gard to the defeat of the conspiracy. These were communicated to none other than the Town Council; and such was the secrecy with which the whole affair was conducted, that on the morning of the 1st or 2nd of July, the young men chosen to arrest the ringleaders of the conspiracy were assembled under the pretence of a fox chase, and despatched under the command of leaders, who were enjoined to the utmost secrecy. They were perfectly ignorant of the nature of the service they were on, until the moment they were ordered to ́arrest the conspirators, most of whom were at work in the fields, many miles apart. Their movements were so secret and simultaneous, that the arrests were made almost at the same instant of time, and without any intimation on the part of those respectively arrested, of the fate of their confederates. The same caution was subsequently used, at their trial, to conceal the name of the informer, who was likewise in custody. The most satisfactory testimony, independent of that of the informer, and regulated by the most rigid rules of evidence, sufficiently established their guilt; and the first gang wh were executed died ignorant of the informer. They all confessed their crimes, and the most intelligent of them acknowledged that they had no causes of complaint against their individual masters, and advised their surviving brethren of the futility of any further attempt. They expressed themselves surprised with the mild and humane manner of the proceedings instituted against them, and free ly acknowledged that they had anticipated immediate death in case of a discovery. Two brothers engaged in this rebellion could read and write, and were hitherto of unexceptional characters. They were religious, and had always been regarded in the light of faithful servants. A few appeared to have been actuated solely by the instinct of the most brutal licentiousness, and by the lust of plunder-but most of them by wild and frantic ideas of the rights of man, and the misconceived injunctions and examples of Holy writ.

"The scheme had for its object the conflagration of a part of the town-the massacre of all the white male inhabitants, and the more brutal sacrifice of the female. Their plan was entrusted to a few only, and they left its developement and consummation to chance; relying on the presumed disposition to rebellion on the part of the blacks of every description.

"The night of the 4th of July was appointed for the explosion.Great anxiety had been exhibited among the younger and more ar

dent associates in the revolt, in the different meetings that were held, to precipitate the period of attack, and begin the work of desolation and slaughter some time before. But the cautious and calculating judgment of the more cunning and elder urged as reasons for deferring it, that there was a scarcity of provisions-that the crops not yet made would be lost in the confusion that would ensue, and that famine would accomplish what force might not be able to effect. They confidently relied, also, upon the usual indulgences among us on a day celebrated as a great national jubilee; and it was finally determined, that the night of the 4th of July should be appointed as the time for the reenaction of the horrors of the Scicilian Vespers. The different commands had been regularly assigned to particular leaders, and all had been allotted, except that of Commander-in-Chief. This was reserved for him who should first force the gates of the Arsenal. To strengthen the possibility of success, the Negroes from the circumjacent country were invited, under various pretences, to Camden that night. The fidelity of a favorite domestic, as I have already stated, defeated their flagitious scheme, and consined the ring-leaders of the revolt to a premature and ignominious grave. The Legislature of the State purchased the freedom of the INFORMER, and settled a PENSION upon him for life.

"Although many were known to have been concerned in the Insurrection, none but the chiefs of the revolt were executed. As well as I can recollect, the whole number hung was six."

We have no account in the history of the country of any other Insurrection from the year 1816 until the present year (1822.) The particulars of this are too fresh in the 'memory of all to need any repetition. It was a subject of deep and breathless anxiety, and its features are preserved with the most scrupulous accuracy in the memory of those who were to have been the victims of its diabolical brutality. Thirtyfive of the detestable miscreants, who were the ringleaders of the meditated rebellion, have expiated their crime on the gallows-and have been hung up as an awful warning to those who remain. The

humanity of our laws has spared others who were implicated in the plot-but driven them into perpetual exile, to suffer death in the event of their return ing to our shores.

Thus has perished, and thus will forever perish, the hopes of all misguided and deluded incendiaries It is utterly impossible for them to affect any revolu tion in the state and condition of society in which they stand, nor can all their stratagems avail them in such a design. Their treachery, though it walks only in the gloom and shadow of midnight, and shows its "dark and dangerous brow," at that dead hour, so suited to its evil machinations, will always be detected; nor can the most elaborate ingenuity "hide it from prevention." There is no secrecy profound enough to conceal such a Heaven-offending sin.

The utter impracticability of succeeding in any meditated Insurrection on the part of our black population is sufficiently demonstrable, we think, from the evidence we have collected and produced. Their general inferiority in the gifts of nature-the imbecility of spirit, necessarily superin duced by their condition-the fidelity and attachment of some-want of confidence among themselvesa principle of duty on the part of many, and reason among the more reflecting-coupled with other auxilliary causes-will forever baffle all prospects of successful rebellion. The facts and observations which follow, strengthen the proposition we have discussed, and present a luminous arrangement of arguments fully conclusive upon the subject. The article at the same time comprehends, in a condensed form, most of the views of which the subject is capable of being illustrated. It is from the pen of BENJA

MIN ELLIOTT, Esq. a gentlemen, well known and estimated for his general information, as well as for his intimate and accurate knowledge of the particular history of our country. We have been greatly indebted to him in the prosecution of our design, and have frequently drawn our information, upon some interesting topics, from the fountain of his own memory and reflection.

TO OUR NORTHERN BRETHREN.

FELLOW CITIZENS

Were we to misjudge you from the vile paragraphs of some of your editors, we should almost believe that you would delight to see Charleston another Wyoming, and could behold without emotion, Virginia and Kentucky smoking like the first Isle of the Antilles. We, however, hold no such unworthy opinion of you. It is the lot of all countries to produce beings, who, like the depredators in the diseased district of the City of New-York, would prosper on the affliction of their fellow creatures. But, while we must expect to find characters who would foment commotion to advance themselves, we should be satisfied that the American people are too sound to inculcate treachery and justify assassination. It is, therefore, I would suppose, that you were not aware of the deep atrocity of the late machinations in our city, or you would declare that we have felt as you would have felt, and in our proceedings have but obeyed the dictates of nature and of wisdom. We would, therefore, invite you temperately to survey the various circumstances of this event.

This description of our population had been allowed to assemble for religious instruction. The designing leaders in the scheme of villainy, availed themselves of these occasions to instill sentiments of ferocity, by falsifying the Bible. All the severe penal laws of the Israelites were quoted to mislead them, and the denunciations in the prophecies, which were intended to deter men from evil, were declared to be divine commands which they were to execute. To confirm this doctrine, they were told that Heshbon, that Bashan with its sixty cities had been destroyed, man, woman and child; that in the desolation of Midian, only the males were destroyed, at which Moses was displeased, and deliberately ordered the death of the boys and their mothers. That Joshua levelled the walls of Jericho, and regarded neither age nor sex; and that David vanquished empires and left not man, woman or infant alive. Not content with this execrable pervertion-with exhibiting the God of Mercy as another Jaggernaut, they were informed of what their color had perpetrated abroad. Such was their religion-such the examples to be imitated.

After having rendered them fiends in principle, they were prepared to be fiends in action. A regular plan was formed to annihilate us

and our abodes; the arsenals and strong holds were to have been seized, and the leaders were nominated for each attack. Besides the instruments which many of them possessed as mechanics, villains were engaged in manufacturing arms; several pike-handles were discovered; Pharoah and Peter had swords; Ned Bennett had a sword to kill wolves, but which he designed first to try upon his master, of whom he had received every indulgence. The places of rendezvous, the night, the hour were determined—and the imps of rebellion were to have made Chasleston one scene of flames and carnage, had they been able. It is no diminution of their crime to say they were no able;-guilt is in the intention and not in the act.

"Under such circumstances of just exaspiration, what did the citizens of Charleston ? Did they yield to their passions and commit an indiscriminate massacre, as would have been done, in many places, under less excitement? Nothing like it. A court was organized of distinguished integrity, respectability and intelligence; the members of which felt their own high reputation involved with the untarnished reputation of their State and Country. So far from being precipitate, they were occupied several days in investigating the nature of the conspiracy, before they put the individuals accused upon their trials.The cases of the criminals were conducted with that liberality, justice and impartiality, which characterise American jurisprudence, which is no where more conspicuous than in South-Carolina, and was never more pure than on this painful occasion. Their guilt was demonstrated, and what ought to have been done? Disregard the lawunleash them upon society, and encourage a repitition of their projects? No one, I hope, in our extensive empire, would intimate such a wish What was done?-That which duty enjoined and precedent justified These culprits meditated against us, fire, pillage, treason, treachery to their masters, with outrages not to be named. Thus they blended four capital offences in one crime. Ought not capital punishment then to have been awarded? It is certainly not unexampled.-] the Spanish conspiracy against Venice, which partakes of the character of this, three hundred and fifty were put to death. George II. execu fifty-four of the first men in Britain for the rebellion of 1745. Nor are we without domestic precedent. An insurrection occurred in the city of New-York in 1712. As soon as the alarm-gun was fired, and a detachment of the guards appeared, the insurgents fled to the woods, where they were surrounded; several through desparation shot them selves, the rest were captured, and nineteen executed.

"Another was meditated in 1741, when there were two thousand Negroes and twelve thousand whites in the city of New-York. It was then found necessary to BURN thirteen and to hang eighteen a groes with four whites, to transport eighty negroes and five whites.