VOL. XIII.
No 7.
BOSTON.
JOHN
JULY, 1901.
RUTLEDGE.
BY FRANCIS R. JONES. IT is always pleasant to contemplate the life of a prominent character in the Rev olution. Through the haze of the receding years even an ordinary man stands forth of heroic size. Time lends a glamour. Patri otism too adds an enthusiasm, which is not only proper, but gratifying. It is particular ly inspiring for a man of Massachusetts to dwell upon the achievements of an eminent son of South Carolina, who was one of the fathers of the Republic. It is refreshing to remember that she was the first of the colon ies south of New England to respond to the call of Massachusetts in 1765, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with her in the succeed ing twenty years of distress and carnage. It is with reverence that one remembers the fortitude with which that southern sister en dured the awful scourge of the Revolution. Upon her devoted head were poured all the vials of a barbarous war of subjugation, un mitigated by mercy or chivalry. Tarleton and Lord Cornwallis have left names there with which to subdue unruly children. With fire and sword they laid waste that Southern land, then but a sparsely populated district. But her sons were filled with the love of liberty, and with dauntless courage. They accomplished the Revolution with great unanimity of opinion and order. Before the Declaration of Independence they had thrown off the shackles of the Crown, adopted a constitution and under it insti tuted a government. They gallantly re pelled one attack of the royal troops only to be overwhelmed by a devastating invasion and a hostile occupation which lasted three vears. The State rose triumphant from her
ruins to join in establishing that more per fect Union, which is today her pride. Of all these things John Rutledge was a large part. The story of his life from 1765 to 1795 is a history of South Carolina. However grateful the task, it would be worse than useless here to attempt to repaint the condi tions of time and country in which that life was spent. They are a part of history indel ibly written upon the mind of every educated American. Distinguished at the bar and in the Senate, a fearless Governor and an able judge, Rutledge deserved much of his countrymen. Little remains of his life except the bare outline of his career. He was a strenuous man. fearless and out spoken, the John Adams of South Carolina. The Irish blood in his veins was true to its popular repute. He was a disciple of free dom, ready to stake his all for the great prin ciple, Liberty. Tradition tells of his haughty pride and vindictiveness, of his unruly tem per, and hints at excesses which superinduced his melancholy end. Independent in thought and action he was earnest and sincere. The ardor of his temperament does not seem to have influenced his judgment often or blinded his common sense. He was no dreamer, no metaphysical politician. His impulsive energy executed the dictates of his reason. He must have been a man of large capacity and ability. He was tenacious of his opin ions, but in great affairs was amenable to compromise. In the Congress of 1782 and in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 he readily and gracefully yielded his convictions in order to gain the great ends which were accomplished. With all his imperiousness
