John Rutledge. arbitrary only when the necessity demanded. When the Assembly convened he addressed the two Houses with bitter impetuosity, de nouncing in scathing terms the methods of warfare which the British had adopted. He saw about him ruin and devastation, a land wet with blood, and heard the cries of widows and orphans who had received no mercy from the foe. The Legislature re turned congratulations and thanks to the Governor for his perseverance and prudence in the exercise of his authority. His term of office now expired. But he was immediately elected a member of the Confederate Con gress, and took his seat again in that body on the second of May, 1782. Together with George Clymer he was delegated forthwith to visit the Southern States to urge upon them the necessity of continued vigilance and effort, although the surrender of Cornwallis on October nineteenth, preceding, prac tically put an end to the war. The great question then in Congress, as it was for long before and was to be for long afterward, was that of finance and the public credit. With Madison and Hamilton, Rutledge was very active and influential in the deliberations on that subject. He was one of the committee of five which was appointed to consider and report upon it. He advocated an importa tion tax of five per centum ad valorem. He also supported the treaty of peace and the commissioners who negotiated it, boldly re plying to the objection that they had violated their instructions by not submitting to the dictates of France, that the instructions ought to have been disregarded, and that he would never have been bound by them as he thought them improper. He continued in this Congress until June, 1783, when he re turned to Charleston. In 1784 he was made Chancellor of South Carolina having drawn the bill under which the court was organized. The first term of that court was held at Charleston on the fourteenth of Tune. On December twentyfourth he was elected by the Congress a judge of the court which was to determine
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the controversies between Xcw York and Massachusetts. Again, on July 5th, 1785, he was unanimously elected minister to the United Netherlands. Both of these appoint ments he declined, and remained upon the Chancery bench of his State. While he pre sided in that court there seem to have been no cases of any particular legal interest. Ap parently he participated in all of its decisions until 1790, except those which were rendered while he was in attendance upon the Consti tutional Convention of 1787. Among the distinguished gentlemen who were members of that Convention Mr. Rutledge was promi nent and influential. His experience had been great. His fearlessness, frankness and ability inspired confidence. It is pleasant to recall that he seconded the nomination of Washington to the Presidency of the Con vention, and with Robert Morris escorted him to the chair. The bluntness with which he expressed his opinions has no better ex ample than in his declaration on the floor of the Convention in regard to slavery that: "Religion and humanity had nothing to do with this question. Interest alone is the governing principle." Surely there was no tergiversation in that statement. It is more than gratifying to dwell upon the debates of that great Convention, where so many schemes for a national government were proposed, where almost every question was fought out to an impasse, and then com promised. I have no intention, however, to enter here upon anv detailed narration of the part which Rutledge there played. But in order to give a just conception of the man it is necessary to make a brief summary of the principal propositions which he there main tained. He advocated a single executive elected by the National Legislature, eligi bility to which should include a property qualification. But he opposed making the Supreme Court an executive council, saying that the judges ought never to give an opin ion on a law until it comes before them judicially. He favored the proposition that representation in the lower House of Con
