winter Patrick Henry had been busily at work, with
the hope of inducing the southern states to establish a separate
confederacy; but he had made little headway anywhere, and none at all in
Maryland, where his influence was completely counteracted by that of
Washington. Above all things, said Washington, do not let the convention
adjourn till the matter is decided, for the Antifederalists are taking
no end of comfort from the postponement in New Hampshire. Their glee was
short-lived, however. Some of Maryland's strongest men, such as Luther
Martin and Samuel Chase, were Antifederalists; but their efforts were of
no avail. After a session of five days the Constitution was ratified by
a vote of 63 to 11. Whatever damage New Hampshire might have done was
thus more than made good. The eyes of the whole country were now turned
upon the eighth state, South Carolina. Her convention was to meet at
Charleston on the 12th of May, the anniversary of the day on which
General Lincoln had surrendered that city to Sir Henry Clinton; but
there had been a decisive preliminary struggle in the legislature in
January. The most active of the Antifederalists was Rawlins Lowndes, who
had opposed the Declaration of Independence. Lowndes was betrayed into
silliness. "We are now," said he, "under a most excellent
constitution,--a blessing from Heaven, that has stood the test of time
[!!], and given us liberty and independence; yet we are impatient to
pull down that fabric which we raised at the expense of our blood." This
was not very convincing to the assembly, most of the members knowing
full well that the fabric had not stood the test of time, but had
already tumbled in by reason of its vicious construction. A more
effective plea was that which referred to the slave-trade. "What cause
is there," said Lowndes, "for jealousy of our importing negroes? Why
confine us to twenty years? Why limit us at all? This trade can be
justified on the principles of religion and humanity. They do not like
our having slaves because they have none themselves, and therefore want
to exclude us from this great advantage." Cotesworth Pinckney replied:
"By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of negroes
for twenty years. The general government can never emancipate them, for
no such authority is granted, and it is admitted on all hands that the
general government has no powers but what are expressly granted by the
Constitution. We have obtained a righ