John Rutledge

THE conditions of society in South Carolina during the latter part of the eighteenth century were well adapted to the nurture of a ruling class. A few families, some of them of superior English stock, had early acquired and continuously retained the richer lands near Charleston. On their large estates, by reason of the abundance of slave labor, they had been on the one hand relieved from the drudgery of agriculture, and on the other nourished by its fruits and disciplined in its management; while in their leisure they had turned readily to the various pursuits of social, religious, and political life. As lords of the soil they had naturally become upholders of the Church and rulers of the State ; and it is not surprising that at the approach of the Revolution South Carolina discovered in her opulent planters such efficient versatile leaders as the Lynches, Charles and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and the Middletons, father and son.

From this class, the Charleston aristocracy, came also the brothers Edward and John Rutledge, Their father, Andrew Rutledge, was a physician in Charleston, who had emigrated from Ireland in 1735 ; and their mother, Sarah Hext, belonged to an old and wealthy colonial family. She was evidently a woman of extraordinary virtues; for, left a widow at the age of twenty-six, with seven children and a diminished fortune, she was able largely to retrieve her paternal estate without neglecting her household. Aided by her exertions and self-denial, John Rutledge was well prepared for his future career. He had not, indeed, the advantage of a liberal education. His early training, first with a clergyman and later with a master, was brief ; but his subsequent study of the law was thorough and systematic. After several years in a law office, he passed three years in London, at the inns of court ; and when, in 1761, at the age of twenty-two, he returned to practice at Charleston his success was already anticipated.

He surpassed all expectations. Even before he reached home he was retained in an important suit by the defendant, who, in his eagerness, had gone out in the pilot-boat to meet the ship. Rutledge conducted his case with so much skill and eloquence, says Ramsay, that “he astonished all who heard him.” He won a verdict for his client, and received a fee of a hundred guineas. He soon became attorney-general of South Carolina, and for ten years enjoyed a lucrative practice. Josiah Quincy, Jr., who visited Charleston in 1773, wrote in his diary that John Rutledge was then one of the three first lawyers in the province.

Such immediate and decided success was the more creditable because of the high character of the members of the bar among whom it was achieved. Many of his associates, like himself, had traveled abroad and studied at the inns of court. As a class, they were perhaps the best educated and the most influential men in the community. Their number at that time did not much exceed twenty ; and they were not less dignified than select. Attired in wigs and gowns, they bore out well the strict formalities of the courts, whether they were engaged in dispensing justice, or were conducted by the sheriff in solemn procession from the court-house to hear the sessions sermon in the neighboring church.

Rutledge bad not been long in his profession when his attention was drawn to politics. He entered the provincial legislature, and exhibited marked capacity in dealing with the pending disputes. In fact, he soon became the leader of the legislature. It was due to his exertions mainly that South Carolina was the first colony south of New England to elect delegates to the Stamp Act Congress; and in that Congress itself, though he was the youngest member, he was excelled by few in usefulness. He represented his province also in the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775, in each case acquitting himself with great credit. Indeed, the political situation more and more absorbed his energy, and finally rendered the practice of law impossible. By 1775 the people of South Carolina had become so exasperated at the attempts of Great Britain to exact a colonial revenue that they resorted to arms. The royal governor, Lord William Campbell, took refuge on a British man-of-war. The courts were closed, and royal government was at an end.

On hearing of this crisis, Rutledge obtained leave of absence from the Continental Congress, and hastened to Charleston. His arrival was timely. Since the departure of the royal authorities, the Whig, or patriot, party had attempted to direct public affairs through an improvised committee of safety and provincial congress, but with little success. They had summoned a convention, accordingly, to consider the emergency ; and Rutledge, chosen a delegate in his absence, returned just in time to participate in its deliberations. He became the guiding spirit. Unlike Christopher Gadsden, he did not yet favor a total separation from the mother country. On the other hand, he would not oppose the institution of a popular government. Standing thus between the two extremes of opinion, with his long and varied experience in the Continental Congress, he naturally found great favor with the conservative aristocratic planters. Their ardent desire was, their grievances redressed and their rights acknowledged, to resume, under the British connection, that supremacy in provincial politics which they had from the first enjoyed. They would hardly tolerate the idea of a permanent rupture.

In accordance with this policy the convention fashioned the new government outwardly after the old, and declared, in the preamble written by Rutledge, that it should continue only “ until an accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and America can be obtained.’ Yet practically the existing alienation necessitated radical and significant innovations. All political functions hitherto exorcised by the Crown were now transferred to the people. Notably, the colonial governor, who had usually been a favorite of the king, was superseded by an elective president, who should thenceforth be the agent and representative of the people. Thus South Carolina was the first of the Southern colonies fully to realize the idea of a popular government.

Evidently the most important officer in the new government was the president. He represented the power and dignity of the State, and possessed full executive authority, military as well as civil. In the great emergencies that were already apprehended, though but dimly foreseen, he would be the leader about whom the people would rally, whether to repel foreign invasion or to quell internal strife. It was, therefore, a great tribute to the character and talents of John Rutledge that, in a convention containing so many trusted patriots, he was the one selected to be the first president of South Carolina.

The action of the convention was enthusiastically ratified by the people. They made the day of the inauguration memorable in the history of the State. Marking as it did the beginning of the first government constituted and conducted throughout by the people, it was celebrated with extraordinary pomp and rejoicing. The occasion is graphically described by Drayton in his Memoirs of the American Revolution: “ The two houses, preceded by the president and vice-president, and the sheriff bearing the sword of state, made a solemn procession from the State-House to the Exchange, in front of the line of troops ; and on their arrival at the Exchange the president was proclaimed by the sheriff, amidst the heart-cheering plaudits of the people : which was immediately responded to by thirteen discharges from the cannon of the artillery, a feu de joye from the line of troops, and the cannon of the Prosper, ship-of-war, and other armed vessels in the harbor.”

The anticipations of the people were not disappointed. Immediately the new government went into operation, order was enforced, justice administered, and confidence restored. The legislature, having enacted such laws as the circumstances required, presented to the president an address, congratulating him on the public welfare, and pledging to his support their fortunes and their lives. Rutledge replied in a tone equally spirited and patriotic. He urged them, on returning home, to acquaint their constituents with the rights and grievances in dispute, and with the necessity, nature, and benefits of the new government. In conclusion he said : “The eyes of all Europe — nay, of the whole world — are on America. The eyes of every other colony are on this, — a colony whose reputation for generosity and magnanimity is universally acknowledged. I trust, therefore, it will not be diminished by our future conduct; that there will be no civil discord here ; and that the only strife amongst brethren will be, who shall do most to serve and to save an oppressed and injured country.” This speech contained such a succinct, vigorous statement of the Whig views that the General Assembly ordered it, together with the constitution, to be published throughout the State. Then it adjourned to the next autumn, leaving the conduct of affairs in the hands of the president.

Rutledge soon found his hands more than full. Indeed, for a time there rested, as it were, within his grasp the fate not of South Carolina alone, but of the whole thirteen colonies. From the collapse of the royal authority, Lord William Campbell, the fugitive governor, and his Tory sympathizers had been urging upon the British ministry an invasion of South Carolina. Only a small British force was needed, they insisted, in addition to the royal adherents, to effect the capture of Charleston and to restore South Carolina to the Crown. At last the ministry were persuaded. About the beginning of the year 1776, they fitted out land and naval forces sufficient in strength, they believed, to bring the American colonies to submission, and directed a large division to operate against the Carolinas. At the same time, General Howe, the British commander in America, dispatched Sir Henry Clinton with a small force from Boston, with orders to effect a union with the contingent from England, and to take command of the Southern expedition.

Meanwhile, rumors of these intentions and movements had reached Charleston, and President Rutledge had made strenuous efforts to fortify the city. All available laborers, including a large force of negroes from the country, were employed incessantly in strengthening the works. Expresses were sent throughout the State to urge forward the militia; and the scanty supply of ammunition was increased by stripping lead from the windows of dwellings and churches. All ranks of the people caught the bold and determined spirit of their president, and imitated his indefatigable energy. Believing in the justice of their cause, they awaited with confidence the impending attack.

They had not long to wait. Just inside the bar and at the entrance of Charleston harbor lies a long, low, narrow strip of land called Sullivan Island. At its southwestern extremity, commanding the narrow approach from the sea to the town, a fort had been hastily constructed of soft palmetto logs embanked with sand ; and, rude and unfinished though it was, it constituted an insurmountable barrier to the advance of the British fleet. Its reduction was a condition precedent to the bombardment of the town. Accordingly, on the morning of the 28th of June, 1776, the hostile ships, weighing anchor, bore down upon the apparently insignificant structure.

In reality the fort was not much stronger than it seemed. Square in form, with a bastion at each angle, it was finished only on the two sides most exposed, and, situated at the bend of the island, it was exposed on the right flank to the fire of any ship that should round the point. This defect was deemed fatal by Major-General Charles Lee, who, entrusted by the Continental Congress with the Southern department, had hastened to Charleston and assumed command. He took great pains, therefore, to secure the retreat of the garrison to the mainland, and even gave orders that when the powder, of which the supply was scanty, should be exhausted they should spike their guns and retire to the mainland.

But Colonel William Moultrie, the commander of the fort, and his little band — four hundred and thirty-five in all—were not of the retreating sort. They had determined to hold their position or perish in the attempt; and in this they were encouraged by President Rutledge. The latter, in order to avoid any conflict of authority, had, with great moderation and discretion, relinquished to Major-General Lee the supreme command of the state militia, including the garrison, but he would not countenance a retreat. “Gen. Lee wishes you to evacuate the fort,” he wrote to Moultrie. “ You will not without an order from me. I would sooner cut off my hand than write one.” In the midst of the action he sent out to the fort five hundred pounds of powder, with the laconic suggestion : " Do not make too free with your cannon. Cool and do mischief.”

The advice had been anticipated. Firing at longer intervals as the supply of powder ran low, and training their guns upon the larger ships, the plucky untrained militiamen not only maintained their position from morning till night, but also inflicted such damage that with the rise of the tide the hostile ships slipped their anchors and dropped out of range. The first victory at the South had been won, and Charleston saved. Nay, more : coming as it did at the beginning of the war, the affair gave courage and confidence to the patriots everywhere ; while it so disabled and dispirited the British that they abandoned the Southern expedition, and the Southern States enjoyed a period of repose.

Hardly had the British ships disappeared below the horizon when news reached Charleston of the declaration of independence. It was gladly received. The people, exasperated by the recent attack, were now prepared for this decisive step. It was celebrated in a noteworthy manner. An official proclamation of independence was followed by a public procession of the state officers, both civil and military, headed by President Rutledge ; and later in the day there was a parade of the troops in a field adjoining the town.

The assertion of a common independence was soon followed by an assimilation of the forms and principles of government in the several States. The democracy, having severed all external bonds, now began to assert itself, and South Carolina early responded to the movement. In 1777 the constitution was greatly modified : the church establishment was abolished, the office of president was superseded by that of governor, and a senate elected by the people was substituted for the legislative council chosen by the Assembly. The people thus secured equality before the law among the different religious bodies, and a more direct, efficient control of their own representatives. But they antagonized the clergy, whose ancient privileges were revoked, and the aristocratic planters, whose political supremacy was threatened. Among the latter, both in association and in sympathy, was President Rutledge. When the new constitution was submitted to him, he returned it with his veto. He objected chiefly to its democratic spirit and tendency. “ However unexceptionable democratic power may appear at the first view,” he frankly stated, “ its effects have been found arbitrary, severe, and destructive.” Like Alexander Hamilton, Robert Morris, and other contemporary leaders, he had little faith in government by the masses. These men believed that what they had thus far accomplished was due largely to their bold assumption and ready exercise of liberal powers, encouraged by the generous confidence of the people. As for John Rutledge, he was ever impatient of restraint. He could not approve the new constitution, so he withdrew from the head of affairs.

His retirement was of short duration, for his services soon became indispensable for the safety of the State. Toward the close of 1778 the repose that South Carolina had been enjoying was seriously interrupted. After many efforts, the English armies had failed to subdue America by invading New England and the Middle States. Now they changed their plans. They resolved to conquer the colonies in detail, attacking first those more infused with Tory sentiment and less accessible to Whig support. Accordingly they attempted the subjugation of Georgia and the Carolinas ; and at first with astonishing success. Three thousand men, dispatched from New York by Sir Henry Clinton, landing near Savannah, speedily routed the American forces and seized the town. Thence reinforced and commanded by General Provost, they proceeded to capture Augusta and the stations along the Savannah River. Within a month they had conquered all Georgia and restored her to the Crown. Sir James Wright, the former royal governor, was reinstated, and, by kind treatment and liberal promises, the people were induced to enter the British service in large numbers.

In South Carolina, this invasion, so sudden, yet so decisive, reaching to her very borders, caused great alarm. Her delegates in the Continental Congress obtained the appointment of General Lincoln, who had distinguished himself at Saratoga, to the command of the Southern department; and her legislature, which fortunately was then in session, exerted itself to the utmost to strengthen the public defeases. It provided for filling the Continental regiments, for impressing boats, wagons, and other conveyances, and for apprehending suspected persons. Above all, in its anxiety for the public welfare, it turned again to the man who two years before, as president, had done so much to ward off invasion and ruin. At this crisis it would trust no one but John Rutledge at the head of affairs. Having elected him governor, it voluntarily clothed him and his council with almost unlimited discretionary power. Once for all it authorized them " to do everything that appeared to him and them necessary for the public welfare.”

Such confidence was no more than the emergency required. The State was menaced at once by a British fleet from the sea, by hostile Indians from the interior, and by the victorious General Prevost from the south ; while in several quarters the Tories, encouraged by the English success, were organizing for active service. In order to be prepared, in any event, Rutledge in person established a camp at Orangeburgh, in the middle of the State, making it a rendezvous for the militia and a centre of operations ; while he entrusted the fortification of Charleston to the lieutenant-governor and the council. He also coöperated with General Lincoln, and promptly yielded him precedence when a conflict of authority arose.

Encouraged and strengthened by these vigorous measures, the patriots determined to act on the offensive. With a considerable army General Lincoln crossed into Georgia, in the hope of ejecting General Prevost and regaining the State. But the latter was too wary and alert. He eluded the attack by a counter invasion. Crossing the Savannah, he advanced boldly and swiftly in the direction of Charleston, driving before him General Moultrie, who, with an inferior force, had been left to cover the town. In a moment all was confusion and consternation. Aroused by expresses from Moultrie, Rutledge hastened to Charleston by forced marches and with all available troops, and Lincoln, already far on his way toward Augusta, began to retrace his course with all possible expedition. The latter could not overtake Prevost, but hoped to cut off his retreat should the town hold out.

An immediate assault was expected by the townsmen, and that with grave forebodings. Rutledge and Moultrie had barely brought their scanty forces into the terror-stricken place, and stationed them along its unfinished defenses, when the enemy were at hand demanding a surrender. Should the demand be refused and the assault be made, great loss of life and destruction of property must result, while victory seemed almost certain to the British. On the other hand, to give up the town without an effort to defend it would scarcely become the men who two years before, though poorly disciplined and equipped, had bravely faced superior numbers and achieved a glorious victory.

In this dilemma Governor Rutledge and his council tried to procrastinate. Could the assault be deferred, they believed that General Lincoln, who was already expected, might arrive and turn the scale. Accordingly they sent a flag to General Prevost, asking what terms he would grant in case of capitulation ; and when he replied that such as should not accept his offers of peace and protection must surrender as prisoners of war, they sent again, objecting to the terms, and requesting a conference. Thus in messages and counter messages the day was nearly spent, but without any agreement. Finally, as a last resort, Rutledge and his council sent “ to propose a neutrality during the war between Great Britain and America, and the question whether the State shall belong to Great Britain or remain one of the United States be determined by the treaty of peace between these two powers.”This proposition also being rejected on the one side, and capitulation being at last refused on the other, an assault now seemed inevitable. But at this point Prevost gained news of Lincoln’s rapid advance, and, fearing capture, drew off his army and made his escape.

One would fain believe that this offer of neutrality also was made simply to gain time, and so it has been suggested by at least one historian, and by a distinguished descendant of Rutledge ; but it is hard to find any evidence to support the suggestion. On the other hand, it would not be just to accuse Rutledge of treason. At that time the States were indeed acting in common, but they did so mainly on grounds of expediency, — in order the better to promote their common interests. As yet they did not admit an organic union by which they were indissolubly bound to one another, but each maintained the right to act independently of the rest, at least when necessary for self-preservation. For this reason, if for no other, the proposition of neutrality, which now appears heinous, may then have seemed justifiable. In effect, whatever was its intent, it added to the delay ; and, however admirable was the spirit with which Moultrie, Gadsden, and others urged a vigorous defense, caution and procrastination were, under the circumstances, more expedient. Virtually they saved the town.

But the fate of Charleston was decreed, and no temporary delay could prevent its fulfillment. The expedition against Georgia had been an experiment, and it had, on the whole, succeeded so well that it warranted a more serious effort. In December, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton himself sailed from New York against Charleston with over five thousand men. At this time the legislature of South Carolina was in session. When it heard of the impending peril it turned again to Rutledge, and delegated, “ till ten days after their next session, to the governor, John Rutledge, Esquire, and such of his council as he could conveniently consult, a power to do everything necessary for the public good, except the taking away the life of a citizen without a legal trial.” Evidently, the proposition of neutrality had not diminished Rutledge’s popularity. Probably it had increased it, as an evidence of his regard for life and property and of his devotion to the State.

His energy and resources were equal to the emergency. He ordered forthwith a general rendezvous of the militia ; and when there was no considerable response, he made a proclamation, “requiring such of the militia as were regularly drafted, and all the inhabitants and owners of property in the town, to repair to the American standard, and join the garrison immediately, under pain of confiscation.” But he met with discouragement at every turn. Within the town and the State were greater enemies than there were without. The smallpox in a virulent form had recently appeared, and from the terror that it caused was a serious obstacle to the assembling of the militia. Worse than all, food and other necessaries of life were both dear and scarce, and the paper currency was almost worthless. It is not strange, therefore, that when Sir Henry Clinton and his powerful armament appeared the people fell into much despondency, and Governor Rutledge was almost in despair.

Yet he made strenuous efforts to save the town. Before Clinton had completed his lines of investiture, Rutledge was induced by General Lincoln and others to go out into the country in order to rally the people and maintain the civil authority ; and though he was unable finally to prevent the fall of Charleston, he performed most valuable services. They are best described by General Moultrie in his Memoirs. “ It was very fortunate,” he says, “ for the province that the governor was not made a prisoner in town. His presence in the country kept everything alive ; and it gave great spirits to the people to have a man of such great abilities, firmness, and decision amongst them. He gave commissions, raised new corps, embodied the militia, and went to Philadelphia to solicit reinforcements. He returned and joined the army. He stayed by them, enforced the laws of the province, called the legislature; in short, he did everything that could be done for the good of the country.”

It is difficult adequately to describe or to estimate the services of Rutledge to the American cause at this time. Never was that cause in such desperate straits. During the two years succeeding the fall of Charleston the Carolinas were the principal theatre of the war; for here was put to a thorough trial the chief and final scheme for subduing America, and for a long time it seemed about to succeed. From Charleston as a base of operations the British forces pressed steadily northward, while far and near, on either side, the swift and daring Tarleton spread terror and desolation. Nothing availed to check the tide. When General Gates was overwhelmed in the disaster of Camden, the reduction of the whole South appeared inevitable.

But there now arose elements of resistance upon which the English had not counted. They had not reckoned on the indomitable spirit and manifold resources of the patriot leaders. Sumter, Pickens, and Marion ! What visions of valor and romance attend the mention of their names ! With their little bands of fellow-fugitives and refugees, miserablyclad and poorly equipped, yet resolute and devoted, they crept stealthily from their hiding-places in swamps and morasses, and surprised now a detached body of regulars, now a roving company of Tories. If repulsed, they disappeared as suddenly into their mysterious retreats, and eluded all pursuit; but if successful, they supplied themselves with the arms and clothing of the fallen enemy, and pushed on to new enterprises. They inflicted so much damage and inspired so great terror that the British army was obliged not only to check its northward course, but also to secure its line of retreat.

With these men Governor Rutledge was in constant communication and cooperation. As commander-in-chief of the South Carolina militia, he exercised a general direction over their movements, and gave them assistance, encouragement, and reward. He made Sumter brigadier-general of militia in recognition of gallant attacks on Rocky-Mount and Hanging-Rock ; and later he promoted Marion and Pickens to the same rank for similar services. His aid was equally constant and efficient to General Greene, who, as the successor of General Gates in the command of the Southern department, completed the work the militia had so well begun, and drove the British back to Charleston.

In thus promoting active military operations, Governor Rutledge exercised his dictatorial power with promptness and discretion. For example, he suspended for a time the act of the legislature making the paper currency a legal tender, and he authorized the impressment of specie and horses in extreme cases. His scrupulous care embraced small matters as well as great. " It gives me pleasure,” he declared, “ to restore every encroachment on the liberties of the people.” He was unwilling to retain his extraordinary power any longer than was absolutely necessary. Accordingly, so soon as the state of hostilities would permit, he issued writs for an election ; and when a new legislature assembled in January. 1782, he was able at last to say that all of the State, save Charleston and its vicinity, was rid of the invaders, and “ the legislative, executive, and judicial powers are in the free exercise of their respective authorities.” For three weary years, the most calamitous and eventful in the history of South Carolina, he had borne almost alone the weight and responsibility of the military and civil authority ; and now, his term having expired, he gave back, neither lessened nor misused, that authority with which he had been so generously clothed.

The legislature was not willing to dispense with his services. Almost at the same time that it tendered him its “most sincere and unfeigned thanks ” for his “ persevering, unabated, and successful exertions,” it elected him a delegate from South Carolina to the Continental Congress ; and to this body he now returned after the lapse of seven years, with a reputation greatly enhanced by the conspicuous part he had taken in the brilliant defense of the South. Few men had rendered such varied and important public services, and his views received corresponding consideration. As usual, they were outspoken and decided. For example, he urged, though in vain, that the American commissioners should be freed from the necessity of consulting the French regarding the terms of peace ; and when they eventually did as he had desired, but contrary to instructions, he stoutly defended their conduct. Instructions should be disregarded, he declared, whenever the public good required it. In pressing the payment of the public debt occasioned by the war, the price of freedom, he was equally decided ; and when the power to lay taxes required by Congress for this object was persistently and selfishly denied by the States, he recognized the essential weakness of the existing Confederation and the imperative necessity of a new political system.

In the framing of the Constitution of the United States John Rutledge took memorable part. Influenced, doubtless, by his own experience as chief executive of South Carolina, he agreed with Wilson that the national executive should be a single person. But he could not sympathize nor cooperate with him in his persistent efforts to found the general government more directly upon the people. Rutledge preferred to keep it, as it was, based on the States. Hence he urged that the state legislatures should continue to choose the national legislature, and the latter in turn should appoint the national executive ; and he especially denounced the proposition, advocated repeatedly, though in vain, by Madison, that the general government should have a negative on the legislative acts of the States. “ Will any State ever agree,” Rutledge asked, “to be bound hand and foot in this manner ? ” It is easy to infer that his views on government were cast in an aristocratic mould. He did not hesitate to approve the proposition of his fellow townsman and delegate, Charles Pinckney, that the possession of a fixed amount of property should be required of all candidates for the national executive, Supreme Court, and legislature.

With thorough consistency and frankness he was also the champion of slavery. When Luther Martin and George Mason eloquently pleaded that the Constitution should prohibit the slave trade, Rutledge replied: “ Religion and humanity have nothing to do with the question. Interest alone is the governing principle with nations.” “ If the Convention thinks that North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will ever agree to the plan, unless their right to import slaves be untouched, the expectation is vain.” In this resolution he was inflexible. It was fortified by his training, his temperament, and his experience; and, what most influenced the Convention. it certainly was, as he said, the sentiment of the extreme South.

Yet Rutledge was not intentionally narrow or bigoted. Slavery and state supremacy aside, he had a firm grasp and a broad view of political questions. For example, foreseeing a wide extension of foreign commerce, he urged that the power given to Congress of regulating trade should be unrestricted, notwithstanding the suggestion that such power might be used to the relative disadvantage of the South. “As we are laying the foundation for a great empire, we ought,” he declared, " to take a permanent view of the subject, and not look at the present moment only.”

Though but little of the Constitution as it stands is traceable directly to Rutledge, nevertheless he greatly influenced its construction, and his work in the Convention materially increased his reputation. In the first election under the Constitution he was preferred to John Adams, in the choice of his native State, for the vice-presidency. He was the first of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States to be appointed by President Washington ; but he soon resigned this position in order to accept that of chief justice of the court of common pleas and sessions in South Carolina ; and he was not again drawn into national affairs till he was selected by President Washington, in 1795, to succeed John Jay as Chief Justice of the United States.

To have filled this position— in some respects the most eminent in public life — would fittingly have crowned his career ; but such was not his destiny. The man that hitherto had uniformly been favored by fortune was now overtaken by misfortune and gloom ; and the cause was partly in himself. About the time of his appointment by the President to the office of Chief Justice, the terms of the Jay treaty reached America. In Charleston they aroused great indignation and excitement; for they were thought to involve a surrender to England and an indignity to France. Jay and the treaty were burned in effigy, and the British flag was publicly insulted.

With the prevalent hatred of England and affection for France Rutledge deeply sympathized ; and, notwithstanding his recent obligation to the federal administration, he allowed himself to be drawn into the popular demonstration against its obnoxious measure. At a public meeting in Charleston he gave full rein to his feelings, and denounced the treaty in severe terms. At once his speech was read throughout the country, and was hailed with delight by the party in opposition. Among the Federalists, on the contrary, it was received with surprise and indignation, and threats were openly made of preventing, in the Senate, the confirmation of Rutledge as Chief Justice.

But Providence now interposed, and turned all party passion into feelings of pity and regret. In the fall of 1795 Rutledge was suddenly attacked by a disease that affected his intellect and incapacitated him for the bench, and for this reason chiefly his nomination was rejected. “ The Senate’s refusal to confirm his appointment extinguished,” it is said, “ the last spark of sanity.” After a lingering and pathetic illness, he died in July, 1800.

The conduct of Rutledge toward the Jay treaty illustrates his impetuous, impatient temperament. He was still bitter against England at the ravages of her arms in South Carolina, and it is not surprising. In the war he had lost his valuable library and a large part of his property, and his was a common misfortune. When, therefore, the Jay treaty, which he deemed to be infamous, recalled those outrages and calamities, he would not refrain from denunciation, even though he should sacrifice the honor of being Chief Justice of the United States.

Yet his impulses were generous, and his sense of justice was exact. On one occasion, when Charleston was anxiously awaiting an assault from General Prevost, Governor Rutledge observed that some militiamen were inattentive to duty. Impetuously riding up, he not only reprimanded them severely, but actually struck one with his whip. On the following day he returned to the spot and gravely apologized for his act. Such qualities greatly endeared him to the people. Few public men in America have enjoyed in their day such unclouded, uninterrupted popularity. From the time when, a youth fresh from the inns of court, he began the practice of law at Charleston to the day when, at fiftysix years of age, selected for the highest judicial office in the United States, he became the victim of a melancholy disease, he was the favorite representative in intercolonial councils and the chief leader in local politics. For a considerable period he was the main, almost the only stay of public order and defense. He was repeatedly the dictator of South Carolina.

His power was not more ample than he desired, yet he uniformly exercised it with discretion and moderation; he often tempered it with clemency. It is difficult at the present time to realize the extent and bitterness of the fratricidal strife that divided and devastated the more southern colonies during the Revolution. American history at no other time affords any parallel, except in Indian warfare. Tories and Whigs assailed one another with almost savage ferocity, and the damage they mutually inflicted almost equaled what they received from invaders. The evil was so obstinate that it merited severe treatment, and such it did at times receive. But Rutledge was the rather inclined to conciliation. During intervals of repose he repeatedly offered pardon and protection to such Tories as should return to their homes and keep the peace. So far, indeed, did he carry his pacific policy that in several cases he was opposed by his friends.

Seldom, however, was his judgment or his conduct questioned, for he truly represented, while he ably directed, the ruling class of South Carolina. That class was high-spirited yet conservative, exacting of obedience but generous of favor, and such also was John Rutledge. At times, when he assumed his “ gubernatorial air,” he would brook no opposition nor denial. Had he not been clothed with dictatorial power, and was he not responsible for its exercise ?

As in temperament, so in convictions, he was representative of the aristocracy of South Carolina. His political principles were drawn more from his own experience and environment than from either the observation of nations or the maxims and speculations of philosophers. Hence his limitations as compared with such men as Hamilton, Wilson, and Madison, who drew alike from all these sources. Within his range his knowledge was thorough and precise, for he excelled in acumen and force, if not in culture.

This fact was evident especially in his speech. As a writer he was neither fluent nor graceful, but as a speaker he possessed uncommon abilities. Terse, direct, and incisive, he delivered his thoughts with animation and skill. When life sympathies were evoked or his indignation aroused, he would win by his earnestness and sincerity, or he would overwhelm with his invective. In his manner at the bar he is said to have resembled Mr. Dunning, later Lord Ashburton, the most celebrated advocate of the time.

Perhaps the chief impression which he left upon the listener was that of earnestness,— an impression to which his personal appearance largely contributed. His form was tall, robust, and commanding, while his face wore an aspect of firmness and decision touched with severity. On the bench, his bearing shed dignity and exacted respect. His decisions evince a thorough and accurate knowledge of law, and also a tendency to control the absolute dictates of precedent by a liberal regard for justice. The fact most significant of his judicial capacity is his successive promotions on the bench of South Carolina, and his selection at last by Washington to preside in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Nevertheless, his services as a judge came late in life, and occupied but a small portion of his career. His chief claim to distinction is as an executive. Above all else, John Rutledge was a man of action, and as such he impressed himself deeply upon his time. In the early awakening and final revolt of the American colonies he played a part secondary in importance to few, if to any, of the patriots ; for it was he more than any other who first brought the South promptly to unite with the North in the Stamp Act Congress, and afterwards held her in support of the successive measures adopted in Continental councils. When the war, which, in spite of his impetuous temperament, he had constantly endeavored to avert, was at last precipitated, no man of equal prominence at the time in civil affairs entered more deeply and more devotedly into the conflict, or displayed greater energy and persistence in the common defense. There is reason to doubt if, without his efforts, the South would have escaped conquest. Had the South been subjugated, could independence have been achieved ?

Though he had been educated and accustomed to civil pursuits, the smell of powder did not lessen his ardor, nor did his contact with arms diminish his reputation. Indeed, from military men have come some of the warmest encomiums of his genius and his work. He is, said General Greene, " one of the first characters I ever met with ; ” while General Lee writes in his Memoirs, “ An accomplished gentleman, a captivating orator, decisive in his measures, and inflexibly firm, he infused his own lofty spirit into the general mass.”

Frank Gaylord Cook.