but little to read, they read that little well. Their bibles, when carefully studied and one part made to expound another by the help of marginal references, open an extensive view of the origin of the world, and the great revolutions it has undergone-of ancient nations, and particularly of the real state of human nature, in every clime and age. No history was ever better written than that of the Jews, by their own Moses. And there is more knowledge respecting the first half of the whole period that has elapsed since the creation of man to be obtained from the bible, than from any other source. In our popular government, where contending parties exert their utmost powers by eloquent appeals to the people to draw them to their respective sides; and where rival editors, by the variety and importance of the contents of their papers, endeavor to extend their circulation, a flood of miscellaneous knowledge is transmitted through these daily vehicles of communication.

Newspapers began to be printed in South Carolina in or about 1730, by Lewis Timothy. From that period to the present, with some short interruptions, a paper has been constantly printed by some of that family. His great grandson, Peter Timothy Marchant, is one of the present proprietors of the Courier. Robert Wells commenced a gazette in 1758, and continued it with great spirit for about sixteen years, and was followed by his son, John Wells, in the same line till 1782. Charles Crouch also began a public newspaper in 1765 in defiance of the stamp act, and continued it till the Revolution. None but weekly papers were printed in Charlestown, and none at all in the country prior to the establishment of independence. In 1783, Mr. John Miller, formerly editor of a paper in London, began a daily one in Carolina. Three daily and two weekly papers now issue from the presses of Charlestown. A newspaper is also printed in Camden, Columbia, in Pendleton district, and at Georgetown. The public gazettes, before the principles of the Revolution began to agitate the American mind, were comparatively unimportant. Government being administered for the colonists, and not by them, they felt but little interest in its transactions. Very different is the case at present. From the concern that every man takes in public matters-from the arts of politicians, to lead or even to mislead the people connected with the spirit of free inquiry, and the enlivening energy of representative government, knowledge has become a thriving plant among the Carolinians; and many of their minds have grown far beyond the standard of their fathers who died while they were subjects.

In the course of the one hundred and six years while South

Carolina was a colony, the whole number of persons born therein who obtained the honors of literary degrees in colleges or universities, as far as can be recollected, is short of twenty; but in the thirty-two years of her independence, one hundred of her native sons have acquired that distinction. There was no grammar-school in South Carolina prior to 1730, except the free-school in Charlestown: from 1730 till 1776 there were not more than four or five, and all in or near Charlestown. Since the Revolution there are, from information, about thirty, and they are daily increasing and extending into the remotest extremities of the State.

The only well furnished book-store in provincial South Carolina, was one kept for about twenty-five years by Robert Wells, who contributed considerably to a taste for reading in Charlestown by the regular and early importation of all new and admired publications in Great Britain. Since the revolution, there have been constantly from three to six bookstores in Charlestown.

MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

Virtues, Vices, Customs, and Diversions, &c. of the Inhabitants.

CHAPTER X.

The love of liberty had taken deep root in the minds of Carolinians long before it was called into action by the revolution. The first settlers fled from tyranny and persecution. In such a situation truth occurred to them every moment and effectually taught them the rights of man. Their situation and employment in a new country operated so as to enlarge and confirm the sentiments which their sufferings had first produced. The wilderness was to be cleared-habitations were to be built-the means of living were to be procured. The similarity of situation and employment produced a similarity of state and condition, and inculcated the equality of rights. They soon found that to be wise, strong, industrious and healthy, was of much more importance than to be called dukes, earls, or marquisses. They grew up with a love of liberty, and everything around them confirmed their predilections for its blessings. Two of their early Governors, Sir James Colleton and Seth Sothel, were taught by the Assembly of the province to respect the rights of freemen. In the exer

cise of that great American right to resist tyranny and to abolish constitutions when hostile to their happiness, they threw off the proprietary yoke. Animated by the same spirit, in little more than half a century after one revolution they engaged in another. They rescinded all connection with Great Britain, and risked their lives and properties in defense of independence. Great were the sacrifices to which they submitted in the revolutionary war; but on all occasions the love of liberty was their predominant passion. Nice calculations of the probable consequences of their resisting Great Britain while they were few in numbers-exposed to dangers from their own domestics and the numerous savages on their frontiers, would have deterred them from engaging in the doubtful contest if immediate self interest had been the pole-star of their conduct. South Carolina had few or no local grievances to complain of, and might at any time have obtained good terms on submission to the mother country; but the love of liberty carried her sons honorably and triumphantly through the war, and has ever since taught them to resist all real and supposed attempts to invade their rights.

Though this disposition nourishes freedom, and is highly deserving of praise, yet it has sometimes been carried too far; especially since the revolution, and by the younger part of the community. The elder citizens have successfully contended for the rights of men. Their sons, too little accustomed to the discipline of a strict education, seem equally zealous for the rights of boys, and urge their claims so practically that many of the merchants import from Europe clerks trained to habits of obedience, rather than make vain attempts to subjugate the high minded youths of Carolina. Their repugnance to subjection is sometimes accompanied by many virtues, and affords a guarantee to the republican institutions of the country, but too often transcends the temperate medium which as cheerfully submits to proper authority as it manfully opposes what is improper and degrading.

none.

Hospitality is another common virtue in Carolina. Innkeepers complain that this is carried to such an extent that their business is scarcely worth following. The doors of the citizens are opened to all decent travelers, and shut against The abundance of provisions on plantations renders the exercise of this virtue not inconvenient, and the avidity of country people for hearing news makes them rather seek than shun the calls of strangers. The State may be traveled over with very little expense by persons furnished with letters of introduction, or even without them by calling at the plantations of private gentlemen on or near the roads.

Charity is carried rather to excess in Charlestown; for the

bounty of the public is so freely bestowed and so easily obtained as to weaken the incitements to industry and sometimes to furnish facilities for indulging habits of vice. On this subject a reform is needed, and will probably soon take place. The public charitable institutions of Charlestown cost its inhabitants annually more than 30,000 dollars; the payment of which is enforced by law in the form of a city tax. The calls on them for their private contributions to relieve indigence, to promote literary, religious, charitable, and benevolent institutions, both in and out of the State, are frequently repeated and seldom or never without success. Two or three thousand dollars are often collected in a few weeks by courtly solicitors and carried off by them for purposes in the advancement of which the people of Charlestown have no direct nor immediate interest.

A sense of honor is general; but, like charity, is sometimes carried too far, and urges individuals to seek satisfaction or explanation for trifles which might with propriety pass unnoticed. The general result is however favorable to a respectful behavior of the citizens reciprocally to each other. The licentiousness of the tongue and press is seldom indulged in Carolina by the lowest classes of people, and scarcely at all by any of decent standing in society. The correct conduct of the gentlemen in the State is imitated by all ranks. There is such a general respect for propriety of behavior, that rude attacks on the characters of individuals meet with no countenance. They are for the most part more injurious to their authors than their subjects. A keen sensibility on subjects of personal honor, carried to extremes, degenerates into a vice odious in its motive, mischievous in its consequences, and particularly disgraceful to the State. Mistaken views of honor give rise to duels. These take place oftener in Carolina than in all the nine States north of Maryland. Warm weather and its attendant increase of bile in the stomach has a physical tendency to produce an irritable temper. Hence it frequently happens, especially in summer, that many things are said or done thoughtlessly and without any deliberate intention of hurting the characters or wounding the feelings of the persons to whom they relate. Genuine chivalry would either disregard such trifles, or seek for an explanation and readily accept of a slight one or such as might be made without degradation. But it is too common for sudden gusts of passion under the imposing garb of honor to urge the offended party to demand too much, and the offender to concede too little. The Christian doctrine of the forgiveness of injuries being disregarded, pride and self-love become the motives of action, and make honorable reconciliation impossible; for they urge one party

to refuse, what they urge the other to insist upon. To avoid the imputation of cowardice, the one demands reparation for an offense according to his own ideas of justice, and the other from the same motive and under the same influence refuses it. Each constitutes himself judge in his own case at a time when pride or passion hide both truth and justice from their minds. The laws of God and man being set aside, the important question of right or wrong-of character and reputation, is left to the decision of the best marksman. That duellists, who nine times in ten can strike a dollar, should at the same distance either miss their antagonists altogether, or that part of them at which they leveled, must be referred to want of self-possession. Conscious that they are doing wrong, their hands tremble and carry the bullets aside from their aim; otherwise the death of both parties would be much more common than it is.

A few duels are recollected as having taken place before the revolutionary war, and were often fought with swords. During and since that period they have been much more frequent; and always with pistols. Their folly is equal to their guilt. They decide nothing. They neither prove the courage, the justice, nor the innocence of the parties. The greatest cowards may be urged on to fight duels, and the bravest men may, from a sense of duty to God and man, and from a conviction of their absurdity, refuse that gothic mode of settling disputes. They occasionally rid the world of a fool, a madman, a gambler, a bully, or a blackguard: but sometimes deprive society of a worthy man, who, though possessed of many virtues, has not courage enough to follow his own convictions of duty; and who is so afraid of the imputation of cowardice, that he acts the part of a coward; for, induced by fear of the censure or ridicule of a misjudging world, he deliberately does what his conscience condemns.

It is to be regretted that among the many laws which crowd. the statute book of Carolina, there are none that are calculated to suppress the practice of duelling. According to the letter of the law, duellists may be prosecuted for murder; but the uniform verdict of juries for more than thirty years has adjudged the offense to be manslaughter. The burning in the hand, which is the penalty of that offense, has in every instance been remitted. The trial of a person who has killed his antagonist in a duel, is now little more than an investigation of the fairness of the procedure. If the rules of duelling have been observed, and no advantage taken, an acquittal as above stated is a matter of course. This defect in the policy of the State laws induced the Revolution society, and the South Carolina society of Cincinnati, in the year 1803, to ap