346 LETTER TO 



I ever was, and I ever shall be, a subject of 

 Great Britain. 



"In what respect, therefore, I can be a ' po- 

 litical sinner of the first magnitude in this land,' 

 and what are those ' high crimes and misde- 

 meanours' which I have committed, I cannot 



well conceive. If indeed to wish well to my 



country while contending with other powers, 

 and to be ready at all times to lay down my 

 life in support of its honour and interests, be 

 a crime, I cheerfully plead guilty to the charge." 



" For a freeman to be deprived of his liberty, 

 and lodged in a common gaol ; to be kept con- 

 stantly locked up in a room, whose ceiling is in 

 that condition that the rain pervades it in every 

 shower, sometimes in such quantity that it must 

 be carried out in pails, and whose only window 

 looks to the north, a quarter of the heavens 

 from which the wind never blows when the 

 weather is most sultry, and which not being 

 glazed, obliges him to exclude the cheerful 

 light of day, at the same time that he shuts out 

 the storm * ; lastly, to be without the conversa- 

 tion of his friends, whom the dread of popular 



* Thunder-storms occur almost daily in South Carolina, 

 in the months of July and August, and almost always pro- 

 ceed from the north or north-west. 



