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Mr. Drayton to the Secretary of State, Inclosing the Papers Relative to His Suspension From the Council [MSS. of W. H. Drayton] Charles Town, South Carolina, March 15, 1775 To the Secretary of State: MY LORD,It is with equal confidence of the rectitude of my conduct, as it is with the most profound respect, that I beg leave to request your Lordship's attention; nothing disheartened to do so by the cause which brings me into your presence; unfavorably as, at the first impression, it may naturally induce your Lordship to look upon me. The having been suspended from my seat in Council, without doubt gives your Lordship an idea that my conduct has been criminal; and that it is a mark of my being considered as unworthy of serving the King and my country even in a station of no profit and much trouble. It is to endeavor to prevent your being confirmed in this idea my Lord, that I now do myself the honor of addressing your Lordship upon a subject, which, otherwise I should not have agitated beyond the Atlantic. My Lord, the address for my suspension, was the contrivance of only three Crown Officers in a Council in which I was the only Carolinian; the address was the deliberation but of five minutes. The other Crown Officers acceded to the subsequent Report, and it was in vain, that all the Carolinians opposed a rash measure, which cannot but be fatal to the credit, and, in all probability, to the claim of the Council as a branch of the Legislature. Your Lordship will see that the facts upon which the complaint is founded, and which in my representation to the Governor I have compressed into four articles, respect only my speech, conduct, and proceedings charged as in the Upper House of Assembly. But my Lord because my protests are said to be "captious and frivolous; misstating the arguments used by the Members;" because I am said to have an "ill will" to a particular member, and to throw out invectives against him entirely out of the course of order; because I do not think the Council are a branch of our Legislature; because in the House I avowed that I am the author of Freeman's letter; I say my Lord because these things are charged, are they to be considered as undoubted facts; and, unheard, am I to be held guilty! and is it because of either of these four grounds of accusation, or even because of them collectively, that my suspension is to be confirmed? I say my Lord, it does not require any extraordinary degree of comprehension to understand, that a confirmation of my suspension amounts to an express adjudication by the Crown, that the Council are not a branch of our Legislature. For I trust, your Lordship has too much discernment not to see even at a first glance, that the facts upon which the charge is founded, are of such a nature, that if the Council are a branch of our legislature, by privilege of Assembly, these facts must be exempted from the inquisition of the Crown. I must observe to your Lordship, that the "ill-will" mentioned in the Report, is as from me to the Chief Justice; this, at any rate, is a mere private affair, and demonstrates that good sense was but little concerned in the formation of this stale accusation. But, my Lord, may I not ask, is not the Chief Justice's ill-will to me, much more conspicuous than mine (if it is true that I have any) has been against him? Need I mention his foiled attempt to thrust me from the Bench, by a Remonstrance to the Governor against me as the author of Freeman's letter; and this too, my Lord, at a time when he knew that Mr. Gregory was actually appointed to fill my seat, and would arrive here in two months; did not so much impatience to get rid of me mark some animosity and ill-will? Need I mention the present address composed and moved for by him to drive me from the Council board? In truth my Lord, wherever I am seated as his equal, my presence gives him pain. Upon the Bench, in cases merely meum et tuum juries found upon my direction in point of law in contradiction to his and his brethren. In Council I daily detected his ignorance in the law of Parliament. As a proof of this, I only beg leave to refer your Lordship to the address and report, which, as a Parliamentary machine, he constructed to effect my removal; but he has constructed it of such materials, that if the Council are an Upper House of Assembly, these materials must be entitled to privilege, and therefore incapable of effecting his purpose. Besides my Lord, does it mark his abilities, even as a common Attorney, to state my protests as criminal, without ascertaining the passages that are exceptionable; or to arraign me for having thrown out "illiberal charges and invectives," without stating the words and time when spoken. Did he not know that general charges are always sufficiently answered by general denials? But was it even possible, my Lord, that I could enter into a justification of words, sentiments, and invectives not specified and set forth! Pardon so many questions, my Lord, but is it not a public grievance; even but to see so superficial a gentleman in the important station of Chief Justice! But, independently of these evident marks of inability, what will be said to his violating the Law, in order to carry a party point? I beseech your Lordship to attend to that part of my representation to the Governor, which I calculated expressly for your Lordship's notice. Can any thing be more glaring than the Chief Justice's contrasted conduct relative to Sir Egerton Leigh and myself? In one of those cases, the Chief Justice must have violated the law of the land, and have trampled upon the rights of the subject. How long, my Lord, is such a Judge to have an opportunity of repeating so criminal a conduct! If in so momentous an affair, a Judge demonstrates that he does not regard even his own recent adjudication; is it not reasonable to conclude, that the same man, in cases of property will adjudge a point of law under the influence of private friendship, hatred, or pecuniary consideration? But with regard to that last accusation declaring my purpose "to subvert the Constitution, and unhinge Government," that is, to overthrow a door, and then to unhinge it; the facts of which accusation, they say, are of so important and serious nature, "that any discussion or examination of them, except in a formal manner would be very improper," especially "because they cannot be unknown to any intelligent person in Charles Town." Independently of this substantial reason for not divulging what was already, as they say, notorious; is it possible, my Lord, that already we see the time, when Officers under the British Crown dare to accuse an American in such sort, as to incapacitate him from forming a defence? They accuse me of a purpose to unhinge Government, and they call for a certain punishment upon me. The Governor in the most particular manner, called upon them to state some of the facts upon which they founded their complaint; they reply, that "unless he should more particularly desire it," they ought not to lay before him the must "serious and important." Had the English Judges in Canada, my Lord, formed such an accusation, and demanded that the party should upon such concealed evidence be deemed guilty, and punished accordingly; such a proceeding might have been justified perhaps by the practice in France; but is it possible, my Lord, that in this country so far distant as it is from Canada, and under so excellent a Prince as our most gracious Sovereign, and in your Lordship's administration, two Judges, Mr. Gordon and Mr. Gregory, shall with impunity accuse an English subject upon principles which regulate accusations even in the Courts of the Holy Inquisition, where the "serious and important" facts upon which the charge is founded are concealed from the accused! Are Judges in America to be encouraged to accuse and to arraign an English subject upon, and to call for his punishment unless he can defend himself against an accusation founded upon concealed facts and evidence! If I understand your Lordship's character aright, this conduct in a part of the British territory under your peculiar care, cannot pass with impunity. However, my Lord, facts that are "so serious and important," and that "cannot be unknown to any intelligent person in Charles Town," will undoubtedly be laid before your Lordship by the Governor; and of whatever nature these may be, I have a confidence, that your Lordship will not condemn me unheard. In the mean time, I will candidly acquaint your Lordship, that I have a seat in our Provincial Congress, where I assisted in approving the proceedings of the late General Congress, and in contriving ways and means to carry them into execution, in order to restore harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies. But, my Lord, if thus to join one's country in a Constitutional Assembly, of which there can now be no doubt, as his Majesty has received the Petition from the late General Congress; I say, my Lord, if this is to work a disqualification to serve the State as a Counsellor; it is to exclude from the Council almost every man of consequence among us; and that your Lordship should not be deceived on that head, I most humbly present your Lordship with a printed list of our Congress, not doubting but that your conduct will be justly uniform. Upon the whole, my Lord, as the Governor is my uncle, my respect and attachment to him is superior to any inclination in me of wishing to have a chance of triumphing over the Chief Justice in this case, by pressing any argument against a confirmation of the suspension. I am content that in my person, the Governor has given so distinguished a proof, that his merits are infinitely beyond his rewards from administration; and that no family consideration can make him swerve even from what might only be thought to be his duty to the King. All the Crown Officers in Council accused me of a purpose to unhinge governmentthey produce some evidence as they thinkthey tell him the most "serious and important ought not to be mentioned but in a judicial manner"the times are criticalthe Governor could not but suspend, lest he should be thought wanting in his duty to the Crown. This my humble address to your Lordship, an address from an accused and an injured American to a great Ministeras Secretary of State, and first Lord Commissioner for Trade and Plantationsis calculated to shew, that I am not a Criminal subject, and that there is no fact adduced to prove that I am unworthy of serving the State under the Royal Mandamus. To do this, is but to discharge a duty I owe to myself. But, my Lord, I am very far from pressing one argument against a confirmation of my suspension; I feel myself incapable of wishing to obtrude myself into the Royal service. As your Lordship is now fully possessed of the whole subject, I do not mean to lay any other representation before the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners. For, confiding in my not having done any thing unbecoming an American, I rest my seat in Council upon a tenure I think securethe good sense and spontaneous justice of your Lordship, in discerning, and in laying a just state of the case before their Lordships, and in making a proper report to his Majesty. Resolved to be perfectly ingenuous with your Lordship, I cannot but inform you of two particulars of my conduct subsequent to my suspension. One, that I have laid a Memorial upon that subject before the Assembly, asking this question, whether a Council, in which, in my person, there is full proof, that no freedom of debate and no privilege in legislative affairs are allowed, can be looked upon as a branch of our legislature? The other particular is, that lest the public should have any idea that my suspension flowed from any unworthy conduct in me, I have addressed myself to the Freeholders of the Colony; and while I laid before them the proceedings relative to my suspension, I, at the same time, gave them an historical outline of the Council from the first settlement of the Province, and as many arguments, and as much law, as might tend to shew that the Council are not a branch of our legislature. I have the honor to enclose this performance to your Lordship, and I doubt not, but that it will throw such lights upon the question, as your Lordship, being engaged in meditating upon more important affairs, it could not be expected they, of themselves, would have attracted your attention, especially, too, as the history is local and but little known even here; and the law upon the point must be adapted to the nature of the subject, of inferior consequence amid the great affairs under the attentive inspection of your Lordship. If I have treated the subject of this letter, with that freedom which naturally attends common sense, independently, et mens sibi conscia recti; I also have aimed at addressing myself with all due respect to your Lordship; for, my Lord, no man can be more sensible than myself of the vast space between your Lordship's station in life, and that occupied by the person, who with the most profound respect has the honor to subscribe himself, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient, and most humble servant, WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON (From Documentary History of the American Revolution, by Gibbes, Volume 1, pp. 77-82) Doc ID: Gibbes, v. 1, p. 077 Date: 3/15/1775 |
Last modified: 7/8/03/CLN.
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