This refers to nullification, that ill-judged and premature attempt at secession made by the Calhoun wing of the slave power, which was then the most exciting topic in South Carolina.  Thomas Grimke was one of the few eminent lawyers in the State who, from the first, denounced and resisted the treasonable doctrine,—­he so termed it in an open letter of remonstrance addressed to Calhoun, McDuffie, Governor Hayne, and Barnwell Rhett, his cousin and legal pupil, who was afterwards attorney-general of the State.[1] Mr. Grimke represented at that time the city of Charleston in the State Senate; and in a two days’ argument he so triumphantly exposed the sophistries and false pretences of the nullifiers, that his constituents, enraged by it, gathered a mob, and with threats of personal violence attacked his house.  But this descendant of the Huguenots had been seasonably warned; and, sending his family to the country, he illuminated his front windows, threw open his doors, and seated himself quietly on the porch to await his visitors.  The howling horde came on, but when the man they sought boldly advanced to meet them, and announced himself ready to be mobbed for the cause he had denounced, their courage faltered; they tried to hoot, balked, broke ranks, and straggled away.

  [1] Mr. Grimke told Carolina that, if she persisted in her disloyalty,
  she would stand as a blasted tree in the midst of her sister States.

A few words just here about this “beloved brother Thomas,” who was always held in reverence by every member of his family, will not be out of place.  As before stated, he was a graduate of Yale College, and rose to eminence at the bar and in the politics of his State.  But he was a man of peculiar views on many subjects, and while his intellectual ability was everywhere acknowledged, his judgment was often impugned and his opinions severely criticised.  He gained a wide reputation on account of his brilliant addresses, especially those of Peace, Temperance, and Education.  He was a prominent member of the American Peace Society, and did not believe that even defensive warfare was justifiable.  He was a fine classical scholar, but held that both the classics and the higher mathematics should not be made obligatory studies in a collegiate education, as being comparatively useless to the great majority of American young men.  A High Church Episcopalian, and very religious, he strongly urged the necessity of establishing a Bible class for religious instruction in every school.  He also attempted to make a reform in orthography by dropping out all superfluous letters, but abandoned this after publishing a small volume of essays, in which he used his amended words, which, as he gave no prefatory explanation, were misunderstood and ridiculed.  In all these subjects he was much interested, and succeeded in interesting his sisters, delegating to them the supervision and correction of his addresses and essays published in Philadelphia.  Strange, indeed, is it, that this very religious, liberal-minded, and conscientious man was a large slaveowner, and yet the oppressed and persecuted Cherokees of Georgia and Alabama had no more earnest advocate than he!  And to this “Indian question” both Sarah and Angelina gave their cordial sympathy.