How happy it is for man, that the author of his being loves him
so much better than he loves himself; and has established so close a connexion
between his duty and his advantage. This delightful truth
was remarkably exemplified in an event that befell Marion about this time,
March, 1780. Dining with a squad of choice whigs, in Charleston,
in the house of Mr. Alexander M'Queen, Tradd street, he was so frequently
pressed to bumpers of old wine, that he found himself in a fair way
to get drunk. 'Twas in vain he attempted to beat a retreat.
The company swore, that that would never do for general Marion.
Finding, at last, that there was no other way of escaping a debauch,
but by leaping out of one of the windows of the dining-room,
which was on the second story, he bravely undertook it. It cost him,
however, a broken ankle. When the story got about in Charleston,
most people said he was a great fool for his pains; but the event soon proved
that Marion was in the right, and that there is no policy
like sticking to a man's duty. For, behold! presently Charleston was invested
by a large British army, and the American general (Lincoln)
finding Marion was utterly unfit for duty, advised him
to push off in a litter to his seat in St. John's parish.
Thus providentially was Marion preserved to his country
when Charleston fell, as it soon did, with all our troops.
The spirits of the British were so raised by the capture of our metropolis
with all the southern army, that they presently began to scour
the neighboring country. And never victors, perhaps, had a country
more completely in their power. Their troops were of the choicest kind;
excellently equipped, and commanded by active, ambitious young fellows,
who looked on themselves as on the high road to fortune
among the conquered rebels. They all carried with them
pocket maps of South Carolina, on which they were constantly poring
like young spendthrifts on their fathers' last testaments. They would also
ask a world of questions, such as, "where lay the richest lands? --
and the finest situations? -- and who were the warmest old fellows,
and had the finest girls?" and when answered to their humor,
they would break out into hearty laughs; and flourish their swords,
and `whoop' and `hoic' it away like young fox hunters,
just striking on a fresh trail.
Some of them had Dr. Madan's famous book called "Thylipthora,
or a Defence of Polygamy", with which they were prodigiously taken,
and talked very freely of reducing the system to practice. Cornwallis,
it seems, was to be a bashaw of three tails -- Rawdon and Tarleton,
of two each -- and as a natural appendage of such high rank,
they were to have their seraglios and harems filled
with the greatest beauties of the country.