Читать книгу The Carolinian онлайн

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'Yes, yes. But this isn't Massachusetts. The enactments which have weighed heavily on the Northern Provinces haven't touched the people in South Carolina.'

'They have touched their sympathies,' Captain Mandeville reminded him. 'And there are enough dangerous spirits here to keep those sympathies at fever-point.'

'And more who are urged by self-interest to remain quiet. It's not for us to stir them up.'

'Yet their Provincial Congress and its very active committees exist, the Society of the Carolinian Sons of Liberty exists. And between them, these illegal bodies rule the province. They rule you.'

'Rule me?' Lord William stiffened. 'I don't recognize their existence,' he declared.

'That is not to abolish them. They exist in spite of you. They come to you with their seditious demands wrapped in constitutional language, and force their measures down your throat, making a mock of your authority.'

'But they are as unwilling to come to blows as I am; and since they have the force, and I have not, it says much for their fundamental loyalty that they are as anxious for conciliation as I am. I believe that in my heart—nay, I know it. Haven't I close relatives among those you would call rebels?'