has given me for 
 a long time. It is but $1,000 a year, but I be- 
 lieve they can live comfortably upon that. Ran- 
 dolph was unable to say anything in favour of it 
 [Randolph was sick]. The House was, with some 
 opposition, induced to take it up, expecting, as half 
 of them told me, to be amused by a speech from 
 Randolph, and to reject the bill by a majority of 
 4 to 1. Indeed, I did not converse with six persons 
 who were in favour of it. I made a very short 
 speech, which, however, was the result of the best 
 effort I was able to make in its favour. It suc- 
 ceeded better than anything I ever did. We re- 
 jected almost unanimously an amendment which 
 without my speech I am sure would have been car- 
 ried by a very large majority [an amendment to 
 limit the pension to five years], and ultimately the 
 bill passed the House by a majority of ten votes. 
 I believe there is no doubt of its passage in the 
 Senate. In all this there may be vanity, but I hope 
 there is not ; I was so anxious for success and so 
 doubtful of it that I was exceedingly delighted 
 when it occurred. ... I would not give my speech 
 to Gales [for the paper], because I don't want the 
 character of a maker of fine speeches, but I send it 
 to you in the hope that it may please you. 
 
 Curiously enough, in the account of the pas- 
 sage of this bill in the " Abridged Debates " Mr. 
 Lowndes's name is not mentioned. No one would 
 know that he had then, January 23, 1821, spoken 
 at all, but after his death, the speech, which he had 
 written out at the request of his friend, Senator 
 Silsbie, of Massachusetts, was inserted by Mr. Ben-
 
 201 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 ton in the " Debates " as a " Supplemental Speech." 
 Being printed there in full, the only one of his 
 speeches so printed, it is not given here, although 
 the MS. copy sent to his wife is still preserved by 
 his descendants. 
 
 The efforts being made at this present time for 
 the establishment of the rights of neutrals and the 
 protection of private property upon the high seas 
 give a peculiar interest to the following words of 
 Mr. Lowndes taken from Niles's " Register." He 
 had, as has been remarked, steadily opposed pri- 
 vateering, even when it seemed most advantageous 
 to the United States, and now it came to him as 
 chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations 
 to present a report on two " Memorials of citizens 
 of Ohio, praying the suppression of privateering." 
 The report says : 
 
 " They [the memorialists] are considered by the 
 Committee as recommending such a change in these 
 laws as shall exempt the property of individuals 
 from capture, either by public or private ships of 
 war, at least when it does not consist of contraband 
 articles, and is not destined to a blockaded port. 
 The general benevolence which is expressed, as 
 well as the opinion of Dr. Franklin which is re- 
 ferred to by the memorialists, seem to prove that 
 it is their wish that the property which subserves no 
 purpose of war should be as safe upon the sea as 
 upon the land, not that it should be secured from 
 private citizens to be left exposed to public ships, 
 etc. 
 
 " It cannot indeed be presumed that the memori- 
 alists should wish a change in maritime law, which 
 woidd produce very little diminution in the dangers 
 of our commerce in a conflict with any considerable 
 naval power, while it would wrest from our hands 
 what we have hitherto considered as one of our prin-
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE 205 
 
 cipal means of annoyance. It is the security of 
 fair and harmless commerce from all attack which 
 the memorialists must desire. It is the introduc- 
 tion of a system which shall confine the immediate 
 injuries of war to those whose sex and age and 
 occupations do not unfit them for the struggle. If 
 these are the wishes of the memorialists, the Com- 
 mittee express their concurrence in them without 
 hesitation. 
 
 " The Committee think that it will be right in 
 the Government of the United States to renew its 
 attempt to obtain the mitigation of a barbarous code 
 whenever there shall be probability of success. 
 They do not doubt it will do so. 
 
 " The Committee are not unaware that the United 
 States are better situated than any other nation to 
 profit by privateering, but they are far from op- 
 posing this calculation to a regulation, which, if 
 the powers of the world would adopt it, they too 
 should consider as a ' happy improvement ' in the 
 law of nations." 
 
 At the close of the Crimean War, a correspond- 
 ence took place between Secretary Marcy and the 
 European powers. Mr. Marcy's letter seems to 
 have been anticipated by the report above, and 
 also the efforts which at this present moment 
 (June, 1899) the representatives of America are 
 making at the Hague in the cause of civilization 
 and humanity. 
 
 From December, 1819, to March, 1820, the de- 
 bates upon what was long known as the " Missouri 
 Question " went on. Missouri, a portion of the 
 Louisiana purchase, having now sufficient popula- 
 tion, applied to the government to be received as a 
 State. Maine applied about the same time. The 
 bill brought in was simply " to authorize the people 
 of the Missouri territory to organize a Constitution
 
 20G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 and State government, and for the admission of the 
 same into the Union." Almost instantly came the 
 amendment prohibiting " the further introduction 
 of slavery or involuntary servitude except for the 
 punishment of crimes," etc., and " that all children 
 born within the limits of the said State, after the 
 admission thereof into the Union, shall be free at 
 the age of twenty-five years." This meant that 
 there were already many slaves in Missouri, and 
 looked to the emancipation of their children. The 
 House sat as committee of the whole, and North 
 and South for the first time stood solidly against 
 each other. 
 
 It is an old story now, and it is needless to go 
 into it. The simple constitutional question, " Has 
 Congress power to limit the constitution of a State 
 which complies with demands already prescribed ? " 
 was answered differently according to latitude, as 
 such questions have been answered since. When 
 one reads the speeches it seems wonderful that war 
 was not declared then and there. The most oppro- 
 brious epithets were hurled at the slaveholders, who 
 were quite able to take their own part. The real 
 difficulty, screened by the humanitarian question, 
 was the balance of power, as Rufus King, of New 
 York, candidly declared. If the whole Louisiana 
 purchase were cut into slave States, the South 
 would gain the majority ; if slavery were excluded, 
 then the North, which held it already, would gain 
 such supremacy that the South would find herself 
 hopelessly outvoted. The Southerners knew well 
 that to them it was life or death. That measure 
 carried, their whole system of society would go, all 
 soothing assurances to the contrary notwithstand- 
 ing, and Macon of North Carolina meant just what 
 he said when he declared, 
 
 " It may be a matter of philosophy and abstrac-
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE 207 
 
 tion with the gentlemen from the East, but it is a 
 different thing with us. They may philosophize 
 and town meeting about it as much as they please, 
 but, with great submission, sir, they know nothing 
 about the question." 
 
 In this controversy Mr. Lowndes at first spoke 
 but little. He was one of the committee appointed 
 to confer with the Senate, and as such spoke briefly 
 in support of the compromise offered by the com- 
 mittee of conference, and urged with great eai-- 
 nestness the propriety " of a decision which would 
 restore tranquillity to the country, which was de- 
 manded by every consideration of discretion, of 
 moderation, of wisdom, and of virtue." 
 
 This compromise (the first on this question) al- 
 lowed Missouri to make her constitution unre- 
 stricted, but forbade slavery in all other parts of 
 the Louisiana purchase north of thirty-six degrees 
 six minutes, north latitude. 
 
 This bill was voted on and carried on the 2d of 
 March, 1820, and gave peace for a time. 
 
 The remainder of the session was chiefly occupied 
 with the Spanish treaty and the revision of the 
 tariff, on both of which questions Mr. Lowndes 
 spoke at length. 
 
 Having himself proposed the first tariff for pro- 
 tection, he was deeply concerned now that the use- 
 ful instrument should not become a weapon of of- 
 fense. The manufacturing interest claimed such 
 large increase of duties that he could but be alarmed. 
 In his speech, April 20, 1820, he went largely into 
 the danger of favoring one industry at the ex- 
 pense of others, contrary to every principle of politi- 
 cal economy. He went considerably into detail as 
 to where it was proposed to do this, and dwelt most 
 especially on the injury which an excessive tariff 
 discouraging navigation would be to the commerce,
 
 208 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 the shipping interests of a ccmntry. The East In- 
 dian trade, he said, " would be almost destroyed by 
 this tariff, and the East Indian trade gave bread to 
 hundreds of hardy sailors, sailors who were invalu- 
 able to the nation in time of war," thus return- 
 ing, now that the end of his career was so near, to 
 his first and abiding interest, the navy. 
 
 In November, 1820, Congress met again. Mr. 
 Clay resigned the speakership, and Mr. Lowndes 
 was among those spoken of as his successor. This 
 appears to have been the only public position which 
 Mr. Lowndes ever desired, but he was doomed to 
 disappointment. Party spirit was naturally high, 
 and Mr. Taylor, of New York, who had been one 
 of the leaders on the Missouri question, was elected 
 after three days of incessant balloting. " Mr. 
 Lowndes had been within one vote of the requisite 
 number," says John Quincy Adams in his journal, 
 " but fourteen were diverted from him by the can- 
 didacy of General X , of G , a man ruined 
 
 in fortune and reputation, yet who commanded 
 votes enough to defeat the election of Lowndes, a 
 man of irreproachable character, amiable disposi- 
 tion, and popular manners." 
 
 Mr. Lowndes took the disappointment philoso- 
 phically ; his wife had some natural regrets. He 
 wrote to her on the 30th November a very charac- 
 teristic letter. The first page is entirely filled with 
 the threatened ailment of one of the children ; then 
 comes, 
 
 " I am very sorry that you are so much mortified 
 at the loss of my election. I am not sensible that I 
 have felt any mortification. I do not think it was 
 a personal question ; but Mr. Taylor was preferred 
 principally because he was a Northern man, and 
 some of his votes were given to him under an en- 
 gagement made the last session, when I refused to
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE 209 
 
 serve. Some of those gentlemen from the North, 
 indeed, who had asked me to serve and pressed it, 
 finding that I would not, had entered into the en- 
 gagement to secure a Northern Speaker. The most 
 awkward part of the business was receiving their 
 apologies. I told them that I had certainly no 
 reason to complain, that I was very sensible of the 
 compliment which they paid in first proposing me, 
 and of the obligation afterwards imposed of voting 
 for a different candidate. 
 
 " Perhaps one consideration ought to have morti- 
 fied me more than it did. The strong objection to 
 me certainly arose from the fear that I might em- 
 ploy the power I should have as Speaker to affect 
 the result of the Missouri question. This was per- 
 haps a compliment to my talents at the expense of 
 my honour. I have no doubt but that I shall have 
 more weight on that and on every question as a 
 member than as Speaker, but I shall be unable to 
 withdraw myself, as I hoped to have done, from 
 the active business of the House." 
 
 This is followed by minute directions for " deep 
 trench ploughing," " sowing lucerne," and remarks 
 on making the Grove a " grass farm." 
 
 Congress was no sooner organized than the Mis- 
 souri question came up again. Missouri, having 
 been authorized at the last session to " form a con- 
 stitution," now presented one with a clause prohib- 
 iting free negroes or mulattoes from settling 1 within 
 her boundaries. This instantly provoked opposi- 
 tion. A committee of three, Mr. Lowndes, Mr. 
 Sergeant, and Mr. Smith, were appointed to report 
 on the constitution. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes's report has always been considered 
 one of the best ever brought in to Congress. 
 (Abridged Debates, vol. vii. page 6.) It is too 
 long to be given here and too good to be abridged.
 
 210 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 It examines the case so calmly and dispassionately 
 that Mr. Lowndes was asked ironically whether he 
 came from North or South. Yet, yielding no jot 
 or tittle of State's Rights, the report asserted that 
 Missouri, having complied with the orders of Con- 
 gress at the last session, was already a State, and 
 as such entitled to admission to the Union. It 
 stated the facts and precedents bearing upon the 
 case, as, for instance, that Delaware had a similar 
 clause in her constitution, and pointed out what 
 would be the consequences of exposing the interests 
 of the people and the government to the disorgan- 
 ized condition consequent upon rejection. It urged 
 that, the State being admitted, doubtful clauses 
 should be submitted to the Judiciary of the United 
 States, as the last authority, concluding, " If Con- 
 gress shall determine neither to expound clauses 
 which are obscure, nor to decide constitutional ques- 
 tions which must be difficult and perplexing, equally 
 interesting to old States, whom our construction 
 could not, as to the new whom it ought not to cd 
 erce, the rights and duties of Missouri will be left 
 to the determination of the same temperate and 
 impartial tribunal which has decided the conflicting 
 claims, and received the confidence of the other 
 States. . . . The committee recommend . . . that 
 the State of Missouri shall be, and is hereby 
 declared to be, one of the United States of America, 
 and is admitted into the Union on an equal footing 
 with the original States in all respects whatever." 
 
 Mr. Lowndes moved to refer the resolution to the 
 House in committee of the whole, and remarked 
 that it should not be taken up without full notice 
 to all parties concerned ; and if no other person 
 did, he should himself, when proposing to call for 
 the consideration of the report, give a day or two 
 notice of his intention to do so. Whilst up he
 
 MISSOURI STRUGGLE 211 
 
 took occasion to say, that " this report, as indeed 
 all reports of committees, must be considered as the 
 act of a majority, and not as expressing the senti- 
 ments of every individual of the committee." The 
 report certainly did not express the sentiments of 
 Mr. Sergeant, of Pennsylvania (the second mem- 
 ber), for in the subsequent debate he became the 
 chief opponent of the resolution. 
 
 On the 6th of December, Mr. Lowndes opened 
 the debate on this new branch of the subject by a 
 speech which is given in full in the " Abridged 
 Debates," vol. vii. page 12. It is of this speech 
 that Benton says that the first words were lost to 
 the reporter from the noise made by members leav- 
 ing their seats to get near him. 
 
 " Mr. Lowndes being one of those, so rare in 
 every assembly, around whom members clustered 
 when he rose to speak, so that not a word should, 
 be lost, where every word was to be luminous with 
 intelligence, and captivating with candor. This 
 clustering around him, always the case with Mr. 
 Lowndes when he rose to speak, was more than 
 usually eager upon this occasion, from the circum- 
 stances under which he spoke ; the circumstances 
 of the Union verging to dissolution, and his own 
 condition verging to the grave. By his efforts and 
 those of other patriots the Union was saved. No 
 skill or care could stay his own march to that un- 
 discovered country from whose bourne no traveler 
 returns." 
 
 Mr. Thomas, of Massachusetts, quoted above, 
 says " He was listened to, as to the oracles of 
 truth." 
 
 The speech, carefully reported, is interesting, con- 
 veying as it does the views of an absolutely just and 
 upright man, learned in the lore of statesmanship, 
 not only on the particular case but upon the duties
 
 212 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 of Congress and members of Congress towards the 
 work of their own body. Could they grant a right 
 at one session and resume it at another ? Could 
 Congress declare that unconstitutional in a new 
 State which was constitutional in an old? Should 
 Congress take upon itself to decide such questions 
 as properly belonged to the Judiciary? Was not 
 the Judiciary the proper tribunal for such ques- 
 tions at this ? (the right to exclude free negroes) 
 etc. The speech was said to have produced great 
 effect ; but the ranks were set for battle, not for 
 debate, and after another week of " talking," as 
 Carlyle would say, the bill for the admission of 
 Missouri was lost by a strict North and South vote, 
 93 against 79. 
 
 In writing to his wife Mr. Lowndes says : " I send 
 you a terribly long speech on the Missouri question. 
 If you will try to read it, I advise you only to at- 
 tempt the last two pages." 
 
 Mr. Benton says that this is the last considerable 
 speech which he ever made ; but he spoke several 
 times in the succeeding weeks, briefly, on the bank 
 question, and also on the motion of Mr. Archer, of 
 Virginia, to " inquire into the condition of things in 
 Missouri," and presented a memorial from citizens 
 of Missouri, which the House refused to consider. 
 
 He still had great hopes of being able to effect 
 a compromise by inducing Missouri voluntarily to 
 remove the offensive provision from her constitu- 
 tion (which she ultimately did), and there are 
 notes hardly more legible than shorthand, on scraps 
 of paper, on this subject. But his health was giv- 
 ing way fast ; others appear to have been more 
 sensible than he himself was of the decline, and 
 when, on February 10th, Mr. Clay, who had been 
 absent for a great part of the session, revived the 
 question of the South American Provinces, he was
 
 ILLNESS 213 
 
 not in the House. Mr. Reid, of Georgia, moved 
 to " postpone consideration owing to the absence 
 of the gentleman at the head of the Committee on 
 Foreign Affairs." Mr. Clay answered " that he 
 had conferred with his friend the head, etc., etc., 
 who was absent from a slight indisposition, and did 
 not wish to be sent for." 
 
 This " slightin disposition " was the beginning 
 of the end, for, although he lived eighteen months 
 longer, he never was well again. He wrote to his 
 wife on February 13, 1821 : 
 
 My dear Wife, As I know that you do not 
 like to be kept in ignorance as to what of good or 
 ill may betide me, I find myself obliged to tell you, 
 that my old acquaintance the rheumatic fever has 
 paid me his decennial visit. [It will be remem- 
 bered that it was rheumatic fever contracted in 
 England at the age of six which was the beginning 
 of all his ill health.] I believe that the attack is 
 not likely to be as violent as the preceding ones, 
 and, having been bled twice at its first appearance, 
 a good deal of benefit is likely to have resulted 
 from that specific. ... I have scarcely any 
 rheumatism except in my limbs ; my body and 
 head are almost entirely exempt. My fever, too, 
 is much reduced, and yet I do not mean to tell 
 you that I am nearly well, for I find it impossible 
 to go to the House even upon this all-interesting 
 Missouri question. My friends think that they 
 will carry it to-day. By-the-bye, my right hand 
 and arm are by a good deal my worst limb, so that 
 you will excuse a short letter. 
 
 Mr. Clay had taken charge of the cause of 
 Missouri, but she was not admitted for another 
 month expunging the disputed clause.
 
 214 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 The illness continued to the end of the session, 
 and the notes to Mrs. Lowndes are curious tales of 
 bleeding, etc. How any one who chanced to fall 
 ill ever recovered in those days is a wonder. In 
 one letter he says : " I am growing very uneasy in 
 the apprehension that I shan't be able to go away 
 for some time, and then by water. I have a strong 
 repugnance to the change of plan, but may be 
 obliged to submit to both. Your letters and the 
 children's are the only things I can read, and it 
 seems to me that I get fewer of these than I used." 
 
 Mrs. Lowndes was unable at this time to go to 
 her husband, and his sister, Mrs. Brown, with her 
 usual kindness, offered to come from New York to 
 nurse him, but he declined the affectionate offer. 
 By the 27th he was able to write : 
 
 "I continue to grow better. ... I should have 
 been out to ride but the weather has been impossible, 
 wet and windy. It is a little mortifying when one's 
 interest in every public measure is so much height- 
 ened by having thought of it for two or three 
 months to be excluded from Congress just at the 
 time when it begins to act effectually. I ought, 
 however, to be satisfied to have escaped with so 
 little pain [!], and to have the hope of seeing my 
 family so much sooner than I could have hoped two 
 weeks ago." 
 
 March 5th, 1821. 
 
 My dear Wife, I have been persuaded by 
 Mr. Calhoun to stay a day or two with him before 
 I leave this, and I was the more ready to adopt the 
 plan because I thought that a change of residence 
 might be a preparation for traveling. With all 
 the kindness of the family here I find it so. If no 
 accident happens, my present determination is to go 
 to Norfolk if the weather be good on Thursday, 
 though I think it very likely that I shall stay there 
 quietly two or three days before I move further.
 
 ILLNESS 215 
 
 On the next clay he wrote to Mr. Cheves in 
 Philadelphia : 
 
 "The Missouri bill has terminated in a way 
 which I think will leave very little ill will in the 
 minds of the members of any section in our coun- 
 try." 
 
 Missouri had been admitted a week before, on 
 condition that she should refuse no rights to " cit- 
 izens of the United States which they enjoyed 
 elsewhere." This was the second compromise on 
 the admission of this State, and the vote was close, 
 86 to 82. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes it is said felt keenly the impossi- 
 bility of participating in these final scenes. He 
 had naturally hoped to have had the leadership at 
 the moment, but his friend Judge Huger told the 
 writer that when he (Judge H.) had expressed his 
 regret, Mr. Lowndes answered cheerfully, " It was 
 probably best so. Clay had more influence with 
 the Western men than I, and could persuade them 
 to conciliatory measures." 
 
 The summer was spent at home, between the 
 Grove and Sullivan's Island ; his health slightly 
 improved, but many of his friends saw that the end 
 was near. His family, apparently, did not. The 
 friend often quoted, Judge Huger, who lived near 
 General Pinckney's island house, said that he 
 could never forget that last summer, when he 
 would lie still upon a couch, looking almost like a 
 dead man, but with bright eyes and eager talk. 
 " Upon politics ? " asked the listener. " He never 
 talked politics," was the answer ; " he talked on 
 questions of national interest, or on agriculture, or 
 books, or on what the new inventions would do for 
 the country. Always on great subjects. That was 
 the character of his mind. And the weaker his 
 body got, the brighter was his intellect." By the
 
 216 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 autumn he thought himself well enough to return 
 to Washington, but stayed at home until the end 
 of December, when he took his seat and spoke 
 briefly upon Transactions in Florida and some 
 other subjects. His last work of importance was 
 upon the 11th of March, 1822, when he presented 
 a report for the " Select Committee on Weights 
 and Measures," proposing ways for insuring accu- 
 racy and uniformity. The report shows much labor 
 and painstaking inquiry into every branch of the 
 subject. His votes are recorded until near the end 
 of the session, but he never spoke again. 
 
 It was at this time that Mr., afterwards Presi- 
 dent, Buchanan made what he himself considered 
 to be the best speech of his life. It was in opposi- 
 tion to the Bankrupt Act then proposed (March 
 12, 1822). 
 
 Mr. Curtis, in his Life of Mr. Buchanan, says : 
 " The reason was that he had derived much assist- 
 ance from conversations with Mr. Lowndes upon 
 the subject. That great and good statesman was 
 then suffering under the disease which proved fatal 
 to him soon after. He attempted to make a speech 
 against the bill, but was compelled to desist by 
 physical exhaustion before he had fairly entered 
 upon his subject." 
 
 There are several letters at this time, written 
 (probably because unfit for other work) at greater 
 length than was usual with him. 
 
 The first, written on the 12th of February, 1822, 
 says : " I have been making inquiries here about the 
 expense of living at New Port, where I have a 
 great disposition to spend the summer if you do 
 not object to it. ... A summer there would prob- 
 ably be beneficial to the health of both of us. I 
 am not sick, but I do not feel as I did before the 
 rheumatism. If we cannot go to New Port I
 
 ILLNESS 217 
 
 should have half a mind to hire a house on Sul- 
 livan's Island. ... I have many reasons for wish- 
 ing to spend a summer at the North, but unluckily 
 I see many difficulties in the execution of the plan, 
 let me know your thoughts. 
 
 " You will have the pleasure next winter of seeing 
 a painting in Charleston by Mr. Morse, of the rep- 
 resentative chamber, with the portraits of sixty or 
 seventy members. As usual I refused to sit, but 
 he took my face from the gallery. As it is a pro- 
 file, and I never saw my own, I cannot judge of 
 the likeness, but I did not know it when I saw it. 
 They say that it is a caricature, but so good a one 
 that it is impossible to mistake it. The artist is 
 very urgent that I should give him one sitting 
 that he may endeavour to improve it, but I should 
 then lose the compliment which I am told is now 
 paid me by those who see the picture, that I am 
 not quite as ugly as I am represented." 
 
 This picture the only likeness of Mr. Lowndes 
 except a miniature which shows him as a lovely boy 
 of six years old now hangs in the Corcoran gallery 
 in Washington, D. C, and it must be confessed that 
 his descendants are glad to know that it was a car- 
 icature. Nevertheless, with some slight reduction 
 of the features, the likeness to his daughter, Mrs. 
 Rutledge, becomes so strong that it is greatly to be 
 regretted that he did not allow the proposed altera- 
 tions to be made. Taken from a point much above 
 him, the eyes are entirely lost, and the whole face 
 is, as it were, seen in reverse. 
 
 It may not be amiss to quote here the description 
 which Mr. Chase takes from Mr. Grayson's Memoir 
 of Mr. Lowndes's personal appearance. He says : 
 
 " The personal appearance of Mr. Lowndes was 
 remarkable ; for his stature exceeded six feet six 
 inches in height, and he was as slender as he was
 
 218 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 tall. Though loose limbed he managed his length 
 easily. His features were large, while the face was 
 thin, long, and pale. [His hair was black.] He 
 was habitually grave and thoughtful, and never re- 
 laxed into idle conversation or even social raillery, 
 yet comitate condita gravitce he was neither 
 solemn nor severe, and his smile though rare was 
 said to be inexpressibly engaging. His habitual 
 seriousness was relieved by the presence of his 
 children, and he was always cheerful when they 
 were with him, or came to be tossed in his long 
 arms. . . . His manners and address were full of 
 dignity, and he was as invariably courteous in pri- 
 vate life as he was in his public career. . . . As 
 he was considerate and attentive to others, he was 
 modest in his own share of conversation, and while 
 insensibly guiding it, never took the exclusive con- 
 trol which would so often have been willingly ac- 
 corded him. Conversation in his presence never 
 became monologue." 
 
 It is curious that, at this time when his ill 
 health must have been apparent to all, the Presi- 
 dent should have offered, and Mrs. Lowndes have 
 wished him to accept, the mission to France ; so it 
 was, however, and he alludes to it in the next let- 
 ter, the longest, perhaps, which he ever wrote : 
 
 March 24, 1822. 
 As to my health, you may assure yourself that I 
 do not intend to deceive you. I have been the 
 better part of the session in the uncomfortable 
 state of being neither well nor very sick. This 
 you must understand because it is unfortunately 
 very much your own case. I think that I have 
 generally some fever and am hardly ever free from 
 cough. . . . My great ailment, however, is weak- 
 ness. I have never recovered my strength since the
 
 ILLNESS 219 
 
 rheumatism last year. I am sorry that you do not 
 agree with me as to the French Mission. One of my 
 reasons for being unwilling to go is derived from 
 the belief, that in the present temper of the French 
 Government it is not likely that a treaty could be 
 formed. A stronger reason is derived from my 
 unwillingness to correspond with Mr. Adams, who 
 is so imprudent (or rather so selfish, for to avoid 
 responsibility himself he exposes the character of 
 his correspondents, and the interests of the govern- 
 ment to risk) that I should either suppress in my 
 letters to him what I ought to communicate, or 
 be mortified by the publication of confidential com- 
 munications. If these do not seem to you to be 
 good reasons, I must add that in my actual state of 
 health I do not like to undertake a public duty 
 which will keep me from this counti-y two or three 
 years, and which will not always allow me to spend 
 my time in the place or the manner which may be 
 most conducive to my health. As to the effect of 
 a visit to France upon our children, it is probably 
 too doubtful to influence our decision. Becky's 
 lessons in music and dancing might be better, but 
 if she be fond of these arts she can learn them well 
 enough for America in America. Two years at 
 Westminster would probably do Pinckney some 
 good, but we might send him there without going 
 ourselves. It would, I confess, be with great diffi- 
 culty that I should part with him, for I have asso- 
 ciated him and his studies so much with my plans 
 for the next summer, and even the next winter, 
 that I should feel his absence very keenly. This, 
 however, has nothing to do with the question of 
 sending him away ; if we are satisfied that it is for 
 his interest he must go. ... I proposed to you 
 two plans for next summer, to take a house at Sul- 
 livan's Island or at New Port. You write nothing
 
 220 -WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 about your own health, but I think New Port 
 would be better for you than the Island, and I have 
 become, since those plans were proposed, so much 
 weaker that I think it is probably necessary to 
 spend my summer at the North. . . . None of your 
 letters or of Pinckney's inform me how he stands 
 in his class. Becky, who writes longer letters, and, 
 as girls generally do, better ones than Pinckney's, 
 tells me satisfactorily her rank in her several 
 classes. It is hardly worth while to write about it 
 now, for I hope in a month more to set off for 
 Charleston. . . . You would hardly expect in a let- 
 ter which I fear shows that I am quite as much out 
 of spirits as out of health, that I should give you 
 an account of my having been at a second wedding. 
 Governor W. was the enamoured youth, and the 
 lady (whose maiden name I forget) is a very well 
 looking woman of thirty-one years old. She is 
 spoken of as amiable and sensible, and I believe 
 that the first impression when the wedding party 
 met was one of pity and melancholy for her fate. 
 But we bear the misfortunes of others, they say, 
 with great philosophy, and this melancholy soon 
 wore off. I had taken off my mourning for the 
 evening, in compliment to the occasion, and you 
 will judge of my surprise at finding the bride and 
 bridegroom both in full mourning, and this surprise 
 was not diminished by the explanation that Gov- 
 ernor "W. wore it himself, and insisted on his bride's 
 wearing it, in honour of the angel whom he had 
 lost a month or two before (and whom his bride 
 had never known). 
 
 "We had very good music, and the bridegroom 
 was in higher spirits than I have ever seen. In 
 walking across the room he found it quite impossi- 
 ble to prevent himself from springing, and attempt- 
 ing I think they call it a pigeon wing. This
 
 ILLNESS 221 
 
 for a gouty man of seventy he performed very well. 
 The girls sang songs illustrative of the motives 
 which may make a woman marry an old man ; the 
 shortness of the imprisonment and the delights of 
 widowhood to which it leads. There was almost too 
 much of truth and nature in some of these songs, 
 and I was so much amused as not to be sorry that 
 I had gone until the next day when I found my 
 cough worse. The house, however, was but a few 
 doors off or I should not have gone. 
 
 That Mrs. Lowndes should have wished him 
 to accept the French Mission is not extraordinary. 
 She had been a minister's daughter, and would 
 have liked to be a minister's wife. Her father had 
 been a Westminster boy (Grecian of his year), 
 she would have wished her son to do likewise ; she 
 remembered her own happy school days in France, 
 and would have willingly had her daughter enjoy 
 the same advantages ; but most of all she thought 
 and never ceased to think that going abroad 
 then would have been of immense service to her 
 husband's health, as it had been two years before. 
 She yielded with great reluctance, not dreaming 
 how soon, and how sadly, her wish was to be 
 granted. 
 
 The long letter above is given almost entire, to 
 show how keen an interest Mr. Lowndes still felt 
 in life, and how far he was from anticipating his 
 approaching end. In regard to his opinion of Mr. 
 Adams, it must be remembered that .as chairman 
 of the Committee of Foreign Relations his relations 
 with the Secretary of State were necessarily inti- 
 mate, and his knowledge of the latter's way of doing 
 business was consequently full. 
 
 The plan of going to Newport was a favorite one 
 with him. He refers to it again in a day or two.
 
 222 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 March UOth, 1S22. 
 
 This Sunday shines no Sabbath day for me. I 
 do not mean that I spend it in visiting or reading 
 or any intellectual labor, but in the more unpleasant 
 duty of taking physic. Friday last I began with 
 calomel, etc., etc. [a frightful list of dosings], 1 
 don't think that you appear to look forward to a 
 Rhode Island summer with much pleasure. There 
 are, in truth, great inconveniences ; the getting 
 there and still more the getting back. Yet if our 
 health shall be permanently promoted perhaps there 
 is no convenience more important to consult. I am 
 told that boarding at New Port is from $4 to <$ 6 
 each, a week. More probably the first than the 
 last. A fine climate, a fine harbour [Mr. Lowndes 
 had always been fond of sailing], and the facilities 
 for going in a short time to Boston and New York. 
 
 I am not without hopes of connecting with the 
 care of my health (which I mean to make a princi- 
 pal object of attention during summer) the prose- 
 cution of some idle inquiries into our history which 
 I have long wished to engage in, but in which I 
 have made miserably little progress. Here I have 
 the advantage of you, for while I am alive I shall 
 always have some little scheme engaging enough of 
 my attention to make me forget pains and difficul- 
 ties. I do not mean, however, to flatter myself by 
 the comparison. You bear with a much more un- 
 yielding patience what I am satisfied with eluding. 
 I am a little tired with writing this short letter and 
 fear that you will find it task enough to read it. I 
 am uneasy at Becky's prolonged indisposition and 
 hope that Rhode Island may do her some service. 
 I really reproach myself with not answering her 
 letters when she writes such long ones, but I hope 
 to do better another session. Farewell.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT: DEATH 
 
 1822 
 
 It would hardly be supposed from the quiet tone 
 of these letters that the highest prize in the country 
 had been at this moment set before Mr. Lowndes's 
 eyes ; yet so it was, for on December 18, 1821, the 
 legislature of his native State had nominated him 
 for President of the United States. The preamble 
 and resolutions read curiously now : 
 
 " At a public meeting of the members of both 
 branches of the Legislature of the State of South 
 Carolina, held on the evening of the 18th of De- 
 cember, 1821, at the Hall of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives in Columbia, Colonel Samuel Warren of 
 Pendleton having been called to the chair, the fol- 
 lowing Preamble and Resolutions were adopted : 
 
 " Whereas, the next Presidential Election, how- 
 ever distant, is becoming an object of interest 
 throughout the United States ; and whereas it is ap- 
 prehended that in selecting an individual worthy of 
 this distinguished honour, serious differences may 
 arise, involving sectional divisions of alarming mag- 
 nitude, a consequence, the bare apprehension of 
 which obviously enforces the expediency of the peo- 
 ple of this Union turning their eyes upon some in- 
 dividual who shall unite the confidence, respect and 
 esteem of the North and West, the East and the 
 South; who, remote from any connection with a
 
 224 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 cabinet succession, shall be brought forth truly, 
 strongly, and indubitably as the National candi- 
 date. 
 
 " Be it Resolved, that it is the sense of this meet- 
 ing, under the existing state of public opinion in 
 reference to our next President, that no individual 
 in the Union unites more entirely the qualifications 
 for this Station, with the prospect of success, if the 
 Election be left entirely with the people, than our 
 distinguished fellow-citizen, William Lowndes," 
 etc. 
 
 These, and succeeding resolutions to the same 
 effect, were forwarded to him in Washington, with 
 the following letter from the gentleman who was to 
 be his successor in Congress, and a popular leader 
 of the State's Rights party of South Carolina in 
 the troublous times that were to come in 1832, 
 James Hamilton, Jr. : 
 
 Charleston, January 1st, 1822. 
 
 My dear Sir, If we could as easily make you 
 our next President as we passed the foregoing re- 
 solutions, I do not know that the State of South 
 Carolina could possibly make the Nation a more 
 beneficial New Year's present. 
 
 Of this you may be assured, that although there 
 was a serious opposition to a caucus nomination, 
 yet as far as you were personally concerned more 
 than three fourths of the State are decidedly in 
 your favor, in preference to any other individual 
 whatsoever. 
 
 I have put Mr. Poinsett [formerly Minister to 
 Mexico, then M. C. from South Carolina] in pos- 
 session of the facts connected with the whole trans- 
 action, to whom I beg to refer you. All we have 
 to ask of you is, not to go abroad, and not to con-
 
 NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT 225 
 
 cede your pretensions to any individual in the 
 Country. I remain, 
 
 My dear sir, 
 Yours most truly and respectfully, 
 J. Hamilton, Jr. 
 Hon. Wm. Lowndes. 
 
 The especial meaning of this letter, and particu- 
 larly of the phrase, " do not concede your preten- 
 sions to any individual in the Country," was that 
 Mr. Calhoun had been nominated for the presi- 
 dency by the State of Pennsylvania. Were the two 
 Carolinians to be pitted against each other ? and 
 what effect would such rivalry have upon their 
 chances and upon their friendship? Fate stepped 
 in and settled the first question ; no active rivalry 
 was to be theirs. And for the second, it is evident 
 that the two men took the situation in the high- 
 hearted, honorable fashion that might have been 
 expected of them. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes was completely surprised, and un- 
 willing to stand in opposition to his friend. He 
 also greatly disliked a " caucus " nomination, and 
 said so plainly. He was assured that the primary 
 motion had been confirmed by all but a very small 
 minority of the legislature, but it was still dis- 
 tasteful to him. The only letter now extant from 
 Mr. Lowndes on this subject is dated December 
 29th, three days before the one from Mr. Hamilton 
 given above. They must have crossed on the road, 
 and it is evident that there must have been a pre- 
 vious, probably informal, letter from Major Hamil- 
 ton, since Mr. Lowndes refers to " your letter from 
 Columbia." That not being now within reach, the 
 second has been given to open the subject. Mr. 
 Lowndes says :
 
 22G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Washington, December 29th, 1821. 
 
 To Major Jas. Hamilton. 
 
 You do not expect a formal answer to your letter 
 which you did me the favor to write from Colum- 
 bia, but a frank avowal of my opinion and feelings. 
 There are few men who are not gratified by the 
 public approbation of their conduct. But it is, 
 after all, the favor of our own State which comes 
 most home to our feelings. I am as grateful as 
 any man can be for the good opinion which the 
 members of the Legislature at Columbia have ex- 
 pressed of me. On the question on the course I 
 mean to pursue, I do not see that I can deviate 
 from that which I have pursued hitherto. I have 
 taken no step, and never shall, to draw the public 
 eye on me, as a competitor for the high office of 
 which you speak. 
 
 I have no reason to think that there is any 
 wish outside of our own State to raise me to it, 
 nor did I know until yesterday, when I received 
 your letter, that there was such a wish in the 
 State except upon the part of two or three personal 
 friends. 
 
 However this may be, the Presidency is not an 
 office to be either solicited or declined. I have, 
 however (and I express it freely), great [apprehen- 
 sion] as to the effect which the step which has 
 been taken may have upon the reputation of the 
 State. 
 
 South Carolina has no trait more admirable than 
 her disinterestedness. She has always treated the 
 men whom she has selected for public office with 
 a liberal confidence, but she has never overrated 
 their claims to the honours of the General Govern- 
 ment, nor been disposed to press them upon a re- 
 luctant or less partial community. 
 
 I should feel regret more painful than any per-
 
 NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT 227 
 
 sonal mortification if my name should be connected 
 with any imputation upon the State to which I be- 
 long. 
 
 My opinion on what is past it would perhaps 
 be improper for me to give, but let me state one 
 view which belongs to the future. 
 
 I understand from Mr. Calhoun that he has 
 already written to several friends that he has found 
 himself obliged by a state of things which left him 
 no alternative, that he should consent to be held 
 up for the Presidency (A, note). They believe 
 that there is a disposition in many of the States 
 to support him, and I am quite sure that if he were 
 supported by a sufficient influence in the other 
 States, and the voice of South Carolina were all 
 that was wanting to give him the Presidency, it 
 would be given cheerfully and proudly. 
 
 Yet it may happen that the nomination which 
 has been made may lead to the impression out of 
 Carolina that he would not receive, the support of 
 his own State under such circumstances. For the 
 interest of the Country and the character of the 
 State let me hope that this impression may not 
 prevail, or that means may be found to remove it. 
 
 If Mr. Calhoun should have sufficient grounds 
 to calculate upon such a number of States as would 
 make a majority with the aid of South Carolina, I 
 hope and believe that she would zealously support 
 him. 
 
 I should have delayed writing until I had re- 
 ceived the fuller account of the transaction at Co- 
 lumbia, which you promised on your return to 
 Chai-leston [probably the letter already given], but 
 I wished to lose no time in making the suggestions 
 which I have just taken the liberty to offer. I am 
 not surprised at the conduct of Mr. Calhoun's 
 friends. I know him and estimate him too well to
 
 228 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 be mortified by any preference which they may ex- 
 press for him. 
 
 I am, my dear sir, with great respect, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 William Lowndes. 
 
 Note A. He (Calhoun) had not done so until he found that his 
 name was being improperly associated with Mr. Adams's. This 
 communication he had made to me with his characteristic frank- 
 ness some days before I received your letter, and I. had answered 
 him without hesitation that equally from public and private mo- 
 tives I should greatly prefer his election to that of any of his com- 
 petitors for the office. The friends whom he has consulted think 
 it impossible that he should now retract what he has done. Imme- 
 diately upon receiving your letter I communicated its contents to 
 Calhoun. Our conversation you will readily suppose to have been 
 without reserve. He has seen the letter which I now write you 
 but he wishes that the part which refers to him should not be 
 allowed to get into the public prints. I have the same wish as to 
 the other parts of the letter, and 1 think that your judgment and 
 feelings must concur with mine. I must rest, however, on yours, 
 not on mine. 
 
 To this, and probably to other letters, for some 
 of the expressions quoted do not appear above, 
 Major Hamilton answered a week later. 
 
 Charleston, January 9th, 1822. 
 We regret as much as you can any apparent 
 conflict between your interests and those of Mr. 
 Calhoun, but we are not prepared to say or think 
 that your claims ought to be so " conclusively post- 
 poned " to favour the promotion of Mr. Calhoun's 
 as at once to " give them the go-by," and in effect 
 to say that we have committed a fatal error in 
 holding you up, and that we do accordingly ask 
 leave to amend the manifesto by substituting the 
 name of Mr. Calhoun. . . . Now I believe the 
 fact to be that Carolina will be more than satisfied, 
 she will be proud and delighted should either you or 
 Mr. Calhoun be ultimately the man. Each of you 
 separately would have her undivided support ; both
 
 NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT 229 
 
 of you candidates, she must be divided. We trust 
 this consequence may be averted. . . . We agree 
 with you most fully that the office of " the Presi- 
 dency is neither to be solicited nor declined." We 
 know that you have not solicited it, and we see as 
 yet no reason why your friends should decline it 
 for you. 
 
 Major Hamilton goes on at great length to 
 point out to Mr. Lowndes that the claims of Mr. 
 Calhoun had been warmly advocated in the meet- 
 ing at Columbia, but that the preference of the 
 State was decidedly for him. " The most influen- 
 tial members from the interior and middle country 
 were with you. . . . The middle districts, north- 
 eastern, southern, and southeastern parts of the 
 State were unanimously your friends ; the country 
 was divided between Broad River and Pendleton 
 [the district which Mr. Calhoun had represented 
 in Congress and where his home, Fort Hill, was 
 situated]. ... In Charleston it is not necessary 
 for me to tell you how strong you are," etc. " In 
 the existing state of things, I do not know that 
 your friends here can practice a better lesson than 
 to be patient and moderate, when we see you your- 
 self afford us so good an example in these particu- 
 lars," etc. 
 
 There are several other letters, from Major Ham- 
 ilton, Judge Huger, Colonel William Drayton, etc., 
 all pointing out the impropriety of South Carolina 
 withdrawing or changing her candidate until the 
 will of the Democratic party shall have made itself 
 clearly understood, when, if the nominee of Penn- 
 sylvania be preferred, she will " cheerfully and 
 proudly support him." 
 
 It is hard now to believe that there was a time 
 when South Carolina preferred any one to Calhoun.
 
 230 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 Ten years later there could have been no " division " 
 when he was concerned. 
 
 Two personal anecdotes are remembered by the 
 writer on the subject, the one told by her father : 
 that returning as a young midshipman from a 
 cruise, and asking information about current af- 
 fairs, he was told of the candidates, " that Mr. 
 Lowndes had most of the State, but Mr. Calhoun 
 had Pendleton district and Mr. William Lowndes." 
 
 The other, that people in Washington were 
 amused and surprised to see that the daily walk 
 which the two nominees had long been accustomed 
 to take together, to and from the Capitol, continued 
 as usual, not the slightest difference having been 
 caused by the new state of affairs. In one of Mr. 
 Hamilton's later letters he begs Mr. Lowndes not 
 to show his letters to Mr. Calhoun's supporters. 
 
 The only mention of the affair in the letters to 
 Mrs. Lowndes is a fragment preserved by Mr. 
 Chase from Mr. Grayson. 
 
 Washington, January 6th, 1822. 
 You have heard of the caucus nomination in 
 Columbia. I hope you have not set your mind too 
 strongly on being President's lady. While you 
 wish only a larger fence for the poultry yard, and 
 a pond for the ducks I may be able to gratify you, 
 but this business of making a President, either of 
 myself or another, I have no cunning at. We live 
 in a terrible confusion. I thought when I came 
 here the question was a fact confined to two per- 
 sons, Mr. Crawford and Mr. Adams. Now, we 
 have all the Secretaries, and at least two who are 
 not to be named. As to the answer which I have 
 given to the notification, here it is : "I have taken 
 no step, and never shall, to draw public attention 
 on me as a candidate for the Presidency. It is
 
 NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT 231 
 
 not in my opinion an office to be either solicited 
 or declined." 
 
 The allusion to " all the Secretaries " bears upon 
 a note made in his note-book some time before, 
 early in Mr. Monroe's administration. 
 
 For many years the succession to the Presidency 
 had passed to a member of the Cabinet ; it was 
 almost a dynasty, and was recognized as such. Mr. 
 Lowndes writes (apparently in 1819 or 1820) in his 
 note-book: "I remember Forsyth's telling me, 
 speaking as if he personally knew it, that Mr. Mon- 
 roe would have been quite willing to make Craw- 
 ford Secretary of State if Clay had been willing. 
 The difficulty was to give no decided advantage to 
 either Clay or Crawford as competitors for the 
 Presidency. The expedient employed was to make 
 Adams Secretary of State, because, as Mr. Monroe 
 said, ' it was impossible he should ever be Presi- 
 dent.' I confess I do not see exactly the impossi- 
 bility." 
 
 Of course Adams was the next President. 
 Would the result have been different had Mr. 
 Lowndes lived ? It is impossible to say. His 
 course on the Missouri bill and on the tariff had 
 clearly shown the absolute justice and impartial- 
 ity of his nature, and had shown also that he la- 
 bored for that ideal republic which was constantly 
 in his thoughts. By the commercial classes every- 
 where, and by those few in every community who 
 took thought, as he did, for " the character of the 
 country," he was most highly esteemed ; neverthe- 
 less the spirit of section had already arisen, and 
 that demon is hard to lay. Before the election 
 came he was sleeping " in the vast ocean deserts of 
 the North." After his death his success was spoken 
 of as having been certain, but it was after his
 
 232 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 death. Carolina was not to be gratified by the 
 election of either of her distinguished sons, and the 
 succession went, yet once more, to the Cabinet. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes returned to Carolina at the end of 
 April, but it is uncertain how long he remained 
 there. He seems to have gone with his wife and 
 two younger children to the North during the sum- 
 mer. His health declined steadily and he resigned 
 his seat in Congress. His wife, as often happens 
 to the nearest, did not at all realize how ill he was. 
 He had so often recovered from illness that she ex- 
 pected recovery again. His family were clearer 
 sighted, yet neither he nor they were without hope. 
 Before leaving home he commended his wife and 
 children to the kindness of his eldest brother, 
 Thomas, and told him that he would do everything 
 possible for the recovery of his health, and be sat- 
 isfied with whatever the Supreme Wisdom might 
 ordain. 
 
 The affection of his family never failed him. 
 There is a letter from his sister, Mrs. Simmons (a 
 childless widow), telling him that she fears that his 
 plans may be interfered with by want of money, 
 and that she has just received a large legacy from 
 her eldest sister, Mrs. Champneys, which she en- 
 treats him to accept of, hoping " you won't be so 
 unkind as to refuse to take it for the recovery of 
 your health which is so precious to me." 
 
 The resolution to undertake the European voyage 
 must have been hastily adopted. The only letter re- 
 garding it is a short note from Philadelphia, from 
 Mrs. Lowndes to her father, saying that " the doctor 
 assures me that my husband's lungs are perfectly 
 sound, and the whole trouble is in the liver." They 
 were to sail immediately in the ship Moss; Mr. 
 Cheves had made all the pecuniary arrangements, 
 and would take charge of Pinckney. In the ship
 
 DEATH 233 
 
 Moss they accordingly set sail from Philadelphia 
 on Monday, the 21st of October, 1822. They had 
 with them their little daughter, twelve years old, 
 and their faithful servant Amy. Two kind friends, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Connell, of Philadelphia, were also 
 on board. For the first few days Mr. Lowndes ap- 
 peared somewhat improved, but the weather be- 
 came stormy and he was exhausted. On Friday 
 Mr. Connell thought his condition alarming, and 
 on Sunday morning, October 27th, he breathed his 
 last. 
 
 Mr. Connell, writing to a friend in Washington, 
 says : " No preparation having been made to pre- 
 serve his body, it became necessary to commit it to 
 the ocean. We preserved it, however, until Mon- 
 day afternoon, when the writer hereof assembled 
 the passengers and crew and read over his remains 
 the funeral service of the Episcopal church before 
 we committed his body to the deep. Mrs. Lowndes 
 and her daughter were in their stateroom, and I be- 
 lieve they were not aware for some days of his body 
 having been buried in the ocean, as we thought it 
 too trying a scene for her to witness." 
 
 The last sentence is partly incorrect. Mrs. 
 Lowndes, through (said her daughter) a mistaken 
 kindness, was left in ignorance of the precise mo- 
 ment of the burial ; but she knew that it must be. 
 Suddenly they heard a plunge, the dread sullen 
 sound that comes when the 
 
 " heavy shotted hammock shroud 
 Drops in its vast and "wandering 1 grave." 
 
 To her dying day and she lived to be eighty 
 Mrs. Kutledge recalled with awe that solemn sound, 
 and the scream of her mother who instantly recog- 
 nized its import. 
 
 So ended, at the age of forty, all that was mortal
 
 234 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 of this noble statesman and pure patriot. His life 
 seems inconclusive, and yet the broken column has 
 beauty of its own. 
 
 On reaching England, Mrs. Lowndes, in pursu- 
 ance of the original plan, crossed immediately to 
 France, where were friends prepared to receive her. 
 Her old Washington friends, M. and Madame 
 Hyde de Neuville, insisted on her sharing their 
 " apartment " until she could make her own ar- 
 rangements. From her cousin, Mr. Pinckney 
 Horry, who had married and lived in France, and 
 from his wife (Mademoiselle de la Faye de la Tour 
 Maubourg) she received the greatest kindness and 
 attention, and also from other Americans then resi- 
 dent in Paris. General and Madame de Lafayette, 
 old friends of her father's, were especially devoted 
 to her. The general wrote to Colonel F. K. Huger, 
 his friend of Olmutz : 
 
 Paris, April 28th, 1823. 
 My dear Friend, This letter will be safely 
 conveyed, as I intrust it to the care of your amiable 
 and most unhappy sister, whose inexpressible grief 
 may be somewhat softened by friendly sympathies, 
 but is out of the reach of argument, since the loss is 
 both immense and irreparable. She feels in a man- 
 ner alarming for her health ; it is become imjiossible 
 for her to remain longer at a distance from her 
 country and family. I am much comforted to 
 think she has a female companion, Mrs. Connell, 
 who has witnessed the cruel scenes, and lived with 
 her in this city. Her sensible and affectionate 
 daughter will at once occupy her thoughts and af- 
 ford a consolation. But I have rarely seen misery 
 and sorrow so deep and so well justified. . . . God 
 bless you, my dear Huger, so say my whole family. 
 Kemeinber me respectfully and affectionately to
 
 DEATH 235 
 
 Mrs. Huger and family, and believe me forever 
 your most tender and grateful friend, 
 
 Lafayette. 
 
 To America, accordingly, Mrs. Lowndes returned 
 as soon as it suited the Connells to do so ; returned 
 to take up the burden of a saddened and anxious 
 life, of the guardianship of children, and of the 
 management of a considerable but embarrassed es- 
 tate, all of which burdens she bore, and duties 
 she performed, with courage and good sense, during 
 thirty-five years of widowhood, dying in 1857, aged 
 seventy-seven. 
 
 Mr. Lowndes left three children. Of these the 
 eldest, Rawlins, always an invalid, married Miss 
 Hornby, and died early without issue. The second, 
 Thomas Pinckney, married Miss Margaret Wash- 
 ington, granddaughter of Colonel William Wash- 
 ington of Revolutionary fame, and died early, leaving 
 three children ; of whom one son, Thomas Pinckney, 
 alone survives. He married Miss Anne Branford 
 Frost, daughter of the Honorable Edward Frost, 
 and has several children. The eldest son bears 
 his grandfather's name. Mr. Lowndes's daughter, 
 Rebecca Motte, married Commander Edward Cotes- 
 worth Rutledge, U. S. N., grandson of Governor 
 John Rutledge, and died at the age of eighty-two, 
 leaving one daughter only. 
 
 The writer is so painfully conscious of the inad- 
 equacy of the picture of Mr. Lowndes which she 
 presents that she is glad to call to her aid those 
 remarks of his contemporaries which show the im- 
 pression made by him upon the minds of the men 
 who knew him best. When the news of his death 
 reached Washington, Congress was in session. 
 Major Hamilton, Mr. Lowndes's successor in the 
 House, rose and delivered a fervent panegyric upon
 
 23G WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 his predecessor. Major Hamilton, however, spoke 
 as a Carolinian and a personal friend ; therefore one 
 remark alone is quoted here: "He had less self- 
 love and more self-denial than any man I ever 
 knew." But Mr. Taylor, of New York, had been 
 Mr. Lowndes's chief antagonist in the first debate 
 on Missouri, and his competitor for the speaker- 
 ship, yet he spoke with generous warmth : . . . 
 (This is) " the greatest bereavement in the loss of 
 a citizen which has befallen the Union since I have 
 held a seat in its councils. The highest and best 
 hopes of this country looked to William Lowndes 
 for their fulfillment. The most honorable office in 
 the civilized world the Chief Magistracy of this 
 free people would have been illustrated by his 
 virtues and talents. During nine years' service in 
 this House it was my happiness to be associated 
 with him on many of his most important committees. 
 He never failed to shed new light on all subjects to 
 which he applied his vigorous and discriminating 
 mind. His industry in discharging the arduous 
 and responsible duties constantly assigned him was 
 persevering and efficient. To manners the most 
 unassuming, to patriotism the most disinterested, 
 to morals the most pure, to attainments of the first 
 rank in literature and science, he added the virtues 
 of decision and prudence so happily combined, so 
 harmoniously united, that we know not which most 
 to admire, the firmness with which he pursued his 
 purpose, or the gentleness with which he disarmed 
 opposition. His arguments were made, not for vic- 
 tory, but to convince the judgment of his hearers." 
 Mr. Archer, of Virginia, said in a long speech 
 proposing that the House should wear mourning for 
 a month, an unusual proceeding for one not actually 
 a member, " Panegyric on this occasion was rendered 
 unnecessary by the settled feeling and opinion of this
 
 DEATH 237 
 
 country in relation to Mr. Lowndes. . . . He was 
 already ranked with the eminent names which had 
 passed by and been consecrated to national respect. 
 He was already ranked as a man superior in worth 
 as he was in mind, as one of the purest and 
 ablest, and most faithful of the statesmen who 
 might claim from our country the meed of honor." 
 Mr. Clay wrote to Mr. Cheves : 
 
 Washington, 24th January, 1823. 
 
 . . . Poor Lowndes. How shall I speak to you 
 of a friend whom we both so highly esteemed, and 
 whose worth we knew so well. Although I was 
 prepared by the knowledge which I possessed of 
 the declining state of his health for the afflicting 
 intelligence which we have just received, I heard 
 the sad event with as much painful sensibility as if 
 I had been unapprised of his previous illness. To 
 have died at the moment when his great capacity 
 for public usefulness was most mature and in full 
 vigor ; when his country had such high hopes and 
 expectations of him ; when, if he had not been ut- 
 terly devoid of all visions of ambition, he might him- 
 self have cherished the loftiest expectations ; and 
 when, too, he was far removed from all his friends 
 and from his native land, was a rare calamity, which 
 has justly excited undissembled and universal re- 
 gret. 
 
 You, my dear sir, who had the happiness to 
 know him so much longer than I did, must want, 
 instead of being capable of communicating, conso- 
 lation on this melancholy occasion. 
 
 With great regard, 
 
 I am faithfully yours, 
 
 H. Clay. 
 Langdon Cheves, Esqr., Philadelphia.
 
 238 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 The newspapers from every part of the country- 
 were filled with eulogies. In Charleston a public 
 meeting was called at which Mr. Stephen Elliott, 
 the author of " Elliott's Botany," and a graceful 
 writer and speaker, was appointed to deliver a bio- 
 graphical " funeral eulogium to be pronounced at a 
 public meeting of the citizens." Mr. Elliott ac- 
 cepted the appointment, but unfortunately post- 
 poned the preparation of the discourse until himself 
 overtaken by death. Nor was this a transient opin- 
 ion excited by the emotion of the day. Years after- 
 wards, Mr. Wise, of Georgia, Mr. Benton, of Mis- 
 souri, Mr. (afterwards President) Van Buren, of 
 New York, recorded their admiration, Mr. Benton 
 declaring him to be the " brightest of the galaxy " 
 which Carolina had sent to the Twelfth Congress. 
 
 Mr. Todd, of Pennsylvania, replying to Major 
 Hamilton on a bill laying duty on imports, says : 
 
 " On the memory of Mr. Lowndes I could go in 
 the way of encomium perhaps farther than the gen- 
 tleman from South Carolina. I have frequently 
 heard him in this House I have known him out of 
 it. I speak not for the purpose of presenting any 
 contrast, but give my opinion, often declared in the 
 hearing of some who now hear me, that Mr. 
 Lowndes was a statesman who has not left his su- 
 perior in the nation, nor scarcely his equal. Every- 
 one who remembers Mr. Lowndes remembers that 
 with talents almost beyond the lot of mortality, and 
 seeing nothing about him but respect and venera- 
 tion, yet a man more unassuming never entered this 
 House. There was nothing pompous in him, no 
 blustering, no rant. Of one thing only did he ap- 
 pear ignorant the magnitude of his own powers." 
 
 Towards the close of his life Mr. Clay told Colo- 
 nel John Lee, of Maryland, that among the many 
 men he had known he found it difficult to decide
 
 DEATH 239 
 
 who was the greatest, but added, " I think the wisest 
 man I ever knew was William Lowndes ; " and 
 Mr. Cheves, in a conversation with the Reverend 
 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, late rector of Grace 
 Church, Charleston, lately published in "Lippin- 
 cott's Magazine," but prepared for the press many 
 years since, said, " Mr. Calhoun is far more brilliant, 
 and his mind more keen and rapid ; he is a man of 
 genius, and has the temptation of such men to leap 
 to conclusions boldly, perhaps too hastily. But in 
 the power of looking at a subject calmly, dispas- 
 sionately, in every light, Mr. Lowndes had no su- 
 perior. I should have preferred his judgment to 
 that of any other man, and such I think was the 
 feeling of their contemporaries. I will illustrate 
 my view. If the nation were in great peril, and 
 Mr. Lowndes recommended one policy and Mr. 
 Calhoun an opposite one, I think that a majority 
 of the American people would have said, ' Intrust 
 the country to the guidance of William Lowndes, 
 follow his counsel ; ' and in my judgment they would 
 have done wisely." 
 
 The venerable Mr. Alfred Huger, of Charleston, 
 a man of great talent, but who never entered public 
 life, wrote in 1859 : " I have read with great atten- 
 tion the speech of Mr. Lowndes on the tariff bill of 
 1820, and I remember very well the impression 
 made upon the public mind when it was delivered. 
 It was the habit of that profound thinker to ex- 
 haust both sides of the subject under discussion ; 
 and thus when he presented the two aspects to his 
 audience as clear as light could make them, the 
 House generally received their views of negative 
 and affirmative from the same source. I have 
 known him pursue this course in conversation. On 
 one occasion, after hearing Mr. Lowndes state the 
 argument of his adversary, Mr. Randolph exclaimed,
 
 240 WILLIAM LOWNDES 
 
 ' lie has done that once too often ; he can never 
 answer that.' But the Virginian was mistaken ; he 
 did answer himself, and so the House decided. I was 
 permitted to hear him converse with Judge Huger, 
 and to this day that unbroken chain of irresistible 
 logic is before me. He dealt less in abstractions 
 than Mr. Calhoun, and was more concise than Mr. 
 Cheves, and accordingly he was more easily com- 
 prehended by men of ordinary comprehension. 
 Every word was a thought and every thought was 
 material for an essay. Fifty years ago I heard him 
 use expressions that are now fresh in my memory. 
 Judge Huger used to say, ' Lowndes's wisdom keeps 
 his genius in check.' ... I sometimes, now that I 
 am nearing the end of my pilgrimage, turn to the 
 men of that day to whom it was at times my good 
 fortune to listen. He has left a deeper mark upon 
 me than the others. There was a singleness in his 
 character and a chastity in his intentions which 
 politicians find cumbersome but which statesmen 
 will venerate for all future time, and like a great 
 intellectual conclusion he is to this day the very 
 highest authority with virtuous men." 
 
 Enough, perhaps more than enough, has now been 
 said and the writer has naught to add, except the 
 hope that the student of American history, the 
 youth preparing to take his part in the government 
 of the country, may pause for a moment to consider 
 the influence and honor that came to this man who 
 did much and asked nothing. It was said of him 
 that he had " no vision of ambition." None for him- 
 self, in truth, but all men knew that for his coun- 
 try his ambition was high and great as Washing- 
 ton's had been. For her he coveted the praise, and 
 name, and honor which meaner men seek for them- 
 selves ; and so men gave them to him freely, good 
 measure running over.
 
 DEATH 241 
 
 And fate was kindest to him of all ; for when he 
 died he knew that by the war, which he had helped 
 to create, the Republic was strong and respected 
 abroad ; and he thought, moreover, that within her 
 borders peace and harmony had come to her, some- 
 what by his labors. And so, while happy in this 
 thought, " God's finger touched him and he 
 slept."
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 Since this book was sent to press it has been sug- 
 gested that nothing is therein said of the English ances- 
 try of Mr. Lowndes. 
 
 The omission was intentional, the writer conceiving 
 that the subject had been fully treated by George B. 
 Chase, Esq., of Boston, in his " Lowndes of South Caro- 
 lina," already mentioned. 
 
 As, however, the suggestion has been made, it may be 
 as well to quote from that book, so far as to say that 
 the South Carolina family is descended from that of 
 " Lowndes of Overton," established in the county of 
 Chester since the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and itself 
 a branch of " the ancient family of Lowndes of Legh 
 (or Lea) Hall, which received a grant of arms in 1180." 
 
 From this stem of Legh Hall have sprung many 
 branches in different parts of England, members of 
 which have emigrated to Maryland, Virginia, and South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Thomas Lowndes of Overton received in 1725 and 
 1726 from the lords proprietors of South Carolina the 
 grant of four " baronies " of twelve thousand acres each, 
 and the office of provost marshal, which last he held by 
 deputy, as he never came to this country. 
 
 The arms borne by Rawlins Lowndes, first governor 
 of South Carolina, in 1778, are the same as those of the 
 families of Overton and Bostock House, Chester.
 
 APPENDIX 243 
 
 APPENDIX n 
 
 By the kind permission of Mr. Chase I have been 
 enabled to use his account of Mr. Thomas Lowndes's 
 congressional career as follows : "In the autumn of 
 1800, a few months after his father's death, having 
 already served in the legislature of the State, he (Mr. 
 T. Lowndes) accepted from the Federal party the nomi- 
 nation of representative from the Charleston district to 
 the Seventh Congress. He took his seat at the opening 
 of the first session, on the 7th December, 1801. On 
 the next day he was appointed to the Committee of 
 Commerce and Manufactures, and was prominent from 
 that time in the discussions of the House. As early as 
 December 14th, ahnost in the first week of business, he 
 spoke upon the resolution of inquiry into the conduct of 
 Mr. Pickering when Secretary of State, and he took 
 part in an ' animated debate ' as the ' National Intel- 
 ligencer ' of that day, more mindful for the dignity of 
 Congress than are the public journals of our own times, 
 described in language somewhat euphuistic a stormy 
 scene, so often repeated afterwards on any sectional 
 issue which occurred over an amendment to the Ap- 
 portionment Bill providing that Maryland should be 
 entitled to nine rather than eight representatives. The 
 ' Intelligencer ' tells us that ' a debate of utmost dilato- 
 riness took place, much personal recrimination, chiefly 
 on account of delay on the one side and precipitation on 
 the other, were exchanged, which we think it our duty 
 entirely to suppress.' 
 
 "Mr. Lowndes, on 15th March, 1802, opened the de- 
 bate on the French Spoliation Claims, speaking in favor 
 of their recognition, and urging prompt measures for 
 their settlement. Little could he, or any statesman of 
 that day, foresee the uncertainty of the legislation which 
 the history of this measure was in itself to illustrate. 
 Reported formally to Congress again and again by com- 
 mittees, it finally passed both houses only to become
 
 244 APPENDIX 
 
 void by the refusal of the Executive's approval. Again 
 revived and apparently not yet despaired of, these 
 claims, now as old as the century, have already outlived 
 three generations of public men. At the end of the 
 long debate, in April, 1802, in the act providing for the 
 redemption of the entire public debt of the United 
 States, Mr. Lowndes was in the minority of nineteen 
 members, all Federals, who voted against the bill. 
 
 " Constant in attendance upon the House, he was ear- 
 nest and assiduous in committee, and though mingling 
 often in debate, he was yet able to contribute to the dis- 
 cussion something of value in fact and much of weight in 
 judgment, enforced as his sentiments always were by a 
 natural eloquence, which had been carefully cultivated 
 under the sound opinion then entertained by all educated 
 men, who valued the study of oratory, not as that of a 
 graceful accomplishment, but as the mastery of an es- 
 sential influence and tested power over the emotions and 
 conduct of men. . . . 
 
 " He resumed his seat at the second session on 13th 
 December, 1802. On 22d of that month he spoke in 
 the discussion on the circidation of gold coin, which, 
 owing to the erroneous valuation put by the statute upon 
 the eagles and half eagles previously coined, below their 
 metallic worth, had led to their being everywhere 
 hoarded. In the long debate on 6th January, 1803, on 
 the cession by Spain of Louisiana to France, he was 
 early upon the floor, urging with force the proposed call 
 upon the Executive for the precise facts of the transac- 
 tion which had been withheld from Congress. 
 
 " Mr. Lowndes was re-chosen to the Eighth Congress, 
 and took his seat in the House on 29th October, 1803. 
 He spoke on 6th and 8th of the following December on 
 the constitutional amendment relative to the method of 
 election of president and vice-president in favor of post- 
 ponement after the ensuing election, and again on 6th 
 January, 1804, in opposition to the proposed impeach- 
 ment of Samuel Chase, a justice of the Supreme Court, 
 who was tried a few months later by the Senate and 
 acquitted.
 
 APPENDIX 245 
 
 " At their session of this year the legislature of South 
 Carolina had passed an act repealing all restrictions 
 upon the importation of slaves. The subject early- 
 attracted the attention of Congress, and on Tuesday, 
 14th of February, as will be seen from the following 
 extract from the debates, the following motion by Mr. 
 Bard, of Pennsylvania, was taken into consideration in 
 committee of the whole. 
 
 " ' Resolved, that a tax of ten dollars be imposed upon 
 every slave imported into any part of the United 
 States.' " 
 
 " On motion of Mr. Jackson, it was agreed to add 
 after the words United States, ' or their territories.' 
 
 " Mr. Lowndes : ' I will trespass a very short time 
 upon the attention of the House at this stage of the busi- 
 ness, but as I have objections to the resolution, it may 
 be proper that I should state them now. I will do so 
 briefly, reserving to myself the privilege of giving my 
 opinion more at length when the bill is before the House, 
 should the resolution be adopted and a bill brought in. 
 I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, to find that the conduct of the 
 legislature of South Carolina, in repealing its law pro- 
 hibitory of the importation of negroes, has excited so 
 much dissatisfaction and resentment as I find it has 
 done with the greater part of this House. If gentlemen 
 will take a dispassionate review of the circumstances 
 under which the repeal was made, I think this dissatis- 
 faction and resentment will be removed, and I should 
 indulge the hope that this contemplated tax will not 
 be imposed. Antecedent to the adoption of the Consti- 
 tution under which we now act, the legislature of South 
 Carolina passed an act prohibiting the importation of 
 negroes from Africa, and sanctioned it by severe penal- 
 ties, I speak from recollection, but I believe not less 
 than the forfeiture of the negro and a fine of one hun- 
 dred pounds sterling for each brought into the State. 
 This act has been in force until it was repealed by the 
 legislature at their last session. . . . 
 
 " ' The law was completely evaded, for in the last 
 year or two Africans were introduced into the country
 
 24G APPENDIX 
 
 in numbers little short, I believe, of what they would 
 have been had the trade been a legal one. Under the 
 circumstances, sir, it appears to me to have been the 
 duty of the legislature to repeal the law, and remove 
 from the eyes of the people the spectacle of its authority 
 daily violated. 
 
 " ' I beg, sir, that from what I have said it may not 
 be inferred that I am friendly to a continuation of the 
 slave trade. I wish the time had arrived when Con- 
 gress could legislate conclusively upon the subject. I 
 should then have the satisfaction of uniting with the gen- 
 tleman from Pennsylvania who moved the resolution. 
 Whenever it does arrive, should I then have a seat in 
 this House, I assure him I will cordially support him 
 in obtaining his object. But, Mr. Speaker, I cannot 
 vote for this resolution, because I am sure it is not cal- 
 culated to promote the object which it has in view. I 
 am convinced that the tax of ten dollars will not prevent 
 the introduction into the country of a single slave. . . . 
 The gentleman from Pennsylvania, and those who 
 think with him, ought, above all others, to deprecate 
 the passing of this resolution. It appears to me to be 
 directly calculated to defeat their own object, to give 
 to what they wish to discountenance a legislative sanc- 
 tion, and further, an interest to the government to per- 
 mit this trade after it might constitutionally terminate 
 it. When I say that I am myself unfriendly to it, I 
 do not wish, Mr. Speaker, to be misunderstood ; I do 
 not mean to convey the idea that the people of the 
 Southern States are universally opposed to it I know 
 the fact to be otherwise. Many of the people in the 
 Southern States feel an interest in it, and will yield it 
 with reluctance. Their interest will be strengthened 
 by the immense accession of territory to the United 
 States by the cession of Louisiana. . . . My greatest 
 objection to this tax, Mr. Speaker, is that it will fall ex- 
 clusively upon the agriculture of the State of which I am 
 one of the representatives. However odious it may be 
 to some gentlemen, and however desirous they may be 
 of discountenancing it, I think it must be evident that
 
 APPENDIX 247 
 
 this tax will not effect their object ; that it will not be 
 a discouragement to the trade, nor will the introduction 
 of a single African to the country be prevented. The 
 only result will be that it will produce a revenue to the 
 government. I trust that no gentleman is desirous of 
 establishing this tax with a view to revenue. The State 
 of South Carolina contributes as largely to the revenue 
 of the United States, for its population and wealth, as 
 any State in the Union. To impose a tax falling exclu- 
 sively on her agriculture would be the height of injus- 
 tice, and I hope that the representatives of the landed 
 interest of the nation will resist every measure, however 
 general in its appearance, a tendency of which is to lay 
 a partial and unequal tax upon agriculture.' 
 
 " Mr. Bedinger : ' The gentleman from South Caro- 
 lina has so fully expressed the opinions I entertain, I 
 shall say but little. Every one who knows my opinions 
 on slavery may think it strange that I shall give my 
 vote against the resolution. There is no member on 
 this floor more inimical to slavery than I am, yet I am 
 of opinion that the effect of the present resolution, if 
 adopted, will be injurious. I shall therefore vote against 
 it.' 
 
 " When on Friday, February 17th, the third day of the 
 debate, the House resumed the discussion of the bill, Mr. 
 Lowndes rose, and after a rapid review of the subject, 
 moved that its further consideration be postponed till 
 the following December. By an amendment, the bill 
 was set down for the second Monday in March, and 
 thus the same end was accomplished, as the House did 
 not sit on that day. 
 
 " Upon the issue of this debate, Mr. Benton remarks 
 (Abridgment of Debates, iii. p. 142) : ' To prevent an 
 erroneous impression being made upon the public by 
 the above proceedings, it is proper to remark that, 
 during the whole discussion, not a single voice was raised 
 in defense of the act of the legislature of South Caro- 
 lina, allowing the importation of slaves, but that, on the 
 contrary, while by some of the speakers its immorality 
 and impolicy were severely censured, by all its exist-
 
 248 APPENDIX 
 
 ence was deprecated. A large number of those who 
 voted for the postponement advocated it on the express 
 and sole ground that it would give the legislature of 
 South Carolina an opportunity, which they believed 
 would be embraced, to repeal the act.' 
 
 " Just three years later the question was definitely 
 settled by Congress. On the 13th of February, 1807, 
 the House passed the Senate Bill, prohibiting the im- 
 portation of slaves by a vote of one hundred and thir- 
 teen members in favor over five in opposition, and 
 this slender, indeed nominal, minority were members 
 from both free and slave States, who dissented only upon 
 matters of detail, so that, as Mr. Benton observes 
 (Abridgment of Debates, iii. p. 519), ' the prohibition 
 of the trade may be deemed unanimous.' 
 
 " Mr. Lowndes passed the summer at the North 
 and in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. He did not 
 reach Washington till the 6th of November following, 
 after the second session of Congress had commenced, 
 and had thus not been in his place when the committees 
 of the House were appointed ; but a fortnight later, on 
 the announcement of the resignation of Mr. Samuel L. 
 Mitchell, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, who 
 had been appointed by the legislature of New York a 
 senator of the United States, it was Ordered, ' That 
 Mr. Lowndes be appointed chairman of the Committee 
 of Commerce and Manufactures,' etc. He thus returned 
 to his old place on the committee to which he had 
 been first appointed on his entry to the House. 
 
 " He spoke for the last time in Congress on the 13th of 
 December against a bill to regulate and permit the 
 clearance of private armed vessels. His speech, though 
 brief, was marked by the same quick, ready, and logical 
 reasoning which had always characterized his appear- 
 ance in debate. He left Washington on the 6th of 
 March, 1805, and failing to obtain his reelection to 
 Congress on the general overthrow of the Federal party 
 in the South, retired to private life. He continued, 
 however, a steadfast adherent to the principles of his 
 party, and earnestly supported John Quincy Adams when
 
 APPENDIX 249 
 
 nominated for the presidency against Andrew Jackson. 
 He often remarked, in allusion to the brilliant polit- 
 ical career of his brother, William Lowndes, that com- 
 ing as a Republican later into public life than himself, 
 his brother differed from him in no essential principle of 
 his political faith." See " Lowndes of South Caro- 
 lina," pages 18-22.
 
 INDEX 
 
 " Abridged Congressional Debates," 
 Benton's. Case of merchants' bonds, 
 122; supplemental speech, 203, 204; 
 Lowndes's > report on Constitution 
 of Missouri, 20'.), 210 ; prohibition of 
 slave trade, 1807, 248. 
 
 Achan, wedge of, 79. 
 
 Acre, siege of, 195. 
 
 Adams, Henry, Mass., author, vii, 54, 
 122. 
 
 Adams, John, frigate. 
 
 Adams, John, Mass., mention, 24 ; can- 
 didate for presidency, 50 ; mention, 
 80., 
 
 Adams, JohnQuincy, Mass., Secretary 
 of State, report on affairs of South 
 America, 105 ; extract from diary, 
 208; imprudence, 219; mention, 232; 
 election for President, 248. 
 
 Algerine pirates, 149. 
 
 Alick, colored overseer, 63, 140, 141. 
 
 Alston, Joseph, Governor of South 
 Carolina, 59. 
 
 Amarinthia, see Elliott, G, 51. 
 
 Ambrister, English agent, 174, 179. 
 
 American non-importation acts, 121. 
 
 American Revolution, 2, 22, 45, Gl, G8, 
 72. 
 
 Ames, Fisher, Mass., 79. 
 
 Anderson, R. C, Representative from 
 Kentucky, 177. 
 
 Arbuthnot, English agent, 174, 179. 
 
 Archer, W. S., Representative from 
 Virginia, 212, 230. 
 
 Armstrong, Gen., Secretary of War, 74, 
 134. 
 
 Articles of Confederation, 25. 
 
 " Aurora," newspaper, 100. 
 
 Bainbridge, Commodore, U. S. N., 149. 
 Bancroft, George, Mass., historian, 11, 
 
 32. 
 Bank of England, 185, 198. 
 Bank of United States, 134, 143, 172, 
 
 173, 198, 199. 
 Bankrupt Act, 21G. 
 Barbary pirates, 94. 
 Bard, David, Representative from 
 
 Pennsylvania, 245. 
 
 Baring and Reed, English merchants, 
 
 173. 
 "Bath Archives," by Lady Jackson, 
 
 92. 
 Bedinger, George M., Representative 
 
 from Kentucky, 247. 
 Benton, Thos. H., Representative 
 
 from Missouri, quotation from 
 
 " Thirty Years in Congress," 9G ; Mr. 
 
 Lowndes on party machinery, 112; 
 
 account of lost speech of Mr. 
 
 Lowndes, 211 ; admiration for, 238. 
 Berlin decrees, 73. 
 
 Bibb, George M., Senator from Ken- 
 tucky, 100. 
 Bird, Savage and, English merchants, 
 
 37. 
 Blanco, Gen., Spanish, 127. 
 Bland, , Commissioner to South 
 
 America, 1G4. 
 Blanding, Col., member of Legislature, 
 
 S. C, 70. 
 Boineau, overseer, 85. 
 Bonaparte, Napoleon, Emperor, 64, 
 
 195. 
 Brill, Mr., English engineer, 185. 
 Britannic Majesty's Commissioners at 
 
 Ghent, 13G, 145. 
 British minister, 135, 136. 
 Britisli sympathizers, 11. 
 Broke, Capt, English Navy, 125. 
 Brown, Mrs., sister of W. Lowndes, 
 
 S. C, 56. 
 Brown, Lowndes, nephew of W. 
 
 Lowndes, 5G, 101, 12G, 182. 
 
 Brown, , Tory, S. C, 10. 
 
 Brown, Gen., U. S. A., 136. 
 Bucjianan, James, Representative from 
 
 Pennsylvania and President of 
 
 United States, 216. 
 Buist, Rev. Dr., S. C, 38. 
 Bullman, Rev. Mr., S. C, 13. 
 Burke, Edmund, M. P., 54. 
 Burr, Aaron, Vice-President of United 
 
 States, 59. 
 Butler, Major Pierce, S. C, 28. 
 
 Cabot, George, Mass., vii, 79, 80. 
 Calhoun, John C, S. C mention, C7;
 
 252 
 
 INDEX 
 
 opinion of Representative of South 
 Carolina, 71 ; elected Representative 
 from South Carolina, 77; first meets 
 Mr. Lowndes, 87; appointed to Com- 
 mittee on Foreign Affairs, 89; votes 
 with Federals, 'J9 ; mention, 107; 
 chairman of Committee on Foreign 
 Affairs, 109 ; report which induces 
 declaration of war, 11? ; opposes 
 seizure of merchants' bonds, 122, 
 123 ; bill to repeal embargo, 127 ; 
 plans with Lowndes roads and ca- 
 nals, 131 ; debates on Bank of 
 United States, 143, 144; debates on 
 tariff, 151-100; Secretary of War, 
 187 ; illness, 198 ; nomination for 
 presidency by Pennsylvania, 225- 
 238; opinion of Mr. Cheves,239, 240. 
 
 Camden, Lord, 187. 
 
 Campan, Madame, CO. 
 
 Canning, Hon. George, M. P., 71, 188. 
 
 Carlyle, Thos., English author, 125. 
 
 Cartwright, Miss Mary, second wife of 
 Rawlins Lowndes, 6. 
 
 Catholic Emancipation, 183. 
 
 Caucus, 100,111. 
 
 Cervera, , Spanish Admiral, 127. 
 
 Champneys, Mrs., sister of William 
 Lowndes, 232. 
 
 Charles II., King of England, 14. 
 
 Charleston Battery, 50. 
 
 "Charleston Courier," 40, GO, 95, 9G, 
 IOC, 107, 111, 128. 
 
 " Charleston Gazette," 40. 
 
 Charleston Harbor, 5. 
 
 Charleston Library, 45. 
 
 Charleston races, 41, 42. 
 
 Charleston theatre, 43. 
 
 Chase, George, Esq., Mass., author, vi, 
 vii, 70, 130, 132, 217, 230, 242. 
 
 Chase, Samuel L., Mass., 244. 
 
 Chatham, Lord, statue of, 3. 
 
 Chesapeake, frigate, 72, 124, 125, 129. 
 
 Cheves, Hon. Langdon, S. C., elected 
 to Congress, 77; meets Mr. Lowndes, 
 83-87 ; chairman of Naval Commit- 
 tee, 89 ; report on increase of navy 
 and debates, 94-99 ; mention, 107, 
 111 ; chairman of Committee on 
 Ways and Means, 121 ; case of mer- 
 chaiits' bonds, 122, 123 ; home life, 
 141 ; Speaker of House, 144 ; presi- 
 dent of Bank of United States, 172 ; 
 letter from Mr. Lowndes, 180; bank- 
 ing, 198; letter from Mr. Lowndes, 
 215; arranges for Mr. Lowndes's last 
 voyage, 233 ; letter from Mr. Clay, 
 237 ; conversation with Rev. Mr. 
 Pinckney, 239. 
 
 Cheves, Langdon, Esq., S. C, 199. 
 
 Cheves, Mrs., 83, 100, 131, 130, 141. 
 
 Church, Established, 13. 
 
 Cincinnati, Society of the. 105. 
 
 Clarke, Rev. Mr., S. C, 13. 
 
 Clay, Hon. Henry, Kentucky, Repre- 
 sentative, 84 ; Speaker of House, 80; 
 called "Western Star," 88; inter- 
 view with President Madison, 111 ; 
 censured by Randolph, 152; debates 
 on South America, 101-171 ; on 
 Seminole War, 175, 170 ; resigns 
 speakership, 208 ; Missouri Com- 
 promise, 212, 213 ; mention, 231 ; 
 letter to Mr. Cheves, 237 ; opinion 
 of Mr. Lowndes, 238, 239. 
 
 Cogdell, , city attorney, Charles- 
 ton, 02. 
 
 Committee of South Carolina, 4. 
 
 Committee of Ways and Means, 120, 
 150, 105, 170. 
 
 Committee on Coinage, 137. 
 
 Committee on Commerce and Manu- 
 factures, 89, 243, 248. 
 
 Committee on Conference on Missouri, 
 207. 
 
 Committee on Foreign Relations, 89, 
 109, 112, 161, 103, 201, 204, 213, 221. 
 
 Committee on Military Affairs, 95, 118, 
 121, 174. 
 
 Committee on Naval Affairs, 89, 129, 
 155. 
 
 Committee on Weights and Measures, 
 210. 
 
 Commons' House of South Carolina, 2. 
 
 Confederation (of States), 27, 29, 31, 
 32, 33. 
 
 Congress, Continental, 1, 4, 5, 10, 31. 
 
 Congress, Provincial, 4. 
 
 Connell, Mr. and Mrs., Penn., 233, 234, 
 235. 
 
 Constitutional Convention, 27, 28. 
 
 Constitution, Federal, 26. 
 
 Constitution men, 29. 
 
 Conyers, Capt., S. C, 10. 
 
 Cooper, Rev. Robt., S. C, 13, 14, 35. 
 
 Copenhagen, attack on, 195. 
 
 Coram, Thos., merchant, S. C, 45. 
 
 Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D. C, 
 217. 
 
 Cornwallis. Lord, 9. 
 
 Corsican, Napoleon, 04. 
 
 Council, Governor's, Provinces. C.,2. 
 
 Councils of Safety, S. C, 4, 5. 
 
 Courtenay, Hon. Wm. A., S. C, vii, 
 viii. 
 
 Crawford, W. H., Senator from Geor- 
 gia, 88, 200, 230, 232. 
 
 Crimean War, 205. 
 
 Cunningham, William, Tory, S. C, 10. 
 
 Curtis, George Ticknor, Mass., author, 
 21C. 
 
 Dalcho, Rev. Mr., S. C, author, 13. 
 
 Dallas, , Penn., Commissioner to 
 
 Ghent, 137, 143. 
 Danae, picture of, 108, 110. 
 Dancing Assembly, Charleston, 42. 
 Danton, French Republican, 59.
 
 INDEX 
 
 253 
 
 Deas, James, Esq., Ala., 38. 
 
 Decatur, Commodore, U. S. N., 94, 
 127, 149. 
 
 De'oazes, French Prime Minister, 191. 
 
 Declaration of Independence^, 5, G, 30. 
 
 Democratic caucus, 111. 
 
 Democrats, political party, 111. 
 
 De Saussure & Ford, attorneys at law, 
 S. C, 50. 
 
 Dey of Algiers, 149. 
 
 Dissenters' Bill, 1S3. 
 
 Divan of Constantinople, 4. 
 
 Don Onis, Spanish Governor of 
 Florida, 116, 117. 
 
 Douglas, Capt., English Navy, 74. 
 
 Drayton, William Henry, Member of 
 Council of Safety, S. C, vi, 3, 4. 
 
 Duane William, Penn., editor "Au- 
 rora," 100. 
 
 Dumb Tory, political party, S. C, 11. 
 
 Dupont, Gideon, S. C, 22. 
 
 Durant, Mr., England, 186, 187. 
 
 D wight, Dr., president of Yale Col- 
 lege, Conn., 125. 
 
 East Indian trade, 208. 
 
 Elliot's " Debates," vii. 
 
 Elliott, Amarinthia, first wife of Raw- 
 lins Lowndes, S. C., 6. 
 
 " Elliott's Botany," 26. 
 
 Elliott, Col. William, S. C, 154. 
 
 Elliott, Hon. Stephen, S. C.,238. 
 
 Embargo, 74, 77, 135. 
 
 Emmott, James, Representative from 
 New York, 84. 
 
 Emperor Napoleon, 64. 
 
 English Ministry, 60. 
 
 " Esprit des Lois" Montesquieu, 54. 
 
 European powers, 205. 
 
 European voyage, 232. 
 
 Eutaw, S. C, battle of, 72. 
 
 Faneuil Hall, Boston, Mass., 20. 
 Federalists, political party, 34, 59, 60, 
 
 72, 77, 79, 84, 88, 96, 104, 106, 123, 
 
 143, 151, 157, 243, 244. 
 Fiske, John, Mass., historian, 32. 
 Floyd, John, Representative from Vir- 
 ginia, 170. 
 Forsyth, John, Representative from 
 
 Georgia, 88, 161, 164, 169, 170, 200, 
 
 232. 
 Fort Barrancas, Fla., seizure of, 174. 
 Fort George, battle of, 124. 
 Fort Jackson, treaty of, 175, 176, 177. 
 Fort Mechanic, Charleston, building 
 
 of, 5(1. 
 Fort Moultrie, battle of, 113. 
 Foster, Mr., British Minister to U. S., 
 
 100, 101. 
 Fox, Charles James, M. P., 1S8. 
 Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, 204. 
 Fraser, Charles, S. C, artist, 39, 40, 
 
 42, 03, 154. 
 
 Fraser's " Reminiscences," 40, 154. 
 French Government, 219. 
 French Minister, 91, 100, 131. 
 French Revolution, 49, 64. 
 French spoliation claims, 243. 
 Frost, Anne Branford, S. C, 235. 
 Frost, Hon. Edward, S. C, 235. 
 
 Gaillard, John, Senator from South 
 
 Carolina, 113, 136. 
 Gales, editor " National Intelli- 
 gencer," 172, 203. 
 Gallagher, Rev. Dr., S. C, 38, 50, 87. 
 Gallatin, Albert, Secretary of the 
 
 Treasury, 120-125, 189. 
 Gambier, Lord, 194, 195. 
 Garden, Alexander, M. D., S. C, 15, 
 
 18, 35, 86. 
 Garden, Rev. A., commissary for 
 
 Bishop of London, S. C, 13. 
 General Assembly of South Carolina, 
 
 7, 66, 67. 
 Genet, Citizen, Envoy of French Re- 
 public, 49. 
 Ghent, Treaty of, 145, 175, 176, 195. 
 Gibbes, Esq., S. C, 61. 
 Gibbon, Lieut., U. S. N., 93. 
 Giles, W. B., Senator from Virginia, 
 
 136. 
 Govan, A. R., Representative from 
 
 South Carolina, 157. 
 Government, United States, 205. 
 Graham, I., Ky., 164. 
 Grayson, Hon. William, S. C, 70. 
 Grayson's " Memoirs of William 
 
 Lowndes," v, 217, 230. 
 Greene, Gen. Nathanael, R. I., 1, 2, 8. 
 Gregg's " History of the OldCheraws," 
 
 vii. 
 Griswold, Roger, Conn., 79. 
 Grosvenor, T. P., Representative from 
 
 New York, 88, 122. 
 Grundy, Felix, Representative of 
 
 Tennessee, 88, 123. 
 
 Hamilton, Major James, S. C, 223- 
 230, 235, 236. 
 
 Hamilton, Paul, S. C, Secretary of the 
 Navy, 94. 
 
 Hammond, Col., Va., 104. 
 
 Hampton, Col. Wade, S. C, 42. 
 
 Hanging Rock, S. C, battle of, 68. 
 
 Hanson, A. C, Representative from 
 Maryland, 143. 
 
 Harrison, W. H., General and Presi- 
 dent of the United States, 115, 129. 
 
 Hartford Convention, 147. 
 
 Haskell, Miss L. Cheves. S. C, 199. 
 
 Hazard, Nathaniel, Representative 
 from Rhode Island, 202. 
 
 Heaton, Mr., Conn., 110. 
 
 Henry, Patrick, Va., 32, .33, 200. 
 
 Hilishago, Indian chief, 134. 
 
 Hill's Plantation, S. C, 9,
 
 254 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hill. Lord, English General, 138. 
 
 ' History of the Turf in South Caro- 
 lina, "Dr. Irving'u, 40, 92. 
 
 Holland, Lord, 188. 
 
 Horace, Latin poet, 38, 39, 105. 
 
 Hornby, Miss Emma, 235. 
 
 Hornet, sloop-of-war, 125, 130, 
 
 Horry, Mrs. Daniel, S. C, 7, 8, 154. 
 
 Horry, Pinckney, S. C, 234. 
 
 House of Commons, English, 185, 180, 
 189. 
 
 House of Congress, Washington, 92. 
 
 House of Deputies, French, 189, 190. 
 
 House of Lords, English, 2, 18G. 
 
 Huger, Hon. Alfred, S. C, 239. 
 
 Huger, Benjamin, Representative from 
 South Carolina, 151. 
 
 Huger, Hon. Daniel Elliott, S. C, 59, 
 70, 72, 215, 229, 240. 
 
 Huger, Col. Francis Kinloch, S. C, 
 234. 
 
 Huger. Mrs. F. K., S. C, 103, 140. 
 
 Humboldt, Baron Von, 189. 
 
 Hyde de Neufville, Madame, wife of 
 French Minister, 131, 234. 
 
 Ingham, S. D., Representative from 
 
 Pennsylvania, 154. 
 Iredell, Judge, N. C, Supreme Court, 
 
 U. S., 33. 
 Irving, Dr. John, S. C, 40. 
 Izard, Ralph, Senator from South 
 
 Carolina, 28. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, General and Presi- 
 dent of the United States, 134, 174, 
 180, 248. 
 
 Jackson, Sir George, 74. 
 
 Jackson, Sir James, English Minister 
 to Washington, 92. 
 
 Jacobin clubs, 49. 
 
 Jay, John, N. Y., 25, 34, 80. 
 
 Jay treaty, 33, 74. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, mention, 24 ; can- 
 didate for presidency, 59 ; President 
 of the United States, and policy, 
 C3-G5; "peace policy," 74; proba- 
 ble division of country, 79: neglect 
 of navy, 94; mention, 112 ; regretted 
 by John Randolph, 152; conversa- 
 tion at Monticello, 200. 
 
 Johnson, Richard Mentor, Represent- 
 ative from Kentucky, 88, 95, 17G. 
 
 Jones, Col. Charles, Ga., 2. 
 
 Jones, Miss Sarah, third wife of Raw- 
 lins Lowndes, 2, G. 
 
 Jones, president Bank of the United 
 States, 172. 
 
 Judiciary of the United States, 210, 
 212. 
 
 Kennedy, , S. C, 83. 
 
 Key, Barton, Representative 
 Maryland, 88. 
 
 from 
 
 King, Rufus, N. T., 20G. 
 
 King's Mountain, battle of, S. C, 68. 
 
 Ladies Superintending Female Eco- 
 nomy of Orphan House, 45, 4fi. 
 
 Lafayette, Gen., 192, 234, 235, 230. 
 
 Lafayette, Madame de. 234. 
 
 Lake Erie, battle of, 129. 
 
 La Place, French mathematician, 58. 
 
 Laurence, Cnpt., U. S. N., 125, 129. 
 
 Laurens, Hon. Henry, S. C., 15. 
 
 Laurens, Col. John, S. C, 15, 1G. 
 
 Law, Lyman, Representative from 
 Connecticut, 143. 
 
 Lee, Gen. Harry, Va., 104. 
 
 Lee, Col. John, Md., 238. 
 
 Leigh, Sir P^gerton, 2. 
 
 Leopard, British man-of-war, 72. 
 
 Lincoln, , member of Legislature, 
 
 S. C.,31. 
 
 Locke, John, English author, 54. 
 
 Louis XVIII. of France, 192. 
 
 Louisiana ceded by Spain to France, 
 244. 
 
 Louisiana purchase, 78, 205, 20G. 
 
 Lowndes, Charles, brother of Rawlins, 
 11. 
 
 Lowndes, James, second son of Raw- 
 lins, 40, 102. 
 
 Lowndes, James, Esq. .Washington, vii. 
 
 Lowndes of Legh Hall, family of, 242. 
 
 Lowndes of Overton, family of, 242. 
 
 " Lowndes of South Carolina," 
 Chase's, vii. 
 
 Lowndes, Rawlins, father of William 
 Lowndes, Justice Court of Common 
 Pleas and General Sessions, Speaker 
 of Commons' House, Province of 
 South Carolina, 2 ; gives judgment 
 against Stamp Act, 3 ; member of 
 Councils of Safety, 4; Governor of 
 South Carolina, rejects British Ulti- 
 matum, ; marriage, 7 ; letters from, 
 17; rice planting, 21; opposes Fed- 
 eral Constitution, 20-34; gift to Or- 
 phan House, 48; ill health, 49; 
 death, 50. 
 
 Lowndes, Mrs. Rawlins, 35, 30, 55. 
 
 Lowndes. Rawlins, elder son of Wil- 
 liam, G4, 85, 80, 140, 235. 
 
 Lowndes, Major Rawlins, N. Y., v, vi. 
 
 Lowndes. Rebecca Motte, daughter of 
 William, 04, 219, 235. 
 
 Lowndes, Thomas, eldest son of Raw- 
 lins, 40, 00, 73. 232. 
 
 Lowndes, Thomas, of Overton, Eng., 
 242. 
 
 Lowndes, Thomas Pinckney, second 
 son of William, 04, 91, 100, 140. 182, 
 219, 220,232, 235. 
 
 Lowndes. Thomas Pinckney, grandson 
 of William, 235. 
 
 Lowndes, T. Pinckney, Esq., S. C,
 
 INDEX 
 
 255 
 
 Lowndes, William, youngest son of 
 Rawlins, birth, 2 ; mention, 7, 8 ; 
 visit to England, 35, 30; illness, 37; 
 return to Carolina, 38 ; schools, 39 ; 
 home influences, 40 ; society in 
 Carolina, 42; study of law and death 
 of father, 50; early manhood, 53; 
 death of mother, 55 ; private study, 
 proposal of marriage, 58; political 
 opinions and opposition, 59 ; mar- 
 riage, 60; called to bar, 62; be- 
 comes a planter, 63 ; article signed 
 " Planter," 66 ; elected to General 
 Assembly of S. C, 66 ; legislative 
 career, 67-70 ; captain of Washing- 
 ton Light Infantry of Charleston, 
 72; elected to Congress, 73; journey 
 to Washington, 89 ; letters to wife, 
 83-92; anxiety about navy, 94-96; 
 first speech, 97, 98; votes with Fed- 
 eralists, 99; letters to wife, 100-110; 
 objects to caucus, 111 ; war de- 
 clared, 112 ; letter to wife, 113 ; let- 
 ters to Gen. Pinckney, 116-120 ; case 
 of merchants' bonds, 121, 122; let- 
 ters to wife, 124-126 ; embargo, 128; 
 chairman of Committee on Naval 
 Affairs, and speech, 129, 130 ; op- 
 poses privateering, 132, 133 ; letters 
 to Gen. Pinckney, 134; letters to 
 wife, 136-142 ; letter to Gen. Pinck- 
 ney, 143; debate on Bank of the 
 United States, 143, 144; treaty of 
 peace, 145; letters, 145 ; chairman of 
 Committee on Ways and Means, re- 
 port advising tariff, 150; debate on 
 tariff, 150-155; declines portfolio of 
 war, 156; letter from Mr. Govan, 157; 
 story of critic, 158 ; declines missions 
 to France, Constantinople, and St. 
 Petersburg, 159; Sinking Fund, 156- 
 160; speeches on South America, 
 161-167; speech on Bank of the 
 United States, 172; chairman of 
 Committee on Coinage, and report, 
 173 ; speeches on Seminole War, 176- 
 180; letter to Mr. Cheves, 181; voy- 
 age to and arrival in England, 183 ; 
 meets Mr. Roscoe, 184; reminis- 
 cences of Mr. Thomas, 184; visits 
 House of Commons, 186, 187; letter 
 to wife, 188; House of Deputies, 
 France, 189; anecdotes of Louis 
 XVIII., 191; travels in South 
 France, 193; returns to England, 
 194; returns to America, 19C; letters 
 to Gen. Pinckney and Mr. Cheves, 
 198, 199; collects historical anec- 
 dotes, 200; chairman of Committee 
 on Foreign Affairs, 201 ; moves for 
 pension to family of Commodore 
 Perry, supported by John Randolph, 
 202; speech of Mr. Lowndes and 
 letter to his wife, 203; report on 
 
 privateering, 204; Missouri question, 
 205-211; speech on Missouri ques- 
 tion, 212; beginning of illness, 213; 
 visit to Mr. Calhoun, 214; enforced 
 absence from last debates on Mis- 
 souri, 215; summer on Sullivan's 
 Island, 215; last work, report for 
 Committee on Weights and Mea- 
 sures, 216; Mr. Buchanan, 216; por- 
 trait by Morse, 217; declines mission 
 to France, 218; letter to wife, 219, 
 220; nomination for President, 223; 
 letters to and from Major James 
 Hamilton of S. C, 294-299; letter to 
 wife, 230; increase of illness, resig- 
 nation from House, and voyage to 
 Europe, 232; death at sea, 233; kind- 
 ness of friends to Mrs. Lowndes and 
 letter of Gen. Lafayette, 234; widow 
 and children of Mr. Lowndes, 235; 
 speeches on Mr. Lowndes of Major 
 Hamilton, S. C, Mr. Taylor, N. Y., 
 Mr. Archer, Va., 236, 237; mourning 
 worn by House, although not a mem- 
 ber, 237; letter from Mr. Clay, 237; 
 appreciations of Mr. Lowndes, 238; 
 opinions of Mr. Cheves and Mr. 
 Huger, 239, 240. 
 
 Lowndes, Mrs. William, v, 93, 105, 
 110, 116, 124, 130-140, 150, 181, 214, 
 218, 221-235. 
 
 Lucas, Jonathan, S. C, 58. 
 
 Lundy's Lane, battle of, 135. 
 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, M. P., 187. 
 
 Macon, Nathaniel, Representative 
 from North Carolina, 88, 111, 206. 
 
 Madison, James, President of the 
 United States, newspaper abuse of, 
 107; interview with Mr. Clay, 111; 
 policy of, 128; illness, 136; an- 
 nounces peace, 145; relief from dif- 
 ficulty, 147; last annual message, 
 155; offers portfolio of war to Mr. 
 Lowndes, 156; mention, 200. 
 
 Madison, Mrs., 89, 183. 
 
 Marcy, W. L., N. Y., Secretary of 
 State, 205. 
 
 Marion, Gen. Francis, S. C, 1, 10, 11. 
 
 Mason, Col., member of Legislature, 
 S. C, 82. 
 
 Mathews, Governor of S. C, 16. 
 
 McCrady, Edward, Esq., vii. 
 
 McKee, Samuel, Representative from 
 Kentucky, 95. 
 
 " Memorials of citizens of Ohio," 204. 
 
 Merchants' bonds question, 120, 124. 
 
 Messias, Major, S. C, 120. 
 
 Micliaux, French botanist, 20. 
 
 Middleton, Hon. Arthur, S. C, 4. 
 
 Milan decrees, 73. 
 
 Mission to France, 218-221. 
 
 Missouri Compromise, 207, 215. 
 
 Missouri Question, 198, 201, 208.
 
 256 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Mitchell, Samuel L., Senator from 
 
 New York, 248. 
 Monroe, James, Secretary of State, 
 
 mention, 74; opinion on war, 00; 
 
 mention, 101, 116, 120; opinion on 
 
 possible Presidents, '231. 
 Monroe, Mrs., 101, 131. 
 Morse, S. F. B., Mass., artist, 217. 
 Motte, Mrs. Rebecca, S. C, 90. 
 Moultrie, Gen., Governor of South 
 
 Carolina, 49. 
 
 Napoleon, Emperor, 73, 148. 
 
 National Bank, 144. 
 
 National debt, 156. 
 
 " National Intelligencer," 243. ' 
 
 Newmarket course, S. C, 40. 
 
 Newmarket races. Eng., 189. 
 
 New Orleans, battle of, 134, 135. 
 
 Ney, Madame, 194. 
 
 Niles's " Register," 204. 
 
 North, Lord, British Prime Minister, 
 
 80. 
 Northern Federalists, 78. 
 
 Oakley, Representative from Con- 
 necticut, 125. 
 "Old Hickory," 174. 
 Orders in Council, 90, 120, 121. 
 Orphan House, Charleston, 45, 47. 
 Osborne, schoolmaster, S. C, 38. 
 
 Pacific fleet, 71. 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, 187. 
 
 Parsons, James, S. C, 10. 
 
 Peacock, British sloop-of-war, 125, 129, 
 130. 
 
 Pensacola, Fla., seizure of, 177, 178. 
 
 Perry, Commodore U. S. N., 129, 201, 
 202, 203. 
 
 Pettigrew, Gen. Johnson, N. C, C. S. 
 A. 
 
 Physick, Dr., Penn., 84, 85. 
 
 Pickering, Timothy, Mass., vii, 79,88, 
 243. 
 
 Pinckney, Col. Charles Cotesworth, 
 mention, 10; debates on Federal 
 Constitution, 27, 28, 29 ; Major- 
 General, defeated for presidency, 
 59, GO. 
 
 Pinckney, Major Thomas, mention, 42; 
 Mr. Lowndes's addresses to daugh- 
 ter, 58 ; reasons for refusal, 58-G1 ; 
 appointed Major-General, 104, 105; 
 letters on defense of Southern Coast, 
 115-120 ; on Indian War, 133, 134 ; 
 letters to and from, 142, 198. 
 
 Pinckney. Rev. Charles Cotesworth, 
 S. C, 239. 
 
 Pinckney, Mrs. Eliza, 10, 01. 
 
 Pinckney, Miss Elizabeth, wife of 
 William Lowndes, 58, 01. 
 
 Pinckney treaty, 80. 
 
 Pinckney, William, Md., 74. 
 
 Pine, English artist, 110. 
 
 " Planter " essay, 00. 
 
 Pleasants, James, Representative from 
 
 Virginia, 155. 
 Poinsett, Joel R., Representative from 
 
 South Carolina, 224. 
 Powell, a printer, S. C, 2. 
 Preble, Commodore U. S. N., 94. 
 Presidency, 220, 230. 
 Presidential election, 223. 
 Prince Regent of England, 194. 
 Pringle, Hon. John Julius, S. C, 28, 
 
 112. 
 Protestant Episcopal Society, 45. 
 Provincial oaths, 4. 
 Purcell, Rev. Mr., S. C, 38. 
 Purdy, Col., 134. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, 242. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, Representative from 
 Massachusetts, speech on New Eng- 
 land, 75 ; mention, 79 ; threatens 
 disunion, 81 ; Mr. Lowndes's impres- 
 sion of, 84 ; leader of Federals, 88 ; 
 speech on naval battle, 130 ; mention, 
 200. 
 
 Ramsay, Dr. Nathaniel, historian S. C, 
 vi, 15, 28, 41, 77. 
 
 Randall's "Life of Jefferson," vii. 
 
 Randolph, John, of Roanoke, Rep- 
 resentative from Virginia, mention, 
 80 ; influence on House, 88 ; opposes 
 tariff, 152-154 ;" Spanish matter," 
 104; speech on pension for family 
 of Commodore Perry, 202, 203 ; re- 
 mark on Mr. Lowndes's mauner of 
 speaking, 239. 
 
 Ravenel, Daniel, S. C, 41, 42. 
 
 Redstick Indians, 175. 
 
 Reid, R. R., Representative from 
 Georgia, 213. 
 
 Reign of Terror in France, 49. 
 
 " Reminiscences," E. S. Thomas, 184. 
 
 Republican-Democrats, 50, 59, 77, 105, 
 123, 151. 
 
 Revolution, American, 2, 51, 54, Gl, 
 120. 
 
 Rhea, John, Representative from Ten- 
 nessee, 175. 
 
 Richardson, Gen., S. C, 9. 
 
 Richelieu, Due de, 191. 
 
 Richmond Theatre, Va. 93. 
 
 Robertson, T. B., Representative from 
 Louisiana, 101, 102, 1G9. 
 
 Robespierre, French Republican, 59. 
 
 Robinson, , M. P., 185. 
 
 Rodgers, Commodore U. S. N., 94. 
 
 Rodney, C. G., Del., 164. 
 
 Roscoe, William, English historian, 
 184. 
 
 Ruskin, John, English author. 
 
 Rutledge, Edward Cotesworth, Com- 
 mander U. S. N., 235.
 
 INDEX 
 
 257 
 
 Rutledge, Mrs., daughter William 
 
 Lowndes, v, 233, 235. 
 Rutledge, Frederick, Esq., S. C, 60. 
 Rutledge, John, Governor of South 
 
 Carolina, 1, G-9, 27-38, 51. 
 Rutledge, John, Jr., S. C, 158. 
 
 Sacheverell, Rev. Henry, 14. 
 St. Cecilia concerts, Charleston, 42. 
 St. Domingo, refugees from, 43, 44. 
 St. Mark's, Fla., seizure of, 177, 178. 
 St. Michael's Church, Charleston, 13, 
 
 14, 112. 
 St. Michael's Church, Cornhill, Eng., 
 
 14. 
 St. Philip's Church, Charleston, 13, 14. 
 Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 
 Eng., 14. 
 Salley, Hon. George, S. C, 156. 
 Salley, A. S., Jr., S. C, 156. 
 Scott, Major-Gen. Winfield, 115. 
 Seminole Indians, 174. 
 Seminole War, 174. 
 Sergeant, John, Representative from 
 
 Pennsylvania, 195, 202. 
 Seybert, Dr. Adam, Representative 
 
 from Pennsylvania, 89, 95, 99, 136. 
 Shannon, English man-of-war, 125. 
 Shaw, Mr., Eng., 195. 
 Shays's Rebellion, Mass., 24. 
 Ship Moss, 232, 233. 
 Silsbee, Nathaniel, Senator from 
 
 Massachusetts, 203. 
 Simmons, Mrs. Ruth, sister William 
 
 Lowndes, 232. 
 Sinking Fund, 156, 159, 160. 
 Smith, Rev. William, first Bishop of S. 
 
 C, 45. 
 Smyth, Alexander, Representative 
 
 from Virginia, 171. 
 South American Provinces, Question 
 
 of, 218. 
 Southern Confederacy, 32. 
 Southey, Robert, English poet, 64. 
 Spanish Mission, 60. 
 Spanish South Americans, 164. 
 Spanish treaty, 205. 
 Stamp Act, 3. 
 Stars and Stripes, 71. 
 Star Spangled Banner, 148. 
 State's Rights, 210. 
 Stephen, James, English author, 65, 
 
 66. 
 Story, Life of, vii. 
 Sumter, Gen. Thomas, S. C, 1, 10. 
 Supreme Court of the United States, 
 
 33,34. 
 
 Tallmadge, James, Representative 
 
 from New York, 176. 
 Tariff, 151, 152, 154, 207. 
 Tarleton, Col., 9, 10. 
 Tate, Judge, Senator from Georgia, 
 
 136. 
 
 Taylor, John W. , Representative from 
 
 New York, 208, 236. 
 
 Temple, , Col., 192. 
 
 " Thirty Years in Congress, "Benton's, 
 
 96. 
 Thomas, E. S., Mass., author, 184, 
 
 211. 
 Tiernay, M. P., Eng., 187. 
 Todd, John, Representative from 
 
 Pennsylvania, 238. 
 Tories, American, 8, 10. 
 Torre, Prof. Thomas della, S. C, viii. 
 Trafalgar, battle of, 71. 
 " Transactions in Florida," 216. 
 Trescot, William Henry, S. C, author, 
 
 66. 
 Tucker, Representative from Virginia, 
 
 170. 
 Tunno, Adam, S. C, 51. 
 
 "Union Jack," 71. 
 
 United StatesCommissioners to Ghent, 
 136. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, President of the 
 
 United States, 238. 
 Venus de' Medici, 110. 
 Virgil's Eclogues, 195. 
 Virginia Convention, 32. 
 "Virginia Patriot," 107. 
 
 "War in Disguise, or Fraud of Neu- 
 tral Flags," by James Stephen, 
 65. 
 
 Warren. Col. Samuel, S. C, 228. 
 
 Warwick Castle, Eng., 194. 
 
 Washington, George, General and 
 President, 23, 33, 85, 112, 240. 
 
 Washington Light Infantry Corps, 
 Charleston, vi, 72. 
 
 Washington, Miss Margaret, 235. 
 
 Washington, Col. William, S. C, 72. 
 
 Washington, Mrs., widow of Col. Wil- 
 liam, S. C, 72. 
 
 Washington race-course, Charleston, 
 41. 
 
 "Wealth of Nations," Adam Smith's 
 53. 
 
 Wellesley, Marquess of, 71. 
 
 Wemys, Major, 10. 
 
 Westminster School, Eng., 219, 221. 
 
 Westmuller, , artist, 110. 
 
 Wharton, Miss, author, 110. 
 
 White House, Washington, 63, 65. 
 
 Wilberforce, William, M. P., Eng., 
 187. 
 
 Williams, David R. Representative 
 from South Carolina, 78, 95, 111. 
 
 Williams, Robert, Tory, S. C, 12. 
 
 Wirt's "Life of Patrick Henry," vii. 
 
 Yankee, frigate, 148. 
 
 " Year Book of Charleston," vii. 
 
 York race-course, S. C, 40.
 
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