that all slaves in Charleston should be sold or transferred to the
plantations, and their places supplied by white labor. It is interesting
to find many of the facts and arguments of Helper's "Impending Crisis"
anticipated in this courageous tract, written under the pressure of a
crisis which had just been so narrowly evaded. The author is described in
the preface as "a soldier and patriot of the Revolution, whose name, did
we feel ourselves at liberty to use it, would stamp a peculiar weight and
value on his opinions." It was commonly attributed to Gen. Thomas
Pinckney.

Another pamphlet of the period, also published in Charleston, recommended
as a practical cure for insurrection the copious administration of
Episcopal-Church services, and the prohibition of negroes from attending
Fourth-of-July celebrations. On this last point it is more consistent
than most pro-slavery arguments. "The celebration of the Fourth of July
belongs _exclusively_ to the white population of the United States. The
American Revolution was _a family quarrel among equals_. In this the
negroes had no concern; their condition remained, and must remain,
unchanged. They have no more to do with the celebration of that day than
with the landing of the Pilgrims on the rock at Plymouth. It therefore
seems to me improper to allow these people to be present on these
occasions. In our speeches and orations, much, and sometimes more than is
politically necessary, is said about personal liberty, which negro
auditors know not how to apply except by running the parallel with their
own condition. They therefore imbibe false notions of their own personal
rights, and give reality in their minds to what has no real existence.
The peculiar state of our community must be steadily kept in view. This,
I am gratified to learn, will in some measure be promoted by the
institution of the South Carolina Association."