they dwelt upon the
dangers which came with innovation; they denounced the ambition of
the patriot leaders; they reminded the people of the power of Great
Britain--a power to save or to destroy--which had so frequently and so
successfully been exerted in their behalf in their numerous and bloody
conflicts with the Indians, and which might be brought, with such
fearful emphasis, upon their own heads. They reminded the people that
the Indians were not exterminated, that they still hung in numerous
hordes about the frontiers, and that it needed but a single word from
the Crown, to bring them, once more, with tomahawk and scalping-knife,
upon their defenceless homes. Already, indeed, had the emissaries of
Great Britain taken measures to this end. The savage was already shaking
off his apathy, scenting the carnage from afar, and making ready for
the onset. The assurance, that such was the case, was doing the work
of numerous arguments among the timid and the exposed. Such were the
suggestions, appealing equally to their fears and gratitude, which the
leading loyalists addressed to the people. They were supported by other
suggestions, scarcely less potent, which naturally flowed from their own
thoughts. Why should they dare the conflict with Great Britain? There
was no such reason for it as in the case of the northern colonies. They
had known her chiefly by benefactions; they did not conflict with her
in shipping or in manufactures; and the arguments for discontent and
resistance, as urged by the patriot leaders, did not reach them with
sufficient force. What was the tax on tea, of which they drank little,
and the duty on stamps, when they had but little need for legal papers?
And why should not taxes follow protection, which Great Britain had not
often withheld in the need of a favorite colony, as South Carolina
had unquestionably been? Let us do justice to this people. The
loyalists--or, as they were more commonly called, and as we shall
hereafter be compelled to call them, the Tories--were, probably, in
the majority of cases, governed by principle, by a firm and settled
conviction, after deliberate examination of the case. That they might
have thought otherwise, nay, would gradually have adopted the opinions
of the patriots, is not improbable, had more time been allowed them,
and had the course of the latter been more indulgent and considerate.
Unfortunately, this was not the case; and the desire to coerce where
they could