South-Carolina Assembly

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The Speech of his Excellency the Right Honourable Lord WILLIAM CAMPBELL, Captain-General, Governour-in-Chief, &c˙, &c˙, in and over his Majesty' s Province of SOUTH-CAROLINA, to the General Assembly of the said Province, at CHARLESTOWN, on MONDAY, JULY 10, 1775.

Honourable Gentlemen of his Majesty' s Council, Mr˙ Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly:

His Majesty' s instructions, my own inclination, and the very alarming and critical situation of the Province, have induced me to meet you in General Assembly, as soon as

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My appointment to the Government of this Province, entitled, on every account, to my warmest wishes and endeavours for its welfare and happiness, was to me a most pleasing mark of his Majesty' s favour, as I flattered myself that, with your assistance and advice, I should have been able to prosecute such schemes, and concur in such measures, as would have contributed to increase that prosperity to which I saw it so rapidly advancing when I was last in the Province.

Filled with these sentiments, and elated by these hopes, it is not easy to conceive my grief and disappointment at finding the Province in the distracted state it is now in: the legal administration of justice obstructed; Government in a manner annihilated; the most dangerous measures adopted; and acts of the most outrageous and illegal nature committed publickly with impunity.

It is by no means either my duty or inclination to enter into a discussion of the disputes that at present unhappily subsist between Great Britain and her Colonies in America; but I think myself indispensably bound to warn you of the danger you are in, and inform you that if there are any grievances that you apprehend the people of this Province now labour under, the measures at present adopted are by no means calculated to remove them; but, on the contrary, cannot fail of drawing down inevitable ruin on this flourishing Colony. Let me, therefore, gentlemen, most earnestly entreat you, as the only legal representatives of the people in this Province, the only constitutional guardians of its welfare, and who are so deeply interested in the event of the measures now carrying on, to deliberate and resolve with that coolness, temper, and moderation, the important instant demands; and to reflect that the happiness or misery of generations yet unborn, will depend on your determinations.

These sentiments flow from a heart filled with a fervent zeal for the real interest and happiness of this Province. You may be assured, if ever it is in my power to be in any degree instrumental to restoring that harmony, cordiality, confidence, and affection, which ought to subsist between Great Britain and her Colonies, I shall esteem those moments the happiest and most fortunate of my life.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL.