登陆注册
5265800000112

第112章 Chapter (1)

Marion retires to his Farm, which he finds in Ruins -- Is returned to the Senate from St. John -- His Course on the Confiscation Act --Anecdotes -- Is made Commandant at Fort Johnson -- His Marriage --A Member of the State Convention in 1794 -- Withdraws from Public Life --His Death.

It was with no reluctance but with the cheerful preference which Marion had always given, since manhood, to the life of the farmer, that he returned to its simple but attractive avocations.

But the world with him was, as it were, to be begun anew;no easy matter to one whose habits had been necessarily rendered irregular by the capricious and desultory influences of a military career;still more difficult in the case of one who has entered upon the last period of life. The close of the Revolution found him destitute of means, almost in poverty, and more than fifty years old. His health was good, however; his frame elastic; his capacity for endurance, seemingly, as great as ever. But his little fortune had suffered irretrievably.

His interests had shared the fate of most other Southern patriots, in the long and cruel struggle through which the country had gone.

His plantation in St. John's, Berkeley, lay within a mile of one of the ordinary routes of the British army, and his career was not calculated to move them to forbearance in the case of one, whose perpetual activity and skill so constantly baffled their designs.

His estate was ravaged, and subjected to constant waste and depredation.

One-half of his negroes were taken away, and the rest only saved to him by their fidelity. The refuge in swamp and forest was as natural to the faithful negro, on the approach of the British uniforms, as to the fugitive patriot. Ten workers returned to him, when he was prepared to resume his farm, but he was destitute of everything beside.

The implements of culture, plantation utensils, household furniture, stock, cattle and horses, clothes and provisions for his people, were all wanting, and all to be purchased, and he penniless. He received no compensation for his losses, no reward for his sacrifices and services.

The hope of half pay was held out to him by his more sanguine friends, but this promise was never realized. But, with that cheerful spirit which hopes all things from time, and a meek compliance with what it brings, Marion proceeded to work out his deliverance by manly industry, and a devotion to his interests as true as that which he had yielded to the interests of his country. He had become fond of rural life, and the temporary estrangement of war seemed only to increase his desire for that repose in action, which the agricultural life in the South so certainly secures. But he was not permitted to retire from public service.

The value of his services was too well known, and there was too much yet to be done, towards the repose and security of the country, to suffer them to be dispensed with. He was again returned to the Senate of the State by the people of St. John's. In this situation, he still maintained those noble and disinterested characteristics which had made him equally beloved and venerated. Two anecdotes are preserved of him in his official character, which deserve mention. Both of these grew out of the events of the war. The importance of the Confiscation Act, passed at the session of January, 1782, at Jacksonborough, arose chiefly from the necessity of providing for the emergencies of the State and military, during the continuance of the war. Under existing circumstances, the measure was sustained by our partisan. But the case was altered when the British ministry abandoned their pretensions to the country, and when it was left by their armies. It was then that numerous offenders --those who had been least conspicuous for their Tory predilections --applied for the indulgence and forbearance of the State.

Petitions were poured into the Legislature, sustained by such pleas and friends as the circumstances of the suppliants could procure --excusing their conduct, asserting their repentance, and imploring the restoration of their possessions. Marion's course in regard to these suppliants may be inferred from his previous character.

There was nothing vindictive in his nature. He was superior to the baser cravings of a dogged vengeance, and his vote and voice declared his magnanimity. It so happened that the first of these petitions upon which he was called to act, came from one of that class of timid, time-serving persons, who, with no predilections for virtue, no sympathy for principles or country, simply shape their course with regard to safety. He was a man of wealth, and the effect of wealth in perilous times is but too frequently to render selfishness equally cowardly and dishonest. The amount of his offence consisted in trimming, while the strife was doubtful, between Whig and Tory, and siding with the latter when the British gained the ascendency.

He did not take up arms, took no active part in public affairs, and was content to shelter his person and possessions under a cautious insignificance. About eighteen months before, Marion had met the petitioner at a gathering of the people.

The latter approached and offered our partisan his hand. But the juncture was one in which it behooveth patriotism to speak out at all hazards.

The struggle was for life and death, on the part equally of Whig and Tory.

Marion knew the character of the person, and disdained it.

To the surprise of all, who knew how scrupulous of insult he was, --how indulgent and forbearing, -- he turned away from the trimmer and the sycophant without recognition. This treatment was greatly censured at the time, and when Marion rose in the Senate, to speak on the subject of the petition of the man whom he had so openly scorned, it was taken for granted that he would again give utterance to feelings of the sort which moved him then.

同类推荐
  • 玉笑零音

    玉笑零音

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 北窗炙輠录

    北窗炙輠录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 笔髓论

    笔髓论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 翼庵禅师语录

    翼庵禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 修习止观坐禅法要

    修习止观坐禅法要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 魔魂创世

    魔魂创世

    生存,或者毁灭。血与火,刀与剑,神与人。魔法与魂力,三个少年的成长之路,不一样的魔魂世界。魔魂世界里,人们修炼魔力与魂力,两者构成了这个世界的两大职业体系,而在此之外的是——魔魂师。传说中,魔魂师千年一现,并必定导致世界倾覆。上一个千年,世界即将倾覆之际,魔魂师突然消失,如今新的千年到来了……
  • 郑氏史料初编

    郑氏史料初编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 乱世猎人第二卷

    乱世猎人第二卷

    一位自幼与兽为伍的少年,凭其武功与智慧突起江湖,却被乱世的激流,一次次推向生死的边缘,而使他深明乱世的真谛——狩猎与被猎。凭其机缘运数,突破武学与智慧的极限,终成乱世之中真正的猎人,而使整个武林以至天下的局势运于掌中……
  • 乙酉扬州城守纪略

    乙酉扬州城守纪略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 如梦令(上)

    如梦令(上)

    忘了是在多少年前,仿佛是一个繁华盛世。独自行走在烟雨江南中的他,逃出来就是为了躲避江湖血雨,从此与诗词作伴,寻到心上人,逍遥一生。却又偏偏撞上了江湖风云。他还挂念着心中的女子,他还带着生死相依的伙伴。看似平静的小桥流水,是江湖的恐怖和人性的黑暗的外衣。路漫漫其修远兮,吾将上下而求索。“她已经回不来了,你要给他们陪葬”。
  • 凡人修仙

    凡人修仙

    陈健带着龙魂戒指穿越,成为一名预备仙人,通过利用自身优势,成为修仙者,获得上古仙人的传承,走上上古修仙之路,在神秘诡异的仙人世界进行一系列探险,最后获得永恒的故事。
  • 仙逆之仙罡大劫

    仙逆之仙罡大劫

    踏天路,空灭道。然不知,天外有天,道外有道。仙罡变,天意临。却不晓,逆仙逆古,神意碎天!
  • 无敌是

    无敌是

    想知道无敌的感觉吗,想体验碾压的快感吗?点进来看看吧!生活本来就很压抑,不顺心了,我便在写了一本疯狂yy的小说,放松一下,希望你们能够喜欢
  • 良臣不可逑

    良臣不可逑

    悦宁在宫中是有名的任性刁蛮,热爱做美食却又总是做出可怕的黑暗料理的二公主。皇帝向礼部尚书裴子期下令,让其为悦宁选一个符合她心意的驸马。但悦宁并不想选驸马,最后迫于形势,她提出了两个条件,一是要让驸马不得干涉自己平日饮食,二是要让驸马发自内心地喜欢吃自己做的东西……
  • 朕的皇后有点强

    朕的皇后有点强

    “不好了,小姐又把宣平侯的孙子打了”夏老爹:“什么?又惹事!让她在房内好好反省!”下人呆住:“额,只禁足么?听说宣平侯的孙子被打成了猪头,都是被抬着走的。”某爹瞪眼:“都禁足了还想咋滴!”某大哥:“找个好东西去哄哄爹,让爹赶紧把宁儿放出来。”某二哥:“宁宁该多无聊啊,赶紧去找些好东西哄她去。”某太子:“宁儿受委屈了。来人,备马,我要去陪宁儿!”某宁:……被一群男人宠爱着的夏宁一直是无法无天的长大。一朝风云起,天下乱,夏宁霸气将家人,朋友,爱人护在身后:“以后,由我来护着你们!”各位小可爱们,求推荐,求收藏,求票票(???`?)