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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
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THE
^^//c^ ^^^1^4
HISTORY // '
4fr /^ '^'^ ^W^ -
OF
NORTH CAROLINA,
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD.
BY FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARTIN.
Colonia autemjura, institutaque populi Romani, non sui
arbitrii habebant.
Gel. lib. 16, cap. 23.
VOLUME I.
ITEVr-ORLEANS:
PRIJSrTED BY A. T. PEJVJ^IMAJV Sf qp,., , „ . .
Corner of Chartres aud Bienville Street^.; : r '•* '•
1829
Mav 1^13
r-
Eastern BistHct of Louisiana, ss.
Be it remembered, That on the twentieth day of July, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and tMenty-nine, and of the
independence of the United States the fifty-third, FRANCOIS-XAVIER
MARTIN, of the said district, hath deposited in the Clerk's office for the
District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Louisiana,
the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author^ to wit:
*' The History of North Carolina, from the earliest period. By
Francjois-Xavier Martin.
Colonioi auteinjura, institutaque populi Romania non sui
arhitrii, habebant.
Gel. lib. 16, cap. 23.
In conformity to an act of Congress of the United States, entitled " An
act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps,
charts and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during
the times therein mentioned;" and also, to the act entitled "An act sup-
plementary to an act, entitled ' an act for the encouragement of learnings
by securing the copies of maps, charts and books,^ to the authors and
proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and ex-
tending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching
historical and other prints."
FRANKLIN W. LEA,
Clerk of the United Court for the Eastern ZHstrict-
of Louisiana,
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PREFACE.
An historical inquiry into the discovery,
settlement and improvement of the country,
now covered by the important member of
the North American confederacy, on the
shores of which the English made their first
attempt towards colonization, is certainly an
object of general curiosity ; and the work
has been undertaken, in the hope, that, if it
be not too negligently performed, the youth
of North Carolina may not find it void of
interest and utility.
If it be true, that history is the best mean
of teaching and exercising the minds of those
who destine themselves to public life, this
advantage will, more certainly and eminently
be found in the annals of the country, which is
to be the theatre of one's actions: especially,
if these annals present the rare and interest-
ing spectacle of a handful of adventurers,
attempting, with incredible toil and danger,
VI ; PREFACE.
a settlement in a new world, and after re-
peated disasters, successively falling victims
to- their enterprising spirit, and the cruelty
and treachery of the aborigenes : next, that
of a new set, continuing the like efforts, un-
dismayed by a beginning so disastrous,
enduring for years the combined calamities
of famine, disease and war, succeeding at
last, in laying the foundation of a colony,
which suffered a long time, under the errors
of a theoretical system of government, ill
calculated for its moral and local condition,
struggled afterwards under the oppression of
q,n unnatural parent country, and finally,
shaking off the yoke of dependence, through
alternate vicissitudes of misfortune and
success, became a powerful state.
Imperfect as the present publication is, it
began to engage the attention of the writer
as early as the year 1791: at that period, the
legislature of North Carolina afforded him
some aid, in the publication of a collection
of the statutes of the parliament of England,
then in force and use within that state. In
preparing that work, he examined all the
PREFACE. VII
Statutes from Magna Charta to the Declara-
tion of Independence, and an arrangement
of all those which related to America, afford-
ed him a complete view of the colonial sys-
tem of England. In 1803 he was employed
by the same legislature to publish a revisal of
the acts of the general assembly, passed dur-
ing the proprietary, royal and state govern-
ments, and the local information he acquired
in carrying into effect the intentions of those
who employed him, suggested the idea of
collecting materials for a history of the
state ; and when afterwards he had the honor
of representing the town of Newbern, in the
house of commons, he was favored with a
resolution of the general assembly, authoriz-
ing the secretary of state to allow him access
to the records of his office. In the speeches
of the governors, at the opening of the ses-
sions of the legislature, he found a reference
to the principal transactions during the re-
cess, and there were few important events,
particularly relating to the state, which left
no trace on the journals of the legislature,
or the proceedings of the executive.
vni PREFACE.
During several journeys, which he afters-
wards made to several parts of the country,
he received considerable information from
individuals. Mr. George Pollock of New-
bern, confided to him an official letter book,
and several documents left by one of his
ancestors, who came to the county of Albe-
marle, in the latter part of the seventeenth
century, and who, in the beginning of the
following, exercised the functions of chief
magistrate over the northern part of Caro-
lina. The late governor Johnson, a nephew
of Gabriel Johnson, who presided over the
affairs of the province from the year 1734
to 1754; governor Smith, who was in pos-
session of the papers of president Rowan,
and governor Ashe, whose ancestors were
among the earliest settlers of the country,
afforded considerable materials. The gen-
tlemen in possession of the records of the
Quaker meetings, in Perquimans and Pas-
quotank counties, and the head of the TJni-
tas Fratrum, or Moravian Brethren, cheer-
fully yielded their assistance,
PREFACE. IX
A citizen of North Carolina, beino* a citi-
zen of the United States, has a right to ex-
pect, in a history of his own state, some
notice, not only of the settlement of, but also
of the most prominent events that took
place in, the sister states ; and, as the affairs
of the mother country have necessarily a
considerable influence on those of her colo-
nies, the principal wars, in which England
was engaged, must necessarily be noticed in
the history of any of her American pro-
vinces. Under these impressions, the neces-
sary informa,tion, in this respect, was sought
in the most approved publications.
The writer imagined, he had collected
sufficient materials to justify the hope of
producing a history of North Carolina,
worth the attention of his fellow citizens,
and he had arranged all those that related
to transactions, anterior to the declaration of
independence, when, in 1809, Mr. Madison
thought his services w-ere wanted, first in
the Mississippi territory and afterwards in
that of Orleans; and when the latter terri-
*J8
X , PREFACE.
tory became a state, the new government
thought proper to retain him.
He had entertained the hope, that the time
would arrive, when disengaged from pubUc
duties, he might resume the work he had
commenced in CaroUna; but years have
rolled away, without bringing on this period ;
and a shock his health lately received during
the year of his great climacteric, has warn-
ed him, that the moment is arrived when his
intended work must engage his immediate
attention, or be absolutely abandoned.
A circumstance, for some time, recom-
mended the latter alternative. The public
prints stated, that a gentleman of known
industry and great talents, who has filled a
very high office in North Carolina, was en-
gaged in a similar work ; but several years
have elapsed since, and nothing favors the
belief, that the hopes which he had excited,
will soon be realized.
This gentleman had made application for
the materials now published, and they would
have been forwarded to him, if they had
PREFACE. XI
been in a condition of being useful to any
but him who had collected them. In
their circuitous way from Newbern to New-
York and New-Orleans, the sea water found
its way to them : since their arrival, the mice,
worms, and the variety of insects of a humid
and warm climate, have made great ravages
among them. The ink of several very
ancient documents has grown so pale, as to
render them nearly illegible, and notes
hastily taken on a journey, are in so cramped
a hand, that they are not to be deciphered
by any person but him who made them.
The determination has been taken to put
the work immediately to press, in the con-
dition it was when it reached New-Orleans:
this has prevented any use being made of
Williamson's History of North Carolina,
a copy of which did not reach the writer's
hands till after his arrival in Louisiana.
The expectation is cherished, that the
people of North Carolina will receive, with
indulgence, a work, ushered to light under
circumstances so untoward.
XII PREFACE.
Very ample notes and materials are ready
for a volume, relating to the events of the
revolutionary war, and another, detailing
subsequent transactions, till the writer's de-
parture from Newbern, in 1809. If God
yield him life and health, and his fellow
citizens in North Carolina appear desirous
these should follow the two volumes, now
presented to them, it is not improbable they
will appear.
Gentilly, near New-Orleans, >
' July 20, 1829. 5
THE
HISTORY
OF
NORTH CAROLINA*
CHAPTER I
The country, the history of which is now at-
tempted to be traced, was first known to the Eu-
ropeans, in the year 1512, twenty years after the
landing of Christopher Columbus in the new world.,
as an undefined part of the vast section of the north-
ern continent of America, which was then discover-
ed by Juao Ponce de Leon, a subject of the crown of
Spain. He gave it the name of Florida, either from
its flowery appearance, or from the circumstancjfof
his first discovering it on Palm Sunday. He landed
on the most southern part of the continent, near a
small river, which fails into the gulf of Mexico, a
few leagues to the south of the present town of
Pensacola.
Sebastian Cabot, however, had fifteen years be-
fore sailed along the eastern coast of that conti-
nent, from that latitude to the 56th degree, under a
commission from Henry VIL of England, without
any attempt towards a settlement. ^
On the return of Juan Ponce de Leon to Spain,
his sovereign bestowed on him a grant of Florida.
He soon after made a second voyage; but on his
landing, the Indians fell on his men and massacred
N. CAROI vlNA. I
<2 CHAPTER [1520
the greater part of them. In the conflict, the chief
received a wound, which put an end to his existence,
shortly after his arrival in Spain.
Th^ French made three fruitless attempts to es-
tablish a colonv on the continent of North America?
in the year 1535. In the year 1506, nearly thirty
years before, Jean Denys. one of their navigators-
sailed from Rouen, visited and drew a chart of the
gulf of St. Lawrence; and Thomas Aubert of
Dieppe, in the year 1508, had sailed up the river
of that name, and it is said, that as early as the
year 1504, fishermen from Normandy and Brittany
visited its shores.
Lucas Vasquez de Aillon, in 1520, equipped two
vessels in Hispaniola, for Florida, with the viev/ of
seizing on a number of Indians, reducing them to
slavery, and employing them in working in the mines.
He passed through the Lucaye islands, and discovered
the continent in the thirty-second degree of northern
latitude, and anchored between two capes, then called
Chicora and Guadalpe, on the river afterwards called
Jordan river. The Indians fled, on the landing of
the Spaniards, who overtook two of them and car-
ried them on board ; and after giving them meat and
drink, they suffered them to return to their friends.
This courteous demeanor, induced the Indians to come
on board in great numbers^ bringing a large quantity of
fowls and vegetables. The Spaniards landed again, and
proceeded a considerable distance in the interior of the
country, where they were received with great hospitality
and friendship.
On their return, thev invited a number of Indians to
an entertainment on board ; and weighing anchors in the
1528] THE FIRST. 5
midst of it, brought away their unsuspecting hosts.
One of the vessels was lost at sea ; the other reached
Hispaniola, but most of the Indians on board, perished,
victims to their sadness, or an obstinate abstinence.
Other vessels went from Hispaniola to Florida, and
brought away a number of Indians, who were reduced
to slavery, and employed in working the mines.
Vasquez having obtained the king's privilege, sent
several vessels to Florida, in 1524 ; and his ambition
being excited by the information which he received,
that the land was extremely fertile and contained mines
of gold, sailed with those vessels in 1525 ^ and proceeded
to the river Jordan, where he lost one of his vessels on
the cape of St. Helena, and two hundred of his men
were, on his landing, massacred by the Indians.
In 1523 and the two following years, the same
coast was explored with a considerable degree of
accuracy, by Giovano Veranzzany, employed by
Francis I. of France.
Pamphilo de Narvaez obtained, in 1526, from
Charles I. of Spain, the office of governor of all the
lands which he might discover, from Rio de Palmas, to
the confines of Florida. He sailed in the latter part of
the year 1528, from tlie port of Yagua, on the;>outhern
coast of the island of Cuba; and having passed round
the island, they left its nothern coast, at the distance of
twelve leagues above the Havana; and taking advantage
of a strong southern wind, they reached the coast of
Florida, in the gulf of Mexico, on the 12th of April.
He landed on the next day, and procured fish and
Venison from the natives. It is said, one of their huts
was so capacious as to be capable of sheltering three
buadred men. He discovered in the possession of
4 CHAPITER [152&
the Indians, a cymbal of gold, which induced Narvaez
to believe that this metal was in abundance in the
neighborhood. He landed ten men and forty horses,
and took possession ot the land with the accustomed
ceremonies. The Indians, though they could not make
themselves understood by the Spaniards, manifested
by their countenances and demeanor, the reluctance
with which they received them. The Spaniards, pro-
ceeding farther, came to a tribe of Indians who received
them better, and supplied them with corn ; and saw here
some boxes containing the skelt tons of dead men, cover-
ed with skins. Narvaez sojourned several days near
these Indians, and made frequent excursions into the
country, during which he had several skirmishes with
t^em. At last, destitute of provisions, and finding
nothing but a sterile country and impassable roads, he
re-embarked; but tlie greatest part of his men perished,
through fatigue, hunger and disease. Those who es-
caped these complicated disasters, reached Rio de
Palmas. Narvaez was not among them : hfs ship
fou^'dered in a storm, aiid he was never heard of.
A little more than ten years after, Ferdinand de
Soto was sent by the crown of Spain as governor of
Florida. More fortunate or more prudent, at first,
than those who had preceded him, he effected the
landing of the colonists who accompanied him, with-
out the loss of any of them : they were as nume-
rous as those whom Narvaez had brought from
Spain. For a while, this was the first successful es-
tablishment of a colony of Europeans on the conti-
nent of North America. It supported itself during
five years against the natives who at last vanquish-
ed and destroyed it. The Spaniards during that
1549] THE FIRST. o
period made no effort to obtain their subsistence by
agriculture: they employed their time in excur-
sions into the country, in a fruitless search after the
precious ores.
Jacques Cartier is said to be the navigator, who
in the year 1534, gave the name of St. Lawrence to
the gulf and river, from the circumstance of his enter-
ing them on the day of the festival of that Saint. Irt
the folIowif)g year, he wintered in the country,
now called Canada, to which he gave the name of
New France. He went as high up as a place then
called Hochelaga, now Montreal He returned in
the year l.'i40, and began a settlement at a short
distance from the spot on which the city of Quebec
was afterwards built. Tv»o years after, Mons. de
Robertval, with two ships and two hundred men
proceeded up the river St. Lawrence, twelve miles
above the island now called the island of Orleans,
built a fort, and wintered there.
In 1544, Carthagena was invaded by a company
of French adventurers. This is the first act of hos-
tility between European nations, in the new world.
Although the British nation had yet made no ef-
fort to form any estabhstiment in America, their ships
had for several years been engaged in the fishery at
Newfoundland. In the year 1548, the first British
statute relating to America was passed; the ob"
ject of it was to repress the extortions of the officers
of the admiralty who demanded a duty or part of
the profits on every voyage made to Ireland, Iceland
and Newfoundland.
In 1549, Charles V. of Spain, sent Lewis de Be-
luastro^ a Dominican friar, to Florida, with orders to
^ CHAPTER , [1564
reduce the natives to the Christian faith and Span-
ish obedience; and he and two of his followers
were slain, and eaten by the savages.
The country remained unnoticed by the Euro-
peans until the year 1562, when Jisper de Coligny,
admiral of France, procured two vessels to be fit-
ted out, under the orders of Jean Ribaud, for the os^-
tensible purpose of discoveries on the eastern coast
ofthe continent of North America, but perhaps with
a view of securing an asylum for the protestants of
France, if a continuation of ill success should des-
troy their cause in that kingdom. The adventurers
made the land in tlie highest degree of northern lati-
tude, near a cape to which they gave the name of
Cape Frangais; it is one of the promontories ot the
estuary on which the town of St. ^Augustine now lies,
and they landed on the banks of the river St. iMary,
which now separates Florida from Georgia. After
spending some time in reconnoiteriug the country,
and carrying on some little trade with the natives,
finding themselves in no condition to effect a settle-
ment, they returned home, bringing to their country-
men the best account of the climate, the country
and its inhabitants, which their short stay could
enable them to procure.
The admiral, charmed with the report, deter-
mined on forming a settlement, that might afford
him and his companions a retreat, which the cir-
cumstances ofthe times rendered daily more neces-
sary. Unforeseen difficulties delayed the small
fleet wiiich he procured for this purpose till the year
1564. Five or six ships then carried as many hun-
dred pereons to begin a colony, under the orders of
1584] THE FIRST. '^
Rene Laiidoniere. They disembarked at the place
of landing of the first expedition. They immedi-
ately commenced the building of a fort, which was
called ^drx Carolina^ or Fort Charles^ and the coun-
try Caroline^ in honor of Charles IX. who then fill-
ed the throne of France. The colony w^as hardly
settled, when the Spaniards, who then asserted an
exclusive right to the whole continent, sent a consi-,
derable force under Admiral Don Pedro Menendez
to attack it. The French, too small in number to
offer any resistance, sought their safety in submis,
sion; but the cruel enemy, deeming that no faith
needed to be preserved v» ith the Huguenots, disre-
garded the promise, under which the weaker party
had been induced to yield, and treacherously put
them to the sword. A few, however, escaped to the
woods: they were pursued and hung to the trees,
with this deriding inscription, not as Frenchmen^ biff
as Heretics.
Far from endeavoring to avenge this outrage, the
ministers of Charles VII. rejoiced at the miscar-
riage of a project, which indeed they had sanctioned,
but which they did not relish because it had origi-
nated with the chief of the Huguenots, and the suc-
cess of it might have given strength to their cause.
The fanaticism of the times confirmed their resolu-
tion to manifest no resentment; an individual was
to do what the nation ought to have done.
Dominique de Gourgues, a Gascon, an able and
bold navigator, the known enemy of the Spaniards,
on whom he had personal injuries to avenge, ar-
dently attached to his country, fond of hazardous
undertakings and of glory, sold his patrimony, built
«»
o
CHAPTER [1684
a few vessels, and uniting to himself some choice
companions, went in pursuit of the murderers of his
countrymen in America, drove them from one fort
to another; vanquished them every where, hung a
number of them to the trees on the sea shore, and
opposing derision to derisiv»n, inscribed over them,
not as Spaniards^ but assassins.
Here ended this expedition. De Gourgues, either
from want of provisions, or the apprehensions that
the friendship of the Indians would cease, with the
means of purcliasing it, or that the Spaniards might
arri "e in numbers suiFicient to overcome him, des-
xfoyed all the forts whsch they had erected, and sail-
ed back to France. He was received b;^ hi< coun-
trymen with all the admiration he deserved: not so
hy the court; despotic and superstitious, it had
every tiling to fear from virtue.
Neithi rthe French nor the Spaniards made anj
further attempt to transplant a colony into Caroline:
this was to be the work of the English. Their first
attempt was made in 1.^84. On the 22d of July of
that year, the English flag was displayed before the
shores of Carolina by Arthur Barlow and Philip
Amidas. They were the commanders of two small
vessels built by Sir Walter Raleigh, who had ob-
tained from queen Elizabeth a patent, authorising,
lim, his heirs or assigns, to take possession of such
remote, heathe > and barbarous lands, as were not
occupied by any Christian prince. Amidas and
Barlow had sailed from the Thames, and taking
their route by the Canary and West India islands, had
approached the continent towards the gulf of Mex-
ico, after a passage of fifty-seven days.
1584] THE FIRST. -&
A fragrant odour wafted to the adventurers,
the glad tidings of tlie vicinity of the land, some
time before they could descry it. The coast at first
offered no convenient harbor, and they sailed by it for
upwards of one hundred miles, without discovering
any. They entered however with difficulty and cau-
tion, the first inlet which tiiey saw, and having
returned thanks to God, went ashore to take posses-
sion of the land in the name of their sovereign.
At first, they judged themselves on the continent,
but taking advantage of an eminence, they discover-
ed that the sea surrounded them. Theisland appear-
ed to be seventy miles in length, and six in breadth:
it lay between cape Fear and cape Hatteras, and
was very low, and is concluded to be that of Ocra-
cock, or some other near it along the coast, now in
the county oi Carleret. Stately cedars, pines, cy-
press, sassafras, and other trees of a fragrant smell,
covered it; on them numerous and large clusters of
grape hung in natural festoons; and the land abound-
ed in deer, raccoons, and svild fowls. They were
nearly three days on this island, without seeingany of
the natives; on the third, three Indians came in a ca-
noe from the main land; they fearlessly approach-
ed the strangers, and one of them went on board one
of the vessels; he chattered much, ate, drank, and
gladly accepted a shirt and a hat, which were pre-
sented [nm; after viewing attentively every thing
on board, he went away,* and in a short time
returned with his canoe loaded with fish.
On the next day, a groat number of Indians came
in large canoes: among them was the king's brother;
the English learnt from him that hib name was
N. CAROLINA, 2
iO CHAPTER * {1584
Granganameo, that of the king Wingina, and that
the country was called Wingadocea, and the island
Woccon. The natives were generally tall and
well shaped, very respectful to the chief, and cour-
teous to each other. The king lay at the principal
town, ill from the wounds he had lately received in
battle. Granganameo sat down on a mat, v^ hich
was spread for him, and received the English, with-
out manifesting the least fear, as they approached
him with their arms; he invited them by signs to sit
down, and stroaked his own head and breast and then
theirs, as a mark of courtesy. Four of the natives sat
down also: the others stood up around. The English
made presents to Granganameo, and the four Indians
who were sitting; but he took the whole to himself.
The parties having spent some time in traffic, separated.
Two days after, Granganameo paid the English
another visit, came on board, and ate and drank merrily.
He had brought a quantity of dressed deer skins, which
he bartered for a copper kettle and a pewter plate. The
latter pleased him so much that, boring it in the rim, he
hung it to his neck as a breastplate. He afterwards
brought his wife and children to see the vessels : she
was of a short stature, but remarkably well made; her
behaviour was modest. She had on a long loose coat,
with a short apron of leather; a band of white coral en-
circled her temples, and strings of large pearl, hung from
her ears down to her waist. The children were fanci-
fully decked with red copper and feathers. The women
who attended her, had pendants of red copper in their
ears.
The Indians came daily from the surrounding shores,
with leather, coral, several kinds of dye stuffs, bucks^
1585] THE FIRST. il
rabbits, hares, fish, melons, cucumbers, and various
roots. . . '
An acquaintance having been thus contracted, by
mutual beneficence and kindness, Amidas ventured,
with a party of seven men, up the sound, now called
Pamplico, then Occam. He reached, on the fi^llowing
day, an island, then, and still called Roanoke, now in
the county of Currituck ; and went up to a small vil-
lage, consisting of nine houses, one of which, was that
of Granganameo. It was large, divided into several
apartments, built of cedar, and fortified around with
sharp pieces of timber. The village itself, was sur-
rounded by a high pallisade, which had a gateway,
guarded by a sort of turnstile. The chief was from
home, but the visitors were received and entertained by
his wife, with courteous hospitafity. She despatched
some of her people to draw up the boat of her guests,
and bring the oars to the house : she washed their feet
in warm water, and conducted them into an inner room,
laid before them boiled venison, roasted fish^ and hominy;
melons, baked roots, and various fruits, were afterwards
offered. In the evening, the English retired to their
boat, and putting a little off the shore, lay at anchor.
She seemed concerned at the distrust which this caution
seemed to manifest. Her attention to their comfort
was not, however, lessened. She had their supper
brought to the shore, and made several Indians remain
there as a guard, during the whole night.
The English were informed, that on the main land,
on the shores of the great river Occam (Pamplico sound)
stood a large town called Pomecock, (supposed to be
near the mouth of Gibbs' creek, in the present county
of Hyde) andat the distance of six days march, another.
12 CHAPTER [1585
called Skihoah. They were told also of a river called
Cibo, which fell into Occam, in which were large quan-
titles of muscles, bearing pearls.
Wingina's dominions extended westward, as far as
Chowanock river, and southerly, to Secotan, a town
equidistant from Neuse, Tar river and Pamplico sound.
There began the dominions of Piamancum, king of the
Nussocks, whose chief town was called Pomonick.
The Wingadocea and Nussock Indians had lately con-
cluded a peace, which had terminated a very long and
bloody war, occasioned by the treachery of the lattef,
who, having invited the inhabitants of the town of
Secotan to a feast, had slain the men, and detained the
women as prisoners.
Amidas returned to the shipping the next day.
With a view to try the strength of the soil on the island
before which they lay, they had committed ty the ground
a few peas; after ten days, they had risen to the height
of fourteen inches.
The English being too small in number to attempt a
settlement, and the present being only a voyage of dis-
covery, a few days were spent in obtaining the best
information respecting the neighbouring continent, and
trafficking with the natives, who daily came on board to
barter their rude productions, for the commodities of the
English, especially for their iron and other useful metals:
after which the vessels sailed for England, where they
arrived on the 15th of September. Two of the na-
tives, Manteo and Manchefe, voluntarily accompanied
Amidas.
Queen Elizabeth was so much pleased with the
splendid description, which the adventurers g^ve of the
climate, the soil, and the productions of the country
1586] THE FIRST, 15
they had visited, that, flattered with the idea of pos-
setssing a territory abounding with such advantages, she
gave it the name of Virginia, as a memorial of its having
been discovered under the auspices of a virgin queen.
Sir Walter, anxious to take possession of so valu-
able a property, fitted out, early in the following year,
seven small ships laden widi arms, ammunition, and pro-
visions, with t'ne view of carrying thither a sufficient
number of colonists, to effect a permanent settlement.
He gave the command of this small fleet to Sir Richard
Grenville, his kinsman, whom he had interested in
the enterprise ; who left Plymouth on the tenth of
April, taking the southern route. He spent some
time cruising against the Spaniards in the West Indies,
and did not arrive on the continent till the latter part of
June; and landing on both the islands of Ocracock and
Roanoke, visited the shores of the continent along
Pamplico and Albemarle smind, and a .^reat lake called
Paquinip, now Mattamukee. Parties of his men
went out northerly, as far as the bay of Chesapeake ;
westerly, to the Chowanocks, up Wcapomcie river,
(Albemarle sound) on the shores of which, were the
towns of the Pasquenocks, Pasquotanks, and Chepavvrr,
in that part of the country now known as the county of
Perquimans, Muscamung, the westernmost town of
Wingadocea; thence along Chowanock (Chowan) river;
they went to the town of Mavaton, on the eastern bank
of that river, near the spot on which Canon's ferry has
been established, and higher up that of Opanock, on
the opposite bank, a little below the confluence of
Meherrin and Nottoway rivers. The Indians in this
settlement were very numerous, and in time of need
were able to send forth seven hundred warriors: the
14 CHAPTER [1586
English found about half way between Roanoke and
Tar rivers, the town of Wanjoacks and that of the
Pananarocks on the latter.
Sir Richard, next proceeded to cape Hatteras, where
he was visited by Granganameo, who came to renew
his acquaintance v/ith the English; this was the last
time they saw that chief, who died a few days after.
On the 25th of August, Sir Richard, sailed for
England, leaving a colony of one hundred and eight
persons, under the orders of Ralph Lane, The choice
of this spot was not fortunate, the island being in a
bleak sound, and destitute of a convenient harbour.
The chief, as well as tlie most beneficial object of the
attention of the colonists, after providing the means of
subsistence, ought to have been the attainment of an
accurate knowledge of the country around them ; to
this they were not absolutely inattentive, neither were
their labors altogether unsuccessful. Gold, however,
was the principal inducement that tempted Europeans
to visit America; and towards the discovery of mines
were the thoughts of the adventurers incessantly bent.
They had persuaded themselves that the country of
which they were in possession, could not be destitute
of precious metals, with which, America was imagined
to abound.
/ With a view to realize the fond hopes which they
entertained, the colonists reconnoitred the neighbouring
continent. The Indians soon discovered the object
which the English sought with so much avidity: and
Menotoscon, king of the Chowanocks, amused gover-
nor Lane, with tales of rich mines in the western parts
of the country, which they had not yet explored. He
«poke of a copper mine, and a pearl fishery; and gave an
1585] THE FIRST. lo
account of the river now called Roanoke, which, he
described as rising from a rock so near the sea, that,
during high winds, the surge beat over the spring.
The governor sanguinely concluded this sea to be the
gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, or some arm that
opened into it. Their heads being filled with these
chimerical ideas, the English formed various schemes,
and undertook a fatiguing and hazardous journey up
that river, at the instigation of Wingina, to visit the
Moratuck Indians, the great nation called the Morjoacks,
a number of other warlike tribes, and a great king, who
dwelt at some days journey from the head of the river.
So eager were they, and so resolutely bent on discovery,
that they could not be induced to return, as long as
they had a pint of corn a man, left, and two mastiff
dogs, (which they boiled with sassafras leaves) that
might afford them sustenance on their way back.
However, after several days, having vainly undergone
great hardship and danger, they at last returned, and
joyfully reached their habitations on Roanoke island.
The death of Granganameo had caused a great altera-
tion in the affairs of the colony. His credit with Win-
gma, his brother, and the interest of Ensenore, their
father, had restrained the king's malice and perfidy
within some bounds ; but, on the death of Granganameo^
he changed his name to that of Pennissassan, and be-
came a secret, but a bitter enemy to the English. To
his machinations, were chiefly owing the hardships they
had undergone in their journey to the Chowanocks.
He had given secret intelligence to those Indians, of the
approach of governor Lane; and had sown seeds of dis-
cord, between the white and red people. But a rumor
being spread, that governor Lane and bis party were all
16 CHAPTER [15S6
slain, or starved in their journey up Monattuck, he
began to blaspheme the God of the English, and endea-
voured, by all the devices in his power, to annoy and
distress them.
Ensenore, his father, the best friend the English had,
after the death of Granganameo, lost all his ability to
serve and assist them. But their return with the son of
Mcnatonon, (one of the greatest Indian kings) as a
prisoner, joined to the tesdmony of Manteo, and the
other Indians who had accompanied them, showing how
little the English valued any people they met with, or
regarded toils, hunger or death, restrained, for a while,
his devices, and brought Ensenore again into credit and
esteem.
The king of the Chowanocks, soon after, sent a
present of pearl to govt^rnor Lane, and Okisko, king of
the Weapomeaks, who possessed all the country between
Chowan river and Albemarle sound, up to the bay of
Chesapeake, came, attended with twenty of his chief-
tains, who, with their king, acknowledged their subjec-
tion to the king of the English. This circumstance,
and the persuasions of Ensenore, induced Wingina to
seek, at least in appearance, the friendsliip of the
English. He came with his people, planted their fields,
and made weirs for them, when they w^ere near famish-
ing. This good understanding was not, however, of
long duration. The death of Ensenore put an end to
it. For Wingina, under pretence of celebrating his
father's funeral rites, laid a scheme of assembling sixteen
or eighteen hundred Indians. With this force he intend-
ed to cut off all the English at once. But his design
was discovered to governor Lane, by his prisoner
Okisko, the son of a king of the Chowanocks. The
1586] THE FIRST. 17
governor in his turn, endeavored to seize on all the
canoes on Roanoke, with the view to secure the
Indians on the island. They took the alarm, and a
small skirmish ensued, in which five or six Indians
were slain, and the rest effected their escape. A mu-
tual distrust succeeded, until Wingina, being entrap-
ped by the English, and killed, with eight of his men,
the Indians were intimidated into a peaceable demeanor.
The colonists having been inattentive to the culture
of the ground, and the provisions which they had
brought from England, being nearly exhausted, they
found themselves under the necessity of imitating the
natives, and resorting for food to the precarious supplies
afforded them by the water and woods. This re-
source proved insufHcient; and governor Lane sent
parties of his men in different directions, to procure
subbistence. Some went to the main to support
themselves on roots and oysters. Twenty men were
sent, under the orders of ciiptain Strafford, towards the
Croatans, a nation of Indians then living on the southern
shore of cape Lookout; and a Mr. Prideaux, went with
twenty others, to cape Hatteras, to shift for themselves,
and espy any sail passing by the coast, from which
relief might be expected.
These two detachments had not been long out, when
one of captain Strafford's men returned to the island,
bringing information of the approach of a fleet of twenty-
three sail; and on the following day, the captain himself
came, and handed to governor Lane, a letter from Sir
Francis Drake. The adn iru was on his return from
a successful expedition against the Spaniards, in South
America, having taken Carthagena and the capita! city of
Hispaniola, burnt the fort.s of St. Augustine and St.
N. CAROLINA. 3
rg CHAPTER [1586
Helena, on the coast of Florida, and done much other
injury to the enemy. He had been ordered to visit, on
his return, the colony of Virginia, and to afford it pro-
tection and assistance. He agreed to supply governor
Lane with one hundred men, a small vessel, and provi-
sions for four months. But, before he could afford this
relief, his scheme was defeated by a sudden and violent
storm, which forced out to sea, among many other
ships, that, on board of which were the men and provi-
sionsy destined for the colony.
Discouraged by this misfortune, and w^orn out with
fatigue and famine, the colonists unanimously deter-
mmed on abandoning the country in the summer; or as
soon as the discoveries they could make, would justify
their return.
For this purpose, a ship of one hundred and seventy
tons, with sufficient provisions, was detached from the
fleet; but, as she was of too great a burden to lie, with
safety, in any of the harbors of the colony, and there
was too great a danger in suffering her to ride in an
open road, they prevailed on Sir Francis to take them
on board of the fleet, which sailed for England on the
19th of June; and they landed in Portsmouth, in the latter
part of the following month; the colonists having re-
mained about one year in Virginia.
Such was the inauspicious result, of the first attempt
to plant an English colony, on the continent of North
America. The nation derived from it no other advan-
tage, than some knowledge of the country and its inha-
bitants, and of the introduction into England of a nutri-
tive root, the cultivation of which* has since been won-
derfully extended, principally in Ireland; and which
furnishes now, a welcome dish to the table of the wealthy^
1586] THE FIRST. 19
and a cheap food on that of the poor : and that of a weed
of singular strength and power, tobacco, the use of
wiiich, gradual'sy t-^x tended itself to every class of society
aiid the demand for which has become almost universal.
Harriot, a man of science and observation, who ac-
companied governor Lane:, published, on his return, a
short treatise, in which, he described with great accuracy,
the climate, soil, and productions of the country.
According to his account, the natives were generally
well proportioned, straight and tall, their eyes black, or
of a dark hazle, the white part streaked with red; their
complexion was tawney, their bodies being kept daubed
with bear's grease, blackened with burnt coals, or red-
dened with the powder of a root, which they obtained
from the Indians, who dwelt in the hilly part of the
country.
They believed in one eternal Supreme God, the crea-
tor of the world, and in the immortalitv of the soul.
They had an idea of a future state of rewards and pun-
ishments, and imagined that there were Gods of an infe-
rior order, who had assisted the Supreme one, their crea-
tor, in the foundation of the world : and that mankind had
sprung from a woman, who had conceived in the em-
braces of one of the Gods. They founded these
doctrines, on the authority of two persons, who had
risen from the dead. The influence of these tenets,
however, on their priests and chiefs, was much weaker
than on the common people. The former, like the
great in civilised countries, freeing their consciences
from the shackles of a creed, and their actions from the
restraints of religion, and sometimes of morality.
They were not, however, so firm in these opinions,
as to close up their minds against information. They
20 CHAPTER [iSSa
admirfd the watches, compasses, guns, burning glasseSp
and other instruments of the English, and thouo;ht they
were the work of the Gods, or at lea^t, that the Grids had
taught the English how to construct them. Hence
they listened with great attention, to conversation on
religious subjects. Wingina himself joined the colo-
nists in their prayers; and when he was sick, attributing
his situation to some offence given to the God of the
white people, he would beg them to pray for him, and
intercede that he might dwell with him after death.
Once, when a long drought had withered their corn,
they considered their misfortune, as the punishment of
their ill conduct towards the English; and they promis-
ed them a portion of their corn, if they would pray to
their God to cause it to ripen.
The estimation in which they held the English, was
considerably heightened, by a curious accident. An
epidemical disease visited the country; the English
were free from it ; and it fell with greater violence on
some Indian tribes, against whom they had causes of
complaint. The Indians thought it was the work of
the God of the whites, or that the English shot invisi-
ble bullets at their enemies; while others, noticing that
they had no women of their own, and appeared not to
care for any of theirs, imagined they were not immedi-
ately born of women, but were individuals of a past
generation, risen to immortality ; that there were more
of them still, in the air, as yet invisible ; and who, at
the entreaty of the others, made Indians die by shooting
invisible bullets at them.
The English, in their intercourse with the Indians,
acquired a relish for their favorite employment of
smoking tobacco. The plant grew spontaneous in the
1586] THE FIRST. 21
country; the natives called it Uppewock : they cured
and dried the leaf, and g;round it into powder, which
they put into earthen tubes and drew the smoke through
the mouth ; it was in so high an estimation among
them, that they had a tradition, that the Gods them-
selves delighted in the use of it. They sometimes
lighted fires, into which they threw powdered tobacco
as a sacrifice ; and when they were caught in a tempest
in crossing Occam, the wide sound ol Pamplico, they
imagined the angry deities could be appeased by throw-^
ing it into the air and on the water. They implored
the blessing of good luck upon their new nets, by
casting some of it upon them ; and when they had
escaped some eminent danger, they threw some of this
dust in the air, with antick gestures, stamping the
ground in time, and cadence, clasping their hands, and
throwing them up with discordant cries. *
Divided into small, independent tribes, each under
its particular chief, they were much addicted to plun-
der, and for that reason, frequently engaged in conten-
tion and strife. A regard to mutual defence, had
produced alliances among them.
Deriving their principal subsistence from the chase.
and the water, they bestov/ed very little attention on
agriculture; they seemed to have no idea of any other
than national property in land. They were accustomed
frequently to change their abode, finding it convenient
to wander from one place to the other, according as they
were invited by the abundance of the game or fish:
unrestained in their migrations by the cares of hus-
bandry, or the possession of any property in cattle or
land.
^ CHAPTER {1586
They were much addicted to theft and rapine : and
their notions ol meum and tuum, were so limited, that
a disregard of them could not be considered as a
crime.
Inhabiting, for the most part, marshy, or low sandy
land, they were frequently in great dearth of provisions;
and instigated by want and hunger, the strong and the
weak could seldom withstand the temptations of vio-
lence and fraud. When, in their frequent migrations,
a number of them settled in any part of the country,
'which wide water and extended dismal swamps sepa-
rated from the habitations and range of the rest of the
tribe, inclination and regard to mutual defence induced
them to live together, and avoid as much as possible,
any intercourse with the bulk of the tribe, who felt dis-
posed to treat straggling individuals as enemies ; and
when, in course of time, their multiplication rendered
the colony too numerous, for the scanty supplies which
the spot afforded, parties went to establish themselves
at a distance, without dissolving the connexion, which
had subsisted between them, and those thev had last
left behind.
The tribes were longer on the ground they occupied,
as it «*fforded, by the vicinity of the water, or the abun*
dance of the game, an easier subsistence to their mem-
bers.
Accounts of the climate, represented it as unfavour-
able to health. During the summer months, the
weather was extremely sultry, so as to render an expo-
sure to the heat of the sun dangerous. Even the
Bights, were said to be seldom so cold as to afford
refreshment. In the middle of the day, sudden
1586] THE FIRST. ^
storms ovcfclouded the sky, before clear and serene,
and caused such quick alteration in the air as to chili the
limbs, still moist with sweat, stopping perspiration, and
often occasioning fatal diseases. In the fall, notwith.
standing the coolness of the air, while the sun was under
the horizon, it became oppressively hot when he was at
a short distance from his meridian height; and heavy
dews and thick fogs, rendered this season fatal. During
the winter, an excessive degree of coid was, at times,
though rarely, severely felt ; but alternate and sudden
changes between freezhig and hot weather, distressed
the colonists. Every shift of wind, brought on a sen-
sible alteration in the temperature of the atmosphere.
The spring began early, but was considerably retarded
in its progress^ by the return of sharp and piercing
winds, bringing back frost and snow, and the charms of
that season were hardly noticed, when the extreme heat
of the next was already felt.
The colonists had been surrounded by a number of
Indian tribes, some of whom were hostile, and all of
them warlike ; and neither of whom saw, with much
complacency, a part of their country, occupied by indi-
viduals widely differing from them in appearance, man-
ners and language. But spirituous liquor, an article
which few Indians can taste, without craving more, and
more, until it subdues reason , and for which, most will
part with any thing they have in the world, rendered
them the slaves of tlieir guests; and if there were
an}'^ of them who withstood that temptation, knives,
hatchets, hoes, and spades, were objects of inappreci-
able value in their eyes. Those who ministered, as
well to the real, as the imaginary wants of tte aborigines.
24 CHAPTER [1586
could not fail being* considered as welcome guests, or
desirable inhabitants. The nearer tribes were supplied
with the means of rendering themselves terrible in arms,
by the use of fire arms ; and the friendship of the whites
was courted, with a view to obtain this advantage, or
prevent its being afforded to the enemy. By this means*
allies were acquired among the neighbouring tribes, and
securities against the attempts of distant ones.
On the return of governor Lane, with his colonists,
to England, the British were without any establish-
ment in America. There was not a single individual
of that nation living under British laws, in the new
hemisphere ; the possessions of the Spaniards and Por-
tuguese, in South America, were considerable. In
North America, the crown of Spain had one or two
forts on the coast of Florida. The French had a grow-
ing establishment in Canada. We have noticed their
progress in those parts as far as the year 1535 ; in that
year, Jacques Cartier, having carried off in his ship one
the Indian chiefs ; the circumstance so exasperated the
natives, that, for a very great number of years, they
absolutely refused to allow the French any trade in
Canada. But towards the year 1581, a bark of thirty
tons sailed up the riv-er St. Lawrence, from France, and
was permitted to trade. Soon after her return, a ship
of eighty tons, was fitted out of the island of Jersey;
and in the year of 1583, three large French ships were
employed in the trade to Canada ; one of one hundred
and eighty tons? one of one hundred, and one of eighty.
The British, the French, the Spaniards, and the Por-
tuguese, had many ships emploved in the codfishery of
New Foundland. As early as the year 1577, the
1786] I^E SECOND. iib
French had one hundred and fifty, the Spaniards one
hundred, and the Britihh and Portuguese fitty ships,
fishing there. The I nglish are said to have had the best
ships, and to have there given the law^ to those of other
nations ; and it is said, to account for the small number
of their ships in that part of the w^orld, that they employed
many in the fishery at Iceland, where the French from
Biscay, had twenty pr thirty ships, to kill whales for
train oil.
Furchas — Smith — Stith-^Marshall
ai, CARD. 4.
CHAPTER II.
Sir Walter Raleigh, in the year 1586, had provided a
ship of one hundred tons, to carry succour to gover-
nor Lane and his men; she, however, did not sail till
the middle of April, and did not reach Virginia, till the
latter part of June ; a few days after the depaiture of the
colonists in Sir Frances Drake's fleet. Her comman-
der, after having spent some time in fruitless endeavors
to discover them, returned to England with his lading.
A fortnight after. Sir Richard Grenviile arrived with
three other ships, and an ample supply of provisions,
but was unable to obtain any account of the ship which
had preceded him, or of ihe men, whom, in the pre-
ceding year, he had left on Roanoke; he sailed up and
down the principal sounds and rivers, in useless quest of
them; at last, unwilling to forego the right of posses-
sion, he returned to the island, where he landed fifteen
(some writers say fifty) men, to whom he gave a
supply of provisions, and returned to England*
In the following year, three ships were sent to Vir-
ginia, under the command of John White, who was
appointed governor of the colony, and was accompa-
nied by eleven persons, who were to be his counsellors
and assistants. Their names were Roger Baily, Ana-
nias Dare, Simeon Fernando, Christopher Cowper,
TUomas Stephens, John Sampson, Thomas Smith,
-2^ CHAPTER [158T
Dyonisius Harvey, Roger Pratt, George Howe, An==
thony Cage. Sir Walter gave them a charter, incor-
porating them under the style of " the governor and
assistants, of the city of Raleigh, in Virginia;" and di-
rected them to make their first settlement on the shores
of the bay of Chesapeake, and to erect a fort there.
This expedition took the old route, by the way of the
West Indies, and narrowly esc iped destruction, on the
shores of cape Fear. The danger which they ran was
imputed to the carelessness, and by some, to the desiga
of a sailor, who had accompanied Amidas in his first
voyage, and was now acting as a pilot; he was sus-
pected of an intention of occasioning the miscarriage
of the expedition ; but the vigilance of captain Strafford,
who commanded the vessel on board of which this man
was, prevented any fatal consequence; and they all arrived
safe at cape Hatteras, on the 22d of July.
The governor, with forty of his best men, went on
board of the pinnace intending to pass up to Roanoke,
in the hope of finding the men, whom Sir Richard
Grenvillehad left there the year before; and after a con-
ference with them, concerning the state of the country
and the Indians, to return to the fleet, and proceed along
the coast to the bay of Chesapeake, according to the
orders of Sir Walter Paleigh; but no sooner had the
pinnace left the ship, than Simon Fernando, the princi-
pal naval commander, who was named as one of the
governor's assistants, although he was destined to re-
turn soon to England, called to the sailors on board the
pinnace, and charged them not to bring back any of the
colonists, except the governor, and two or three others
whom he approved, but to leave them on the island ; for
the summer, he observed, was far spent, and he would
1587] THE SECOND. . 29
not land the planters in any other pl^ce. The sailors on
board the pinnace, as well as those on board of the ship^
having been persuaded by the master, to this measure,
the .s:overnor judging it best not to contend with them,
proceeded to Roanoke. At sun set, he landed with his
men at the part of the island, on which Sir Richard
Grenville landed his men, but discovered no sign of
them, except the skeleton of a man w^ho had been killed
by the Indians. The next day, the governor and seve-
ral of the new comers, went to the north end of the
island, where governor Lane had built a fort and several
dwelling houses, the year before, hoping there to find
some sign, if not certain information of the men left
there by Sir Richard Grenville. But on coming to the
place, and findhig the fort razed, and all the houses,
though standing unhurt, overgrown with weeds and
vines, and deer feeding within them : they returned in
despair of ever seeing their looked-for countrymen alive.
Orders were given on the same day, for the clearing and
repair of the houses, and the erection of new cottages.
All the colony, consisting of ninety-one men, seventeen
women, and nine children, in all, one hundred and seven-
teen persons, soon after landed, and commenced a
second plantation.
George Howe, one of the governor's assistants,
having wandered to some distance into the woods, was
attacked and slain, by a party of the Dassamonpeake,
a tribe who dwelt on the main opposite to the island, in
the neck formed by the river Alligator and the narrows,
which now forms the lower part of the county of
Tyrell,
As soon as the houses were cleared, and measures
taken for sheltering the colonists, governor \^^hite sent
30 CHAPTER [155?
captain Strafford, with a party of twenty men^ to the
Croatans, a friendly tribe, who dwtit on the s( uthern
shore of cape Lookout, in that part ot the country, now
known as the county of Carteret, with the view of ob-
taining some information of the place to which the men^
left by Sir Richard Grenville, had retreated. He learned
that they had been surprised by a party ot Indians, of
the Secotan, Agnasco,2ja, and Dassamonpeake tribes,
who, Iiaving treacherously slain one of thtm, compelled
the rest to repair to the house, in which they kept their
provisions and weapons, which the Indians instantly set
on fire ; that the English leaving the house, skirmibhed
with the assailants for above an hour ; that in this skir-
mish, another of their number was shot in the mouth
with an arrow, and died ; that tht.y retired, fighting to
the water side, where lay their boats, with which they
fltd to cape Hatteras ; that they landed on a little island,
on the right hand of the entrance into the harbor of Hat-
teras, where they remained a while, and afterwards de-
parts d, whither they knew not. Unable to obtain a more
satisfactory acccount of his countrymen, captain Straf-
ford returned with his party, to the fleet at Hatteras.
The governor endeavored to renew and preserve, a
good understanding, with the nations of Indians in the
neighbourhood, but found it necessary to chastise the
Dassamonpcake, who had murdered George Howe, and
still continued troublesome. In the dead of night, he
left the island of Roanoke, accompanied by captain
Strafford and a chosen party of twenty men, guided by
Manteo, who had ever remained a firm friend of the
English. They reached the main by break of ddv^
marched up to the town, and, discovering some Indians
sitting around a fire, they discharged their pieces at
1587] THE SECOND. Si
them : one was shot down, and the governor, judging
the murder of George Howe sufficiently expiated, de-
sired Manteo to inform the others, they had nothing
more to apprehend. The English had scarcely groun-
ded their arms, wl*en they discovert d they had fired on a
party of their friends, the Croatans. These men having
heard that the Dassamonpeake Indians, fearing the re-
venge which the English had come to execute, had fled
and left their corn ripe and ungathere*^, had come to cut
and carry it away. Both parties joined in securing as
much of it as was fit to be taken down, and retired, ieav-
ing the rest unspoiled.
On the 13th of August, Manteo was baptised, ac->
cording to the directions of Sir Walter Raleigh, and in
reward for his services to the English, was called Lord
of Roanoke, and of Dassamonpeake.
On the 18th, Eleanor, a daughter of governor White,
who had accompanied him, and was married to Ananias
Dare, one of his assistants, was deUvered of a daughter,
who was the first child born from English parents, in the
new world; she was named Virginia.
The supply of provibions brought from England,
being considerably reduced, and necessity requiring
immediate attention to the renewal of it, the colonists
besought governor White to return to England, and
solicit some further relief. He yielded to their entrea-
ties, and sailed for England on the 27th of August,
having remained but thirty-six days in his government.
At his departure, the colony consisted of one hundred
persons, and one of the islands near cape Hatter^s, had
been selected for its principal settlement.
Governor White, on his arrival in England, found
the nation ia a great commotion, occasioned by a rumor
32 CHAPTER [1588
of an impending invasion by the Spaniards, who had
fitted out an immenhe fleet for that purpose. A coun-
cil of war had been formed by the queen, and charged
with the direction of the warUke preparations which
the emeri>;ency called for. It was composed of such
persons as were in the highest reputation for miluary
knowledge. Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Richard Gren^
ville, Ralph Lane, governor White's predecessor in Vir-
ginia, the persons whose exertions he had come to
solicit, had been honored with seats at this board, and
their time was taken up in the discharge of the duties,
which iheir appointment imposed. However, in a little
time, Sir Walter found leisure to fit out a small fleet tot
the relief of his colony; and it was to have sailed early in
the following year, under the orders of Sir Richard
Grenville ; but the alarm, occasioned by the formidable
armament made by the king of Spain, increasing, every
ship was impressed, and Sir Richard was summoned to
attend Sir Walter, in the county of Connvall, and assist
him in training the troops arrayed there. Governor
White, in the mean while, exerted himself so much, that
he obtained two barks, with which he sailed from
Biddefort, on the 22d of April.
The crews of these vebbcls, who were more anxious to
enrich themselves by plunder, than to hasten to the re-
lief of their distressed countrymen, attacked every
Spanish vessel they met ; and one of the barks falling
in with two large ships of that nation, was, after a
bloody fight, overcome, boarded and rifled. In the
most distressed condition, unable to continue her voy-
age, she returned to England. Three weeks after, the
other came in, in the bame phght, and the voyage was
abandoned to the great distress, and finally, the utter ruin
1590] THE SECOND. $5
of the colony, and the great regret of its patron and
founder.
Sir Walter was much disjointed, by the disappoint-
ment of the fond hvopes he had hitherto entertained, and
the miscarriage of all his attempts to settle his colony,
notwithstanding tlie rare sums he spent in the prosecu-
tion of his darling scheme. His attention beiii^ enga-
ged in the warlike enterprises of the day, he determined
on the transfer of his interest, in the discoveries made,
under the patent he had obtained from his sovereign, to
governor White, and some merchants and adventurers
of the city of London.
Accordingly, by an indenture, which bears date, the
7th of March, 1589, he granted to Thomas Smith, John
White, and others, full power to ca**ry to Virginia, such
of the queen's subjects as might be willing to go
thither, and to plant and inhabit the country, with free
trade, to them, their heirs, and assigns, to an(J from Vir-
ginia, or any part of America, to which he might claim
an interest, title, or privilege. Sir Walter, in this instru-
ment, takes the title of chief governor of Assamacomoe,
alias Wangadacea, alias Virginia; and he finally closed his
concerns in the colony, by a donation of one himdred
pounds sterling, to be appropriated to thepiomotion of
Christianity among its inhabitants.
The supplies which governor White had come to so-
* licit, were much delayed by this transfer of property.
The assignees suffered iwilve months to elapse, before
they procured any shipping to carry relief to the colo-
nists. Three ships were at last equipped at Plymouih,
and sailed under the orders of governor Whiie, on the
£Olh of March, 1590; a thirst for plunder ii.duccd the
crews of these ships, to lose again, a consideruble tiracj
if. CARO. 5
34 CHAPTER [1590
by taking the West Indies in their route ; and it was
not til! the 3d of Aac;nst, that the expedition fell in with
some of the sandy islands, near Ocracock ; from thence
they proceeded to Harteras. which they did not reach
till the 15th. On their approach, they were much re-
joiced at seeing a smoke rising from the spot on which
governor White had left the colonists, three years be-
fore. A discharge of cannon was made to apprize them
of the approach of succour, and captains Strafford and
Cooke, were despatched with two boats- ; but, notwith-
standing the most diligent search, they returned without
having been able to obtain any intelligence of the per-
sons they were in quest of. They made preparations
the next morning to visit the island of Roanoke ; but
the wind being at north east, in passing a bar, one of the
boats was upset, and the other half filled with water.
Captain Spicer, with six of his men, were dashed to
pieces on the shoals : the other four, deterred by the
fate of their companions, not trusting to their legs on
the surf, but s^vimming in deep water, were saved by
captain Cook. The courage of the survivors was so
much damped by this accident, that they gave up the
pursuit and returned to the shipping.
A few days after, governor White prevailed on a
party of nineteen men, to accompany him to cape Hat-
teras. The people he had left there in 1587? had mani-
fested, before his departure, an intention to remove to
the main ^^and they had promised him. that in case they
did so, they would carve, on some conspicuous tree,
door or post, the name of the place to which they might
determine on removing, placing a cross over it, in case
they found themselves in distress, at the time of their
departure. In landing on the cape, he caused a trumpet
1590] THE SECOND. 'do
to be sounded, a signal which he caused to be repeated
at intervals, and in different places. No answer was
given, V/b^n the party approached the spot from
v/hich they had seen the smr^ke arise, on the day of their
arrival, they [dwnd that the fire had proceeded from dry
rgrass and soim" rotcen trees. After a very tedious
search J ihey came to a high post or tree, on which were
carvtd;he betters CHO, and at some distance, they read
the word CRQATAN, on another.^ They gladly no-
ticed the absence of the sign, intended to indicate a state
of distress. The houses had been pulled down, and a
large space enclosed by a high pallisadt ; within the
pallisade, they found many bars of iron two pigs of
lead, four iron fowlers iron sack shot, **and suchlike
heavy things, thrown here and there, almost overgrown
with grass and weeds." In the end of an old trench,
they found five chests that had been carefully hidden^
three of which, governor White recognized as his own^
and adds, *' about the place we found many of my things
spoiled and my books torn from the covers, the frames
of some of my pictures and maps rotten and spoiled
with rain, and my armour almost eaten through with
rust."
Every thing seeming to preclude the hope of making
any further discovery, in remaining on the cape, the party
determined on returning to the shipping. In doing so
they were near perishing, a violent storm having arisen,
ivhich lasted the whole night. As soon as it subsided,
•
* The stump of a live oak, said to have been the tree, on
which this word was cut, was shown, as late as the year 1778,
by the people of Roanoke Island. It stood at the distance of
about six yards from the shore of Shalon-bas-bay, on the lanct
then owned by Daniel Baum. This bay is formed by Balla«<-
point and Bauna's-point
m CHAPTER [1590
they vvei£!:hed anchor for Croatan, In the attempt one
of the cables oi the ship in which governor White was,
broke and carried off another anchor ; they let go the
third, and the ship went so far adrift that she was near
bein^^ stranded. Disheartened by so many untoward
accidents, the stock of provisions on board the fleet
being nearly exhai-.sted, the governor, for the present,
abandoned the thought of any further search after the
colonists, and sat sail for the West Indies, with the
intention of refitting the vessels, wintering and pro-
curing a supply of provisions, in order to return in the
spring.
Perhaps the hope of a better success, than in the first
part of the voyage, in cruising against the Spaniards,
induced this determination : if it did, the expectations it
had created were disappointed. A few days after the
departure of the -vessels from cape Hatteras, the wind
proved unfavorable, and continuing in the same direc-
tion for a long time, governor White directed his pilots
to make the best of their wav to the Western islands,
which he reached on the 23d of September; and after a
short stay they proceeded to England.
Sir Walter Raleigh's assignees, made no further at-
tempt to discover or release the unfortunate colonists.
They were never heard of. Lawson, who lived in
North Carolina, during the first year of the eighteenth
century, supposes *' they were forced to cohabit with
the natives for relief and conversation." He adds, that
the Hatteras Indians, who then lived on Roanoke island,
or much frequented it, boasted, that several of their
ancestors were white people, and *' could talk in a book;"
the truth of which he thought confirmed, by several of
them hiwing grey eyes, a circumstance which does not
1593] THE SECONDv 37
occur in any other tribe. The ruins of a fort were ex-
tant in his days, and other traces of them are still discern-
able. English coin, a brass gun, a powder horn, and a
small quarter deck gun, made of iron strives, with hoops
of the same metal, were shown to him as existing relics
of the first adventurers.
Although the French had not yet any fixed colonies
in America, they were not inattentive to their discove-
ries in Canada. In 1591, a fleet sailed from St. Malo, for
the river St. Lawrence. The French resorted to the
islands at the mouth of that stream, to fish for morses or
sea cows ; the teeth of these animals were then sold much
dearer than ivory ; they are a foot, and sometimes more,
in length ; their hides, when tanned, are as large and
much thicker than a bull's. A single bark caught, this
year, fifteen hundred of them.
War continuing between England and Spain, priva-
teers of the former nation, frequently visited the West
Indies in search of booty. In 1592, Christopher New-
port conducted thither, three ships and a small bark, and
took several prizes, on the coast of Hispaniola, in the
bay of Honduras, and plundered and burnt several
towhs, and obtained considerable plunder.
In the following year, Georg Drake, an Englishman,
made a voyage up the gulf of St. Lawrence, to the
island of Nameo, and carried home intelligence of the
profitable trade of the French in this part of America.
Other English ships went at the same time, to cape Bre-
ton, to fish for morses and whales. This is the first
mention we find, of whale fishery by the English. Al-
though they found no whale in this instance, yet they
discovered, on an island, eight hundred whale fins, at a
place where a Biscayan ship had been lost three years
38 CHAPTER ' [1594
before, and this is the first account we find of whale fins
and whale bone, as an article of trade to England.
Sylvester Wyat, of B^'istol, soon after sailed up the
bav of St. Lawrence, in a bark of thirty-five tons, as far
as the rite of Assumption, for the barbs or fins of whales
and train oil. Ten leagues up the bay of Plauntra, he
found the fishermen of St. John de Huz, Sebibeno and
Biscay, to be upwards of sixty sail, of which, eight
ships only were from Spain. At FauUon, foXirteen
leagues to the westward of cape Brace, he found twenty
sail of Englishmen ; and having, in their harbor, satis-*
factorily made up his return cargo, he sailed for England.
Sir Walter Raleigh sent, this year, captain Whidden,
an old and experienced officer, to Guiana, in South
America, and receiving flattering accounts from that
country, determined on visiting it in person. Fitting out
a fleet at a great expense, he sailed from Plymouth on
the 6th of February following: aiming at Trinidad, he
spent a month in coasting the island. Learning, during
this period, the state of St. Joseph, a small city lately
built by the Spaniads, on that island ; and knowing that
the search for Guiana, could only be made in small
crafts, and that his ships must be left several hundred
miles behind, he deemed it unsafe to leave behind him a
garrison of enemies, interested in the same enterprise,
and in daily expectation of re-enforcement from Spain,
Determined in this purpose, in the dusk of the evening,
he boldly assailed the guards, and having put them to the
sword, advanced with one hundred men, and by break
of day took the city, which, at the entreaty of the In-
dians, he sat on fire. He took Antonio de Boneo, the
Spanish governor, prisoner, and carried him on board of
his ship. Sir Walter was provoked to this measure by
1595] THE SECOND. 39
the treachery oF Boneo, who, the year before, had cap-
tured ei£(ht of' captain Whidden's men, after having
given his word, that ihey might take wood and water
safely. It appears that he and his followers, had treated
the Indians with great cruelty, which accounts for the
attachment, these oppressed natives manifested for Sir
Walter, and the English people, whom they considered
as their detiverers. Bancroft, so lately as 1766, saysy
*Hhe Charibees, of Guiana, retain a tradition of an
English chief, who, many years since, landed among
them, and encouraged them to persevere in enmity to
the Spaniards, promising to return and settle among
them, and afford them assistance. It is said that they
still preserve an English jack, which he left with themp
that they might distinguish his countrymen." **This,"
, adds Bancroft, ** was undoubtedly Sir Walter Raleigh,
who, in the year 1595, made a descent on the coast of
Guiana, in search of the fabulous city of Manoa del
Dorado,''^
Leaving his ships at Trinidad, Sir Walter proceeded,
with one hundred men, in boats, four hundred^ miles up
the Oronoque ; but the river beginning, dangerously,' to
swell, he returned without effecting any discovery. Se°
veral petty kings of the country, howev^er, resigned
their sovereignties into his hands, for the use of queen
Elizabeth. It was his intention to seek for the colonists
governor White had left in Virginia ; but violent storms
compelled him to abandon his design.
On the 25th of August, Sir Francis Drake and Sir
John Hawkins, sailed from England with six of the
queen's ships, and twenty-one private ships and barks,
on an expedition against the Spaniards, to the West
Indies. Om the way from Gaudeloupe to Porto Rico,
40 ^ - CHAPTER. [1597
Sir John Hawkins died; and was succeeded in his com-
mand, by Sir Thomas Barkerville. Tlie next day,
Sir Francis made a desperate attack on the shipping in
the harbor of Porto Rico: but, obtaining Uttle advan-
tage, he proceeded to the main, and took the towns of
Rio de la Hache, Rancheria, St. Martha and Nombre
de Dios. Sir Thomas Barkerville now marched, with
seven hundred and fifty men, for the reduction of
Panama; but the Spaniards having had notice of his
design, had strongly fortified themseves, and he was
obliged to abandon the enterprize.
Sir Francis Drake, proceeding to Nombre de Dios,
died on his passage, between the island of Escudo and
Porto Beilo, on the 28th of January. His remains
were, according to naval custom, sunk in the sea, very
near the place where he first laid the foundation of his
fame and fortune. The fleet anchored at Porto Bello,
the same day ; but the inhabitants fled at the approach
of the Enghsh, carrying away their goods.
Sir Walter Raleigh, at his own expense, fitted out
two vessels, under Lawrence Keymis, who made fur-
tlier discoveries in Guiana. In the following year, he
sent thither Leonard Berne, in a pinnace. This man
entered into a friendly correspondence with the natives,
and returned to England. ,
Sir Anthony Shirley, commanding an English
s<iuadron, landed at Jamaica on the 29th of January , and
inarched six miles into the island, to the principal town.
The inhabitants submitting to his mercy, he resided
there about five weeks, and then sailed for Honduras,
and took Puerto de Cavallos.
The earl of Cumberland having received a commis-
sion from the queen, to attack and destroy the territories
159r| ' THE SECOND 41
of her enemies, took the island of Porto Rico, and car-
ried oiF eighty pieces of cannon, eighty ships, and much
wealth; but the expedition was disastrous; for about
six hundred men were lost by the bloody flux, sixty
slain in battle, and about forty cast away on the return
of the fleet.
Monsieur de Pointis appeared, with a squadron, be-
fore Carthagena, and forced it to capitulate; but his
soldiers, in breach of the capitulation, pillaged the town*
Charles Leigh, a merchant of London, made, this
year, a voyage to cape Breton and the island of Ramea.
Having given umbrage to the French, in the latter place,
by taking the powder and ammunition from a vessel^
supposed to belong to Spain, but which proved to be-
long to the subjects of the French king, two hundred
Frenchmen assembled, and planted three peices of ord-
nance on the shore, against the English, and discharged
on them, one hundred small shot from the woods.
There were also, in readiness to assail them, about three
hundred Indians. On a parley, however, the contest
subsided. In this voyage, Leigh obtained a considera-
ble quantity of codfish and train oil, and had some traffic
with the natives.
France, after fifty years of internal commotions, hav-
ing recovered her tranquility, ^as enabled to renew her
enterprizes for the colonization of Canada. Henry IV,
gave to the Marquis de la Roche, a commission to con-
quer that country, and other countries in America, not
possessed by any Christian prince. The marquis took
with him, a Norman named Chetodel, as his pilot, and a
number of convicts out of prison. He landed forty of
these men on the isk of Sable, and proceeded to Acadia,
made researches in that region, and returned to France,,
N. CARO. 6
4t CHAPTER [1600
without attempting to make any settlement, or having it
in his power to carry back those miserable outcasts^
whom he had set on shorcr Ht- was prevented, b^ vari-
ous misfortunes, from returning to America, and died
of vexation.
His patent was renewed in the following year, m favor
of Monsieur de Chauvin, who now made a voyage up the
river St. Lawrence, to Tadoassac, two hundred and
seventy miles from the sea. He returned home with a
load of fnrs, leaving some of his people, who were ena-
bled, by the kindness of the natives, to encounter the
severity of the climate. He made a second voyage, the
next year, with the same good fortune ; and sailed up
the St. Lawrence, as high as the place on which the
town of Trois Rivieres has since been built.
This year, Willii^m Parker sailed from Plymouth, in
England, with two ships, one pinnace, and two shallops,,
to Cumana; and Iraving taken the pearl fishery in that
island, with the governor of Canada, who was there with
a company of soldiers, he received five hundred pounds,
in pearl, for the ransom of the whole; proceeding to
Porto Bello, he made himself master of it, remained on
it one day, plundered, and left it, without injury to its
buildings.
Although the disastrous effect of Raleigh's attempt,,
to effect a settlement in America, together with the war
with Spain, checked the spirit of colonization, it was
now revived: Bartholomew Gosnold sailed, in a small
bark, from Falmouth, with thirty-two persons, for the
northern ports of Virginia, with the design of beginning
a plantation. One is> surprised, at the smallness of the
means, which were depended upon, for the establishment
of the English colonies in America, Of the thirty-
1602] THE SECOND 43
* I.
two persons who embarked with Gosnold, eight were
*' mariners and sailors; twelve purposvjd, after the dis-
covery of a proper place for a plantatio;i, to rt-turn with
the ship to E'lsylaiid; the rest, in all twelve persons,
were to remain there for population." Instead of making
the usual circuit, by the Canaries and West Indies, he
steered, as near as the wind would permit, due west,. and
was the first fLuglishman who came in a direct course,
to this part of America. After a passage of seven
weeks, he discovered land on the American coast ; and
soon after, met a shallop, with sails and oars, having on
board eight Indians. These people first hailed the
English : after signs of a friendly disposition, and a long
speech made by one of the Indians, they jumped on
board : they were *' all naked, having loose deer skins
about their shoulders, and near their waiste, seal skins
tied fast, like Irish dinmic trowsers." One of them,
ivho seemed to be their chief, wore a waistcoat, breeches,
cloth stockings, shoes, and a hat ; one or two others,
had a few things of European fabric ; and these, *' with
apiece of chalk, described the coast thereabouts, and
could name Placeiitia, of Newfoundland : they spoke
divers Christian words.'* Their vessel was supposed
to have belonged to some unfortunate fishermen, from
Biscay, wrecked on the coast. Sailing along the coast,
captain Gosnold discovered, on the next day, ahead,
land, in the latitude of forty-two degrees, where he
came to anchor ; and taking a great number of cod,
he called it cape Cod. On the following day, he
coasted the land southerly, and in attempting to double
a point, he came suddenly into shoal water, and called
the place Point Care ; Dr. Belknap supposes this to
have been the point, now called Malesbarre, or Sandj^
44 CHAPTER CI6O2
Point, the southern extremity of the county of Barnsta-
stable, in Massachusetts : he proceeded southerly^
as far as an island, which, in honor of the queen, he.
called Elizabeth island, a name which it still retains :
he found on it, a pond of fresh water, two miles in cir-
cumference, in the centre of which, is a small,* rocky,
isle, on which he began to erect a fort and store house.
In the year 1797, Dr. Belknap visited this spot, and
discovered the remains of the cellar of this house, the
stones of which were, evidently, taken from the neigh-
bouring beach, the rock of the isle being less moveable,
and lying in ledges. While the men were occupied in
this work, Gosnold went to the main land, to traffic
with the natives, who dwelt on the banks of the river,
on which the town of New Bedford now stands. In
nineteen days, the fort and house were completed ; but,
discontents arising among those who were to remain in
the country, the design of a settlement was abandoned,
and the whole of the company returned to England.
Sir Walter, although he bad no longer, any particular
interest in the colony of Virginia, made a further effort
for the discovery and relief, of the men left there by go-
vernor White. He purchased, and fitted out a bark,
and despatched Samuel Mace, an able seaman, from
Weymouth, who left that port in the month of March,
fell on the American coast, in about the thirty-fourth
degree of north latitude, and proceeded along it, but
returned home without effecting the object of his mis-
sion. This was the fifth attempt of Sir Walter, to suc-
cour his colonists, since the year 1587. ** At this last
time, to avoid all excuse, he bought a bark, and hired
all the company, for wages by the month ; but they fell
forty leagues to the southward of Hattaracke, in thirty-
1603] THE SECOND, 45
four degrees, or thereabouts ; and having there spent a
month, when they came along the coast to seek the peo-
ple, they did it not, pretending, that the extremity of
weather, and loss of some principal tackle, forced,
them from the object of searching for the port of Hatta-
racke, to which they were sent."
Notwithstanding the vast expense of men and trea-
sure, wasted in the attempt to establish an English col-
ony, on the shores of the northern continent of Amer-
ica, at the expiration of about twenty years, since the
first voyage of Amidas and Barlow, to Ocracock, there
was not, at the death of queen Elizabeth, the 24th of
March, 1603, a single individual settled on the main ;
and, although upwards of a century had elapsed, since
the discovery of the new world by Columbus, no Eu-
ropean nation, excepting the Spani^irds, had succeeded
in making any settlement on it ; and a few soldiers of
that nation, maintained at two or three posts in Florida,
appear to have been all the Europeans in North Amer-
ica. As before the attempts of the British, the w^hole
norti^ern continent, was known to the Europeans under
the appellation of Florida, now all that part of it, from
the spot, on which the first adventurers of that nation
landed, northly, was called Virginia, as far at least, as the
river St. Lawrence. The geographers of the day, re-
presented that vast extent of country, as divided into
three parts : Canada belonging to the French, Virginia
to the English, and Florida to the Spaniards : within
these insipient divisions, no settlement had as yet been
made, so as to have entitled any part of it to a par*
ticular name.
It is surprising, to find with how much difficulty the
colonists provided for their subsistence; the woods
4B CHAPTER. fl603
teemed with buffalo, deer, opossums, and squirrels ;
there were immense banks of oysters and cockles, and
herrings visited the rivers yearly, in large shoals :
the sea and rivers supplied fish in abundance ; the trees
of the forest yielded honey in quantity, as well as
grapes, persimons, plumbs, and other fruit: wild tur-
keys and other game, were in plenty ; and we have seen,
that, whatever was committed to the ground yielded am-
ple returns : the Indians drew from their gardens, large
supplies of beans, peas, and pumpkins: in the spring, the
ground was covered with strawberries : the briers af-
forded black and other berries : s^^irubs yielded chinca-
pins : land turtles were easily procured.
The failure, of Sir Walter's efforts to plant a colony
in Virq:inia, is to be attributed to the ordinary cause of
the failure of most of men's attempts: the absence
of the eye of the master, the great distance at which the
operations he directed, were to be executedv and the
small share of his attention, which other more impor-
tant, immediate, or near objects of his ambition, or ease,
allowed him to bestow on his colony. There cannot
be any doubt, that, if one half of the treasure that was
fruitlessly wasted, had been disbursed in these and sub-
sequent operations, under the immediate direction of a
man of ordinary prudence, a very different result w^ould
have been obtained.
The spot selected was not, it is true, the most eligi-
ble one ; but the cUmate was extremely mild : the land,
though generally barren, was sufficiently variegated with
fertile spots.
CHAPTER la
Towards the middle of the month of April, 1603, a
ship of fifty tons, called the Speedwell, was despatched
from Milford Haven, for the further discovery of the
northern part of Virginia, under the command of Martin
Pring; a bark of twenty-six tons, called the Discovery,
was also put under Pring's orders; he reached the
American coast early in June, between the 43d and 44th
degrees of northern latitude, among a number of islands^
in the mouth of Penobscot bay, and proceeded southerly
^o a bay, which he called Whotson bay, in honor of the
mayor of Bristol, who had patronised and was interested in
the expedition ; he there built a hut, which he surround-
ed with a palissade ; here a part of his men kept guard,
while the others were emploj-ed in collecting sassafras,
with which he was directed to load his vessels. The na-
tives visited the English, and demeaned themselves, and
were treated, in a friendly manner; and after a stay of
seven weeks, a cargo being obtained for the bark, she was
despatched home. Soon afterwards, the Indians manr-
^sted hostile intentions. Pring hastened the loading of
the ship, and sailed for England on the 9th of August,
In the mean while, another attempt had been made to
search for and relieve the colonists left bv governor White,
near Cape Hatteras. Bartholomew Gilbert sailed for
this purpose, in a bark of fifty tons, on the lOthof Ma\
'i
4^ CHAPTER [1603
he took the old route, by the West Indies, and descried
the continent on the 23d of July, about the 40th degree
of northern latitude. Adverse winds prevented him from
proceeding to the Chesapeake, where he was directed to
land. Having gone ashore with four men, the Indians
fell upon and destroyed this small party. Dismayed at
the event, the people on board weighed anchor immedi-
ately, and returned home.
Henry IV. of France, being ever intent on es-
tablishing a French colony, on the northern part of the
continent, granted this year to Pierre de Gaet, Sieur du
Montz, a lord of his bed chamber, a patent for all the
land, between the 40th and 46th degrees of northern lati-
tude, including not only what is now known to us as the
provinces of Canada and New-Brunswick, the New -Eng-
land states, and those of New- York, New-Jersey and
Pennsylvania, constituting him his lieutenant-general in
that region.
Samuel Champlain, of Bronage, in France, sailed up
the St. Lawrence, and anchored at Tadoussac.
Although the Europeans had as yet no settlement
on the northern continent of America, they employed
200 ships and 10,000 men, in the fisheries of New-
Foundland.
In the following year, the Sieur Dumontz sailed for
America, taking Champlain as his pilot, and attended
by Mons. Potrincourt, with a number of adventurers.
On their arrival, Dumontz made a grant to Potrincourt
of a tract of land, which was called Port Royal, a name
which it retained till the English, in the reign and in
honor of quetn Ann, substituted to it that of Annapolis.
Dumontz, leaving the grantee in possession of his new
acquisition with a few colonists, proceeded up a river
1604] THE THIRD. 49
then called by the natives Scoodick, but afterwards St.
Croix, which, in the treaty by which the independence of
the United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, is
named, as constituting a part of ihe boundary of the do-
minions of the contracting parties. On an island, in the
middle of this river, Dumontz wintered and erected a
fort, part of the foundations of which were discovered in
1798, by Professor Webber, who attended the Ameri-
can commissioners.
On the 18th of August, king James concluded a trea-
ty of peace with Phillip II. of Spain. By this event, a
number of his subjects, of birth and enterprise, to whom
the war had afforded employment for their talents, find-
ing their attention and hopes excited by the great suc-
cess of the Spaniards in South America, turned their
thoughts towards emulating their rivals, on the northern
continent.
The discovery of gold mines, and of a north-west
passage to the Indies, was the prominent object of the
adventurers' ambition. The earl of Southampton, and
the earl of Arundel, fitted out a ship, and gave the com-
mand of it to George Weymouth. He sailed from the
Downs with twenty-eight persons, on the 31st of March,
and forty -four days after made land in about 41 degrees 30
minutes north latitude. After coasting awhile, he entered
and sailed about 60 miles up the river which is now called
Penobscot, in the state of Maine. He set up crosses in
several places, in token of his having taken possession of
the country, had some traffic with the natives, and in
the month of July returned to England, carrying with
him five Indians, one a Sagamore, and three chiefs.
The year 1605 is rcmaikable for the first attempt to
the establishment of the British empire in the West In-
N. CARO. 7
50 .CHAPTER [1606
dia islands. The crew of a ship, called the Olive Blos-
som,, owned by Sir Oliver Leigh, bound from London
to Surinam, landed on and took posse>sion oi the inland
of Bi^'badces; they found it ^bandoiied by the native
Chiraibs, and ert cted a cross, on which they inscribed
Jamesy king of England^ and of this island.
The ill success of the attempts made by individuals of
the English nation, during near a quarter of a century^
which had elapsed since the expedition under the orders
of Amidas and B trlow, haviui]^ evinced that private
means were insufficient for the accomplishment of the
desired end, in the sprinj^ of the fblio\ring vear, an asso-
ciation was formed in London, composed of men of in-
fluence, talent and wealth, with a view, by their urjited
stock and efforts, to overcome the difficulties, which had
heretofore attended the establishment of an English
colony in the new world.
Sir Richard Ha':klu.>t, one of the dignitaries of West-
minster, was among the foremost. Historians place the
name of this gentleman, immediately after that of Sir
Walter Rileigh, in the list of the promoters of this noble
undertaking. Educated imdcr the directions of a kins-
man of great natural and commercial information, he had
bestowed an early attention upon history arid geography,
and in his more mature years had trannlatc:d into Eng-
lish, relations which had been published in Spain and
Portugal, of the voyages and discoveries of tlie adven-
turers of those nations, and had published acc" unts of
the expeditions ot the navigators of his own. The sup-
port of the crown was sought and obtained, and king
James favored the association with a charter.
This instrument bears date the 10th of April. It
incorporates Sir Thomas Smith, Sir John Somers,
1606] THE THIRD. 51
Richard Hackluyt, Edward M. Wingfield, of the city of
London, and tlK individuals wi'.o may thereafter be join-
ed to them, as iht first colony^ and authorizes them to
begin their settlement or plantation, at any place on the
coast of Virginia, in America, betwe« n the 34th and
4l3t degree of northern latitude, and a grant is made to
them of ail the country for the distance of fifty miles on
the coast, on each side of the spot, on which they may
make their first settlement, and one hundred miles back,
making in the whole 10,000 square miles, or six mil-
lions four hundred thousand acres, together with all the
islands over and against the coast, within the distance of
one hundred miles.
Thomas Hanham, Raleigh Gilbert, William Parker,
and George Popham, of the town of Plymouth, and
such individuals, who may thereiifter be joined to them,
are by the same instrument incorporated as the second
company. They are directed to make their first settle-
ment on the same coast, within the 38th and 45th de-
grees of northern latitude, and the same extent of terri-
tory is allotted to them as to the first colony, of which
the spot on which they may begin their first establish-
ment is likewise to be the centre. But it is provided,
that after either colony shall have begun its settlement,
the other shall nut begin its own, within a less distance
than one hundred miles. All the king's subjects are
forbidden to settle, on the back of the lands of the colo-
nies, without the king's license.
The internal government of each colony is given to a
council of thirteen persons, to be constituted by the king,
and regulated by his instructions, under his sign manual,
and a council of Virginia, the members of which are
likewise to be chosen by the king, to regulate the seve-
ral affairs of both colonies.
■ 52 ■ CHAPTER [1606
The colonies are to search for and obtain gold, silver
and copper, not only within their respective limits, but
also in the lands on the back of them, paying to the
king one fifth of the gold and silver, and one fifteenth of
the copper.
The councils are respectively authorized to establish
and cause to be struck^ a coin, to be current in the
colonies.
Leave is granted to the patentees, to carry to Virginia
such of the king's subjects, as may be willing to remove
thither, (excepting only those whom he may specially
forbid from emigrating,) and to take for this purpose a
sufficiency of shipping and ammunition of war; and
they are authorized to repel invasion or insult, by force.
A duty of two and a half per cent, on the commerce of
the king's subjects, and five per cent, on that of foreign-
ers, on sales and purchases, was granted to the colonies
for the term of twenty years, after which it was to be
collected for the king.
The exportation of the company's goods from any of
the king's dominions, were to be free from duty.
All persons, born in Virginia, were to be British
natural born subjects. ;
The king declares to all Christian kings, princes and
states, that if any person within the colonies, or any by
their license, shall lob or spoil, by sea or by land, or
commit any act of insult or unlawful hostility, on the
subjects of any king, prince or state, in amity with him,
he will, on complaint, cause proclamation to be made
within some convenient part of England, commanding
proper satisfaction to be made, and on default will put
the offender out of his liegeance and protection, and it
shall be lawful for the party injured to pursue him with
hostility.
1606] THE THIRD. 5^
Lastly, lands in Virginia are to be holden of the king,
as of the manors of East Greenwich, in the county of
Kent, in free and common socage ; not in capite.
The charter was accompanied with instructions and
orders, untler the king's sign manual, by which a board,
to be styled the king's council for Virginia, was estab-
lished, consisting of William Wade, lieutenant of the
tower of London, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Walter Cope,
Sir George Moore, Sir Thomas Popham, Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges, Sir John Trevor, Sir Henry Montague,
recorder of the city of London, Sir William Romney,
knights, John Doderidge, solicitor- general, and Tho-
mas Warr, esquire, John Eldred, of the city of
London, Thomas James, of Bristol, and John Bragg,
of the county of Devon, merchants. It being soon af-
ter found difficult to convene a board, the members resi-
ding at a considerable distance from each other, the king
created twenty-six new members; sixteen of whom were
presented to him by the first, and the rest by the second
colony. The council was now divided into two boards,
to each of which were committed the affairs of one of
the colonies.
These councils were, at the pleasure of the king and
his heirs, to give instructions to a council resident in
each colony, the members of which they were for the
first time to appoint ; the king reserving to himself the
right of new modelling and increasing the number of
the members of such councils.
The colonial councils were respectively to consist of
thirteen members, at most. They were to choose
among themselves a president ; this officer was not to
be a minister of the gospel : his election was to be an-
nual, and he, as well as the members, were removable a^
the pleasure of the board.
,34 CHAPTER [1606
It was recommended to these councils, to provide for
the celebration of divine worship among the colonists,
and as soon and as much as possible among the Indians,
according to the rites of the church of England.
They were charged to guard against attempts to de-
coy any of the whites from their allegiance, and to cause
to be arrested and imprisoned, and in flagrant cases to
be sent to England, any person endeavoring so to do.
Tumult, rebellion, conspiracy, mutiny, sedition,
murder, were directed to be punished with death, with-
out benefit of clergy. The president and council were
constituted a court in each colony, having cognizance of
these offences; the trial was to be by jury, but this
tribunal was authorized to suspend the execution of its
sentence until the king's pleasure was known; it had
jurisdiction of lesser offences, for which corporeal or pe-
cuniary punishment was denounced, and it was even au-
thorized to award damages to the injured. Its pro-
ceedings were to be summary and oral, until sentence,
which, with the nature of the offence, was to be reduced
to writing, and subscribed by all the councillors present.
During the first five years after their landing, the co-
lonists were to trade altogether in one, or at most three
common stocks, in each colony. The fruit of their la-
bors, and all the goods and commodities imported, were
to be deposited in a common warehouse, and a treasurer
or cape merchant, was to be appointed by the council, in
each colony, and with the assistance of clerks, was to re-
ceive, preserve, and deliver out the joint property. In
return for his labor, each colonist was to be supplied with
necessaries, out of the colony's stores.
The adventurers of the first colony were to appoint
one or more companies, each consisting of three persons
1606] THE THIRD, 56
at the least, to reside in London, or at such other place
as the council should appoint, durinj^ the first five years,
to receive and take charge of all commodities to be
shipped to or landed from the colony ; and the adven-
turers of the second, were to make similar appointments
at or in the neii>;hborhood of Plymouth.
Every colonist was to take an oath of obedience, and
that prescribed by the 4th of James.
The legislative power was vested in the colonial coun-
cils, but they were not restricted from denouncing any
punishment afi'ecting life or limb, and their acts were
liable to be rescinded by the king, or his council for Vir-
ginia, in England.
It was recommended to the colonists to treat the In-
dians with kindness, and to endeavor to bring them to
the knowledge of God, and obedience to the king.
Finally, the members of the king's council for Vir-
ginia, in England, were to take such oaths as the privy
council should appoint, and the colonial council such as
the king's council for Virginia should require.
The adventurers for the first colony, eager to realize
the hopes, which the formation of so respectable an asso-
ciation had excited, soon fitted out two ships and a small
bark, which they placed under the orders of Christopher
Newport; his instructions bear date the 10th of De-
cember. A list of the persons who were to compose
the first colonial council, was committed in a sealed co-
ver to his care and that of Bartholomew Gosnold and
John RadclifFe, with directions to open it within twenty-
four hours after their landing in Virginia, and not be-
fore ; and it was ordered, that immediately after its being
opened, the councillors should be proclaimed, a presi-
dent chosen, and government organised : Newport was
36 s CHAPTER [1607
instracted to spend two months, in discovering and re-
connoitering the rivers and harbors of the country, with
such vessels and crews as the council should direct, and
to return with such commodities as could in the mean-
while be procured, leaving the bark for the service of the
colony.
The council in England being very intent on the dis-
covery of a passage to the south sea, as the certain and
infallible way to rich mines of gold, directed the colonists
to enter and sail up every navigable stream, and if any
of them happened to have two main branches, and the
difference was not great, to follow that which led to the
north-west, it being imagined that the Pacific ocean
would probably be sooner reached in that direction.
They particularly desired that notice should be taken,
whether the rivers they examined sprang from the moun-
tains or a lake, as, in the latter case, a passage to the op-
posite sea would be more easily attained, and out of the
same lake, streams might be found, flowing in a contrary
direction.
The flotilla took its departure from Black well on the
19th of December, sailing by the way of the Canary and
the West India islands. Some time was spent in tra-
ding with seaports, and the continent was not reached
till the 26th of April. The names of cape Henry and
cape Charles were given to the promontories through
which they entered the bay of Chesapeake, in honor of
Henry, prince of Wales, and Charles, duke of York, his
brother, who afterwards succeeded to the British crown.
A party of twenty persons landed on cape Henry, where
they were met by five Indians, who wounded two of
them^dangerously, and fled to the woods.
In the evening the packet, which contained the list of
the councillors and the orders of the company, was
leOT] • THE THIRD. 5^7
opened and read. It appeared that Edward M. Wing,
field, Bartholomtw Gv)saoid, Jolaii Smith, Christopher
Newport, Johii RadolifFe, John Martin, and John Ken-
dal, were appointed of the council : Wingfield was ap-
pointed presiident.
The colonial council, a few days after, fixed on a pen«
insula on the north side of a river, which the natives
called Powhatan, and to which die name of James river
was now given, in honor of the king, for the spot on
which the habitations of the colonists were to be erected,
and dignified it with the name of Jamestown, a name
which it still retains; and although it never was, nor is
likely ever to be remarkable for population, commerce
or wealth, it will long boast of being the most ancient
settlement of the whites in tht: United States.
The site was advantageous, and eminendy so, when
compared to the shoaly and dangerous coasts, on which
chance had thrown the first French and English adven-
turers on the continent. A happy situation, as well as
a valuable one; yet it was not sulficiently advantageous
to insure the prosperity of the colony. Animosities had
arisen among some of the principal colonists during their
long voyage, and had not finished with it. The colonial
council had bti^un its operations by an act of injustice, ia
excluding John Smith trom a seat at their bo. rd. The
colony suffered much irom the loss of the advantages,
which it had reason to expect from his influence and ac-
tivity. Appeased, however, some time after, by the
exhortations of Mr. Hunt, their chaplain, the council
admitted the excluded member, who receiving his com-
mission the next day, they all turned their undivided
attention to the government of a colony ** feeble in
N, CARD. 8
58 CHAPTER * [1601
numbers and enterprise, which was thus planted in
discord, and grew up in misery."
Newport and Smith were now sent with twenty men,
to reconnoitre the stream, upon which the colonists had
fixed their residence. On the sixth day, they reached an
Indian town, called Powhatan, consisting of about twelve
houses, pleasantly situated on a hill, a little below the spot
on wlVich the city. of Richmond now stands ; it was the
principal and hereditary seat of Powhatan, emperor of the
country ^ who had given his name to the town and riven
The council had judged it best to forbear any thing
like military parade, even to admit any other kind of for-
tification, than a few logs placed together in the shape of
a half moon. The natives soon came to visit the new
comers, and at first manifested none but friendly disposi-
tions ; and the latter endeavored, by a kind and hospitable
reception, to encourage an intercourse. But the In-
dicins soon began to manifest a quite different temper ;
a party of the English, as has been said, had gone up the
river ; others were scattered in the woods, exploring the
ground, or procuring clapboards, and other timber for
loading the ships. The Indians came into town, and
fell on the few whites who had been left there, and were
quierly employed in building and gardening; and killed
a boy, wounded seventeen men, and retired into the
thickets, frightened by a cross-bar shot, which shattered
to pieces a huge tree, near which several of them stood.
This event excited the caution of the council ; thev
caused the fortification to be surrourded by a pallisade,
the ordnance to be mounted, and the men to be regularly
trained and exercised.
On the return of the party sent up the river, John
Smith marched against the Indians, and compelled them
to sue for peace.
1607] THE THIRD. 50
On the 16th of June, Newport and Nelson sailed for
England with the two ships, leaving one hundred colo-
nists in Jamestown. They did not bear wd\ the scorch-
ing heat of summer; they sickened in the fall, and were
reduced low; in consequence of the ill supply of pro-
visions, they were put on a very scanty allowance, and
the little food they had, was of a very inferior quality.
Penury, excessive heat, the moisture of the air, in a coun-
try covered with woods, generated disease ; one half of
the colonists fell its victims before the end of Septem-
ber ; the survivors, dispirited and famished, sought their
subsistence in crabs and sturgeons.
Wingfield was considered as the author of the dis-
tresses of the colony, by his embezzlement and waste of
its stores. The indignation of the colonists was raised
to the highest pitch, by the discovery of a project for de-
serting them, and returning to England in the bark,
which he was on the eve of effecting. He was dpoired,
with one of the council, who had engaged to accompany
him.
John Radcliffe was chosen president, in his room.
The new administrator was not remarkable, either for
wisdom or activity, but he was unassuming, and con-
fiding in the advice of John Smith, a man who, with an
undoubted courage and indefatigable activity, possessed
a strong judgment, permitted him to direct the afFairs of
the colony under him.
Smith immediately adopted the only plan that could
save the whites. He surrounded the town with forifi-
cations, rude indeed, but sullicient to resist the enemy
against which they were raised. He next marched with
^ small party, and alternately resorting to promises and
threats, to caresses and violence, induced or compelled
60 CHAPTER [160t
the neighboring tribes of Indians to yield him a supply
of provisions. In one of his expeditions afterwards, he
was attacked by a nnmerous party of savages and be-ing
compelled to retreat, fell up to the nt^ck in a swamp, and
was made a prisoner. Ht^ engaged for some time, the
attention of his captors, with a compass dial, which he
^ happened to have about him ; tht y wondered at the play
of the fly and needle, which the gla^s hindered them from
touching, without preventing them from seeing it ; he
excited their surprise and veneration, by the wonderful
accounts he gave them of its utility, so as to interest
them in his favor. They however bound, and triumph-
antly led him to Powhatan, their chief, by whose orders
he was about to be put to death, when Pocahonta, the
chieftain's favorite daughter, rushed between him and
his executioners, and by her entreaties and tears, pre-
vailed on her father to spare the captive's liie, and sooa
after to liberate him.
The store house at Jamestown, thatched with reeds,
taking fire by accident, burned with such violence, that
the fortifications, arms, appard, bedding, and much
private goods and provisions, were consumed.
Before the close of the year, Nelson and New[)ort re-
turned from England, with one hundred colonists, and
a considerable supply of provibions.
At the arrival of this timely succor, the colony was
reduced to thirty-eight persons, six^y- two having died
since the departure of these ships, in the month of June.
The survivers, worn out by fatigue, disease, and fam-
ine, had long been making pn parations to return home;
but Smith, alternately resorting to solicitations and
command, had prevailed upon them to delay tlie execu*
tion of their design »
leOI] THE THIRD. 61
Plenty appeared a.8:ain, and the planters industriously
applied themselves to clear and sow rhe ground. Their
atte;ition was, however, diverted from iheir necessary
pursuit, by tue disco verv of a yellowi->h sediment, in a
stream, issuing from a bank of sand: it was fondly con-
sidtrred, as a sure indication of a rich mine of gold.
The labors of husbandry were immediately suspended,
and every thought and every effort employed, in search,
ingfor, and securing, this apparently valuable dust ; and
one of the ships was sent home, with a load of this ideal
treasure. The fatal illusion was momentarv ; not so its
effects : they were long and sensibly felt. The neglected
fields yielded no crop, and penury was again attended
by disease. The colonists were once more* saved from
destruction, bv the indefatii^able activity of Smith, who
again, by persuasion, and when that failed, by violence,
induced the Indians to spare pArt of their stores to the
whites.
The succeeding winter was extremely cold, and the
risror of the season was the cause of additional mortality:
the winter was likewise extremely cold in the more
northern part of the continent. L'Escarbot, a French-
man, who was in Canada about this time, remarks, that
the winter of 1607, had been the hardest that had ever
been seen ; " many savages died throu.^h the rigor of
the weather : in these our parts, many poor people, and
travellers, have been killed, through the severe hardness
of winter weather."
There wtre judged to beat this time, within sixt)'
miles from Jamestown, about seven thousand Indians,
nearly two thousand of whom, were able to bear arms;
the most seen together, by the English, were from
seven to eight hundred.
t5> CHAPTER. [1608
On the recent encouragement for settling north Vir-
ginia, Raleigh Gilbert, a nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh,
with two ships and one hundred men, furnished with
ordnance, ammunition and provisions, landed at the
mouth of Sagadehoc, or Kennebeck river : he built
a storehouse, and fortified it, and gave it the name of
Fort St. George.
In the summer of the following year, John Smith,
with a party of fourteen men, explored in an open barge,
the bay of Chesapeake, from the ocean to the mouth of
the Susquehannah, trading with some tribes of Indians,
and fighting with some others; making, according to
his own reckoning, an ascent of ne.irly three thousand
miles. He found among the Susquehannah Indians,
hatchets, and utensils of iron and brass, which they had
obtained from the French, by the way of Canada. On
his return to Jamestown he drew a map of the bay, and
the rivers Rowing into it, and annexed to it, a descrip-
tion of the country, and the nations inhabiting it. This
map was made with such accuracy, that it is the original
from which all subsequent maps, have been chiefly
copied.
His superior ability and industry, induced the coun-
cil and settlers to invest him with the presidency of the
board, and government of the colony.
Newport returned soon after with seventy colonists,
among whom, were some persons of distinction: eight
Dutchmen and Poles were sent to teach the planters the
making of tar, glass and potash : by this vessel, the pre-
sident and council received instructions to explore the
western country, in order to procure certain intelligence
of the South Sea; and when Newport returned to Eng-
land, he left two hundred persons in the colony.
1609] THE THIRD. G3
The few men, left at Sagadehoc, having lost their
stores by fire, the preceding winter, and in this ''cold,
mountainous, barren, rocky, desert country, meetino-
with nothing but extreme hardships, and hearing of the
death of some of their principal supporters, returned
to England. Their patrons, offended at their unex-
pected arrival, desisted, for several years, from any
further attempt.''
The French availing themselves of this circumstance,
to extend their infant settlement; Dumontz, being en-
couraged by his sovereign, Henry IV. sent over three
ships with families to conmience a permanent settlement,
Samuel Champlain, who undertook to conduct this col-
ony, after examining ti)e most eligible places for a settle-
ment in Acadia, and on the river St. Lawrence, selected
a spot at the confluence of this river, and that of St.
Charles, at the distance of about three hundred and
twenty miles from the sea: here he erected barracks,
sowed wheat and rye, and on the third of July, laid the
foundation of the city of Quebec, the capital of Canada.
This year, Henry Hudson, under a commission
from king James, discovered Long island, that of
Manhattan, on which the city of NewYork now stands,
and the river to which he gave, and which still bears his
name.
In the course of the following year, Samuel Argal
arrived at Jamestown, in a ship loaded with provisions.
The great influence which the king derived from the
dependence on his will, in which the first charter kept
the affliirs of the company, had deterred many persons of
capital, rank and influence, from taking any share in its
concerns ; and the patentees chose not to ventuie much
farther than thcv had hitherto done. The monarch was
64 CHAPTER fiSOS
therefore, Induced, in order to revive their drooping
spirits, to grant them a new charter. This instrument
bears date, the 16th of May, 1609. It incorporates six
hundred and seventy individuals, and fifty-six corpora-
tions of the city oi London, under the style, of ** The
treasurer and company, of the adventurers and plan-
ters of the city oi London, tor the first colony of Viiv
ginia.'' It grants to them all the territory in that part
of America, called Virginia, from the point of land call-
ed cape, or point Comfort, two hundied miies to the
northward, and two hundred miies to the southward,
along the sea coast, irom sea to sea, with all the islands
along the coasc, wiihin one hundred n)iks. A council is
established, to be composed of sixty -two nobiemen,
knights and gentlemen, resident in London, under the
style of ** The king's council for the company of adven-
turers and planters, of Virginia." Sir Thomas Smith
was appointed treasurer, and the vacancies in the coun-
cil, were to be filled up by the treasurer and council, out
of the adventurers. The appointment of the governor
and other officers, was vested in the council, who were
authorized to legislate for the colonists, while resident in
Virginia, or in their outward and homeward voyages :
all the former laws were abrogated. The adventurers
were liable to be disfranchised, by the major part of the
assembly of the adventurers, and the treasurer andcoun-
cil were empowered to admit new members of the
corporation.
The company were authorised to search for mines,
not only within the boundaries of the grant, but in any
part of the country not granted to other persons ; and
to ship to Virginia, any of the king's subjects, not espe-
cially excepted by him, and who might be willing to
i609] THE THIRD. eS
remove thither, with all necessary supplies, free from
duty.
A freedom from all subsidies and customs, in Vir.
giuia, for twenty-one \ears, was granted, and from taxes
and impositions f 3r ever, on importation and exporta-
tion of goods, by the treasurer and company, except
five per cent.
The company was authorized to repel, by violence,
every intruder, and to seize the vessels and goods of
persons trading within their limits, without their
Jicense.
Children, born in Virginia, were declared natural born
subjects of the kifig.
Jurisdiction, in criminal matteis, was given to the go-
vernor and council, and they were empowered to enforce
martial law, in case of rebellion.
Lastly, provision w^as made for the favorable interpre-
tation of the charter, and the confirmation of such privi-
leges in the former one, as were not abrogated in the pre-
sent. Future adventurers were allowed to be entitled
to the same privileges as the present patentees, and the
oath of supremacy v/as required to be taken, by every
person removing to Virginia.
Lord Delaware was chosen first governor of Vir-
ginia, under the new charter. In accepting his com-
mission, he required some little time to arrange his pri-
vate concerns; and, in the mean while, the council
despat'jhed Sir Thomas Gates as lieutenant general, and
Sir George Somers as admiral. The fleet, with which
they sailed, consisted of nine ships, on board of which,
five hundred colonists took passage. It sailed in tlie
latter part of May.
N. CAIIO. 9
6G CHAPTElt [160Sr
Sir Thomas and Sir George were the bearers of a
commission, authorizing them, on their landing in Vir-
ginia, to cause lord Delaware to be proclaimed, to su-
persede the former council, and to take upon themselves
the administration of the governrnxcnt of the colony, till
the arrival of his lordship.
These two officers were on board of the same ship,
which was separated from the fleet, in a violent storm,
on the 25th of July, and cast ashore on the rocks of Ber-
mudas ; a hmail ketch perished at the same time. The
fleet reached Jamestown a few weeks after ; (about tlie
middle of August.)
Without tidings from their commanders, and de-
prived of all the papers, which the council had sent with
the new administration, it appeared impossible to change
the order of things. The new colonists insisted, that
the former form of government was abrogated ; but, as
they could produce no testimony of its abrogation,
nor any warrant, authorizing the establishment of any
new form, Smith refused to yield up the reins of go-
vernment. The accession of a number of colonists,
which should have added to the security of the colony,
heightened the danger it was in. Anarchy and confu-
sion prevailed ; the authority of Smith, verging towards
its end, was but httle respected : to the new comers,
Smith attributed the disastrous situation of the country:
he describes them as "a lewd company, containing
many unruly gallants, packed hither by their friends, to
create ill destinies." He detached two hundred of them
to the falls of James river, and to that part of the present
state of Virginia, which is now called the county of
Nansemond. In the latter settlement, the English, im-
1609] THE THIRD. «e7
prudently giving offence to the neighbouring Indians,
the savages fell upon them, and massacred the greater
number: and the survivors returned to Jamestown, to
seek protection under the authority, which, a short time
before, they had contemned.
A systematic design was now meditated upon, by
Powhatan, against the colony ; but his expectations w^ere
frustrated, by the discovery made by Pocahonta, his
daughter, tlien but about twelve or thirteen years of age,
who, in a dark and dreary night, came to Smith, in
Jamestown, and informed him of her father's determi-
nation, to come and destroy the colonists, on the follow-
ing day : this timely information enabled the whites to
avert the impending blow.
In the latter part of the year, president Smith, return-
ing from an excursion up the bay; the casual explosion
of a keg of gun powder near him, while he was sleeping
in his boat, so miserably mangled his body, that he was
for several days, unable to move without assistance : he
caused himself, at last, to be brought on board of one
of the ships, and returned to England, in search of bet-
ter professional assistance, than the colony could afford.
He left behind him, besides the ships, seven boats,
commodities to trade, a crop of corn lately housed, pro-
visions for ten weeks in the store, upwards of four
hundred and ninety colonists, twenty four pieces of
ordnance, three hundred muskets, with other arms, and
a sufficient quantity of ammunition.
The Indians, their language and habitations, were
well known. The colony was well supplied with nets
for fishing, farming utensils, wearing apparel, and pos-
sessed five horses and a mare, five or six hundred hogs,
6S CHAPTER p610
some g:oats, sheep and fowls, and were in every other
respect in a comfortable and prosperous situation.
The Virginians were not long without feeling the
absence of the chief, to whose judgment and activity the
colony owed its prosperous state. In the disorder that
ensued, s veral laid claim to the supreme command;
the choice of the colonists, at last, fell upon George
Perc'v , whose heart was virtuous, and whose connexions
were respectable, but whc '>e talents were not suited to
the turbulence of the times ; his constitution had ill
borne the effects of a change of climate, and his health
was so much impaired, that he stood in need of Euro-
pean medical assistance, as much as the person he was
a})pointed to succeed.
The Indians soon became conscious of the advantage
which they derived, from the absence of the man by
whom they had, until now, been reduced, and kept ift
awe and subjection, and of the favorable opportunity of
making a successful attack upon the whites; the wonted
supplies were kept back, and casual aggressions an»
nounced soon frer a state of war. Unable to attack the
enemy, the whites confined themselves to Jamestown,
and lost the opportunity of j)rocuring food by hunting;
their stock of provisions was consumed, and a dreadful
famine ensued ; in six months, the colony was reduced
to sixty-eii^ht persons, of all ages and sexes, so feeble
and emaciated, that they could not have survived their
companions, without some speedy reli^ f.
Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers arrived at
Jamestown tram Bermudas on the twenty-third of May ;
none of the crew of the vessel, in which they had been
shipwrecked, had perished, and they had been so fortu-
1610] THE THIKD, e^
nate as to save all the provisions on board of it ; during
a stay of ten months on this uninhabited island, they had
built two barks, in which they had made the voyage to
Virginia.
One hundred and thirty persons came in these barks,
and the provisions saved from the ship, having support-
ed them at Bermudas, during their long stay there, and
during their passage, could not long supply their wants,
and those of the colonists, to whom they were now
joined.
It appeared, that on putting the people on the most
scanty allowance, the stock on hand would not last much
longer than a for' night. In this dilemma, it was deter-
mined to abandon the country, and proceed to New*-
foundland, where present relief might be obtiiined, and
sufficient shipping to carry the colonists to Eng-
land, this being the season of the fishery ; they sailed
Accordingly.
Thus, more than a quarter of a century after the first
attempt of the English to establish a colony in America,
six vears after the lavini^ the foundation of Jamestown,
was the northern- coniinent wltl^ut a single individual,
acknowledging obedience to the laws of England, not-
withstanding the very great sacrifices of lives and wealth,
in endeavoring to accomplish this desirable object.
The French settlement, in Canada, was thriving, and
Lewis XIII. who this year succeeded Henry IV. on the
throne of France, less inclined to war than his predeces-
sor, had manifested the intention to foster the rising
colony.
The Spaniards still kept a few soldiers, in some scat-
tered forts on the coast of Florida.
TO CHAPTER, >[i610
The Dutch had lately visited the island of Manhattan,
discovered by Hudson, in order to trade with the natives,
and built some huts, in token of their possession of
the country, to which they gave the name of New-
Netherland.
Sm ith — St'ith — Beverly — Keith — Marshall.
16101 THE FOURTH. 71
CHAPTER IV.
Little did the colonists believe, when they
abandoned Jamestown, and with it the hope of be-
ing among the founders of the English empire in
America, that in a few days an auspicious event
was to restore them to their forsaken dwellings, and
enable them to resume the successful establishment
of the first English colony. How near is often the
hour of despair to that, which aifords us the true
pledge of the attainment of our most sanguine wisheSc
The colonists wereyet in the river, when three ships
were descried approaching its mouth; Lord Del-
aware was in one of them; one hundred and fifty new^
settlers accompanied him, and the flotilla was load-
ed with a plentiful supply of provisions, clothing,
tools of husbandry, ammunition, &c. He prevailed
on the Virginians to return, and on his landing pro-
ceded to the church, where divine service was per-
fo'^med, after which he caused his commission to be
read, when president Percy surrendered to him his
authority with the patent and seal of the colony.
He had been vested with the sole and supreme
command in the colony, in the constitution of which
a very important change was effected; the original
aristocracy of the country was converted into the
rule of one, over the deliberations of whom th(^
n CHAPTER [1610
people had no control. The evil of anarchy
had of late been so sorely felt, that tlie necessity of
the change appeared obvious, and the amiable and
dignified demeanor of the new admihistraior, ei-
ther prevented or silenced the murmurs of tt.ose who
might not relish the alteration. A number of French-
men were brought with the last colonists, for the
purpose of cultivating the vine; and considerable
hopes were entertained that America would supply
the market of London with wine. It is extraordi-
nary, that, after the lapse of two centuries, notwith-
standing the apparent aptitude of soil and climate,
and the very frequent attempts that ha- e followed
this very important and costly experiment, and the
encouraging success of posterior ones, no prac-
tical result has as yei^ in any considerable degree
realized the fond expectation; nor even authorized
thebelief that the time is much nearer, when those
who delight in the juice of the grape, are to be gratis
fied by the prospect of an American vintage.
Under the administration of lord Delaware,
peace, industry, order and plenty succeeded to an-
archv, ill success, confusion and dearth*
Sir George Somers had noticed during his stay
at Bermudas, that there were in the woods of that
island a great number of hogs, which were suppos-
ed to have descended from animals of that species
that had escaped from some vessel wrecked near
that island. It was deemed prudent to send him thi-
ther, in order that he might obtain as many of them as
possible, which would make a valuable acquisition
to the stock of the colony. After a very tedious
passage, he reached the island, but before he could
1610] THE FOURTH. 13
accomplish the object of his mission, he departed
this life. Mathevv Somers, his nephew, who com-
manded under him, neglected the execution of his
dying wiil to fulfill the intentions of lord Delaware,
and returned to England to carry the corpse;
having buried the heart and entrails near the spot
on which the principal town of the island has since
been built, and called St. George, in honor of the
knight
This year, the earl of Northumberland and forty-
four other persons, were incorporated by the name
of the " Treasurer and company of the adven-
turers and planters of the cities of London and
Bristol, for the colony and plantation of New-
foundland," and obtained from the king a grant of
the country from the 46th to the 52d degree of
northern latitude, together with the seas and islands
lying within ten leagues from the coast. The
preamble stales, as one of the inducements to the
grant, that *' divers of the king's subjects were de-
sirous lo plant, in the southern and eastern parts of
Newfoundland, whither the subjects of this realm
have for upwards of fifty years been used annually
in no small number to visit, to fish." The parties
soon after sent thirty more persons, under the or-
ders of John Guy, of Bristol; who began a settle-
ment at Conception bay, where they wintered.
Under the administration of lord Delaware, the
colony rpassumed a promising aspect; but it did
not long possess the nobleman, to whom it was in-
debted for its restoration. His lordship, finding his
constitution daily impaired, by a climate not con-
genial to it, sailed oa the 28th o/ March, in quest
N. CARO. 10
74 . CHAPTER [^16 ii
of relief, far the island of Nevis, famous in those
days for its wholesome waters. The number ^of
colonists, at his departure from Jamestown, was
two hundred.
George Percy, who assumed the reins of govern-
ment, yielded them to Sir Thomas Dale, who had
been appointed to succeed lord Delaware, and who
arrived shortly after with three ships, bringing with
him three hundred colonists, twelve cows, twenty
goats, and abundance of provisions.
A new governor, however. Sir Thomas Gates,
arrived in the month of August: with him came a
small fleet, consisting of six ships, on board of
which were two hundred and eighty men, twenty
women, one hundred head of cattle, two hundred
hogs, military stores, and provisions.
The colony now began to extend itself up James
river, and several new settlements were made. Sir
Thomas Dale, with three hundred men, being one
half of the colonists, went up James river, and built
a town, which, in honor of the prince of Wales, he
called Henrico, the ruins of which, according to
president Stith, were still visible in 1746. His
settlement being some time after attacked by the
Appamatox Indians, who dwelt on the river, which
to this day preserves their name, he marched
against them, drove them off, and took possession of
their town, which in remembrance of the island of
Bermudas, he called Bermuda Hundred.
In the following year, the company obtained a
new charter: its date is of the 12th March. It con-
firms their former privileges, and prolongs the time
of their exemption from the payment of duties on
1612] THE FOURTH. Tfa
commodities exported by them, and their certain
boundary by this grant was extended, so as to in-
clude all the islands lying within three hundred
miles of the coast: this extension had been solicited
with a view of including within the jurisdiction of
Virginia, the island of Bermudas and the islands
that surround it.
The company, however, disposed immediately of
their new acquisition to one hundred and twenty of their
own members, who, in honor of the late Sir George
Somers, gave these islands the name of Somers' Islands ;
a name which they have retained on the English charts:
on those of other nations, and pretty generally among
English mariners, they are still known by the name of
Bermudez, the Spanish navigator who is said to have
discovered them. The new proprietors, last noticed,
sent thither a colony of sixty persons, under the
guidance of Richard Moore. They landed in June, and
in the following month subscribed certain articles of
government, which have been the origin from which
civil institutions have, without interruption, been sup-
ported in Bermudas to this day: in the course of the
year, the colony received an accession of thirty persons.
King James favored the adventurers of the first colony
with the permission of raising in England money by a
lottery: this is the first instance of any public counte-
nance being given to the raising of money in this
pernicious way.
Two ships, with eighty men, and a supply of provi-
sion, arrived this year in Virginia.
The year 1613 is memorable for the first hostilities
betsvecn the English and French colonists in America.
m CHAPTER L^^l^
Samuel Champlain, when commencing the settlement
of Canada, had found the Adisonkas engaged in an im*
placable war with the Iroquois or five nations, a confe-
deracy, consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Ononda-
gas, Cayugas and Senekas, who had been nnited from
ancient time, had been driven from their possessions
near Montreal, and had found an asylum on the south-
east border of lake Ontario. The Adisonkas had, in
their turn, been constrained to abandon their lands^
situated above the three rivers, and to look for safety
behind the straights of Quebec. Cham plain had
espoused their cause, and accompanying them, on an
expedition against the five nations, had discovered the
lake to which he gave his name; but which, except
among the French, retains at this day its Indian name
Ontario. The alliance of the Adisonkas with the
French, turned the scale of success, and the allied
tribes were defeated in several buttles, and reduced
to great distress, till procuring fire arms from a Dutch
ship, that sailed high up Manhattan river, they became
formidable enemies to the Adisonkas and the French.
Madame de Guercheville, a pious French lady,
zealous for the conversion of the American Indians,, had
procured from Dumontz a surrender of his patent, and
obtained from Louis XIII. a charter of all the lands of
New France, from the St. Lawrence to Florida, with
the exception of Port Royal. She sent out Saussaye,
with two Jesuit missionaries. He left Honfleur on the
twelfth of March, in a vessel of one hundred tons, and
on the sixteenth of May, arrived at Lac Acre, or Aca-
dia, where he set up a cross, with the arms of Madame
de Guercheville, in token of his having taken posses-
sion for her. He proceeded ncKt to Port Royal, where
1614] THE FOURTH. 77
he found only five persons, v\ horn he took with him, and
two Jesuits whom he met there ; with them he proceeded
to Mont Depot, an island thus named by Champlain, at
the entrance of the river Pentat^oet, in forty-four degrees
twenty minutes of latitude ; the Jesuits fixed their settle-
ment on the eastern end of the island, and called the place
St. Lawrence. Saussaye left them a suitable number of
colonists.
The settlers were hardly provided with accommoda-
tions, before they were attacked by the English of Vir-
ginia, under captain Samuel Argal, sent by governor
Gates, with seven small vessels, sixty soldiers, and four-
teen guns. The French were not in a situation to make
any resistance, and yielded to superior force. One of
the Jesuits was killed, several of the colonists were
wounded, and all made prisoners, excepting four or five,
who found their safety in flight. Argal supplied his pri-
soners with a fishing vessel, in which they returned to
France ; he however retained fifteen of them and a
Jesuit, whom he brought to Jamestown.
On his arrival there, governor Gates, and the council,
resolved to send him back to the coast of Acadia, to raze
all the settlements and forts to the forty-sixth degree*
An armament of three vessels was immediately put un-
der the orders of captain Argal, with which he proceeded
to St. Lawrence, wdiere he broke to pieces the cross,
with the arms of Mackime de Guercheville, and erected
another with those of James L, for whom possession was
now taken of the country. He next sailed to St. Croix,
where he destroyed all the remains of Dumontz's settle-
tnent, and proceeding to Port Royal, he reduced the
buildings erected there to ashes.
78 CHAPTER [161.^
Oil his return to Virginia, he visited the Dutch settle-!
ment on Hudson's river, of which he demanded posses-
sion. Hendrick ChrisUans, the governor, incapable of
resistance, submitted himself and his colony to the kin^'
of England, and under him to the governor of Virginia.
Soon after his arrival at Jamestown, captain Argal acs
companied Sir Thomas Gates to Chickahominy, where a
treaty was held with the Indians, who solemnly engaged
to be faithful to king James.
A proper direction ^vas now given to the activity of
the colonists ; it exerted itself in useful industry, and a
very important change took place. Hitherto, no sepa-
rate or private property had been allowed, either in any
part of the soil, or in the produce of it ; the planters had
till now labored together, and were fed and supported
out of the common stock. The five years during
which this imprudent regulation had been enforced, by
the king's instructions, were now expired ; the effect of
it had not differed from what ought to have been ex-
pected ; few and feeble efforts were made, while indus-
try was not exerted by the certainty of the exclusive en-
joyment of the produce of its labor; every one sought
to remove his shoulder, as much as possible, from the
public burden. Three acres were allotted to each man,
to be improved as a farm ; he was required to work
eleven months for the store, out of which he was allowed
twelve barrels of corn, and one month was allotted him
to make the rest of his provisions.
In the course of the year, five hundred and forty per-
sons arrived from England, at Bermudas.
Early in the following year, governor Gates returned
to England, and the administration of the affairs of
Virginia, devolved on general Thomas Dale.
16J6] THE FOURTH. 79
A Dutch governor arrived at the settlement of Hud-
son river, with a reinforcement, to assert the right of
Holland to the country : he refused to acknowledge, as
his predecessor had done, the dependence of the colony
on the English throne, and put it in a posture of de-
fence ; he built a fort on the south end of the island of
Manhattan, where the city of New York was afterwards
built.
John Smith visited, this year, the northern part of
Virginia, ranging the coast from Penobscot, to cape
Cod, trading with the natives. From the observations
he made on the shores, islands, harbors and headings,
he, on his return, formed a map, and presented it to
prince Charles, who, in the warmth of admiration, gave
it the name of New England.
The allotment of farms to the colonists had, at first/
produced a stimulus to industry ; but while these farms
^vere held by a precarious tenure, and he, who bestowed
his labor on the ground, had no security for the enjoy-
ment of the improvements he erected on it, it could not
be expected that agriculture should make rapid ad-
vances. It was therefore determined, to grant to every
adventurer in the colony, fifty acres of land, in free and
common socage, and the same quantity for every person
imported into the colony.
In 1616, the government of Virginia was committed
to Sir George Yardly. Soon after his arrival, the Chic-
kahominies proving refractory, he marched against
them with one hundred men ; he made twelve pri-
soners, who were ransomed for one hundred bushels of
corn ; and as the price of peace, the Indians loaded three
boats with the same article.
80 CHAPTER [161T
The culture of tobacco, which was introduced about
this time, excited the cupidity of the colonists ; for it,
the}'' neglected the fields that yielded the more neces-
sary, though less profitable kind of produce ; thus, their
inattention to raising sufficient supplies of provisions,
rendered their means of subsistence more precarious;
and a consequent bcarcity ensued, which compelled the
whites to renew their demands upon the Indians: those
people, at first, reluctantly yielded a part of their stores;
but, the frequenciy of applications soon induced an
open refusal ; the English sought to obtain by violence,
that which was denied to entreaty : the Indians' antipa-
thy and lurking animosities were revived, and thej
soon began secretly to look for means of revenge.
Captain Argal, who arrived in Virginia as governor,
in the following year, found it verging towards its ruin:
the public works and buildings neglected, and fallen
into decay; five or six private houses only, fit to be in-
habited; the state house occupied as a church ; the mar-
ket place, streets, and every oth?r spare place, planted
with tobacco; the people dispersed, and their entire
number reduced to about four hundred. It was the
misfortune of the colonists, that the new administrator
did not possess the talents which their situation de-
manded.
On the solicitations of the colonists, for a supply of
husbandmen and implements of agriculture, the treasurer
and company sent out lord Delaware, in a ship of two
hundred and fifty tons, with two hundred settlers. His
lordship died on his passage, near the b ly, which then
received, and has to this day retained his tide : ?he ship
arrived safely, and soon after, the colony received an
accession of forty persons, by another.
hUQ] THE FOURTH.
Governor Argal's coiiduct became unusually m
ous; and martial law, which had been proclaimed and
ecuted, durinf^ the turbulence of former times, was r
in a season of peace, made the common law of the h
he published several edicts, *' which mark the sevt
of his rule, but some of them evinced his attentioi
public safety. He ordered that all goods should
sold, at an advance of twenty per ceiit., and toba
taken at three shillings per pound, and not more t
less, under the penalty of three years servitude to
colony ; that there should be no private trade nor fa.
liarity with the Indians ; that no Indian should be tan;
to shoot game, under the penalty of death, to the teacl
and learner ; that no man should shoot, except in J
own defence, against an enemy, till a new supply
ammunition was received, on pain of a year's servitu,^
that every person should go to church, on Sundays^?
holidays, or be confined the night succeeding the s
fence, and be a slave to the colony the following wt>
for the second offence, a slave for a month, and for f,
third, a year and a day." f
In the month of April, 1619, Sir George Yard!
who had been appointed governor general of Virgin'
reached Jamestown, and, in pursuance of his instru
tions, issued a proclamation for the holding of a col
nial assembly, on tlie 19th of June. On that day, tl
representatives of eleven boroughs assembled to excr
cise legislative powers ; they sat in the same house wit
the governor and council, according to the practice of tli
Scotch parliament.
The fall of this year is remarkable for a dreadful mc;
tality in Virginia, not less than three hundred colonist
having fallen victims to it.
N. CARD. 11
*:
CHAPTER, [mk
'nty thousand pounds of tobacco were this year,
cd irom Virginia to England.
: Puritan or Reformed church, in the north of
id, had, in the year 1606, on account of its dis-
state, divided into to two distinct churches : one
f h, under the care of John Robinson, finding
p.itremely harrassed, on account of its non-con-
; sought an asylum in Holland : they settled in
r Jam, and afterwards in Leyden. After residing
i years in the last city, various causes induced
'o think of a removal to America. In the year
having determined to go to Virginia, they des-
;d some of their members to treat with the Vir-^
company, from which, after several attempts, they
::d a patent, in the year 1619-
parations were instantly made, and in the montli
fy of the following year, a part of the church re-
I to England, and on the 5th of August, sat sail
outh Hampton, for Virginki, on board the ship
^j 3e, of one hundred tons ; and a smaller one, the
l^- '1, of sixty: a leak sprung by the latter, com-
.hem to return, and they at last sailed' from Ply-
h, leaving the leaky ship behindhand taking another
, the May Flower.
tey reached cape Cod, on the 19th of November^
inding themselves more northerly than they wished,
stood to the southward, intending to land towards
son river : falling, however, among shoals, encoun-
g severe storms, they were induced, as the winter
rapidly advancing, to abandon their plan, and after
ing for a considerable time in search of a conve-
; spot, the company landed, on the 23d of Decem-
and two days after, began to build the first house,
imo] THE FOURTH.
^n the spot where the present town of Plymout
state of Massachusetts, now stands.
A few days after their departure from Englai
James had granted a patent to the duke of Lei
marquises of Buckingham and Hamilton, the
Arundel and Warwick, Sir Ferdinando Gore
thirty-four other persons, and their succtssor^,
the style of '^The council established at Plymn
the county of Dover, for the planting, ruling, .j;4
and governing of New England, in Amenca.'V
country lies, between forty and forly-eight dep-i
north latitude, from sea to sea, was given them in'
^ute property ; the rest of their charter, differs bi
from that of the Virginia company. '■
In the mean time, eleven ships, with twelve hj
and sixteen persons, had arrived at Jamestown, an(
after, one hundred and fifty girls, either " youn
uncorrupt," or ''handsome and well re com men ''^
their virtuous education and demeanor,'' were
the colonists. They were thought too valua^
gratuitously bestowed : one hundred weight of '
the value of Avhich, in money, was about fifty
was at first insisted upon ; but the supply nol
equal to the demand, the price advanced fifty pe
and one hundred dissolute persons w^ere deliver
the king's command, to the treasurer and com
home, by the knight marshal, and were according
over as servants.
The culture of tobacco had hitherto exclusi'
grossed the attention of the colonists. It was
rected, to more immediate and variegated objec
hundred and fifty persons were employed in
up iron works; others were directed to appJ
! CHAPTER [1624
making pitch, tar and potash, to erect some
I prepare for the culture oF silk : tobacco was,
still considered the principal staple commodi-
1 inspestion of it was now ordered,
ch ship arrived at Jamestown, and disposed of
egroes : this was the first importation of the
lony was flourishing ; it had been divided into
r* :hes, and had five clergymen.
ext year, governor Yardly was succeeded by
s Wyatt ; seven hundred settlers arrived with
administrator: he brought an ordinance and
)n of the treasurer, council and company, in
ibr settling the government of the colony in a
ja council of state, or his assistants, and a
lembly. The latter body was to consist of
^sses, to be chosen by every town, hundred,
lar plantation : the governor had a negative
: but they were not to have any force till ra-
e general court, or the company in England,
Ts were, on return, to be of no force, till ap-
the general assembly in Virginia.
n was made for the establishment of a school
city, and for the support of the clergy
: the province.
inando Gorges, who was entrusted with the
: Plymouth company, conceived the design
ig the Scotch to form a settlement in New
or that purpose a patent, for the whole coun-
ia, was granted to Sir William Alexander : it
, into a palatinate, by the name of Nova
e holden as a fief of the crown of Scotland,
)rietor was invested with the accustomed re-
1(321] THE FOURTH. ' 80
gal powers, belonging to a county palatine. The attempt
to bring over a Scotch colony proved abortive. Sir
Alexander divided his palatinate into two districts, call-
ins: the southern one Nova Caledonia, and the other
Nova Alexandria.
This year, George Calvert Lord Baltimore, ob-
tained a patent for the south-eastern peninsula, of New-
foundland, which, he named the province of Avalouy
from Avalonius, a monk, who was supposed t j have
converted the British king Lucius and all his court, to
Christianity. At Ferryland, in the province of Avalon,
lord Baltimore built a fine houy:, and spent two thou-
sand five hundred pounds sterling, in advancing his
piantadon. He appointed Edward Wynne, governor
of the colony, and visited it twice in person ; but he was
so annoyed by the French, that, though he repulsed and
pursued their ships, and took sixty prisoners, yet, he
found his province so much exposed to their insults^ and
the trouble and expense of defending it so very great,
ihat he was obliged to abandon it.
Virginia now made rapiil advances in population and
wealth. The quantity of tobacco, now exported, was
more than sufiicient to supply the English market ; and
the company opening a trade, for the surplus, with the
Dutch, considerable shipments were made to Middle-
berry and Flushing. This division of wealth, and the
consequent diminution of the revenue, which the crown
derived, from a duty which had been imposed on the im-
portation of tobacco, awoke the attention of the king,
who interposed his authority, to check, what he called
an illegal innovation. The company invoked, not only
their general privileges as Englishmen, to carry their
commodities to the best market, but insisted on the full
36 CHAPTER [1622
benefit of the particular concession, in their charter, by
which they contended an unlimited freedom of com-
merce was secured to them. This controversy, which
is remarkable, as the first between the mother country
and one of the colonies, was at last, terminated, by an
amicable arrangement. The company obtained the ex-
clusive right of importing tobacco into the kingdom,
and submitted to the obligation of bringing all its pro-
ductions there, and to a duty of nine pence per pound
of tobacco.
Extensive settlements were now made, at a consider-
able distance from Jamestown, even as far as the Po-
tomac; and the situation of the colonists appeared so
prosperous, Vv^hen contrasted with the disastrous state,
in w^hich it had lately been, that they suffiered themselves
to be lulled with the most dangerous security, and their
attention to be entirely taken up, in procuring the lux-
uries of civil life ; their martial exercise was entirely laid
aside, and every precautionary measure, against the infi-
delity and attacks of the Indians, discarded as super-
fluous.
These people had been employed by the whites, in
the capacity of menial servants, of fishermen, and hun-
ters ; they had been allowed the use of fire arms, and
had acquired a considerable dexterity in the management
of them : those who did not dwell within, or in places
contiu:uous to the habitations of the whites, came into
them at all times of the day, and even of the night, and
were received as welcome guests, or, at least, as harm-
less visitants. This inconsiderate confidence, enabled
them to plan, and in a great degree to accomplish, the
general slaughter of the whites : the plot was concealed
with surprising secrecy, although all the natives within
ie!22] THIS FOURTH. 87
a very wide circle, were successively engaged in the
conspiracy. Each tribe had its station allotted, and a
part cast in the tragedy. On the morning of the dav
appointed, every one w^as at his post, and the English
were so unconscious of the approaching catastrophe,
that a number of Indians, who came in as spies, to as-
certain whether any unthought of obstacle might pre-
vent the success of the enterprise, under the pretence of
bringing in, as usual, presents of venison and vegeta-
bles, were received with the accustomed cordiality. As
the sun reached the meridian, the foe suddenly rushed
in, from every point of the compass, upon the settle-
ments of the whites, in every part of the colony. Men,
woPxien and children fell, indiscriminately, under the
axe or knife. Jamestown was, however, saved by the
fidelity of an Indian, who lived with one of the planters,
as one of his domestics, and recoiling at the idea of being
the destroyer of his master, acquainted him with what
was about to happen, soon enough to alarm his neigh-
bours, who, running to their arms, defended themselves
so bravely, as to repel the assailants. The Indians had
not courage or strength of mind, to execute the horrid
deed, which they had, with so much sagacity, concerted
and concealed.
In eome of the settlements, not one white person es-
caped : in the whole, one fourth part of them fell. War
ensued, and was followed by flimine. Eighteen hundred
persons only, survived these disasters.
Several families fled to the southward, and settled a
place called Malllca^ near the river May, and afterwards,
visited and converted tlie Appalache Indians to the
-Christian faith.
88 CHAPTER [1623
On the first account of this complicated series of dis-
asters, a liberal collection was made for the relief of the
sufftrers, by the company in London. A supply of
arms was obtained from the tower, and vessels were
speedily despatched with the much needed relief.
While the colony experienced so disastrous a calam-
ity, the company at home were distracted by dissention
in her councils. The king added his influence to the
efforts of one of the parties that divided the company :
but its weight was not sufficient to cause the scale to
preponderate. Cha5>:rined at this, he comniissioned Sir
William Jones, and six other persons, to inquire into all
matters respecting Virginia, from the beginning of its
settlement ; and he also, at the same time, sent others to
inquire on the spot. On the arrival of this deputation at
Jamestown, the general assembly was called, not at their
request, for they kept all their designs as secret as possi-
ble. The house had information of the proceedings in
England, and copies were sent over of all the papers
that had been acted on ; they drew up a spirited remon-
strance, and sent an agent with it to England.
This legislature is the first, the records of which
have escaped the destroying hand of time. One of the
acts it passed, is in the nature of a bill of rights ; it dc-
' fines the powers of the governor, the council, and the as-
sembly, and it asserts and declares the privileges of the
people, in regard to taxes, burdens, and personal
services.
In the mean w^iilc, the king had, by a writ of quo
-warranto^ prosecuted the annihilation of the company
he was not unsuccessful ; the court of king's bene
declared the charter forfeited.
1^24] THE FOURTH. 89
On the 26th of August, a commission was issued for
the cippointment of Sir Francis Wyatt, as royal gover-
nor of Virginia, with eleven assistants or councillors;
both the chief administrator and his council, were to act
during the king's pleasure: no assembly was mendon-
ed or allowed,
James did not live to realize the fond expectations,
which he now entertained, from his uncontrolled man-
agement of the affairs of Virginia.
At his decease, which happened on the 27th of
March, 1625 ; he left the English settlements, in x\mer-
ica, in a very advanced degree of progressing improve-
ment. On his coming to the throne, he found not an indi-
vidual of his nation living under her laws, in any part of
the new world. The settlers of his province of Virginia,
were now scattered over all the borders of the Chesa-
peake, within the present limits of the state ; diey pos-
sessed large herds of cattle ; great sums of money had
been spent, raid much care bestowed, in the prosecution
of useful arts and manufactures, particularly iron works,
wine, siik, sawing mills and salt pans. The exporta-
tion of tobacco averaged forty-two thousand and eighty
five pounds a year, and a specimen of Virginia wine had
been sent to England, in 1622.
The northern colony, although but four years had
elapsed since "the landuigof the pilgrims," had multi-
plied their settlements along the coast.
Neither was the success of the English in coloniza-
tion confined to the main. The small island of Bermu-
das and its islots contained now, an English population
equal to that of Virginia, successfully employed in rais-
ing tobacco ; and in the last year of James' reign, the
N. CARO. 12
90 CHAPTER [1625
islands oF St. Christopher and Barbadoes, began to be
added to the list of English colonies.
The French and the Dutch wtre the only nations
that could be said to have, at this time, any establish-
ment in North America, although the Spaniards had
yet, as in the beginning of James' reign, a few soldiers
garrisoning some forts built on the coast of Florida.
But neither the French nor the Dutch could rival the
English : the first had established the towns of Quebec
and Montreal, but the population there was extremely
thin ; they traded at Tadoussac, and had some fishing
huts on the coast of Acadia : they had also, a few sol-
diers in a fort they had built, in the island of St.
Christopher.
The Dutch at New Netherlands, in defence of that
colony, had built several forts, one on the east side of
Delaware bay, which they named fort Nassau, one up
Hudson river, called fort Orange, on the spot on which
stands the present town of Albany, and a third, the Hirsse
©f Good Hope, on Connecticut river. At the mouth of
the Hudson, they had laid out the city of New Amster-
dam, which is now known as that of New York ; they
gave their attention, principally to the fur trade ; four
thousand beaver, and seven hundred otter skins, were
exported to Holland, in the year 1624, estimated
at twenty-seven thousand one hundred and fifty
guilders.
Lord Baltimore, had abandoned the settlement he had
begun at Newfoundland ; none of the European nations
had any established government there ; fishing vessels
from the most of them, sought employment thither ;
among them, the English had three hundred and fifty
1625 J " THE FOURTH. 91
sail, estimated at one thousand five hundred tons, em-
ploying five thousand persons, and making on an average,
annually, about cue hundred and thirty. five thousand
pounds sterling.
Smith — Stith — Beverly — Keith — MarshalL
CHAPTER V.
Sir George Yardly was appointed governor of Vir»
ginia, on the accession of Charles IL to the throne of
England. The new monarch devolved, on his repre-
sentative at Jamestown, the absolute government of the
proviace, under the directions of the crown ; the Vir-
ginians v/ere compelled to obey statutes, in the forma-
tion of which they had no agency, and to pay taxes, for
the imposition of which they were not consulted. Neither
was the new oppressive system confined to their public
affairs ; it soon affected private property ; the planters
were forbidden to dispose of their tobacco to any per-
son, but certain commissioners appointed by the king
to engross that commodity ; the king's favorites, at
home, soon began to obtain vast and ill defined conces-
sions of land, which checked the progress of agriculture,
and became the source of frequent disputes about titles,
and consequent litigation.
In the following year, a bill for the maintenance and
increase of shipping and navigation, and for the free
liberty of fishing voyages on the coasts of Newfound-
land, Virginia and New-England, passed the house of
commons, but never was returned from the house of
lords ; it is supposed to have been the revival of a bill,
the introduction of which had given offence to king
James, in 162L The spirit of the commons was noL
i627] CHAPTER. 93
repressed by the miscarriage of it ; in a strong repre-
sentation of grievances, which they presented to th^
monarch, they insisted that *' restraint of the subject from
the liberty of a free fishing, with all the necessary inci-
dents, w^s a great national grievance." The spirit dis-
played by this animated assembly, and its refusal to grant
to the sovereign a required aid, brought on its
dissolution.
Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, having patron-
ized the scheme of Gulielm Usselin, to establish a Swe-
dish colony, near that of the Dutch, on Hudson river,
a number of Swedes and Fins came over in the year
1627, and landed on cape Henlopen, which they ciilled
Paradise Point ; they purchased from the natives all the
land from that cape to the falls of the Delaware.
On the twenty- second of June, Charles I. granted to
the earl of Carlisle the island of Barbadoes, and all the
Caribbee islands ; the whole w^as erected into a province^
which, in honor of the patentee, was calkd Carliola.
Governor Yardly dying, was succeeded by sir John
Harvey. The conduct of the new administrator was not
calculated to lessen the pressure of the king's despotism ;
he was haughty, inauspicious, and unfeeling.
The English, the following year, settled on the island
of Nevis, and at the same time was laid the foundation
of tl"ie colony of Massachusetts. The council for New-
England, on the nineteenth of Mcirch, sold to sir Henry
Roswell, sir John Young and four other associates, in
the neighborhood of Dorchester, in England, a patent
for all that part of New- England, lying between three
miles to the northward of IVlerrimack river, and three
miles to the southward of Charles river, and a length
within the described breadth, from the Atlantic ocean to
94 ' ' CHAPTER [1629
the South sea, and on the following year the grantees
were incorporated, by the name of '* the governor and
company of the Massachusetts bay, or New-England."
A commission having been given this year, by-
Charles I. to David Kertz and two kinsmen of his, of
the same name, they advanced as far as point Levy, and
sent an officer on shore, to Quebec, to summon the city
to surrender. Samuel Cham plain, who had the chief
command there, knowing his means inadequate to a
defence, surrendered the city by capitulation.
This year, the town of Boston, in Massachusetts, was
settled.
In 1629, the English began a settlement at New-
Providence, one of the Bahama islands, which at that
time was entirely uninhabited.
Sir William Alexander sold all his rights in Nova
Scotia, excepting Port Royal, to Saint Etienne, lord
Latour, a French Huguenot, on condition that the inha-
bitants of the territory should continue subjects to the
crown of Scotland. The French still retained possession
of the country.
Sir Robert Heath, attornev-2:eneral to Charles I. ob>
tained a grant of the lands between the thirty- eighth
degree of north latitude, to the river St. Matheo. His
charter bears date of October 5, 1629, or the fifth year
of Charles I. The preamble sets forth, that the grantee
being excited, wath a laudable zeal for the propagation
of the Christian faith, the enlargement of his sovereign's
empire and dominions, the increase of the trade and
commerce of the kingdom, had besought leave, by his
own industry and charge, to transplant an ample colony
of English subjects, unto a certain country in America,
not yet planted or cultivated.
1630] THE FIFTH. y5
The land granted, is thus debcribed : " by all that river
or rivulet o: Sua Matheo, on the bouih part, by aii that
river or rivulet ot Pasiso Ma^no^ on the north part, and
all the land^, tenements or hereditaments, wiihm the said
two streams, by the tract thereunto, the ocean on the
eastern and weste/n parts, so far south as the continent
extends it^elt there: and also all those islands ot Vea-
nis .liia Bahama, and ah the islands and islots near there-
to, and iy ng southward oi and irom the said entrances
all which lie within the thirty-first and thirty. sixth de-
crees of north latitude inclusiveiv."
The tenure is declared to be as ample as any bishop
of Durham, in the kingdom of England, ever held and
erjoyed, or ought or could of right have held and
enjoyed.
Sir Robert, his heirs and assigns, are constituted the
true and absolute lords and proprietors, and the country
is erected into a province, by the name of Carolina, and
the^islands are to be called the Carolina islands.
Sir Robert conveyed his right, some time after, to the
earl of Arundel. This nobleman, it is said, planted
several parts of his acquisition, but his attempt to colo-
nize was checked by the war with Scotland, and after-
wards the civil war. Lord Maltravers, who e con after,
on his father's death, became earl of Arundel aid Sussex
and earl marshal of England, made no attempt to avail
himself of the grwnt.
On the fifth of November, a treaty of peace was con-
cluded with Spain, by which it was stipulated, that the
subjects of both crowns should be at peace and amity,
in all parts of the world. Hitherto, the Spaniards had
exercised perpetual hostility against all European ships
96 CHAPTER [1631
in the American seas, pretending, under Alexander's
bull, to the exclusive right of navigating them.
Robert, earl of Warwick, having the last year receiv-
ed a patent from the council of Plymouth, of all that
part of New-England, which extends from Narraganset
river one hundred and twenty miles, on a strait line,
near the shore, towards the south-east, from sea to sea,
now made it over to William viscount Say and Seal,
Robert, lord Brook, and their associates. This is the
original patent for Connecticut.
In the month of May, the king granted a license, un-
der his sign manual, to William Claiborne, "to traffic
in those parts of America, for which there was already
no patent granted for the sole trade." Claiborne and
his associates, with the intention of monopolizing the
trade of the Chesapeake, planted a small colony on the
island of Kent.
By the treaty of St. Germain, in the following year,
Charles I. resigned the right which he had claimed to
New-France, Acadia and Canada, as the property of
En^^land, to Louis XIII. kijig of France.
Sir Thomas Warner, governor of St. Christopher,
established a small colony on the island of Montserrat.
Antigua was settled at the same time.
George lord Baltimore, sickened by the severity of
the climate, and barrenness of the soil, in his provhice of
Avalon, having visited that of Virginia, was much
pleased with the mildness of the weather and the fertility
of the land, and observing that the settlements in the
latter province did not extend behind the river Poto-
mac, on his return, solicited a grant, but before the
patent could be prepared and pass the seals, he died, on
IS34] THE FIFTH. ^
the 16th of April. On the 20th of June following, his
eldest son Ceciliiis Calvert lord Baltimore, received a
grant of a vast tract of land to the northward of the river
Potomac, which was erected into a province, by the
name ot Maryland, in honor of Henrietta Maria, queen
of Enojland, and daui^hter of Henry IV, of France ; this
included the island of Kent, of which we have seen
William Clay borne had possessed himself the preceding
jear.
This grant gave umbrage to the Virginians ; in a
petition to the king, they remonstrated against " some
grants of a great portion of the lands of the colony, so
near their habitations, as will be a general disheartening
to them, if they shall be divided into several govern-
ments." Clay borne lay claim to his island, and de-
clared his intention to disown the jurisdiction of Mary-
land, countenanced by the Virginians, whose jealousy
ol the new grantee was extended to the members of the
religion he professed ; the legislature passed severe laws
against sectaries of all denominations : this was an in-
considerate act ; it occasioned the flight of some of the
planters to other colonies, and prevented the arrival of
others who intended to remove to Virginia.
This year was built the first house in Connecticut.
Lord Baltimore sent over his brother, George Calvert,
with about two hundred Roman Catholics ; they sailed
from England in the month of November, and arrived
in the Chesapeake in the following year ; proceeding to
the Potomac, he passed by the Indian town of that
name, and went to Piscataway, where by presents to
the head men, he conciliated their friendship to such a
degree, that they offered to sell one part of the town to
him, and to live in the other, till they could gather their
N. CARO. 13
CHAPTER. [163.>
harvest, when they would resign the whole to the Eng-
lish, Calvert, thus obtaining possession of the town,
gave it the name of St. Mary's.
The king now gave a special commission to the arch-
bishop and eleven other persons, for governing the
American colonies, and an order was given to the lords
commissioners of the cinque ports and other sea ports,
to stop the promiscuous aixi disorderly departure of
the king's subjects to America, and the sending of a
governor- general thither was spoken of.
As soon as information of this reached Boston, there
was a general meeting of as many of the colonists, as
could be called together, and the clergy were wished to
attend it, and give their advice ; all the ministers ap-
peared, except one, and the meeting came to an unani-
mous resolution, that if such a governor were sent, he
ought not to be received, but the people should, if able,
defend their lawful rights, otherwise temporise.
In the summer, the council of Plymouth surrendered
its charter to the king, that instrument being complained
of in parliament, who construed it as a monopoly : and
soon after, a quo warranto was brought against the
governor, deputy governor and assistants of the corpo-
ration of Massachusetts, on which a judgment was soon
obtained against them. Preparations were made for
sending over a governor-general, but a large ship, which
was buih for that purpose, fell asunder in the launching,
and the scheme was abandoned.
In the fall, the patentees of Connecticut sent over John
Winslow, as the first governor of that colony ; the
Dutch of New Netherlands opposed his taking posses--
sion of his government, but he prevented them, and
iG36] THE FIFTH. 99
built a fort at the entrance of Connecticut river, which
lie called Sa} brook.
The French this year made their first establishment
at Cayenne, in the West Indies, under Monsieur de
JBouligny.
In the following year, the settlement of Providence
was began, under the aus}3ices of Roger Williams, a
minister, who had been driven away from Massachu-
setts ; and John Wheelright, another minister from the
same colony, who w^as ordered by the general court to
remove out of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, on a
charge of sedition and contempt of authority, began a
plantation at Rhode Island.
Although the people in Virginia, at a great distance
from the throne, and ever awed by the authority derived
from a royal commission, submitted for a considerable
time to governor Harvey's exactions and tyranny, their
patience was at length exhausted; roused almost to
madness, they seized and sent Sir John a prisoner to
P2n gland.
The king found the mode, adopted by his subjects, in
Virginia, to redress their own grievances, quite repug^
nant to his idea of the passive obedience due to a mo-
narch ; he considered it as an encroachment on his rights,
and a daring act of rebellion ; he refused to admit to his
presence two colonists, who had come over with the
governor, in order to lay the complaints of their coun-
trymen at the foot of the throne, and far from hearkening
to their solicitations, he renewed the powers of Sir
John, and commanded him to return immediately to
Jamestown.
Charles did not, however, persist long in tlie determi-
nation of disregarding the remonstrances of the colonists ;
100 CHAPTER [163F7
either affected by their distress, or conscious of the dan-
ger he ran in provoking them, to assert their rights by
violence, he despatched, in the following year, Sir John
Berk'ey, to supersede governor Harvey.
The new administrator, on meeting the colonists, im-
parted to them the orders he had received, to rule the
country, according to the laws of Enj^hnd, and he soon
after directed an election of burgesses, to meet him and
the council in a general assembly.
In the month of April, the king issued a proclamation,
to restrain the transportation of his subjects to America ;
it forbade the granting of any license for that purpose,
unless the applicant produced a certificate of his having
taken the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and con-
formed to the discipline of the church of England; and
an ordinance was issued, forbidding all persons to enter-
tain any stranger that should arrive in the colonies, with
intention to reside, or allow him an habitation, without
liberty from the stimding council.
The plan of uniting the government of the America^
colonies, under one officer, was revived, and Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges was appointed governor-general, but it
does not appear that he ever acted under bis commission.
Governor Berkley had it in strict charge, to require
from every vessel sailing from Virginia, a bond with
surety, for the landing of her cargo in some part of the
king's European dominions.
Monsieur d'Ernambuc, the founder of the French
colony in the island of St. Christophers, brought from
that island one hundred soldiers, to Martinico ; he built
a fort, which he called St. Peters', and began the settle-
ment of that island.
1638] THE FIFTH. 101
The power of archbishop Laud growing grievous to
the Puritans, many of them thought of seeking refuge in
the American plantations ; such number of families be-
gan to transport themselves, that government took um-
brage, and a proclamation was issued, to prevent mi.2"ra-
tions to Amtrica, without the king's license. Oliver
Cromwell and John Hambden, two persons who a few
years after became so famous, were among a number of
men of note, who had made preparations for their depar-
ture, and m consequence of the proclamation, the lord
treasurer was directed by an order of the king and council,
to take speedy and effectual measures for the stay of
eight ships, in the river Thames, bound to New- Eng-
land ; accordingly, Oliver Cromwell and John Hambden,
and the rest of the passengers, were compelled to aban-
don their intended voyage.
In the following year. Sir Ferdinando Gorges ob-
tained from the crown a distinct charier of all the land,
from Pasquataqua to Sagadehoc, styled the Province of
Maine ; he was created lord palatine of the country, with
the same powers and privileges as the bishop of Durham,
in the county palatine of Durham ; he constituted a
government in the province, and laid the foundation of a
city, which he called Gorgeana.
This ye ir is noted for the establishment of the first
printing press in North America, it was set up at Cam-
bridge ; and the establishment of a nunnery in Quebec,
in Canada.
The colony of Virginia was called upon by the king's
letter, to grant assistance to Henry lord Maltravers, in
settling Carolana, and on motion of William Hawley,
who was his lordship's deputy, an order of council was
made to that effect.
102 CHAFfER - [1640
An attempt was made in parliament, to establish over
Virginia the government of the ancient company, and
to annul the charter of Maryland ; but it was vigo-
roiisly opposed by the Virginia assembly, and the mea-
sure was abandoned: *' the ancient dominion had now
learned from experience, that more liberty is enjoyed
under any form, than beneath the rule of a commercial
company."
The French began, in 1641, to establish a colony at
a place on the continent of South America, called Suri-
nam, but finding the climate unhealthy, and the land low
and marshy, they abandoned it to the English, who the
same year, under the auspices of lord Willoughby , first
settled there.
The intrigues of Clayborne in Maryland infused
jealousy into the natives ; the rapid increase of the Eng-
lish, threatening their own annihilation as a people, gave
them much uneasiness; individuals procured their lands,
without the authority of government, for considerations
totallv inadequate, with which, therefore, on review, they
were greatly dissatisfied. These combined causes, in
the beginning of 1643, brought on an Indian war,
which, with its accustomed evils, continued several
years.
On the nineteenth of May, 1643, was signed at Bos-
ton, a treaty made between the colonies of New -Eng-
land; this measure had been in agitation for several
years, and five years before those of Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, Plymouth, and New-Haven, had formed a
treaty of amity, offence and defence, mutual advice and
assistance, on all necessary occasions; circumstances
delayed the execution of this treaty, which was now
subscribed bv commissioners from those colonies, who
1644] THK FIFTH. 105
met at Boston. The vicinity of the French, Dutch,
and Swedes, the hostile attitude taken by the Indian
tribes near them ; the civil dissentions in England, which
obstructing commerce, rendered a communication with
the mother country difficult, and consequently pre-
vented the means of obtaining supply or relief on
urgent occasions.
The parties to this instrument declare, that as in na-
tion and religion, so in other respects, they be and con-
tinue one, and henceforth be called the United Colonies
of New.Eno;land. The united colonies were to form a
body, with regard to their common concern, but the
private concerns of each were to be managed by its own
court and magistrates; in case of need, the force to be
raised by the union, was to be, in the proportion of one
hundred men in the colony of Massachusetts, and forty-
five in each of the others. This union subsisted until
the abrogation of the charter of the New- England
(solonies, by James II. in 1684.
The earl of War\vick was this year appointed, in pur-
suance of an ordinance of parliament, governor in chief
and admiral of the American colonies ; a council was
given him, composed of five peers and twelve com-
moners ; with it he was empowered to examine the state
of the colonies, to send for persons and papers, to re-
move governors and officers and appoint others in their
places, and to assign to those such part of the powers that
were there granted, as he should think proper.
One of the first acts of the new governor in chief was
a charter of incorporation of the towns of Providence,
Newport and Portsmouth, with the power of governing
themselves, but agreeably to the laws of England.
104 CHAPTEE [1645
Duparquet of Martinico this year took possession of
the island of St. Lucia, in the name of Louis XIV. who
had ascended the French throne two years before.
The legislature of Virginia prohibited trade by barter,
and estab'ished the piece of eight or six shillings, as the
standard of currency for the colony.
A rebellion now broke out in Maryland, at the head
of which were William Clayborne and Richard Ingle,
who not only forced governor Calvert to fly for aid and
protection into Virginia, but took possession of the
public records, and for a long time prevented the
exei cise of the powers of government.
Bv an ordinance of the lords and commons of Kno:-
land, all merchandize, goods and necessaries, for the
American plantations, were exempted from duty for
three years, on condition that no ship or vessel in any of
the colonial ports, be suffered to load any goods of the
growth of the plantations, and carry them to foreign
parts, except in English bottoms. This was the
foundation of the navigation acts.
The French, in Canada, finding it difficult to contend
with the Iroquois, a very powerful nation of Indians,
solicited aid from the province of Massachusetts, and
offered liberal compensation: but no succor was given,
it being thought, those Indians would be a powerful
bulwark between the English and French, in case of a
war breaking out between them.
Tlie commissioners of the united colonies sent an
agent to the governor and council of Canada, to project
an agreement, by which, in case of war between the two
nations, the French and English colonies should re-
main in peace. Monsieur d'Ailleboust, the governor,
1648J THE FIFTH. 105
as well as his council, received the proposition with
great eagerness, and appointed father Dreuillettes to go
to Boston to make the necessary arrangements, on con-
dition that the English would aid the French against the
Iroquois : but the same reasons, that had induced the re-
jection of this measure last year, prevailed, and nothing
was done.
The year 1648 is remarkable for the peace o£
Westphalia.
The French, under the auspices of Monsieur de
Poincv, governor of St. Christopher, began their settle-
ments in the island of St. Bartholomew.
During the extreme distress of the royal party in Eng-
land, this year, the territory between the Rappahannock
and the Potomac, was granted to lords Hopton, Beverly,
Culpepper, and other cavaliers, who probably wished to
make Virginia an asylum.
On the 30th of January, Charles I. was beheaded at
Whitehall, in the fifty-first year of his age, and the
twenty. sixth of his reign.
Atthe demise of this monarch, the whole centre coast
©f the northern continent of North America, was either
settled or had been granted away, from the province of
M tine to the river St. Matheo. The settlements of th^
French, in Canada, were in a coiibiderable progress.
The foundation of the whole of the New- England
colonies was laid ; the Dutch possessed the present states
©f New- York and New- Jersey, and part of that of Con-
.necticut, and had plantations much higher than Albany ;
the Swedes occupied the 'lores of the present states of
Pennsylvania and Delaware ; the colony of Maryland,
cwing to its late commotion, was still in its infancy;
thai of Virginia was in a prosperous state ; the country
N. CARO. 14
106 CHAPTER [I64S
now covered by the states of North and South Carolina,
and Georgia, was claimed by the assignees of Sir Robert
Heaih, who till now had made no advances towards the
occupation of it.
The Spaniards ha<I made no improvements in Florida;
they still kept, as during the reigns of the two predeces- .
sors of Charles L, a few soldiers in some forts on the coast.
We have seen, that part of the island of St. Christo-
pher had been occupied by the English, and another
by the French; these two nations still kept their
possessions.
The English, during Charles's reign, had occupied »
in the West Indies, the island of Earbadoes.
The French had settled colonies in Martinico, St.'
Lucia, St. Christopher, and claimed the island of Gre-
nada, but the establishments were of so little importance,
that in the year 1651, Duparquet purchased from the
West India company, the islands ot Martinico, St.
Lucia, Grenada, and the Grenadines, for fifty thousand
livres, of the value of little more than ten thousand dol-
lars. Seven years after, the progress of colonization in
the West Indies had been so very great, that he sold
the single island of Grenada, for thirty thousand crowns,,
of the value of about eierhteen thousand dollars.
The successes of the English, in the predatory incur-
sions upon Spanish America, during the reign of Eliza-
beth, had never been forgotten : and from that period
downward, the exploits of Drake and Raleigh were imi-
tated, upon a smaller scale indeed, but with equally des- ^
perate valour, by small bands of pirates, gathered from
all nations, but chiefly French and English. The en-
grossing policy of the Spaniards tended greatly to ex-
tend the number of these freebooters, from whom^their
1648] THE FIFTH. lOlf
colonies suffered in the issue dreadful calamity. The
windward islands, which the Spaniards did not deem
worthy their own occupation, had been gradually settled
by adventurers of the English and French nations ; but
Frederick of Toledo, who was despatched in 1630 with
a powerful fleet against the Dutch, had orders from the
court of Madrid to destroy these colonies, whose vicinity
at once offended the pride, and excited the jealous suspi-
cions, of their Spanish neighbors. This order the Span-
ish admiral executed, with sufficient rigour : but the
only consequence was, that the planters, being rendered
desperate by persecution, began, under the well known
name of buccaneers, a retaliation so horribly savage, that
the perusal makes the reader shudder. When they car-
ried on these depredations at sea, they boa^'ded, without
respect to disparity of number, every Spanish vessel
that came in their way, and demeaning themselves both
in the battle and after the conquest, more like demons
than human beings, they succeeded in impressing their
enemies with a sort of superstitious terror, which ren-
dered them incapable of offering effectual resistance ;
from piracy at sea, they advanced to making predatory
tlescents on the Spanish territories, in which they dis-
played the same furious and irresistible valour, the same
thirst of spoil, and the same brutal inhumanity to their
captives ; the large treasure which they acquired in their
adventures, they dissipated in the most unbounded licen-
tiousness, in gaming, women, wine, and debauchery of
every species ; when their spoils were thus wasted, they
entered into some new association, and undertook new
adventures.
Smith — Stith — Beverly — Keith — Marshall
CHAPTER Vr.
In the month of June, 1650, Charles II. sent from
Breda, a new commission to Sir William Berkely, as
governor of Virginia, declaring his intention of ruling
ajid ordering the colony, according to the laws ?nd
statutes of England. His authority continued to be ac-
knowledged in Virginia, and several of the West India
islands. This induced parliament to prohibit, by an
ordinance, all trade with Virginia, Barbadoes, Bermu-
das and A itiguci; and in the following year, the legisla-
ture of Massachusetts passed an act, forbidding all trade
with these colonies, till their submission to the common-
wealth, or the further orders of the general court.
This year, the French established a colony on the
island of Grenada, and the English on that of Anguilla.
The Dutch, navigating their ships at a much cheaper
rate than their neighbors, and carr^^ing, conserjuently,.
goods for a much less freight, had engrossed a consider-
able portion of the carrying trade ; they were even em-
ployed to convey Amtrican produce to England. This
evil had arisen to so high a degree, that English seamen
finding it difficult to find occupation, on board of the
vessels of their own nation, sought it on board of those
of the Dutch. This, and a desire of adopting the most
effectual mode of retaining the colonies in dependence on
the parent state, and of securing to it the benefit of their
1651] CHAPTER. lOy
increasing commerce, induced parliament to pass an
act, forbidding the importation of merchandise from
Asia, Africa, or America, (including the English plan-
tations there) into England, in any but English
built ships, and belonging either to English, or English
plantation subjects, navigated by an English commander,
and a crew, of which three fourths should be Eng-
lish; excepting such merchandise, as should be import-
ed directly from the original place of their growth or
manutacture, in Europe solely ; and that no fish should,
thenceforward, be imported into England or Ireland,
nor exported thence to foreign ports, nor even from one
of their own home ports, but what should be caught by
their own ships.
The house of commons, who had assumed the go-
vernment of England, issued a proclamation, for the re-
duction of the colonies to a dependence on the mother
country. This paper states, that as the colonies were
settled at the expense of the mother country, they were
dependent on it, and owed obedience to its laws. A
consideral)le fleet was accordingly put under the com-
mand of Sir George Ayscue, and he was directed to pro •
ceed to America, to endeavor, by peaceable means, to
reduce the colonies to obedience, and if these fliiled, to
reduce them bv force.
Sir George Ayscue reached the' island of Barbadoes,
on the 16th of October, and with some difficulty suc-
ceeded in bringing the islandto capitulate: the other Eng-
lish islands recognized the power of the commonwealth,
This being eff*ected. Sir George despatched captain Den-
nis, with a small squadron of men of war, to reduce the
colony of Virginia, to the rule of the protector.
no CHAPTER [1652
Governor Berkely, who had timely notice of the ap-
proach of the men of war, made preparations to defend
the country. There happened to be before Jamestown,
seven Dutch ships, the masters of which, apprehend-
ing they might be considered as pursuing a forbidden
trade, were easily persuaded to lend their assistance, in
repelling the squadron of the commonwealth. The
cargoes of these ships were landed, cannon was put on
board, and they were filled with armed men : a line
of them was formed, moored close to shore, with
their broadsides to the enemy : several pieces of ord-
nance were placed, so as to support the line formed by
the ships, flanked by a number of troops, covering
the shores of the river as far as the eye could reach.
The commander of the English fleet, whose force was
much weakened by the fatigues the troops had experi-
enced, and the shortness of the supply of provisions,
was much disappointed in encountering, when he ima-
gined he touched the end of his labors, an enemy so
well prepared to resist him ; he determined on an attempt
to attain by negotiation, what appeared so difficult to
effect by arms ; flags of truce passed between him and
the governor.
One circumstance was calculated to facilitate the sub-
mission of the colony. There were on board of the
fleet, large quantities of merchandise belonging to two
members of the council, who were not long without
understanding, that the restoration or loss of their pro-
perty depended on their conduct, or the eventual suc-
cess of the negotiation. Beverly, a historian of the day,
imagines that the unanimity, which heretofore had pre-
vailed in the councils was, on this account, destroyed
^
1652] THE SIXTH. Ill
and perplexed; the idea of resistance was abandoned,
and the efForvS of tbe council, were confined to obtaining
favorable terms for the surrender of Virginia.
In this they met with no difficulty : the English com.
mander consented, that neither the governor nor any of
the council, should be obliged to take any oath or en-
gagement to the commonwealth, for twelve months ;
nor confined for praying for, or speaking well of, the
king, in their private homes or neighbourly conference,
during that time.
That governor Berkely might, at his own expense,
send a person to give an account to the king, of the sur-
render of the colony. .
That the governor and members of the council,
should have their lands, horses, goods, and debts pro-
tected, and liberty to remove themselves with their
property.
That all persons in the colony, who had served the
king in it or in England, should be free from prosecu-
tion therefor, and that the commissioners of the protec-
tor should issue, immediately on the surrender of the
colony, an act of oblivion and indemnity, under their
hands and seals : these preliminaries having been arrang-
ed, articles were agreed on for the surrender of the
colony.
It was stipulated, that the plantations of Virginia and
its whole lands, should be and remain, in due obedience
and submission to the commonwealth of England, and
enjoy the same freedom and privileges, as the frecborn
people of England.
That the general assembly should convene, and trans-
act business, as had been theretofore used ; but that
112 CHAPTER [1652
nothing should be acted or done, contrary to the go-
vernment of the commonwealth, and the laws then
established.
That there should be a total remission and indemnity,
of every thing done or spoken against the parliament.
That the ancient limits of the colony should be con-
firmed ; as well as all the patents for land, granted by any
of the preceding governors ; and the privilege, of fifty
acres of land to new comers, should be continued.
That there should be as free a trade from Virginia,
as from any EngUsh plantation in America.
That Virginia should pay no taxes, not imposed by
the general assembly, and that no fort or garrison
should be erected or maintained, without its consent,
and no charge should be made against them for the
present expedition.
That such colonists, as might refuse to take an oath of
fidelity to the commonwealth, might, within one year,
withdraw themselves and property.
That the use of the prayer book, changing what re-
lates to the sovereign, should continue ; that the minis-
ters should remain in their functions for one year.
That the grant of the quit rents for seven years, should
be confirmed.
On the 30th of April, it was agreed, in a general as-
sembly, composed of the commissioners and representa-
tives of the people, that Richard Bennett should be go-
vernor for one year, or until the pleasure of the council
of state should be known. William Clay borne was ap-
pointed secretary of the colony ; and a council of thir-
teen was, at the same time, appointed to advise the go-
vernor; and these executive officers were directed to
1653] THE SIXTH 113
act from time to time, and to have such power and au-
thorities as, by the house of assembly, shall be appointed
and granted, to their several places.
To encourage the staple commodity of Virginia, the
English parliament, this year, passed an act which gave
legal power to the ordinances of James and Charles, for-
bidding the planting of tobacco in England.
The inhabitants of the province of Maine were, at
their own request, taken under the protection of the col-
ony of Massachusetts, to which they have remained uni-
ted in government, till within a few years. Massa-
chusetts claimed the jurisdiction of that province, as
lying within the limits of its charter of 1628.
The government of Maryland was taken out of the
hands of Lord Baltimore, for disloyalty to the ruling
power in England, and settled in the hands of parlia-
ment; two years after, it was vested in those of the
protector.
By an order of the council of state for England, the
government of Rhode Island was suspended , but the
colonists, taking advantage of the distraction which soon
after ensued in England, resumed its government, and
continued without interruption till the restoration.
This year is noted For the first coinage in the Eng-
lish colonies. A mint being established in Boston, the
money coined was in pieces of one pound, six shillings
and three pence.
The law enacted, that the legend, Massachusetts, and
a tree in the centre, be on one side of the coin, and New
England, the year of our Lord, and the figures XX,
VI, and III, according to the value of the piece, be on
the other side ; the date, 1652, was never altered
N. CARO. 15
114 CHAPTER [1651:^
although more coin was stamped annually, for thirty
years.
This year was executed, at Hartford, in Connecticut,
Mrs. Greensmith, the first witch heard of in North
America : she was accused, in the iiidictment, of prac-
tising evil things on the body of Ann Cole, which did
not appear to be true. The Rev. Mr. Stone and other
ministers, swore that Mrs. Greensmith had confessed
to them, that the devil had had carnal knowledge of her.
The court then ordered her to be hanged on the indict-
ment.
Sir William Berkely representing, that he had been pre-
vented, by the war between the protector and the Dutchr
from leaving the colony, and the time allowed him to
stay, by the articles of capitulation, having expired, a de-
lay of eight months was allowed him by the general
assembly.
The settlement on Albemarle sound continued to in^
N crease ; and in 1653, the legislature of Virginia, on the
^ application of Roger Greene and others, inhabitants of
r-if .^. Nansemond river, ordered, that ten thousand acres of
land, be granted to the first one hundred individuals,
who might settle on Moratuck or Roanoke rivers, and
on the south side of Chowan river and its branches. It
was required they should settle by each other, and be
supplied with arms and ammunition. One hundred
"^ f-t ' acres were granted to Greene, next to those formerly
••- granted, as a reward.
In the year 1654, Edward Digges succeeded Richard
Bennett, as governor of Virginia.
Preparations were made, this year, in New England,
for the conquest of the settlement on Manhattan island
and Hudson river, from the Dutch, But, Oliver
^.655] THE SIXTH. 115
Cromwell, desirous that the two sister republics might
be well together, made a sudden peace, which put an
end to the hostile intentions of New England, and left
the Dutch, for a few years longer, in possession ox New
Netherlands.
Colonel Woods, who dwelt at the falls of James river,
sent suitable persons, on a journey of discovery to the ' ^
westward; they crossed the Allegheny mountains, and // •
reached the banks of the Ohio, and other rivers empty- 7
ing into the Mississippi.
Towards the close of this year, the protector sent
vice-admiral Penn, with a fleet of thirty sail, on board
of which was a considerable number of land forces, im-
<ler general Venables, to take the island of Jamaica.
After taking a reinforcement of three thousand five hun-
dred soldiers, in the island of Barbadoes, the fleet arrived
before Jamaica on the 13th of April, and soon after be-
gan the attack ; but the Spaniards made so rigorous a de-
fence, that the general was obliged to re-imbark his men.
The army landed before, and began the siege of St. Yago
de la Vega, the capital of this island ; on the 2d of May,
on the fall of the city, the whole island was reduced, and
annexed to the dominions of England, of which it has
to this day made a part.
The Dutch now drove away the Swedes, from their
possession on the Delaware, which was added to New
Netherlands. It will be remembered, that the Swedes
had first landed on the banks of the Delaware, in the
year 1627. During a period of about thirty years, they
extended their settlements along tb- shore, as high up
as the spot, on which the town of NewCasilenow stands;
there they had a fort, called fort Casimir, the name of
^hich, the Dutch altered to Nmser Amstel; they had
116 CHAPTER [1656
another fort, called fort Christina, on the stream which
to this day retains that name.
The city of New Amsterdam (now New York) was
in the following year, laid out into streets, on the origi-
nal plan, which has since been improved to so great an
advantage.
Governor Digges was succeeded in the chief magis-
tray of the colony, in the year 1656, by Samuel Ma-
thews. The new governor did not long hold the rein a.
He was, soon after his election, requested to join his
two predecessors, who had been sent to England, as
agents of the colony, to solicit the ratification by the pro-
tector, of the articles on which Virginia had been sur-
rendered, as well as a favorable settlement of a dispute
respecting boundaries, which had for bcveral years, ex-
isted between the colonies of Maryland and Virginia, to
remove unfavorable impressions, which the mind of the
protector had received, on account of her protracted at-
tachment to the royal cause; and a report which prevail-
ed in England, that she supported lord Baltimore against
the interests and the wishes of the people; a report
which derived credit from the circumstance of Philip
Calvert, the governor of Maryland, having found an
asylum in Virginia, when expelled from his govern-
ment, during the insurrection headed by William Clay-
borne, in 1645.
After the departure of governor Mathews, the powers
of government devolved on the president of the council.
The adventurers from New England, who had medi-
tated a removal, and settlement on Hudson river, being
disappointed by the late peace with Holland, turned their
views towards the southward, and came to cape Fear
1658] THE SIXTH. lit
river, on the shores of which, they established grazing
farms ; the country affording, in their judgment, a plen-
tiful winter pasture for cattle. The protector made an
unsuccessful attempt to induce these people to settle
still more southerly, and increase the population of
Jamaica, lately added to the dominions of England.
But, the lands affording no encouragement to agri-
culture, and the settlers not finding the convenience of
a fishery, to which they had been accustomed in New
England, they soon grew tired of their new abode: they
imprudently neglected to secure the good will of the
Indians. The settlement did not thrive ; and, aUhough
it afterwards received some aid from the legislature of
Massachusetts, it subsisted but a few years.
Cromwell granted, under the great seal of England,
to Charles St. Etienne, William Crown, and Thomas
Temple, for ever, the territory called Acadia, aud part
of the country, commonly called Nova Scotia, extend-
ing along the coast of Pentagoet, to the river St.
George ; it was erected into a province independent of
New England, and the grantees w^ere appointed as
hereditary governors.
An insurrection was raised in Maryland, by Feudal,
a man of a restless disposition. It greatly distressed
the province.
During the government of the commonwealth, in or-
der to punish the inhabitants of Barbadoes, for their
attachment to Charles I. and for resisting its force and
authorities, in 1651, and also to distress the Dutch,
who carried on a lucrative trade with the colony, the
parliament resolved to alter the whole system of com-
merce of Barbadoes, by prohibiting all foreign ships
from trading with the English plantations, and not suf-
118 CHAPTER [1659
fering any goods to be imported into England, but in
English bottoms, or in ships of the European nations,
of which the merchandise imported was the genuine
produce and manufacture.
The affairs of Maryland continuing in a distracted
state> the government of that province was surrendered,
by the commissioners of the protector, to Feudal, who
had been appointed governor by the proprietor.
Under the government of administrators, appointed
by the protector, the colony of Virginia enjoyed, during
seven years, an uninterrupted repose and tranquility.
It afforded shelter to a number of partizans of the royal
cause, who imagined it unsafe to stay in England. Sir
William Berkely, (the last of the royal governors) had
been allowed to remain unmolested on his estate. His
mild and upright administration, his honest and candid
conduct, during the late struggle of the royal cause, and
his retired, and general life since, had rendered him the
idol of the friends of the king, without rendering him
suspicious to the repubUcans; and governor Mathews
dying, in the year 1659, Sir William was requested to
re-assume the reins of government. This he declined
to do, unless he was permitted to act under the com-
mission he had received from his exiled sovereign. His
offer being accepted, he caused Charles H. to be pro-
claimed king of Virginia ; and one of the first acts of his
administration was to issue writs of election for the legis-
lature to meet on the 12th of March, 1660 ; but he was
afterwards induced to prorogue it, and in the latter part
of the summer, accounts reached the province, that his
example had been followed by the metropolis, and that
the sovereign, to whose obedience the Virginians had re-
turned, had been proclaimed in England, on the 29th
1660] CHAPTER. llt>
of May, and had made his public entry in the city of
London, on the 9th of June.
Ahhough, under the commonwealth, the English
colonies in America, acquired considerable population
and wealth, the island of Jamaica, is the only addition
made to their number, during that period.
The legislature of Virginia, having passed laws un-
favorable to the Quakers, a number of whom had fled
thither, from the persecuting spirit of New England,
many families sought an asylum on Albemarle sound.
Sfn ith — Stith — Bcverhf — Keith — MarshalL
CHAPTER VII.
I
At the first session of parliament, after the re-
ttoration of Charles II. to the throne of England,
was passed a statute, famous in the English annals,
and particularly affecting the American provinces.
It is the 12 Charles II. c. 18, commonly called the
navigation act.
Its bases are those of the statute of 1657; it for-
bids the importation and exportation of any com-
modity into or from any of the king's dominions in
Asia, Africa or America, except in vessels built in
England or its plantations, of which the master and
three fourths of the crew must be English subjects,
under pain of forfeiting the ship and cargo. Aliens
are forbidden to exercise the occupation of a mer-
chant or factor, in any of these places, under the
penalty of forfeiting their goods and chattels: sugar,
tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger and dyewood,
of the growth or manufacture of the English colo-
nies, are forbidden to be exported to any country
but England, Ireland, Wales or Berwick upon
Tweed; and, as some return for these restrictions,
the act secures to the colonies the monopoly of the
tobacco trade, by prohibiting the planting of it in
England, Ireland, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and
Berwick upon Tweed.
1661] THE SEVENTH. 121
While parliament thus early attended to the
affairs of the colonies, the king lost no time in for-
warding instruclions to governor Berkely: he re-
quired hi-m to call an assembly as early as possible,
and to demand, in his name, a repeal of all acts,
passed during the rebellion, that df rogated from
the dependence and obedience of the colony on
and to the king and parliament of England ; au-
thorizing him to give assurance of the royal inten-
tion, and this being done, to grant a general pardon
and oblivion, without any other exception than that
of persons attainted by act of parliament.
Governor Berkely was at the same time required
to send over a statement of every shipment of
tobacco from his province, in order that evasions of
the navigation act might be detected and punished.
The establishment of iron works, in the colonies,
does not appear at that time to have been con-
sidered as injurious to the mother country; for it
appears that the governor was consulted on the
practicability of erecting one, at the expense of
the king.
The legislature met at Jamestown on the 12th of
March, 1681. The speech from the chair, and the
answer to it, proclaimed and echoed unqualified
professions of loyalty. A legislative revisal of all
the colonial statutes was the earliest and chief
work of this session: in the preamble, the intention
is avowed of repealing and expunging all unneces-
sary acts, but more particularly '' such as mightkeep
in memory their forced deviation from his majesty's
obedience." The most of that body, who used
these expressions, were persons who? till a very
N. CARO. 16
122' CHAPTER [1661
short time before, had been lavish of the most ful-
some assurances of unbounded attachment, and the
most respectful submission, to the protector, and of
their intended support of the republican govern-
ment. Their present declarations might be held
up, when contrasted with their former professions,
as an example of the facility with which the senti-
ments of mankind accommodate themselves to
circumstances, if a late event in France had not
afforded a more prominent one.
The law of England, which had till now bj im-
plied consent been considered as the rule of action
in the colony, was now expressly declared to be in
full force, except in such cases only, in which local
circumstances rendered them inapplicable.
A charter granted by parliament, during the
protectorate, to the society for spreading the gospel
among the Indians on the continent of North Ame-
rica, being vacated by the restoration-, colonel
Beddingfield, a Roman Catholic officer in the king's
army, of whom a considerable part of the land had
been purchased, seized it for his own use, pretend-
ing he had sold it below its value, in hopes to recover
it, upon the king's return. In order to defeat his
design, the society solicited a new charter, which
they obtained by the interest of the lord chancellor:
it bears date the 7th of February, in the fourteenth
year of the king's reign, and differs but little from
the former one. Robert Boyle was their first
governor: they afterwards recovered colonel Bed-
dingfield's land.
The colony of Massachusetts was not so early as
that of Virginia, in returning to the king's obe-
1662] THE SEVENTH. 12S
dience: even after official accounts had reached
Boston, of his restoration, the peojjle continued
unwillino; to recognize his authority. However, in
the course of this year, the governor called the
general court, and the form of a proclamation was
agreed upon, by which Charles was acknowledged
as their sovereign, and proclaimed as "the lawful
king of Great Britain, France and Ireland, and all
other countries thereunto belonging." From an
orderpublisbed bythecourt beforethe proclamation,
"forbidding all disorderly behavior on the occa-
sion, and declaring that no persons might expect in-
dulgence for the breach of any law," and forbidding
in a particular manner "that any man should pre-
sume to drink his majesty's health, which he had in
a special manner forbid," it would seem, that the
people of New England were less loyal or less
versatile, than those of Virginia; at all events, that
there were many among them who, far from beii;g
ready to shape their conduct and alter their pro-
fessions with the circumstances, were too much
attached to their principles, tamely to allow the
noisy exultations of the successful party, and that
they were a sufficiently numerous and respectable
body to command some respect for their feelings.
In the following year, the people of Connecticut
obtained from the crown a charter, vesting them
with such ample privileges, that more than a cen-
tury after, when they declared themselves inde-
pendent, it was thought quite unnecessary to
establish the rights of the people on a firmer basis;
and time has not yet shown that necessity. Thie
instrument bears date the 20th of April, 1662.
124 CHAPTER [lem
The authority of lord Baltimore, over the pro-
vince of Maryland, being re-established by the
restoration, he sf^nt over Charles Calvert, his eldest
son, to govern it. This gentleman met with no
difficulty in assuming the reins of government. The
first legislature, after his arrival, passed an act for
coining money: it was enacted, that it should be of
as good silver as English sterling; that every shil-
lin {, and so in proportion for other pieces, should
weigh at least nine pence in such silver, and that
the proprietor should accept of it in payment of his
rent and other debts. This law and that of Massa-
chusetts, in 1652, are the only ones of the kind that
are to be found among the legislative acts of the
English American colonies before the revolution.
The plantations of this province were now extended
as far as cape Henlopen, from which the Dutch
had lately retired.
The legislature of Virginia met in the month of
March. The principal object, attained by the
governor at this session, was the establishment of
the church of England, by legislative authority, in
the colony; an object which the king, in his instruc-
tions, had strongly recommended. Provision was
made for building churches, laying out glebes, and
the appointment of vestries; power was given to
the governor to induct ministers already ordained^
and all others were forbidden to preach.
Father Feijoo, in his Theatro Critico, has re»
corded the tremendous effects of an earthquake,
which was in 1663 felt in Canada and almost every
part of the northern continent; in a space of twelve
hundred miles, several mountains shook one against
1663] THE SEVENTH. 125
the other; some were torn from their seats and pre-
cipitated into the river St. Lawrence; others sunk
in deep crevasses, which were made in several
places. A very large and rocky one, occupying up-
wards of two miles, sunk, leaving in its place a
wide and extensive plain: lakes were formed on
the spot where high and inaccessible mountains had
hitherto stood.
Sir Robert Heath's grant of land, to the south-
ward of Virginia, perhaps the most extensive pos-
session ever owned by an individual, remained for
a long time ahuost absolutely waste and unculti-
vated. This vast extent of territory occupied all
the country between the 30th and 36th degrees of
northern latitude, which embraces the present
states of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Ten-
nessee, Mississippi and, with very little exceptions,
the whole state of Louisiana and the territory of
East and West Florida, a considerable part of the
state of Missouri, the Mexican provinces of Texas,
Chiuhaha, &c. The grantee had taken possession
of the country soon after he had obtnined his title,
which he afterwards had conveyed to the earl of
Arundel. Henry lord Maltravers appears to have
obtained some aid from the province of Virginia in
1639, at the desire of Charles I., for the settlement
of Carolana, and the country had since become the
property of a Dr. Cox ; yet, at this time, there
were two points only in which incipient English
settlements could be discerned ; the one on the
northern shore of Albemarle sound and the streams
that flow into it. The population of it was very
thin, and the greatest portion of it was on the
126 ["CHAPTER. [1663
north-east bank of Chowan river. The settlerp had
come from that part of Virginia now known as
the county of Nansemond, which, it has been ob-
served, began to be occupied by the whites as
early as the year 1609: they had been joined by a
number of Quakers and other sectaries, whom the
spirit of intolerance had driven from New England,
and some emigrants from Bermudas. Their rmm-
ber, though not great, must have been far from
insignificant; for, besides the culture of corn and
other grain, necessary to life and the raising of
cattle, they made a considerable quantity of tobacco
for exportation; a circumstance, which must be pre-
sumed from the attempt of .the legislature of Vir-
ginia, this year, to procure the union of Maryland
and Virginia, in a plan then under consideration,
on the subject of tobacco, their staple commodity,
which, owing to the glut of the markets and its de-
teriorated quality, had fallen so low in value, as
scarcely to furnish clothing for the colonists. The
other settlement of the English was at the mouth of
Cape Fear river: we have seen that those who
composed it, had come thither from New England,
in 1659. Their attention was confined to rearing
cattle.
It cannot now be ascertained, whether the
assignees of Carplana eve surrendered the charter
under which it was held, nor whether it was con-
sidered as having become vacated or obsolete by
non user, or any other means; but, on the 15th of
March, the king granted to Edward, earl of Claren-
don, George, duke of Albemarle, William, earl of
Craven, John, lord Berkely, Anthony, lord Ashley,
1663] THE SEVENTH. 127
Sir George Carteret, Sir John Colleton and Sir
William Berkely, the country to the south of the
thirtv-sixth desfree of northern latitude, as far as a line
running due west from the river St. Matheo, from sea
to sea, in absolute property for ever. The territory
was erected into a province, by the name of Carolina,
of which the grantees were created lords proprietors,
with ample powers to settle the province, and establish
a fonn of government under them.
As soon as the charter issued, the duke of Norfolk
and Sir Richard Greenfield's heirs, started a title to the
country granted, in the fifth year of Charles I, to Sir
Kichard Heath ; but the king, in council, declared the
charter of Sir Robert Heath null and void, and ordered
the attorney-general to avoid it, by a writ of quo
warranto.
The principal nations of Indians, which occupied the
country thus granted, on the eastern side of the Missis-
sippi, were the Tuscaroras and the Creeks, on the sea
shore; the Catawbas, Cherokees, the Chickasaws and
the Choctaws, in the middle part, and the Natchez, on
the Mississippi. Allied to some of these nations,
were a considerable number of tribes ; the independence
of each tribe was marked by its pecufiar language, but
each, besides its own, spoke that of the allied nation.
These tribes were c«.)mposed of sedentary individuals, or
rather were a collection of families, who found their chief
support in the waters of the stream on which they dwelt,
or from the chase, in some distant spot, secluded from
the others bv marshes and water courses. Within the
country, included by the present limits of the state of
which the history is here attempted^ the Pasquotank?,
Tuteloes, Meherrins, Wopomeaks and Chowanocks, on
les CHAPTER [1663
the north ; the Hatteras, Coramines, Pamplicoes, Mat-
taraubkeets, and Cr^ -atans, on the east, the Saras, Neu-
ses, Saponas and Sippahaws, on the south, wtre the prin-
cipal tribes. They had large towns, inclosed with huge
pallisadoes, and sent several hundred, and some several
thousand, warriors to the field ; others, less stationary
and numerous, depended for subsistence on the chase,
and wandered about, in search of advantageous hunting
grounds. The more peaceful, were sometimes dis-
turbed by irrupiions from the warlike nations, that dwelt
on the northern lakes, even as far as the Simmagons,
w^ho dwelt in Canada, and who, while their country was
covered wi h snow, came southerly to prey on the occu-
pants of a softer climate. The Indians trom the west
side of the Appalachian mountains, even those of the
shores of the Mississippi, at times, joined ihej>e northern
invaders, and the country exhibited in miniature the
spectacle which Europe and Asia has witnessed, in the
irruptions of the Hunns, the Goths and the Vandals, on
the Gauls and the Germans, and the Tartar on the
Chinese.
The lords proprietors, having obtained a declaration
of the privy council, that considering the present condi-
tion of Carolina, all former grants were void, held their
first meeting in the month of May, in order to devise
measures for the planting of th^rir colony ; they formed
a joint stock for the transportation of some colonists,
and issued proposals for the encouragement of others ;
among other privileges, the proprietors offered, that the
emigrants, if in sufficient number, might offer thirteen
persons, out of which, a governor and a council of six,
should be appointed for three years ; that a grand assem-
bly, composed of the governor, the council, and dele.
1663] THE SEVENTH. 129
gates of freemen, should be called, as soon as the circum-
stances of the colony would allow, with power to make
laws, not contrary to those of England, and liable to be
repealed by the proprietors ; that every one should enjoy
the most perfect freedom ; that during five years, every
new setder should be allowed one hundred acres of land,
and fifty for every servant introduced by him into the
colony, paying one half penny only an acre ; and that
the same freedom from customs, which had been allow-
ed by the royal charter, should be allowed to every one.
The province was divided into two counties, the river
of Cape Fear being their internal boundary ; the northern
was called Albemarle, and the southern Clarendon,
in honor of two of the proprietors. Sir William Berke-
ly, governor of Virginia, who was also one of the pro-
prietors and was tlien in his government, was desired
to visit the settlement in the county of Albemarle, and
establish in it a form of government suitable to its
situation. His instructions are dated September 8,
1663 ; he was authorized to constitute one or two
governors and councils, and other officers, the proprie-
tors reserving to themselves only the appointment of a
surveyor and secretary.
A copy was sent him of the proposals of the pro-
prietors, to all that w^ould settle themselves on Cape Fear
river, prepared, on the receipt of a paper from persons
who desired to settle there, the terms of which were said
to be as low as it was possible for the proprietors to
descend. These proposals, governor Berkely was in-
formed, were not intended for the meridian of Albe-
marle county, where it was hoped to find more facile
people, who, by his interest, might settle on better
terms for the proprietors. The terms there were left to
N* CARO. 17
tm ' CHAPTER [166:3
his management, and an opinion was expressed, that as
much land as possible should be granted, rather than
deter any settler.
The proprietors stated the information which they
had received, tliat the people, settled in the neighborhood
of Chowan river, had bought great tracts of land from
the Ind ans, which it was deemed improper to allow
them wholly to retain : as they would probably keep
such land in their hands, and so occasion a great dis-
tance between the settlements, and destroy or weaken
the means of mutual assistance in time of danger; and
if they yielded a part of their lands to purchasers, it
would likeiv be on such hard terms as would deter new
settlers. Guverncjr Berkciy was therefore instructed,
to persuade or com|>el such persons to be satisfied, with
such portions, as were allotted to others.
He was authorized to establish two governments, that
is, one on each side of Chowan river, from a belief, that
individuals, anxious for liberty ofconscier.ee, might de-
sire a governor of their own proposing, which those on
the opposite side of the river might dislike.
Lastly, he was instructed to procure a vessel,
of a small draught of water, to search for an inlet into
the sound, through which great ships might come in ;
and to obtain some account of Charles river.
Several gentlemen of the island of Barbadoes, being
dissatisfied with their condition there, and having seen
the proposals of the lords proprietors, despatched a ves-
sel to reconnoitre the country, along Cape Fear or
Clarendon river, early in the month of September.
Anthony Long, William Hilton, and Peter Fabiau,
were intrusted with this expedition ; the journal, which
they published on their return, is believed to be the
1663J THE SEVENTH. 191
earliest account of Cape Fear river, that ever appeared
ill print.
On the 29th of September, ihey reached the conti-
nent, in thirty two degrees twenty minutes of north
latitude, and ran^^ed the coast as fiir as thirty. three de-
grees eleven minutes, without finding any entrance for
their ship to the northward of the thirty-second degree.
On the 3d of October, they were overtaken by a vio-
lent storm, the wind between north and east ; it con-
tinued for several days, so that the ship was forced to a
considerable distance off the shore, and driven by the
rapidity of a strong current to cape Hatteras ; on the
twelfth, thev came to an anchor in seven fathoms of water,
and taking the meridian altitude, they found themselves
in thirty-three degrees forty-three minutes. The bad-
ness of the weather detained them until the sixteenth,
when they sailed about fifteen miles, and came to an-
chor in seven fathoms of water. Several Indians came
on board, bringing a large quantity of fish, large mul-
let, young bass and shad; on the twenty -fourth, they
sailed up the river for about twelve miles farther, and
rowed up the next day nearly the same distance, where
they moored the ship. On the twenty-sixth, they went
in the yawl to Necoes, an Indian town ; they continued
sailing up the river for about ninety miles, and finding
the passage much obstructed by fallen trees, and their
provisions nearly spent, after viewing the land around
them, they reached the ship on the second of Novem-
ber ; on the fourth, they went fourteen or fifteen miles
up the river, in search of the north-west branch of it,
which they called Swampy branch ; they sailed on it to
the distance of fifteen miles, and returned. On the
sixth, they sailed up another branch of the main river,
1S2 CHAPTER [1663
the mouth of which was near the place where the ship
rode ; they called it Green's river, and sailing up to the
distance of fifteen miles, they found it divided into two
inconsiderable branches ; the land was generally full of
marshes and swamps. On their return to the ship, they
took a supply of provisions, and sailed up the main river
again ; on the fourth day, they came to a place, where
the river was narrowed by two islands in the middle of
it ; it was there so crooked and so much obstructed by
fallen trees, that they were com|7elled to proceed on land
along the river three or four miles, and found it widen-
ing more and more ; they then returned ; the course of
the river, as far as they could see, was straight, and its
direction towards the north-east; they judged them-
selves at the distance of one hundred and fiftv miles
from the mouth of the river ; the land on both shores
appeared rich, very level, and covered with tall giass;
the banks were steep, and in some places very high ; the
woods were full of deer, conies, turkeys, partridges,
crants, ducks, teals, pigeons and paroquets. The
timber consisted chiefly of oak, some of which were
from twelve to eighteen feet, and even twenty-four feet
high, below the first limbs ; large cypress were abun-
dant ; walnut, birch, beech, maple, ash, bay, willow,
elder and holly, were found in the upper part of the
country, and in the lower innumerable pines, tall and fit
for masts and boards, for the most part in barren and
sandy soil, but in some places up the river, in good
ground, mixed among the oak and other timber, mul-
berry trees and grape vines were found in quantity. OiV
the north-west side of the river, they viewed a large
tract, extending to the distance of several miles, with-
out any tree, except a few scattered oak ; it was covered
1665] THE SEVENTH. 133
with luxuriant grass, which rose to the height of a man's
waist, and in many places to that of his shoulder ; it
abounded in deer and turkeys ; they named it stag park.
.Proceeding downwards, they came to another remarka-
ble place, on the same side as the former, which it ap-
peared to join ; the uncommon circumstance, of its
abounding with rock, stone, and pebbles, induced the
adventurers to give it the name of Rocky Point, an ap-
pellation which it, at this day, still retains ; they judged
the distance from this spot to the mouth of the river to
be about seventy- five miles. On the twenty-third, they
came to a place on the same side of the river, about six
miles lower, which from the great quantity of wild tur-
keys they saw about it, they called Turkey Quarters.
The land along the river was high and rich, but at tlie
distance of two miles from the shore sandv and barren,
bearing only pine trees. Going down the river, they
stopped, after rowing eight or nine miles, on a rich tract,
covered with valuable timber ; the bank of the river be-
inp^ high and steep, they named the place Highland Points
As they proceeded downwards, the country appeared
full of meadows, and still farther on the banks of the
river, were large marshes, on the back of which were
some good pasture land, but generally sandy barrens,
covered with innumerable pines. They reached the
shi.:> on the seventeenth, and spent a few days in viewing
the land around, on both sides of the river : it was for
the most part poor.
On the twentieth, they weighed anchor, and proceed-
ed downwards about six miles, and came to anchor
opposite to a river, which, after one of the adventurers,
was named Hilton river ; the land on both shores re-
sembled much that on Green river. On the twenty-
134 CHAPTEP. [)66S
third, they sailed up in the long boat, to the distance of
nine miles, and found that the latter river joined the one
they were in; sailing higher up, the stream forked, and
they took the branch to the larboard, and sailing up eight
miles farther, found themselves in Green river again.
They did not proceed higher up than about eight miles,
when judging themselves at the distance of fifty-four
miles webt by north from the ship, they returned. As
they were rowing down, four Indians came to them in
a canoe, and having sold them a few baskets of acorns,
returned to the shore ; one of them, following the boat
along the shore for two or three miles, stopped on the
top of a high bank, and as the Enj^lishmen rowed un-
der it, shot an arrow, which grazing the shoulder of one
of them, stuck in the upper edge of the boat, but was
broke to pieces, the head remaining fast. The3^ imme-
diately rowed to the shore, and leaving four men to keep
the boat, the rest ran up the bank, in quest of the Indiiin.
They were some time without hearing or seeing any
body , at last, they heard several voices singing at a
distance in the woods, which they took for a challenge.
As they were advancing, they were called back to their
boat, by the report of two muskets. The men, under
whose care it was left, had fired on an Indian, whom
they had seen creeping along the bank, with apparently
hostile intentions. They had, however, missed him,
and he had sought his safety in flight. While an ac-
count was giving of this circumstance, two Indians ap-
proached, hollowing bonny, bonny; they had bows and
arrows, which they willingly exchanged for a few beads.
The head of the arrow, which still remained fast in the
boat, was pointed out to them; they manifested great
concern, and disowned any knowledge of the accident ;
1663] THE SEVENTH. IS5
they soon after went away, and the Eng;lish marked a
tr^e on the top ot" the bank, and named the place Mount
Strong. The banks of the river were of clay, and in
some part of marl, and the iand was not inferior to that
on the other river. They judged the one they were in
came irom hii^her up in the country, from the greater
rapidity oi the current, and the c|uantity of drift wood
carried down the stream. On their way to the ship,
they saw several spots of ground cleared by the Indians,
and planted with corn; the trees stood up, being only
barked around in the lower extremity, so as to kill them.
Tne corn stalks, notwithstanding the fields were much
shadowed by the timber, were very tall. Proceeding
still downwards, they reached another Indian plantation,
on which they landed, and were hospitably received ;
after purchasing acorns and corn, they went on, and
having proceeded about six miles, they perceived an
Indian, peeping over a high bank ; they presented a
musket at him, calling out skerry ; whereupon, a num-
ber of Indians made their appearance, crying out bonnt/^
bonny, and making signs of friendship ; they ran down-
Wards along the shore, before the boat, endeavoring to
persuade the white people to land; these, however,
kept their guns presented, crying owX. skerry : The na-
lives, perceiving their attempts to induce the whites to
approach the shore unavailing, two of them got into a
larg:e canoe and advanced towards the boat, one of them
paddling with a large cane, and the other with his hcUids ;
they with difficulty reached the boat, and laid hold of her
fenders and clewing, and at last succeeded in persuad-
ing the persons on board to come ashore. The adven-
turers were met, on their landing, by a party of near forty
lusty Indians, who came running on, crying bonny.
336 CHAPTER [1663
The head of the arrow was pointed out to them, on the
side of the boat ; one of them made a long speech, and
threw beads into her, in token of friendship, and gave
the white people to understand, that when he heard of
the insult they had received, he had felt great grief, and
shed tears, and had come with his people to make peace
with them ; that if they could discover the offender,
they would tie his hands and cut off his head ; and as a
testimonial of their love and good will to the adventurers,
two tall and handsome young Indian women wTre pre-
sented to them : they appeared to be the chief's daugh-
ters, or persons of high rank in the natioif, manifested
no reluctance at their being thus tendered as a peace of-
fering, and very willingly entered the boat. Valuable as
this gift was, the time at which, and the number of per-
sons to whom, it was made, imperiously required the re-
turn of it to the donors ; one of them with difficulty
consented to leave the boat ; at last, they were both dis^
missed, with a small present of beads. A few hatchets
were presented to the chief, and such of the Indians
whose appearances pointed them out as standing next in
s-ank ; and tliey departed, after promising to come down
and visit the whites, on board of their ship.
The adventurers named this spot Mount Bonny, in
token of the peace thus concluded, and reached the ship
on the twenty- sixth.
On the next day, they weighed anchor and came down
to an island (Cram island,) within twelve miles from
the sea, and on the first day of December, the Indians
came on board, according to promise ; they were in
great number ; and at this meeting, Wat Coosa, their
king, and his chieftains, sold to the adventurers the river
and land of Cape Fear.
1663J THE SEVENTH. 137
They went to view the land about the cape ; it ap- * ** f,
peared quite sandy and barren, some low and shrubby » 1% J! '
trees scattered in many places, grass and rushes growing * ^ **
in others, but the most covered with clear sand. There ^%\** t^
were some cattle, left by the people from New England,
in the care of the Indians, to be fattened : the spot ap-
peared much fitter to starve them. Yet the Indians,
dwelling around the cape, did not allow these animals to
go higher up to better pasture grounds, lest the reward
they received from the owners of the cattle, should be
shared by other Indians. On a hi.^h post, on the sea
shore, was nailed a writing, describing the land on the
river as mit^erably poor : it had been placed there by
the people from New England : another, more correctly
descriptive, was substituted.
The colony from jNlussachu setts was settled on
Charles river, tliLit i^, the stream now caled Oldtown
Creek. They had srititd in 1660, and deserted their ^^
habitations in 1663.
The Lidians brought several times, to the ship, good
and fat beef, and some swine, with very good salt, which
they said was ob-aiiied in the country.
The ship hailed for Baibadoes on the fourth of De-
cember, and on tlie sixth of February anchored in
Carlisle bay.
Pleased with the accounts which they received, the
persons at whose charge the ship had been sent, deter-
mined 10 remove to Cape Fear, and according to the
proposals of the lords proprietors, the names of thirteen
persons were forwarded them, out of which they were
requested to choose a governor and council.
In the fall p-overnor Berkeiy, at the request of the
lords proprietors, visited the county of Albemarle, and
,^ N. CARO. 18 * ' : •
• ♦ « V
*^-.
138 CHAPTER [16^4
f^ " appointed Georeje Drummond, a man of prudence and
jm£%m * fidelity, governor of it. He sent commissions lo other
^^^^ * gentlemen, to fill the offices of assistants or counsellors,
^ judges and justices of the peace, and depaned, after
having taken measures for the proper administration of
a provisional government.
This year was granted by the king, the charter of the
prvjvince of Rhode Island and the Providence Planta-
^ tions. It differed but little from that of the province of
Connecticut, and like it, was thought, after the declara-
ticii of independence, so completely to define and protect
the rights of the people, as to render it useless to frame
a constitution.
On the twelfth of March, 1664, the duke of York ob-
tained from his brother a patent for various and exten- '
sive tracts of land, covering the country now known as
the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Delaware; and on the twelfth of June, he conveyed to
John Berkely, baron of Stratton, and Sir Ge«Tge Carte-
ret, of Saltrenn, in Dover, two of the proprietors of the
province of Carolina, a portion of this vast territory,
which was erected into a province, by the name of New-
Jersey, in honor of Sir George, whose family came from
the island of Jersey. Three inhabitants of Long Island
removed this year into the new province, to the spot, on
which the first town of New Jersey was built, and in
compliment to Sir George's lady, it was called
Elizabethtown.
In the summer, commodore Nichols, with four fri-
gates and three hundred soldiers, sailed from England
for the reduction of New Netherlands. On their anchor-
ing before the fort, Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor,
sent a letter on board, to require some notice of Nichob'
1664] THE SEVENTH. 139
intention, and was answered by a summons to surren-
der. He at first determined on a defence, but soon after,
considering his unequal force, offered to treat. On the
twenty. seventh of August^ a capitulation was signed, by
which the fort and town of New Amsterdam were sur-
rendered to the English. The town now, in honor to
the Duke of York, changed its name to that of New-
York. On the twenty -fourth of September, Fort
Orange capitulated also, and the town near it was called
Albany, the Scotch title of the duke. On the first of
October, the Dutch settlements on the Delaware were
taken possession of by the English. Thus were the
Dutch driven away from New Netherlands, which they
had occupied for about half of a century, and the south-
ern English provinces of Maryland and Virginia, now
connected, by an uninterrupted chain of English posses-
sions, to the northernmost part of the English empire
In America.
Chalmers — Laxvson — Archdale,
CHAPTER VIII.
The English in 1604 took the island' of St. Lucia,
from the French. They were assisted by six hundred
Charibee Indians, in seventeen canoes. Two years after,
the colony, reduced by epidemical diseases, to eighty-
nine individuc.ls, burnt their fort, and abandoned the
island.
In the next year, surmising some lands beyond the
southern boundary of their province, to be of considera-
ble importance, they solicited from the king, a second
charter, which might include them. It was obtained
without difficulty. The date of it, is the 13th of June,
1665.
This instrument grants to them, their heirs and as-
signs, the province of Carolina, within the king's do-
minions, in America, extending north-eastward, as far
as the north end of the Currituck river or inlet, on a
straight westerly line, to Wvonoak creek, which lies
within, or about, thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes,
north laiitude, and so west, in a direct line to the South
sea; and south and westward, as far as the 29th degree
"inclusive, and so westward, in a direct line to the South
sea.
It invests them with the power of building churches,
chapels and oratories, to bt' dedicated and consecrated,
1665] CHAPTER. 141
according to the ecclesiastical law of England, and
gives tlum the right of advovvson and patroiiage.
It creaes the grantees, their heirs and assigns, lords
propriet(irs of the province, to be holden in free and
common socage, as of the king's man(;r of Green-
wich in Kent, reserving to the crowii one fonrth part of
the gold and silver ore, that may be found within the
province, and authorizes them to erect and establish
counties, baronies and colonies, cities, towns and ma-
nors; to enact constitutions and laws, with the consent
of the freemen; imposing penalties, inflicting punish-
ments extending even to the deprivation of any mem- -
her or life, to grant pardons and reprieves, establish
courts of justice, and appoint officers of them. The
laws, however, are required to be consonant to reason,
and, as much as may be, conformable to those of
En^^land.
A temporary power is given to the lords proprietors,
to make ordinances, for the preservation of the peace,
until ihe legislative bodv may be convt- ned.
The king grants hcense, to any of his subjects, to re-
move to Can.ilina, declares such as do, and iheir chil-
dren born there, British subjects, allowing them free-
dom of commerce with England, Ireland, and Scotland,
and to export their commodities there and even to for-
eign ports, paying the accustomed duties; to import ^
into any of the king's dominions, silks, wines, raisins,
capers, wax, oil and olives, during the term of seven
years, and to export farming utensils free from any
duty.
Power is given to the grantees of erecting ports,
and levying duties and customs ; to confer titles of
honor ; but it is provided, that such titles shall be differ-
142 CHAPTER [1666
ent from those used in England ; the right of erecting
fortifications, of levying troops, of mustering and train-
ing the inhabitants to arms, to make war by sea and
land, and exercise martial law in cases of necessity, is
also granted to them.
The province is declared a distinct goverment, me-
diately dependent on the crown. The inhabitants arc
released from any obligation of conformit}^ to the church
of England, or taking any test oath, and a free toleration,
in religious matters, is granted.
The lords pro]>rietors now made constant, although
not very successful, efforts to induce individuals of all
ranks, to migrate to their province. For this purpose,
they appointed agents in Ireland, Scotland, and the colo-
nies in the West Indies, on the continent, and in the
island of Bermudas. A number of people left that
island, and settled on Pasquotank river, where they ap-
plied themselves chiefly to ship building. The few
planters, who had settled on the shore of Chowan river,
jyere now joined by emigrants from New England.
The lords proprietors made choice of John Yeamans,
among the persons proposed by the planters of Barba-
does, who intended to remove to the county of Ciaren-
den, and appointed him governor of it. This gende-
man, being then in England, was knighted on the occa-
sion, and the king made the colony a present of twelve
pieces of ordnance, and some warlike stores.
In the latter part of the year, Sir John Yeamans led
from Barbadoes a body of emigrants, and began a set-
tlement on the southern shore of Cape Fear river: he
laid out a town, which, in honor of the king, he called
Charleston. The spot, which w^as thus dignified, is not
at this day to be determined. Lawson, in his map of
1666] ' THE EIGHTH- 143
Carolina, has preserved the name of Charleston, and it
is imagined, from the place it occupies on this map, that
the town stood not far from, if not upon, a stream, now
in the county of Brunswick, called Oldtowu creek;
perhaps at the confluence of it and the river.
Governor Yeamans was more successful than the peo-
ple of New England, who had preceded him thither, in
cultivating the good will of the Indians, from w^hom his
colonists derived considerable assistance in clearing and
planting the land. The vessels, that had brought the
adventurers, were, in a short time, loaded with lumber,
and soon returned to fetch new adventurers, and a far-
ther supply of provisions ; thus an advantageous com-
merce was established, between the county of Clarendon
and the island, which had spared it its first inhabitants.
The favorable reports, which the islanders received from
their friends on the continent, induced new adventurers
to follow the first. The merchants, induced by the
profits which the first expedition had given, made fre-
quent shipments, and the success of the lords proprie-
tors' agents, in that island, in procuring colonists, was
so great, that the legislature of Barbadoes interposed its
authority, and forbade, under severe penalties, the spir-
iting people off ^he island.
The emigrants from Barbadoes had purchased from
the Indians, a tract of land thirty-two miles square, for
which they now solicited a grant from the lords proprie-
tors, with a charter of incorporation. Although this
was refused, they obtained liberal grants of land, and
every other reasonable indulgence. A county was then
established, which was called Clarendon.
The Ion Is proprietors, desirous of obtaining a more
accurate knowledge of their province, fitted out a ship
144 CHAPTER [1667
and sent William Sayle, to explore the coast of Caro-
lina. On his way, Sav^e was drivt:n, in d storm, on
St. Salvador, one of thr Baham » islands, and the one on
which Christopher Columbus first landfd in America.
He staid some time on this island, to refit his ship, and
visited the neighboring one; and next proceeded to
Carolina, and surveyed the coast, entering the rivers and
making astronomical observations, in various points.
On his return, the lords proprietors were, from his
account, induced to solicit a grant of the Bahama islands,
and the king grave them a patent, for all those islands
between the twenty-second and twxnty-fourth degrees
of north latitude.
The year 1667, is remarkable for the pacification of
Brtda. By the treaty of peace with the Dutch, New
Netherlands was confirmed to the English, and Siirinam,
which had lately been taken from the Dutch, was ceded
to them in return, the English planters in Surinam,
principally removing to Jamaica. ^ Their nun»bfr at the
time of this evacuation, amouted to about fifteen hun^
dred, besides their fiimilies.
Legislative countenance was this year, for the first
time, given to the transportation of malefactors to
America. By the 18 Charles II. c. 3, power was given
to judges of assizes, commissioners of oyer and termi-
ner and general jail delivery, to order persons convict-
ed of theft and rapine, on the northern b(^rdei s of Eng-
land, to be transported into any of the king's dominions,
in America. •
In October, governor Drummond was succeeded by
Samuel Stephens, who was authorized to grant land,
with the concurrence of the council, returning to the
lords proprietors one h^lf of the gold and silver ore.
A constitution was given, at the same time, to the
1668] THE EIGHTH. 146
colony of Albemarle. The governor was to act with the
advice of a council of twelve, the one halt of whom he
was authorised to appoint, thcf other half was to be cho-
sen by the assembly. The assembly was com.posed of
the governor, the couiicil, and twelve delegates, chosen
by the freeholders. Goveraor Stephens' commission
bears date in October, 16c37.
The first legislature met in this year, or early in the
next; Chalmers says, in 1669; but their meeting is
mentioned in an authentic instrument of the lords pro-
prietors of the first of May, 1668. The laws enacted
exhibit strong evidence of the temper, manners and
opinions of the colonists. To induce migration, an
asylum was offered to dishonest debtors; and suits, for any
debt created out of the country, were prohibited for five
years; the acceptance oi any power of attorney, to de-
mand the payment of them, was forbidden; and with a view
to promove population by some more natural means, it
was provided, that **as people might wish to marry, and
there being no minister in the settlement, that none
might be hindered from so necessary a W(jrk, for the pre-
servation of mankind, any man and woman, carrying
before the governor, or any member of the council, a ftv/
of their neighbors, and declaring their mutual consent,
were to be declared man and wife." A limited exemp-
tion from taxes was granted to n?w sealers; and dealers
from abroad were prohibited from coming into the
country, or among the neighboring tribes, to traffic with
the Indians. With a view to retain adventurers, the
right to a certain quantity of land, which was acquired by
migration, was declared not to be the subj ct of con-
veyance, till the transferee had remained two years in the
country. A tax of thirty pounds of tobacco, on every
N. CARO. 19
146 CHAPTER. [1668
law suit, was laid, as a provision for the payment of the
expenses of the governor and council, during the session
of the legislature.
These laws were transmitted for, and received the ap-
probation of the lords, proprietors ; for it seems they had
reserved to themselves a veto, on the laws of the province;
they remained in force upwards of one half of a cen-
turv, and were confirmed in the vear 1715, and are the
six first chapters among the acts of the session of that
year.
The assembly transmitted a petition to the lords pro-
prietors, in order to obtain, that the inhabitants of the
c^vHity of Albemarle might hold their lands, upon the
same tenure as the inhabitants of Virginia held theirs ;
and on the 1st of May, 1668, their lordships, by an in-
strument, called the great deed of grant, directed gover-
nor Stephens to grant land to such persons as should
come into the colony of Albemarle, to plant and inhabit
it, to be holden of their lordships^ on the same terms
and conditions as lands were, at the time, especially
granted in Virginia.
The county was at this period in a very thriving con-
dition ; a considerable quantity of tobacco was raised ;
provisions were very abundant; many of the inhabitants
were engaged in ship building ; vessels from the West
Indies came to procure lumber; and a number of tra-
ders from New England, visiting the settlement during
the winter, ministered to the wants of the people, and
carried away whatever they had to spare.
The negotiations for peace, between England and
France, which began in 1667, were not concluded till
the following year. France yielded to England, all her
rights in the island of St. Christopher, together with the
%
1669] THE EIGHTH. 14T
islands of Antigua and Montserrat, and England yielded
up Acadia to France, generally, without any specifica-
tion of limits, and particularly, Pentagoet, St. John, Port
Royal, La Haive and cape Sable, lying within it.
Before this, no mention is made, in any treaty be-
tween England and Spain, of America. Spain being
contented to keep up her ancient claim to that country,
and England, careful to keep and improve the footing
she had already gained on it, a general treaty of com-
merce was concluded between England and Spain.,
relating to the interests of both kingdoms, in Europe
I
and America.
It was stipulated, that Spanish and British vessels, in
their respective states, should not be visited by the judges
of contraband, nor by any other person whatever. No
officer or soldier be put on board till tlie captain
shall have entered his goods, and declared his inten-
tion to land. This article was stated as a stipulation, free-
ing British vessels from tlie visits of guard a castes.
It is evident, it relates only to places, where they might
lawfully trade.
Lord Willoughby, governor of Barbadoes, sent forces
to St. Vincent and Dominica, and subduing the Carib-
bea Indians, added these two islands to the dominion
of England.
On the 2d of May, 1669, the king granted to prince
Rupert, and several lords, knights and merchants asso-
ciated with him, a charter, incorporating them as ** the
governor and company of adventurers trading from
England to Hudson's bay," and ceding to them the
whole trade of the waters within the entrance of Hud*
son's straits and the adjacent territories.
#
148 CHAPTER [1669
The lords proprietors, unsatisfied with any system
that had been hitherto imagined, for the government of
their province, made application to the celebrated
John Locke, for the form of a constitution, suited to the
situation and temper of the colonists, and yet '' agree-
able to the monarchy of which Carol*' na was a part, and
which mig^t avoid making too numerous a democracy.'*
T is philosopher, endeavoring to carry :he intentions
of his employers into effrct, compiled, and soon after
presented for their approbation, a body of fundamental
constitutions, which were finally adopted, in the month
of July, 1669.
This instrument provides for the election of a pala-
tine from among the lords proprietors, who, presided
by this officer, were to constitute a palatine court, en.
trusted with the exercise of the powers granted to them
by this charter. A body of hereditary nobility was to
be created, consisting of landgraves and caciqiies: the
former were to be proprietors of at least four baronies,
or tracts of land of twelve thousand acres each; the
latter of two signories, or tracts of half that quantity of
land. Two fifths of the province, laid off into baronies
and signories, were to be the portion of the nobility, one
third of whom were to be landgraves. The estates of
the nobility were to descend, and remain inseparable
from the dignity for ever.
The provincial legislative body, dignified with the
appellation of parliament, was to be composed of such
lords proprietors as might be in the province, and the
deputies or proxies of the others, of the landgraves and
caciques and of the representatives of the freeholders,
chosen in separate districts. These persons were to
sit and deliberate together, in the same appartment,
1669] TPIE EIGHTH. 149
and each individual was to have one vote. The parlia-
ment was to be triennial ; no proposition Wcjs to ori-
ginate in it, and its deliberations were to be confined to
such objects, as were submitted to its consideration by
the grand council.
The grand council was to be composed of the lords
proprietors, by themselves or proxies, and the land-
graves and caciques. It was invested with the executive
powers of government.
Various judicatories were instituted, and an infinite
number of minuie regulations made.
THe church of England was alone to be allowed a
public maintenance by law, but all others were to be
permiMed the ex rcise of their particular modes of
worship, and to levy contributions on their own mem-
bers, for the support of their ministers.
At the end of every century, the laws enacted in the
province were to become void, without the formality of
a repeal.
These fundamental constitutions, which consisted of
one hundred and twenty articles, were declared to be
the sacred and unalterable rules of government in
Carolina for ever.
It seems to have been a matter of perfect indifference
to him who framed, and those who imposed them, whe-
ther the people, who were expected to be governed by
them, would find them acceptable ; nor was it con-
sidered, whether they could be compelled to forego for
them the form of government, under which they had
settled the desert, and in which they might justly deem
they had acquired an interest.
The duke of Albemarle was the first palatine ; but he
did not long enjoy this dignity. At his death, which
loO CHAPTER [1669
happened on the 3d of January, 1670, it passed to John
lord Bcrkely; and the other proprietors were also ap-
pointed to high sounding offices, and the Tramer of the
new form of government was rewarded with a land-
graveship.
Governor Stephens was directed to organize the go-
vernment of the county of Albemarle, according to the
new order of things. It does not appear, that a similar
application was made at the same time to governor Yea-
mans, of the county of Clarendon. The people of Albe-
marle did not relish the innovation; great murmurs
were excited by, and much opposition made to it : dis-
contents daily increased, and the governor never com-
pletely succeeded in carrying his orders into execution.
A rumor prevailed in the settlement, which although
without foundation, was not on that account of less
mischief: an intended dismemberment of the province
was spoken of. An other, and more real cause of com-
plaint existed. The colonists had hitherto disposed of
such commodities as they could spare, to the people of
New- England, who visited them, while the inclemency
of the weather shut their own ports. The proprietors
now wished to divert the commerce of this province
from this channel and turn it towards England. The
small quantity of produce for exportation, which was at
any time ready for shipping, the difficulty of the naviga^-
tion, which precluded the use of large vessels, the in-
eonveniency of procuring West India produce, if the
trade with Boston was abandoned, offered obstacles to a
direct trade with the metropolis, which the lords pro-
prietors overlooked, but which appeared insurmounta-
ble to the colonists.
1670] • THE EIGHTH. ' J51
On the 29th of July, 1669, the lords proprietors ap-
pointed William Say le, governor of that part of Carolina
which lies south-westwardly of cape Carteret; they
fitted out two ships, on board of which the new gover-
nor sailed, accompanied by Joseph West, who was en-
trusted with the commercial affairs of their lordships,
who were for some time the only merchants that sup-
plied the wants of the colonists ; they employed vessels
to carry on a circuitous traffic, for the purpose of pro-
curing colonists, cattle and provisions, from Virginia,
Bermuda and Barbadoes, and of carrying off the incon-
siderable produce of their colony. About eight hun-
dred new settlers accompanied governor Sayle, who was
amply supplied with provisions, arms, and tools for
building and agriculture ; he landed at Port Royal, in
that partof South Carolina now known as Beaufort dis-
trict, and soon after issued writs for electing delegates
to set in parliament. In order to encourage settlers at
Port Royal, one hundred and fifty acres were granted
to every one, at an easy quit rent : clothes and provis-
ions were distributed from the stores of the lords propri-
etors, to those who could not provide for themselves:
and to secure the good will of the neighboring tribes,
considerable presents were made to the Indian chiefs.
A bloody war between the Westoes and the Serannas;
two powerful Indian nations in Carolina, was now car-
ried on with fury, and proved fatal to both : an event
which paved the way to the introduction and establish-
ment of the English colony.
The treaty of M.idrid, for ascertaining the rights of
England and Spain, to certain territories in America,
was signed on the 18th of July, 1670 : by the seventh
article of it, it was stipulated that the king of England
152 CHAPTER [1670
should remain in possession of the territory he had before
possebst^d, in the West India islands and on the conti-
nent. Prior to this period, nothing is known to have
been done to settle the plantations of England in the
new world. *' The king of England,'' it is said, "his
heirs and successors, shall have, hokl, and possess for-
ever, with full right of sovereign dominion, possession
and property, all lands, countries, and dominions what-
soever, which said king and his subjects do, at the pre-
sent hold and possess, so that in regard thereof, or upon
any color or pretence, nothing ought or may ever be
urged, or any question or controversy moved, concern-
ing the same hereafter." By the eighth article, it was
stipulated, that each party should abstain from the ports,
harbors, roads, &.c. of the other, but provision is made
for hospitality in case of distress.
By the clause of uti possidetis, in this treaty, the
English gained, in their opinion at least, a confirmation
of their logwood trade, and possession upon the bay of
Campeachy, several Englishmen havin.L>:, for some years
before, employed themselves in cutting wood in that
country, and a number of them having formed an estab-
lishment for that purpose, in the lagune de tcrmiims,
whence considerable shipments were made to Jamaica
and New- England.
, Parliament this year extended the powers of the
courts, to order the transportation of offenders to any of
the king's plantations beyond sea, for seven years, to
the cases of persons stealing cloth from the rack, or em-
bezzling the king's stores to the value of twenty shillings.
It was made felony for them to return before the expira-
tion of their time of exportation. (22. C. 11. ch. 5.)
In the following year, governor Sayle being dissatis-
fied with the situation he had chosen at Port Royal, re-
J671] THE EIGHTH.
moved northerly to a neck of land between Ashley and
Cooper rivers. Deputies, sent by the lords proprietors
to aid governor Sayle in his administration, arrived soon
after, and brought twenty-three articles of instructions,
called temporary agrarian laws, intended for the equal
division of land among the people, and the plan of a
magnificent town, to be laid out, on the neck of land be-
tween Ashley and Cooper rivers, to be called, in honor
of the king, Charleston.
Governor Sayle falling a victim to the climate, Sir
John Yeamans claimed the chief command, as vice pala-
tine, being the only landgrave or nobleman in the pro-
vince : but the council called Joseph West thereto, till
the pleasure of the proprietors was known, and in Au-
gust (1671) Sir John received a commission, by which
he was a|)pointed governor of the southern county.
From that period, there remained but two governments
in the province ; the authority of governor Yeamans
was extended to all the settlements in the province, to
the south of Cape Fear river. The country having never
been accurately surveyed, it was thought more eligible
by the planters on Cape Fear and tliose at Port Royal,
to unite in a settlement on Ashley and Cooper rivers, and
the foundation of Charleston was laid. Ti^e site of the
old town formed, in 1805, part of the plantation of Elias
L. Horry ; no trace of it was, however, to be seen there,
excepting a small bottom running directly across the
neck, which is imagined to be the remains of a wide
ditch, made to protect the town from the incursions of
the Indians. The county of Clarendon lost its name,
being divided into four, which, in honor of some of the
lords proprietors, were named Berkely, Colleton,
Craven and Carteret, and the people, who till now had
N. CARO. 20
154 ' - CHAPTER [1671
been under military government, at this time began to
have a constitutional legislature.
The county of Albt^marle was at the same time di-
vided into three precincts, the eastern was called
Carteret, the middle one Berkely, and the western
Shaftesbury, in honor of Anthony Ashley Cooper, lately
created earl of Shaftsbury.
The following extract of governor Berkely ^s answer,
in June 1671, to enquiries from the committee of the
colonies, is a curious specimen of his loyalty: '*We
have forty -eight parishes^ and our ministers are well
paid, and by my consent should be better, if they would
pray oftener, and preach less ; but, as of all other commo-
dities, so of this, the worst are sent us, and we have few
that we can boast of, since the persecution in Cromwell's
tyranny drove divers worthy men hither. Yet, I thank
God, there are no free schools, and no printing, and I
hope we shall not have these hundred years : for leearn-
ing has brought disobedience, heresy, and sects, into
the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels,
against the best government."
This year is remarkable, by the discovery of the Mis-
sissippi, by father Marquette, a recollect friar, from
Canada; he entered it through the river Ouisconsing ;
his first trip was up the river, as high up as the falls of
St. Anthony; and in company with Joliet, a Canadian tra-
der, he descended the river as far as the Arkansas. On
his return, he established a mission, having gathered
some Indians and Canadians, on the bank of the Illinois
river, at a place called the Great Rock, about five leagues
above the mouth of the river. This is the origin of the ^
district of the Illinois. The settlement growing nume-
rous, the emigrants disagreed between themselves, and a
1672] THE EIGHTH. 153
colony was settled at Cahokia, on the left bank of the
Mississippi, about five leagues below the mouth of the
Illinois.
In 1672, William Edmundson, an eminent leader
/ among the Quakers, who had lately arrived from Eng-
land to America, with the celebrated George Fox, was
despatched from Maryland, as his precursor to the
county of Albemarle. He crossed the wide wilderness,
which separates the county of Albemarle from the set-
tlements of Virginia, accompanied by another man only.
They first reached the plantation of one Phelps, a person
of his society, who had removed with his family from
New England to the precinct of Berkely , and dwelt on
Perquiman's river : Phelps' family v/ere greatly rejoiced
at their intei^iew, not having seen any leader of this
society for several years : this happening on the first
day of the week, the neighbors were invited to a reli-
gious meeting; a number of them attended, but the
pious guests lamented that many of the congregation
appeared to have so little regard for decency, on such
an occasion, as to set down, smoaking their pipes, du-
ring the silent part of the devotional exercises ; yet they
had to rejoice, that when Edmundson delivered his tes-
timony, *'in the authority of truth," several of them
were convinced. This is supposed to have been the
first meeting of Friends in Carolina, and there is no
evidence that it was not the first religious one of Chris-
tians. Edmundson held his next meeting at the house
of Francis Jones, one of the council, who dwelt on the
opposite side of the river, and who, pleased with the
doctrine of his visitors, joined the society. Meetings
were held, before the departure of Edmundson, in other
parts of the precinct of Berkely, and in that of Carteret,
i;>
156 CHAPTER [167|i
and a quarterly meeting of discipline was established in
Berkely, to which the members of the society in the two
other precincts were made amenable. The Quakers
justly boast, that they are the first body of Christians,
who organized a religious government in Carolina.
The maxims of the Spanish government admitting
no competition, about what they looked upon as their
property in America, the queen regent of Spain pub-
lished, on the 22d of June, 1672, a royal schedule, pur-
porting that " such as should make any invasion, or
trade without license, in any part of the Indies, should
be considered as pirates." This schedule was consi-
dered by the Spanish officers in America, as inhibiting
the English from cutting wood, on the coast of Cam-
peachy, and they began to confiscate all P^nglish ships
found with that article on board.
Complaints being made in parliament, that the pro-
duce and manuiactures, of the king's dominions out of
Europe, were allowed to be carried from the places of
their production and manufacture, to any other part of
his dominions thence, without duty, to the great in-
crease of the trade from one plantation to the other ; and
the colonists not satisfied with being supplied with those
commodities, for their own use, free from duty, while
the king's subjects in England, paid a high one therefor,
brought great quantities of them to Europe, and sold
them to the shipping of other nations, to the great hurt
of the revenue, and the trade of England ; a statute was
passed, enacting, that if any vessel, that might legally
trade in the plantations, should come to any of them,
and take on board any sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo,
ginger, logwood or cocoa nut, without giving a bond for
the landing of such commodities in England, Wales or
1673] THE EIGHTH. 157
Berwick, upon Tweed, a duty should be levied and
collected here, in the plantations of the commissioners
of customs in England, under the direction of the lord
treasurer. Tonnage and poundage duty, had been
imposed, and extended to every part of the king's do-
minions, on his coming to the crown ; but this is the
first instance of the imposition of customs, on the colo-
nies alone, to be levied by colonial revenue officers.
On the 28th of May, war was proclaimed in England,
against the Dutch.
The causes of this war were stated to be the nonexi-
cution of the treaty of Breda,concluded in 1667, the re-
fusal of the Dutch, to lower their flag before English
ships ; the continuance of their fisheries on prohibited
coasts; the publication of injurious falsehoods, and of
paintings and medals by order of the States general.
In the spring of the following year, the States general
fitted out a small armament, under the orders of com-
modore Binkes, to destroy the commerce of England
and America. After having burnt most of the ship-
ping in Virginia, the commodore hearing of the de-
fenceless situation of New York, determined on im-
proving the opportunity of reducing again that pro-
vince, to the obedience of the States general. On the
30th of July, he reached Staten island, where he was
met by an officer, sent by the commander of the fort,
who offirred to treat for a surrender, and on that very
day the Dutch squadron moved under the fort, landed
their troops, and took possession of it, without firing a
single gun. The city surrendered at the same time, and
shortly after, the whole province was under the domi-
nation of the Dutch.
158 . CHAPTER [1673
The Spanish commander at the fort of St. Augus-
tine, hearing of some dissention in Sir John Yeamans"
government, despatched a small armed party, who ad-
vanced to, and took possession of the island of St. Hel-
ena, dislodging the settlers. Governor Yeamans sent
fifty volunteers, under col. Godfrey, who compelled the
Spaniards to evacuate the island.
The people of New Jersey refusing to pay quit rents
to the proprietors, an attempt was made to compel
them, whereupon they took arms, assumed the govern-
ment, and compelled Philip Carteret, the proprietors'
governor, to return to England.
Charles II. attempted to assume the sovereignty of
St, Vincents, and the neighbouring island, St. Lucia
Dominica and Tobago; great contention prevailed
between England and France, till 1748, when, by the
treaty of Aix la Chapelle, they were declared neutral.
The population of the Carribean islands, in the posses-
sion of England, being greatly increased, they were
formed into two distinct governments ; the principal
officer of the first was directed to reside at Antigua.
Besides this island, he had under him those of St, Kitts,
Nevis, Montserrat and the Virgin islands. The princi-
pal officer of the other, was directed to reside in the
island of Barbadoes; besides this, he presided over the
islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica.
Martinico being infested with run away negroes, a
treaty was made with Francisgel, a negro of Mr, Faler-
bert's, chief of a band, in which it was stipulated, that he
should have his freedom and ten acres of pasture, and
that some of his band should be chastised.
A party of Dutch buccaneers, who were settled at
Tortola, were driven out by a stronger party, who
1673 J ' THE EIGHTH. 159
called themselves English ; and soon after, Tortola and
'its dependencies, (the Virgin islands) by a commissioa
granted by Charles II. to Sir William Stapleton, were
annexed to the leeward island government. The Dutch
had done little towards the cultivation of the island, at
the time they were expelled.
Chalmers — Laxvson — Archdale — Edwards.
CHAPTER IX
In the year 1674, governor Yeamans, reduced to
a feeble vState of health, by the wfirmth of the cli-
^ mate and bis labor for the prosperity of tlie colony,
committed to his care, returned to Barbadoes,
where he soon after died. He was succeeded in
the government by Joseph West, who, we have
seen, was the commercial agent of the lords pro-
prietors. This part of the province had, at this
. time, its governor and grand council, and the free-
holders having now chosen their representatives,
the three branches met in parliament, and for the
iirst time legislative acts were passed, which, being
afterwards ratified by the lords proprietors, the
government was thus organized in this part of
Carolina, a little more than five years after the
adoption of the constitution proposed hy Locke.
About the same time, governor Stephens also
died, and the assembly of the county of Albemarle
called Cartwright, their speak r, to the chief
magistracy '4ill orders should come from England.'-
The ill humor, which had been excited by the
attempt to establish the government modelled by
LocKe, had not subsided. Governor Stephens had
been disappointed in his hopes of executing in this
1675] CHAPTER. - 16!
respect, the orders of the lords proprietors, and the
new adiTiiaistratiou was not more successful.
The lords proprietors sent vines and other use-
ful plants to their province, with persons skilled in
the culture of them.
On the 9th of February, a treaty of peace, be-
tween England and the States General, was signed
at Westminster : by the sixth article, New Nether-
lands were restored to the English, and Surinam to
the Dutch. The duke of York^ having obtained a
new patent, in order to remove any difficulty, des-
patched Edmund Andros to receive possession for
him. In the month of October, the Dutch troops
evacuated the country, and Andros, who was
appointed governor for the duke of York, took
possession of it, as far as the Delaware.
Philip Carteret, the governor of New Jersey for
the proprietors, returned this year, and the people
being satisfied with some new arrangements, made
in England by the proprietors, submitted to the
government.
The year 1675 is remarkable for the commence-
ment of a long and tedious war, cotnmotily called
king Philip's war, which during that year, and part
of the following, greatly distressed the people of
New England, and winch did not finish till the
death of that chief Six hundred of the whites were
either killed in battle, or murdered by the savages :
twelve or thirteen towns, and above six hundred
buildings, chiefly dwelling houses, were destroyed.
It entailed a tremendous debt on the colonies, while
it almost totally destroyed their means of meeting it
N, CARO. 21
162 CHAPTER [1675
Before this war, the jealousy of the merchants of
London, had induced complaints againt the people
of New England, whose growing commerce began
to be viewed with alarm. It was represented at
home, that they not only traded to most parts of
Europe, but encouraged foreigners to go and traffic
with them; that they supplied the other plantations
with commodities, which they should receive from
England alon^^; thai Boston, having then become
the great entrepot of the colonies, the navigation of
the kingdom was greatly prejudiced, the national
revenue impaired, and the people empoverished;
that these abuses, at the time that they actually
destroyed the trade of England, would leave no
sort of dependence of the colonies on the mother
country. The governors of the colonies were now
charged, strictly to enforce the navigation act, and
it was determined that ''no Mediterranean pass
should be granted to New England, to protect its
vessels against the Turks, till it was seen what de-
pendence it would acknowledge on his majesty, or
whether his custom house officers would be re-
ceived, as in the other colonies." This demonstra-
tion of the wrath of the parent state, at a moment
when the colony smarted under the stings of war,
did not depress the spirits of the people of New
England. That spirit of resistance, which had
began to manifest itself, continued active, and dur-
iug the followhjg century vigorously defended, and
at the end of that period victoriously asserted, the
independence of the people.
While the flames of war were thus raging in the
East, a spirit of insurrection awoke in the South.
X676J THE NINTH. 16S
Nathaniel Bacon, a bold, seditious, and eloquent
joung man, who had been some time in Virginia,
and had already rendered himself remarkable as
the fomeriter of opposition to governor Berkely,
improving the opportunity, which an attack of the
Indians on the western settlements presented, offer-
ed himself as a leader to the party opposed to Sir
William; they chose him for their general, and he
headed six hundred of them into Jamestown. With
this force, he surrounded the capitol, in uhich the
legislature was in session, and compelled that bodj
to recognize him as the legal commander of the
troops under him. He led them out towards the
Indians, but on his way was overtaken by a pro-
clamation, issued by *,he governor after his depart-
ure, in which he was denounced as a rebel and a
traitor. Roused to indigfiation. the popular chief
marched back to Jamestown. The legislative body
w'as now adjourned, and the aged royal chief, alone
and unsupported, deemed it impossible to withstand
his opponent, and made a precipitate letreat to
the eastern shore, where he called his friends to
his aid= Re-animat d by the collection of some
forces, he advanced with them towards the insur-
gents. In various skirmishes, each party obtained
occasionally some advantage. Bacon's men, exas-
perated by the opposition, became guilty of those
excesses always attending popular commotions:
they set fire to Jamestown, laid waste the estates of
those who adhered to the governor, and forcibly
carried awny their women. Forced to retaliate,
Sir William ordered court martials to pass on some
prisoners he took, and seveiai underwent capital
164 CHAPTER [165'6
punishment; the estates of others were confiscated.
The two parties were about totally to destroy each
other, when Heaven put an end to the dire calamity
by the sudden and natural death of Bacon.
When the news of this civil war in Virginia
reached England, the ministry thought it prudent to
send over troops, to check this incipient spirit of
insubordination in America. Sir John Barry was
despatced with a small fleet, on board of which was
embarked a regiment of infantry. This is the first
instance of English troops being sent over to
America, to enforce submission to government.
While New England and Virginia were thus dis-
tracted by war and internal commotions, the county
of Albemarle was far from enjoying perfect tran-
quility. The dissentions, which the attempt of
governor Stephens to establish Locke's form of
government, had excited, were not yet allayed, and
the temporary and precarious authority which his
successor exercised, had proved insufficient for the
restoration of order. In the beginning of this year^
finding his administration unlikely to be productive
of much credit to himself, or advantage to the lords
proprietors, he determined on a voyage to England,
to lay befo e them the state of the country, leaving
its affairs *Mn ill order and worse hands."
The lords proprietors, reflecting how much their
former instructions had been neglected, and their
designs opposed by those who had been entrusted
with their execution, flattered themselves with hav-
ing found in Eastchurch, a man who would carry
their views into effect, and appointed him governor
of the county of Albemarle in the month of Novem-
1676] THE NINTH. Itfo
ber. His address and abilities had raised him to
the office of speaker of the assembly, and he had
lately arrived in England, in order to lay the remon-
strances of the people before their lordships. The
instructions which were given him at his departure,
were calculated to allay the present, and to prevent
future disorders. Miller, a man of consideration,
was sent with him as secretary and collector of the
customs. They took their passage on board of a
vessel bound to the West Indies : here, the charms
of a Creole lady for a while held the governor in
bondage. The captive sent his companion to rule
the people of Albemarle, till the chain that bound
him, prov.ed too weak to hold him, or strong enough
to enable him to draw the beauty, who had im-
posed it.
John Barry and Francis Morrison, the king's
commissioners sent to Virginia after Bacon's rebel-
lion, in their report of that event, complained that
the independent plantations of Maryland and Caro-
lina', then very prejudicial, would in time prove
utterly destructive, to the royal interest and govern-
ment in Virginia, and they proposed that with a
salvo to the right of the proprietors, the jurisdiction
and power of government might so reside in the
crown, that they might be obedient to all orders,
rules and process of the king and his council; else,
he would not only find that be had given a great
deal of land, but so many subjects also; and that
the next generation would not know nor own the
royal power, if the writs, trials, and process be per-
mitted to continue in the name of the proprietors,
without any salvo of alleaiiance to the king : that it
166 CHAPTER ' [1677
was daily seen, that not only servants, but also run
Wiway negroes and rebels, flew to Carolina or the
southward, as their common refuge and lurking
place; and when some of the late rebels were de-
manded by letter, they could not have them sent
back.
Miller reached the place of his destination in
July, and entered on the duties of president of the
council, which his friend had conferred on him,
without relinquishing those of secretary and col-
lector of the customs, which he had received from
the lords proprietors. He found his government
to consist of a few inconsiderable plantations, scat-
tered on the north-east side of Albemarle sound,
divided into four precincts. The colonists were
far from being numerous: the whole population,
consisting of all persons from the age of sixteen to
that of sixty, amounting only to fourteen hundred
polls, one third of whom were women, Indians,
servants and negroes. Besides some cattle and
Indian corn, eight hundred hogsheads of tobacco
constituted the yearly produce of their labor,and the
basis of an inconsiderable traffic, carried on chiefly
by the people of New England. These men sup-
plying the settlement with the commodities of
Europe and the West Indies, and receiving all its
produce, influenced in a considerable degree the
affairs of the country, and directed the pursuits of
the people lo their own advantage. From July till
December, Miller collected thirty-three hogsheads
of tobacco, and a little more than five thousand
dollars, for the duty of one penny sterling on every
pound of tobacco exported to the other pplpni^s ?
1677] THE NINTH. 167
almost all that was made, being exported to Boston,
whence it was shipped to Europe. The little reve-
nue accr ing to the colony, although badly collect-
ed, amounted to something more than twelve
thousand dollars a year.
The offices of president and collector, which Miller
exercised, m the deranged state of the colony, were not
calculated to render him popular. It was his misfor-
tune not to possess any quality, by which this disadvan-
tage could be balanced. The discont- nt of the people,
emboldened by the example of the followers of Bacon,
in Virginia, and excited by the counsel of some of those
who had removed to Albemarle, and some New En.^-
land men, increasing daily, rose to such a height that it
broke into open rebellion in the precinct of Pasquotank;
and Culpepper, a man who had come over to the coun-
ty of Clarendon with governor Sayle, in 1670, as sur-
veyor general of Carolina, and had raised some commo-
tion on Ashley river, placing himself as the head of the
malcontents, in the month of December, and securing
the favor of the president, and that ot some of the lords
proprietors' deputies, entirely prostrated the government
of the country.
They complained that the president had denied them
a free election of an assembly, and had positively cheat-
ed the county of 130,000 weight of tobacco, which had
raised the levy to 250 lbs of tobacco a head more thaa
it would otherwise have been; besides nearly 20,000
weight of tobacco ; a charge which he had brought on the
county by h\s piping guard. They stated that a Capt,
Gillam had imported a quantity of goods, more than
treble that which he had brought in the preceding year,
and, about two hours alter his landing, was arrested and
168 ^ CHAPTER [1678
held to bail for one thousand pounds, in an action of
slander, and so much ill used and abused by the presi-
dent, that had he not been persuaded by some, he would
have gone directly out of the country: and the same
night, at about twelve, the president went on board with
a pair of pistols, presenting one of them cocked at a Mr.
George Dinant's breast, and with the other hand arrested
him as a traitor.
The insurgents, possessing themselves of about twelve
thousand dollars, which were found in the fiscal ciiest,
successfully employed them in the prosecution of the
revolt, in the other three precincts. They appointed
officers, established courts of justice, called a parlia-
ment, and during two years undisturbedly exercised all
the powers of an independent commonwealth.
They published a manifesto, in which they detailed
the grievances which, in their opinion, had justified them
in suppressing the government of Miller, and assigned as
their principal motive in imprisoning hiro and some of
his council, and in possessing themselves of the records
of the county, a desire "that the county might have a
parliament, that would represent their grievances to the
lords proprietors."
Alarmed at the spirit of insubordination and insur-
rection, which manifested itself so powerfully, in their
colonies on the continent, the English ministry deter-
mined on making an experiment in those of the West
Indies, and a new system of legislation was adopted for
the island of Jamaica, modelled on the Irish constitution.
The Earl of Carlisle was sent over for the purpose of
enforcing it. A body of laws was prepared in the privy
council in England (among which was a bill for settling
a perpetual revenue on the crown) which his lordship
1678] THE NINTH. 169
was instructed to present to the assembly and to require
them to adopt the whole code, without any alteration or
amendment. In future, the heads of all bills (money
bills excepted) were to be suggested in the first instance
by the governor and council, and transmitted to his
majest}^, to be approved or rejected. On their having
obtained the royal confirmation, they were to be return-
ed, under the great seal, in the shape of laws, and passed
by the general assembly, v/hich was to be convened for
no other purpose than this, and that of voting the usual
supplies, unless in consequence of special orders from
Ens:land.
The assembly rejected the proffered constitution,
with great indignation. No threat could frighten, no
bribe could corrupt, nor art persuade, them to pass laws
that would enslave them and their posterity.
A considerable number of persons went from New
England upon a journey of discovery, and proceeded
four hundred and fifty miles westward of the Missis-
sippi. The war soon after breaking out between the
British colonies and the Indians, many of the latter re-
treated to Canada. From these Monsieur De la Salle,
a French adventurer, obtained information which after-
wards enabled the French to possess themselves of the
river.
The year 1678 is remarkable for the pacification of
Nimeguen. On the third of March, Charles II. signed
a treaty of alliance with the States General, in which the
treaty of Breda was confirmed.
The statutes relating to transportation w^ere now ex-
tended, and it was enacted that should any convicted
felon in open court pray to be transported, the court
N'. CARD. 22
no , CHAPTER [1679
might orrier him to prison, for transportation beyond
sea. 31 Cu. II. ch. 2, s. 14.
Governor Eahtchurch at length arrived; to his com-
mission or conduct no objection could be made. The
insurgents, however, denied his authority, and refused
obedience to him. He was compelled to solicit some
aid from lieutenant governor Chicherly, of Virginia, but
died of vexation before any could be obtained.
Charles II. ordered two small vessels to be fitted out
at his own expense, to transport to Carolina several fo-
reign protestants, who proposed to raise wine, oil, silk>
and other productions of the south.
After two years of successful revolt, the insurgents
of the county of Albemarle despatched Culpepper to Eng-
land to proffer their submission to the lords proprietors ;.
but instructed him to insist on the punishment of Mil-
ler, who had found means of making his escape out of their
hands. Culpepper found him in England, filling the court
with complaints of his sufferings and accusations against
his prosecutors, but without success. The lords proprie-
tors accepted the submission of the insurgents ; but as
their envoy was returning home, after having executed
his trust, he was prosecuted by the commissioners of
the customs, for having acted as collector of the cus-
toms, without their authority, and having embezzled
the king's revenue in Carolina ; he was arrested on board
of a vessel at the Downs, brought back, and at Trinity-
term, 1680, tried bv virtue of the statute of Henrv VIII.
on an indictment for high treason committed without
the realm. 35 H. VIII. ch. 2. The famous lord Shafts-
bury, then in the zenith of his popularity, appeared in
his behalf, and represented, contrary to the most un-
doubted facts, ''that tiiere never had been any regular
1679] THE NINTH. 171
government in the county of Albemarle, that its disor-
ders were only feuds among planters, which could
amount only to a not." He Wus acquitted, and is the
first colonist, who appears to have been regularly tried
in the court of the king's bench, upon that statute.
The lords of the committee of the plantations reported
to the king that, having heard the complaints of the com-
missioners of the customs against John Culpepper, and
having been attended by the lords proprietors of Caro-
lina, they were fully satisfied, after a thorough investi-
gation of the conduct of that man, that he had by his se-
ditious practices abetted a rebellion in that province,
imprisoned seven of the deputies of the proprietors and
the collector of the king's customs, and having seized
into his own hands the custom of his maj<"sty, had, in a
proclamation issued in his own name, declared himself
the lawful collector, endamaging the royal revenue to a
considerable amount : that these facts were confessed
by the delinquent, who solicited a pardon, desiring that,
if mercy was not extended to him, he might be tried in
the country, where the offence had been committed.
But the commissioners of the customs prayed that no
favor might be shown to him, unless he made or pro-
cured satisfaction for the property used and embezzled,
which was said to amount to three thousand pounds.
The lords proprietors, in the mean time, had sent John
Harvey, as president of the county of Albemarle, and
they prevailed upon S<"th Sothel, one of tliem, who, at
the death of lord Clarendon, had purchased his lord-
ship's share in the province, to go over as governor of
Carolina, in order by his presence to allay the feuds of»
and restore tranquility among, the colonists, He .saiU
17^ CHAFIliiR. [IGm
ed on his iiUended voyage, but was captured by the Al-
gerines.
The oldest records extant in the state of North Ca-
rolina are proceedings of a palatine court, held by presi-
dent Harvey who came out in 1679 or 1680. It appears
to have been a court of probates. The accounts are kept
in pounds of tobacco ; a negro v.^oman is valued at four
thousand five hundred pounds of that commodity, a
milch cow at four hundred pounds.
The piece of land, formed by the confluence of Ashley
and Cooper rivers, offering a more eligible spot for the
chief town of the southern government of Carolina than
the one on which Charleston had been built, the lords
proprietors yielded to the wishes of the inhabitants, many
of whom had begun in the preceding year to remove
thither. The foundation of a new town was now laid
here, and in the course of year thirty dwelling houses
were erected. It received the name of the old town,
which was now abandoned, and the new one was de-
clared the port for the various purposes of traffic, and
the capital for the general administration of government
in that pajt of the province.
The province of New Hampshire was separated from
that of Massachusetts ; a commission for the distinct go-
vernment of that colony being this year brought to
Portsmouth. By it, the people had a representation, in
a body chosen by themselves, and the king was repre-
sented by a governor and council, of his own appoint-
ment, and reserved to himself the right of repealing the
acts of the legislature at his pleasure.
In the month of March, Monsieur De la Salle, ac-
companied by Father Hennepin, descended the Ohio and
ascended the Mississippi as far as the 46th degree of
•
!681] THE NINTH. 173
north latitude, where they were stopped 'by a fall, to
which tliey gave the name of St. Anthony.
The ministry in England unable to conquer the
stubborn perseverance of the assembly of Jamaica, for-
bore insisting any longer on establishing the Irish con-
stitution in that island, and on the third of November
issued a commission to the earl of Carlisle, containing:
the power of making laws with the assembly, in the man-
ner which had hitherto prevailed.
A party of Spaniards landed on the island of Provi-
dence, one of the Bahama islands, and totally destroyed
an English settlement. They took governor Clark, •
who commanded it, to the island of Cuba, in irons, and
put him to death by torture ; and Don Philip de Vare-
da Villegas arrived in April, 1680, at the island of Trist
and the laguna de terminos, attacked the English log-
wood cutters, while separated from each other, and dis-
lodged them from thence.
Henry Wilkinson was, in the following year, appoint'
ed governor of that part of the province of Carolina
which lies between that of Virginia and and a line drawn
at the distance of five miles to the south of PampHco ri-
ver. President Harvey, whom he reHeyed, had com- j-t^^^
manded but little regard. He manifested too vindictive SuCtU
a spirit, against those who had been implicated in the J)/U^ \
late revolt. They were proceeded against with severity,
and punished with heavy fmes, tedious imprisonment,
and some of them with banishment; contrary to the in-
struction of the lords proprietors, who had recommend-
ed great moderation.
The people of New England persevered in their resist-
ance to the act of parliament, establishing a duty on colo-
iiial produce. Edward Randolph*, who had been appointed
i74 CHAPTER [1682
collector of it at Boston, arrived this year, and made a
vigorous, but unsuccessful attempt to execute his office.
On the fourth of March, Charles 11. granted to Wil-
liam Penn a charter for all the land between the river
and bay of Delaware and Lord Baltimore's province of
Maryland, erecting it into a province by the name of
Pennsylvania, and constituting him and his heirs abso-
lute proprietors of it. He immediately gave public no-
tice of the king's grant, and invited purchasers; and a
number of persons, chiefly of the Quaker profession,
formed themselves into a company, and bought twenty
thousand acres of land in the new province, at the rate
of twenty pounds sterling for every thousand acres. On
the 11th of July he entered into stipulations with the
purchasers and other individuals who desired to remove
to Pennsylvania, and in the fall a number of the colo-
nists left England. They reached the new province
late in the year, and began a settlement, above the con-
fluence of the Schuylkill with the Delaware.
In the spring, the proprietor published a form of go-
vernment and laws, which he had made with the con-
. sent of the persons in England who had become inter-
. estcd in the province. He obtained from the duke of
York a release of his right to the land in Pennsylvania,
and a conveyance for the tract which was first known
under the appellation of the territories of Pennsylvania,
afterwards by the three lower counties of Delaware, and
now as the state of Delaware.
On the 24th of October, he landed at Newcastle, at-
tended by about one hundred new settlers. He caused
the people in the neighborhood to meet him on the next
day, and having received before them legal possession of
the province, he made a speech to them, acqurinting
1683] THE NINTH. 1T5
them with his views, commenting on the nature and end
of government, particularly of that which he meant to
establish, assured them of liberty of conscience and civil
freedom, and recommended to them to live in sobriety
and peace. After renewing the commissions of former
magistrates, he proceeded to Upland, the settlement now
known as the town of Chester ; he there met the general
assembly of the province, on the fourth of December.
The three lower counties were annexed to the province,
and an act of settlement was passed, in reference to the
frame of government ; the Dutch and Swede inhabits
ants, and other foreigners in the province, were natural-
ized, and all the laws agreed on in England, were passed
in form.
William Penn immediately after entered into a treaty
with the natives, from whom he purchased as much of
the soil, as the circumstances of the province called for,
and settled a very kind correspondence with them. He
immediately after laid out the city of Philadelphia, and, in
the course of the year, upwards of eighty houses or
cottages were erected in it.
Lord Cardross, a Scotch nobleman, embarked with a
number of families of his nation, with whom he began a
settlement on the island of Port Royal, in Carolina ; but
his lordship, in consequence of some arrangement made
with the lords proprietors, having claimed separate and
co-ordinate authority with governor West of Charles-
ton, was compelled, with circumstances of outrage, to
acknowledge his submission and dependence ; he soon
after returned home.
The spring of the following year is memorable in the
annals of the western world, by the descent of Monsieur
De la Salle down the Mississippi to the sea, which he
116 CHAPTER [168S
reached on the seventh of April. He took possession of
that mighty stream in the name of his sovereign, Louis
XIV. of France, in whose honor the country was called
Louisiana.
On his way, he stopped on the left bank of the river,
and built a fort, within the then chartered limits of North
Carolina, near the present town of Memphis, in the
state of Tennessee.
/ Seth Sothel arrived this year in Carolina, and took on
himself the government of the northern part of the pro-
vince, governor Wilkinson having lately died. The
nev/ administrator did not find the scene of anarchy
altered, neither was he calculated to put a period to it.
The instructions of the lords proprietors enjoined him
to endeavor, by a mild and humane administration, to
reconcile the colonists to order and obedience. The
annals of delegated authority have not recorded a name,
which deserves more to be transmitted to posterity with
infamy, than that of Sothel: bribery, extortion, injus-
tice, rapacity, breach of trust, and disobedience to the
laws, are the crimes with which he was charged, while
he misruled a miserable colony.
, The four precincts on Albemarle Sound, which were
hitherto designated by the titles or names of some of the
lords proprietors, viz. Shaftsbury, Berkely, &c. were
now named by the principal streams that water them,
Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank and Currituck; ap-
pellations which they to this day retain.
Edward Randolph, the collector sent from England
for the port of Boston, having written home, that he was
in danger of being punished with death, by an accursed
law of the province, as a subverter of the constitution,
for his attempts to exercise the duties of his office, was
1684] THE NINTH. lit
ordered home. On his arrival, he preferred an accusa-
tion of high crimes and misdemeanors, against the cor-
poration of Massachusetts, and on the sixth of July an
order in council was passed, for issuing process of quo
warranto^ for the dissolution of its charter. This order
was however accompanied by a declaration of the king,
that if the colony, before prosecution, would submit to
his pleasure, he would regulate their charter, for his
service and their good, and with no other alterations
than such as should be necessary for the support of his
government in the province. The proud spirit of New
Englandmen could not brook to yield to such terms ; it
preferred encountering the full effect of the royal wrath.
Accordingly, the high court of chancery in England, on
the eighteenth of June following, gave judgment for the
king, against the governor and company of Massachu-
s( tts ; their charter w^as annulled, and their liberties taken
in the king's hands. Colonel Kirk was now appointed
the royal governor for the colonies of Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Maine and Plym.outh.
The French, in order to engross the fur trade, and to
check the influence of the EngUsh on the Indians, built
the fort at Detroit.
Lord Effingham, who was appointed the preceding
year governor of the province of Virginia, was instruct-
ed by his sovereign to allow no person to use a print-
ing press, on any occasion whatever.
The want of a circulating medium being severely
felt in the province of Carolina, its parliament, at the
same time " raised the value of foreign coin," and
passed an act to suspend the prosecution of all foreign
debts ; it received the assent of the lords proprietors,
but it was afterwards dissented from, because it *' was
N. CARO. 23
178 CHAPTER [1685
contrary to the king's honor, since it was in effect to
stop the course of justice, and because the padiament
had no power to enact a law so contrary to those of Eng-
land." The lords proprietors ordered all officers to be
dismissed, that had promoted that law.
Tr.e confederacy of the five nations of Indians, in
Caniidi^ had extended its conquests to a vast extent to
the soiidi and west, from the shores of the Mississipj)i to
the borders of the western settlements of Maryland and
Virginia. These two provinces, <^)ften involved in the
calamities of their Indian allies, whom thev were unable
to protect, except by treaties, found it expedient to
settle terms of peace with the ferocious concjuerors : the
governor of Virginia proceeded to Albany, where, with
that of New York, he met the deputies of the five nations,
and concluded a peace.
In 1685, the bishop of London sent James Blair, as
his commissary in Virginia.
On the 16th of February, Charles II. died, and
was succeeded bv James, duke of York, his brother.
At this period, with the exception of the province of
Georgia, which was not established till half a century
after, all the colonies, who in the next century seceded
from the British empire, and became the United States
of America, were already in an advanced state of pro-
gressive improvement : the English had besides valua-
ble establishments at Bermudas, and in a number of the
West India islands.
The Frenuh in Canada made great, but not equal pro-
gress ;. they had settlemerrts to the west, as far as
Detroit and MichiUimackinac, and had extended of
late their discoveries to the gulf of Mexico ; they carried
1685J THE NINTH. 179
on a considerable commerce among the Inrlian tribes,
who hunted on the banks of the Missibsippu Their
pro{j;ress, however, was considerably checked by the
Indians of the five nations, whom the g;ovcrnment of
the EngUsh colonies supported, as a barrier against the
encroachnv nts of the French.
The Spaniards had no settlement on the northern
continent, except the few fortb on the coast of Florida,
which for upwards ol a century they hud kept up, with-
out any agricultural improvements around them.
Although the English colonies might rejoice in their
advancing population and wealth, their political sky
was not as serene as the natural. We have seen the
storm bursting over the northernmost section ; thick
clouds were gathering over Rhode Island and Connecti-
cut ; the people of New York were not yet allowed all
the rights of Englishmen ; the small colony of New
Jersey, divided among two proprietors, was distracted
in her councils ; Pennsylvania, in the midst of her sis-
ters, in perfect tranquiliiy beheld, unconcerned for her
own situa ion, the clouds that hovered around them. The
southern provinces had not recovered from their internal
dissentions, and the attacks of the Indians.
The popiihtion of Carolina was still very inconsidera-
ble : in the northern part of the province, there were
scattered plantations on both sides of Albemarle
sound, and the shores of the rivers that empty i'^to it:
in t.e southern part, there wtrt still a few planters on
Cape Fear river, but most of the planters from Barba-
does had removed to the shores of Ashley and Cooper
rivers, where was now a growing sttliement. These,
with the habitations of the tew Scotch families left by lord
CardroiS at Port Royal, constituted the whole popula-
iB9
CHAPTER.
[1685
tion of the province. The settlement on Ashley and
Cooper rivers, had received a small reinforcement by the
migration of some Dutch families, on the conquest of
the New Netherlands,.
Chalmers-^Hlsf^ry of South Carolina — Edwards.
CHAPTER X.
The death of Charles II. had put a temporary stop to
proceedings against the chartered American colonies :
but James II. soon found it expedient to renew themo
In July, 1685, the administration of the governor and
company of Connecticut was complained of, viz : ** they
have made laws contrary to the laws of England ; they
impose fines on the inhabitants, and convert them to
their own use ; they impose an oath of fidelity upon the
inhabitants, without administering the oath of supremacy
and allegiance, as in their charter is directed ; they deny
to the inhabitants the exercise of the religion of the
church of England, arbitrarily fining those who refuse
to come to their congressional assemblies ; his majesty's
subjects inhabiting there, cannot obtain justice in the
courts of the colony ; they discourage and exclude from
the government all gentlemen of known loyalty, and
keep it in the hands of the independent party in the
colony." In consequence of these charges, James or-
dered a ^wo warranto to be issued against the charter of
Connecticut. The people perceived the king was in
earnest, and their alarm manifested itself in humble
solicitations for favor. In the month of October, of the
same year, a similar process was sued out against the
colonyof Rhode Island. Colonel Kirk's commission not
having received the royal seal, before the late king's de-
182 CHAPTER [1686
mise, Joseph Dudley, a native of Massachusetts, was
appointed president of New England. The first post
office, was established in the colonies, in the year 1685,
and Edward Randolph was appointed deputy post- mas-
ter, for New England. i
The Spaniards, at St. Augustine, believing that some
late attacks, on their people by the Indians, were owing
to the ill conduct of some of the Scotch settlers, leit by
lord Cardross on the island of Port Royal, invaded that
part of the colony and laid it waste.
This year, writs of quo warranto were issued, with a
view to obtain the forfeitures of the charters of Carolina
and New Jersey. The proprietors of the first province,
prudently bending before a storm, which it seemed vain
to resist, eluded the force of a blast, that had laid the
charters and government of New England, in ruins ; and
offered a treaty of surrender. New Jersey was, not
long after, annexed to the government of New England.
The king, intending to establish the same arbitrary
rule in New York, as he had designed for New Eng-
land, deprived that colony of its immunities. Gover-
nor Dongan, hitherto the proprietor's, now the royal
governor, was instructed not to allow any printing press;
the assembly was abolished, and New York reduced to
the condition of a conquered province.
On the 20th of December, Sir Edmund Andros,
whom the king had appointed governor of New Eng-
land, arrived at Boston. He was instructed to con-
tinue the former laws of the country, so far as they
were not inconsistent with his commission ar)d instruc-
tions, until other regulations were established by the
governor and council ; to give universal toleration in
religion, and encouragement to the Church of England;
1687] THE TENTH. 18:!^
to execute the laws of trade, and prevent frauds in the
customs. As it was not imasjined that the new order
of things would be submitted to, on the part of the col-
onists, by choice, a small military establishment was
formed, and warlike were stores sent over.
In obedience to his instructions, governor Andros,
within ten days after his landing, dissolved the govern-
ment of Rhode Island ; broke its seals, and assumed
the administration of that province.
A number of French Protestants, driven from their
country, by the revocation of the edict of Nantz,|which
took place the preceding year, arrived in Boston ; they
were kindly received, and a subscription sat a foot, for
the use of those who need^^d relief; they built a small
brick church in School street. The greater part of them,
however, soon after sought a milder climate, in the pro-
vinces of Virginia and Carolina.
The year 1687, is remarkable for the first plan of an
insurrection of the blacks on the continent. It took
place in the province of Virginia, and in that part of it
which is called the northern neck ; it was discovered
just in time to prevent its explosion, and lord Effing-
ham averted its consequences, by the early and strict
exectiiion of the laws relating to the police of slaves.
John Burke believes their number fell little short of one
half of the population of that province.
During the month of April, the king's attorney gene-
ral, in England, sued out a writ of quo warranto^ against
lord Baltimore, the proprietor ol Maryland; but no
judgment was obtained.
In the month of October, governor Andros, attended
by his suite and sixty soldiers, went to Hartford, where
the general assembly was in session, and declared th^
184 CHAPTER [1687
charter government to be dissolved . The assembly, be-
ing called upon to surrender the charter, protracted the
discussion that arose, till early candlelight, when, the
instrument being brought in and laid on the speaker's
table, the lights were instantly extinguished, without
any disorder or confusion ensuing; but when the
candles were lit, the parchment could not be found.
Captain Wadsworth, of Hartford, had silently carried it
off, and secreted it in a hollow tree, which, to this day,
is regarded with veneration, as the preserver of the con-
stitution of the colony.
Sir Robert Holmes was despatched from England,
with a small naval force, and an extraordinary commis-
sion, for suppressing pirates in America. The gover-
nors of Carolina were instructed to show examples of
submission to his power, and to afford every possible
assistance to his armament. This project was success-
ful, till new causes, not long after, gave rise to piratical
adventurers, which required all the continued energy of
William and Mary to suppress.
The French, at this time, made their first attempt at a
settlement, on the gulf of Mexico. Monsieur de la
Salle had returned to France, in 1683, to carry to his
sovereign, the news of his discovery, and taking posses-
sion, of the Mississippi, and the country at the mouth
of that river. Louis XIV., anxious to secure this new
acquisition, despatched a small armament, consisting of
four vessels, under la Salle, with one hundred soldiers,
some artillery, and a number of settlers. La Salle took
the old route by the way of the West Indies ; he touched
at Hispaniola, and unfortunately missing the mouth of
the river he was in quest of, he fell two hundred miles
to the westward, in the bay of St. Bernard, which he
XG8T3 THE TENTH. 185
called the bav of St. Louis : here he built a fort, and
leaving a garrison in it, proceeded easterly, along the
coast, in search of the Mississipjii ; reaching another
river, which he mistook for the one he looked for, and
built another fort, on its bank. He then sat off for Can-
ada by land, intending to reach it through the river Illi-
nois, and proceeded as far as the settlement of Nacog*
doches, in the Spanish province of Texas, in the neigh-
borhood of which, he was murdered by one of his men,
on the 27th of March, 1687 ; the rest of the party con-
tinued their route to Quebec. The Indians feil on the
men la Salle had left on the sea shore, and destroyed them
all, except a few whom they carried away to their
villages.
It was thought advisable, in 1687, on several ac-
counts, particularly the extensive progress the French
were making in Canada, to appoint one general gover-
nor over New England; th?^ submissive application of
the people of Connecticut could no further be regarded,
than by allowing them their choice, to be annexed
to New York or Massachusetts; they preferred the
latter; and, accordingly. Sir Edmund Andros hav-
ing been appointed captain general over all Ntw Eng-
land, the charter of Connecticut was surrendered to him
at Hartford, in October, 1687, and the colony was an-
nexed to Massachusetts, according to the royal promise,
through the people's petition ; but t ;e very night of the
surrender of it, Samuel Wadaworth, of Hartford, with
the assistance of a mob, violently broke into the apart-
hients of Sir Edmund, regained, carried off, and hid the
charter in the hollow of an elm tree.
In the year 1688, the distractions and commotions,
in the northern part of the county of Albemarle, rose
N. CARO. 24
18(3 CHAPTEU Ll<538
to such a height, that the colonists, almost driven to
despair, secured the persr>n ^.>f governor Sothel, and im-
prisoned him, withthevie'vof sending him to England,
to answer to the lords proprietors for his crimes ; but,
yielding to his entreaties, and his offer to submit their
mutual accusations to the assembly, they left him at
liberty. The general assembly gave judgment against
him on all the charges, and compelled him to abjure the
country for twelve months, and the government forever.
King James now united the four colonies of New
England, and tlie provinces of New York and New
Jersey, under one government, and appointed Sir Ed-
mund Andros captain general and vice admiral, over
them, and Francis Nicholson was named his lieutenant.
All the powers of government were vested in a gover-
nor and council, and the people had no agency in the ad-
ministration of affairs, nor any vote in the appointment
of officers.
The inhabitants of several towns in Massachusetts,
refused to make the assessments, without which, the
taxes imposed by the grant of the legislative council
under governor Andros, could not be collected. The
selectmen of Ipswich came to a resolution, " That, in-
asmuch as it is against the privileges of Englishmen to
have money raised without their consent, in an assembly
or parliament, therefore, they will petition the king, for
the liberty of an assembly, before they make any rates.'*^
The governor endeavored to procure obedience by
prosecutions, and the judges punished several individuals
by heavy fines and long imprisonment. Increase Ma-
ther, a respectable clergyman, was sent to England, to
represent the grievances of tht' people of New Englandi
to the king*
1689] THE TENTH. 187
Early in the following year, accounts of the abdication
and departure of the king for France, which had taken
place on the 23d of December, reached the continent,
and it was rumored that the prince of Orange had, or
would soon land in England. Thus, at a time that a
revolution was effected at home, the northern colonies
gave the parent state the example of another. They had
suffered for three years, under a privation of their most..
valuable rii^hts, and their patience Vv^as now exhausted..
Sir Edmund Andros, governor of Massachusetts,
imitating the capricious and arbitrary conduct of James,
the people could not long brook submission to their
sway: having sought in the wilds of America, the
secure enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, they were
not dis-posed to see their dearest rights wrested from
them, without a struggle to retain them. They had, for
several years, suffered the impositions of a tyrannical
administration, and the dissatisfaction and indignation
which had been gathering was now blown to a flame, by
a report of an intended massacre by the governor's
guards. On the 18th of May, 1689, the inhabitants of
Boston took arms; the people poured in from the coun-
try, and the governor, with such of his friends as had
been most active, and many other obnoxious persons,
were secured and confined. The old magistrates were
restored, and the next month the news of the revolution
in England, quieted all apprehensions of the conse-
quences of what had been done. Sir Edmund was, how-
ever, kept in the castle till the month of February, when
he was sent to England for trial, and the general court
sent with him a committee of several gentlemen, to
substantiate the charges against hinv,
188 , CHAPTER [168i?
Most of the members of the council, the princi-
pal officers, and the collectors, to the number of about
fiftv, were likewise seized and confined.
The old magistrates were reinstated ; and call ing to
their assistance, a number of respectable individuals
from the town and county, formed themselves into a
** Council for the safety of the people, and the continu-
ation of the peace." On the 24th, the magistrates
chosen in 1686, subscribed a declaration of their accep-
tance of the care in government of the people, until, by
directions from En,5^land, there might be an orderly set-
tlement o! government, and on the 29»h, William and
Mary were proclaimed, with great ceremony, iu Boston.
An address was sent to their majesties, and they were
besoiight to allow the exercise of government, accord-
ing to the charter, till they were pleased to establish a
new one. Thi*^ was acceded to.
The people of Rhode Island, on hearing of the im-
prisonment of governor Andres, met at Newport on
the 1st of May, voted to resume their charter, and
called in their former officers.
Robert Treat, who had been elected governor of Con-
necticut, in 1687, when the charter was surrendered to
Sir Edmund Andros, was declared still governor of the
province. Intellisfence was received of an insurrection
and the overthrow of governor Andros, at Boston.
The new governor summoned the old assembly, who
voted the validity of the charter, and directed Samuel
Wadsworth to bring it forth, who, attended by the high
sheriff and a concourse of people, carried it to the go-
vernor; the general court voted their thanks and twenty
shillings to the gentleman, for his care and preservation
vof the charter.
1689] THE TENTH. 189
Oil receivinsj information, in New York, of the
king's abdication, the principal officers met, in order to
consult on the exigencies of the occasion ; but, while
they were deliberating^, Jacob Leisler, at the head of a
party of fifty men, took possession of the fort, in the
name of tlie prince of Orang'^ ; and in the month of
June, William and Mary were proclaimed, and until the
arrival of coioael Henry Slaughter, two years after, as
royal governor, th^^ province was ruled by a committee
of safety, presided by Leisler,
Their mcijesties were soon after, proclaimed in the
other colonies.
Philip Ludwell, of Virginia, who had filled in that
province, the office of collector of the customs, and w-io
had suffi;red for his adherence to governor Berkely,
during Bacon's rebelHon, came over as governor of the
northern part of Carolina,
In the month of November, William Blair was re-
ceived in Virginia, as commissary of the bishop of Lon-
don, in the English provinces on the continent. The
duties of the commissary were analagous to those of a
pope's legate. He was representing in the colonies, the
right reverend father of the church, and he made visita-
tions, enquiring into and correcting the discipline of the
churches, a id acted in all cases with that supreme eccle-
siastical authority, exercised by his superior, himself.
The province of Virginia was at that time much dis-
tracted, and ready to break out at the slightest irritation,
into open revolt; nothing, says John Burk, had hitherto
preserved ever the appearance of tranquiUty; but the
revolution in England, and the hopes of redress from a
kingj elected by the nation, on principles of liberty.
190 ^ CHAPTER [169©
General Codrington compelled the French inhabitants
of St. Kitts to surrender, and forced eighteen hundred
of them to seek refuge in Martinique and Hispaniola.
The ministers found themselves in a perplexing
dilemma : if they condemned Andros' administration,
the sentence might be drawn into a precedent, and
they might seem to encourage rebellion and insurrection
in future periods, when circumstances did not render so
desperate an expedient necessary. On the other hand,
if they should approve of his administration, and cen-
sure the conduct of the colonists, it would imply a re-
probation of the very measure, which had been pursued
in bringing about the revolution in England. It was,
therefore, considered prudent to dismiss the business,
without coming to a formal decision : the people were
accordingly left in the enjoyment of their freedom, and
Sir Edmund, in public estimation guilty, escaptd cen-
sure. Shortly after, he succeeded lord Effingham, in
the government of Virginia, in which his conduct ap-
pears to have been correct.
While Louis XIV., in his attempt to support king
James, kindled the flames of war in Europe, the count
of Frontenac, his governor in Canada, spurred on the
Indians to aid him in annoying the English in iVmerica.
On the 29th of June, a party of Indians came to the
town of Sorell, in the province of New Hampshire, and
killed or captured about fifty persons. Soon after,
they routed the garrison at Oyster river, where they slew
more than twenty of the inhabitants. On the 28th of
August, they took the fort at Pemaquid, and committed
great depredations in the province of Maine. In the
mean time, a host of privateers sailed out of Acadia,
captured a number of English vessels, and kept the
1690] THE TENTH. 191
sea- coast in constant alarm. Nor were these excursions
stopped by the severity of the weather. On the 8th of
February, 1690, the enemy fell on, and committed great
slaughter in, Schenectady, on the Mohawk river. On
the 18th of March, another party made an attack on
Salmon fails, a settlement on the river which divides the
province of New Hampshire from (hat of Maine. They
slew thirty, and carried away fifty-four of the inhabi-
tants into captivity, setting fire to the houses and mills ;
and in May, another party destro}'cd the settlements at
Casco.
The general court of Massachusetts now determined
to retaliate, and make an attempt on Port Royal. Un-
der the command of Sir William Phips, eight vessels
were accordingly fitted out, and he sailed with seven or
eight hundred men, on the 28th of April : the fort of
Port Royal, being incapable of resisting this force, sur-
rendered with little or no resistance, and Sir William
possessed himself of all the coast from Port Royal to
the settlements of New England, and was induced by
this success to attempt the reduction of Canada. Two
thousand men were to march up the lakes, and thence
to Montreal, while a fleet was attacking Quebec. Thir-
teen sail were collected, the largest of which was a 44
gun ship. They sailed from Nantasket on the 9th of
August. Success did not attend the attempt. The
army which was to proceed up the country not being
provided with batteaux and provisions, retreated with-
out crossing the lakes. The fleet was early discovered
in the river, and was not before Quebec till the 5th of
October. Three days after, all the effective men, about
twelve hundred in number, were landed, but re-embark-
ed on the 11th, without success. The extreme cold
192 CHAPTER [1^0
and tempestuous weather compelled Sir William to
retreat. '
So fond were the hopes of success at Boston, that
the general court had not made any provision for the
payment of the troops, imagining the capture of Que-
bet would have rendered such a provision useless. The
clamours of the disbanded soldiery rose so high, that
an insurrection was dreaded. In this extremity, an
emission of paper money was resorted to. It was the
first that was issued in the American colonies.
A great number of French refuL'^ees were this year
sent, at the king's expense, to the province of Virginia,
and setded themselves on James river ; others purchas-
ed land from the proprietors of Carolina, and settled
on Pamplico and Santee rivers.
Doctor Cox, to whom the title of Sir Robert Heath,
under the patent of the year 1629, to Carolana, had
passed through several conveyances, laid a memorial
before king William, in which he represented the great
expense he had been at, in discovering and settling
Carolina; but his claim, though, as it is said, incontesti-
bly proven, was disregarded. His son, Daniel Cox,
who had resided fourteen years in the country, maintain-
ed his father's claim, and pubUshed a full account of it.
Seth Stothel, countenanced by a powerful faction, in
the southern part of Carolina, and presuming on his
authority, as one of the lords proprietors, made his ap-
pearance in Charleston, and seized the reins of govern-
ment. His popularity and power were of short dura-
tion. The assembly, two years after, compelled him
to abjure the county, and government. The lords pro-
prietors, says Hewit, dissented from all the laws passed
during his government.
1692] THE TENTH. 193
The settlement at New Providence, in the Bahama
islands, being already considerable, a regular ajovern-
ment was established there, by the lords proprietors of
Carolina, and Cadwallader Jones was sent as governor.
The island of St. Kitts was, this year, reconquered
from the French, by the English, under colonel Cod-
rington, and the white male inhabitants, amounting to
about eighteen hundred, were sent, with their women
and children, to Hispaniola and Martinico.
On the 25th of January, in the following year, the
town of York was destroyed ; fifty of the inhabitants
killed, and one hundred of them made prisoners. The
province of New Hampshire suffered so much by the
incursions of the French and Indians, that it was on
the eve of being abandoned.
On the 14th of May, 1692, Sir William Phips 'ar-
rived at Boston, with the new charter of the province,
and a commission, constituting him governor of Mas-
sachusetts, and captain general of the colonies of Con-
necticut and Rhode Island. In the latter colonv, he
vainly attem.pted to exercise his authority. The pro-
vince, designated by the old charter, contained the
whole of the old colonv of Massachusetts, that of Plv-
mouth, the provinces of Maine and New Hampshire, and
all the country between these provinces as far north as the
river St. Lawrence. The new charter did not secure
to the colonists all the privileges, which they had en-
joyed under the old. The legislature endeavored to
.make amends for this, by an act in the nature of a bill
©frights, or magna charter; but it was disallowed by
the king.
The provinces of Rhode Island and Connecticut were
left in the enjoyment of their first charter.
N, CARO. 25
194 CHAPTER [T69S
Sir Williatn Phips, according to his instructions ^
proceeded to Pemaquid, where he built a fortress, on
a larger scale, and superior in the execution of the work,
to any hitherto constructed by the English in America.
It was named fort William Henry.
A patent was this year laid before the legislature of
Virginia, for establishing a general post-office in Virgin
nia, an act was passed to give it effect ; but such was
the dispersed situation of the planters, that the project
failed in its execution.
Governor Ludweii being sent by the lords proprie-
torii to take the command of the southern part of the
province, l«is authority devolved on Alexander Lilling-
ton, and, on the succeeding year, on Thomas Harvej^
as deputy governor.
The Indians in the southern part of Carolina were
now at war between themselves, and governor Lu dwell
adopted, as a mean of security for the whites, the plan
of setting one tribe against the other. Besides securing
the friendship of some tribes, which he employed to
Garry on war against the others, he encouraged all to
bring captives to Charleston, for the purpose of trans-
portation to the West Indies. This year, twenty Che-
rokee chiefs came in, v/ith proposals of friendship, soli*^
eiting the assistance of government against the Esau
and Coosaw tribes, who had taken some of their people
prisoners. They complained at the same time of the
outrages of the Savanna tribe, who, contrary to former
regulations established among themselves, had sold
some of their countrymen ; and begijjed the governor
to return the captives, and protect them against such
insiduous enemies. The governor declared his inten-
tion to live in peace and friendship with the Cherokees,
1693] . THE TENTH. 19S
and to do every thing in his power for their protection
and defence. The prisoners, he observed, had already-
been shipped away to the West Indies, and could not
be recalled, but he engaged to take care for the future,
and that a stop should be put to I he custom of sending
them out of the countrv.
Both parts of the province were still ift a confused
state. After the fairest trial, the form of government,
proposed by John Locke, proved totally unfit for the
wants and state of the province ; the people declared to
the lords proprietors, they would rather be governed by
the powers granted, without regard to the fundamental
constitutions, and the lords proprietors granted their
request. Thus, says Chalmers, at the end of twenty-
three years, perished the labour of Mr. Locke. Then
was abrogated, at the entreaty of the Carolinians, who
had scarcely known one day of enjoyment^ a system of
laws, which had been intended to remain ever sacred ;
which far from having answered their end, introduced
only disputes, faction, and disorder, that were ended by
the dissolution of the proprietors' government. The
Carohnian annals show to all projectors the vanity of at-
tempting to make laws for a people, whose will, pro-
ceeding from true principles, must be forever the
supreme law.
A dreadful storm was this year experienced in Vir-
ginia, and the northern part of Carolina. "It seemed
to revtrse the order of nature." — It stopped some
rivers, and, for others, it opened channels, that were
ever navigable.
The kin.c: and queen assumed the government of the
province of Pennsylvania in their own hands, and Ben-
jamin Fletcher was appointed governor of this province,
i9S CHAPTER [16M
ts well as that of New- York; The personal friendship
of Penn for king James, and an intimacy at court du-
ring his reign, rendered him suspected of disaffection to
the present government. In the following year, he was
permitted to resume the government of his province,
and he sent over William Markham.
The French took fort Nelson, in Hudson's bay, and
placed in it a garrison of sixty-ei^ht Canadians, and six
Indians. They named it fort Bourbon.
In the month of January, 1693, Sir Francis Wheeler
sailed from Dartmouth, with three men of war, and some
land forces, under the orders of colonel Foulkes. He
reached the island of Barbadoes on the 4ih of March,
where preparations were made for an attack on Mar-
tinique. The flret arrived before this island on the first
of April, the troops landed at Cul de sac marin, and de-
stroyed the plantations in that quarter, among which
were several fine ones. The troops landed a few days
after at Diamond's point, where they laid the country-
waste. The fleet proceeded to the neighborhood of
fort Royal, and fort St. Pierre, when they had several
skirmishes with the inhabitants, and sat fire to several
houbes and plantations. On the 23d, the fleet set sail
for the island of Dominico, when it was determined
to attack that of Guadeloupe ; but a malignant dis-
ease, pervading the fleet, induced Sir Francis lo make
the best of his way for Boston. So terrible was the
contagion, that before he reached the continent, he had
lost thirteen hundred, out of twenty-one hundred,
sailors, and eighteen hundred, out of twenty-four hun-
dred, soldiers. He entered the port of Boston on the
12th of June, and endeavoured to prevail on governor
Phips to raise men for the reduction of Canada, Tliis
1695J THE TENTH. 197
could nor be effected, and the fleet sailed for New-
foundland, where Sir Francis landed, and destroyed the
settlement or St. Pierre de Miquelon.
Some Englishmen, with their families, removed to
the Virgin islands, where they made considerable im-
provements: their wants were few, and their govern-
ment simple, and without expense. Tiieir judicial
powers were exercised by the governor, and by a
council chosen among themselves. There were no
taxes: money, when wanted for public purposes, was
raised by voluntary contributions. Under such cir-
cumstances, it could not be expected that the colony
would rise to much importance.
Dissentions and disorder still prevailing in Carolina,
the proprietors, anxious to prevent the destruction and
ruin of their settlement, resolved to send one of their
own number, with full power to redress grievances,
and settle duTerences in the colony. Lord Ashley, the
celebrated author of the **Characteri sties," was chosen,
but soon after declined the mission. The second choice
of the proprietors fell on John Archdale, a Quaker, and
a man of considerable knowledge and discretion. He
reached the northern settlement of Carolina in the sum-
mer, and assumed the government of the whole province.
The planters received him with universal joy, and pri-
vate animosities and civil discord seemed awhile bu-
ried in oblivion. The le^iislature was called, and go-
vernor Arclidale, by the discreet use of his extensive
powers, settled almost every matter of general concern,
to the satisfaction of the colonists. The price of land,
and the forms of conveyance, were settled by law.
Three years rent was remitted to those who held land
by grant, and four to such as held them by survey, and
198 CHAPTER [1695
not by grant. Such lands, as had escheated to the lords
proprietors, were ordered to be let out or sold* It was
agreed to take the arrears of great tracts either in money
or commodities, as should be most convenient to the
planters. Magistrates were appointed, for trying all
causes, and determining all differences, between the
settlers and the Indians. Public roads were ordered to
be made, and water passages to be cut, for the more
easy conveyance of produce to the market. Some for-
mer laws were altered; and such new statutes were
made, as the good government and peace of the colony
appeared to require. Public affairs assumed an agreea-
ble aspect, and excited just hopes of the future progress
and prosperity of the settlement.
Governor Archdale, in the beginning of the new
year, proceeded to Charleston, where he met the legisla-
ture of that part of the province, in the month of March.
The planting of rict was introduced about this time,
in Carolina. A brig from Madagascar, on her way to
England, came to anchor off Sullivan's island: —
Thomas Smith, a landgrave, going on board, received
from the captain a bag of seed rice, with information of
its culture in the east, its suitableness for food, and its
incredible increase. The landgrave divided the seed
among his friends, and an experiment being made in
different soils, the success surpassed the expectation
the captain of the brig had excited, and from this small
beginning, arose the staple commodity of Carolina,
which soon became the chief support of the colony, and
the great source of its opulence.
This year, George, lord Carteret, died, and was suc-
ceeded by his son, John, then five years of age, who, in
16961 THE TENTH. 199
1744, succeeded, on his mother's death, to the title of
viscount and earl Granville. His mother, Grace Car-
teret, was dau^^hter to the late earl of Bath. She was
(Dec. 17, 1714) created countess Granville, viscount-
ess Carteret. ^
In the year 1695, king William granted a char-
ter to the Scots, African and Indian Company, au-
thorizing them to plant and maintain colonies, in any
part of Asia, Africa and America, not the property of
such European powers as were at amity with his majesty:
with an exemption for twenty -one years from all du-
ties on the produce of such plantations. They were
not only empowered to defend their colonies and trade
by force of arms, but had the promise of the royal au-
thority to do them right, if they were disturbed, at the
public expense.
In the beginning of 1696, a fleet of seven men of war,
and twelve transports, sailed from Plymouth, under the
orders of Herbert Wolcott, for St. Kitts, from whence
they proceeded to Hispaniola, in the hope of obtaining
aid from the Spanish governor tl ere, to attack the
French. This being aff*orded, the allied powers pre-
pared for battle, but such a misunderstanding prevailed
among the officers of the two nations, that nothing could
be effected. Disease made great havoc among the En-
glish forces, and the commodore fell a victim to it, and
the number of sailors was so niuch reduced, that on the
return, one of the ships was left at cape Florida, for want
of hands to work her.
The French, in the following year, attacked and pos-
sessed themselves of Fort Prince William, at Pcma-
quid, and destroyed all the English settlements in Nova
Scotia, excepting those of St, Johns, Bonavistaand Car-
^200 CHAPTER. tl696-
boniere harbor, and the English re-took Fort Bourbon
(Nelson,) in Hudson bay.
The small pox raged among the Pamplico Indians,
and considerably reduced that tribe.
In the latter part of this year, governor Archdalc
returned home, leaving the administration of the north-
ern part of the province, in the hands of Thomas Harvey,
as deputy governor.
This year was established, in England, the board of
the lord's commissioners of trade and plantations, the
affairs of the colonies being at this time, too considera-
ble and important to be managed, as part of the concerns
of any of the departments. Wit^ this board, the go-
vernors of the colonies were directed to hold a constant
correspondence, and to transmit to it, the journals of
their comicils and assemblies, the accounts of the collec-
tor of the customs and naval officers.
Parliament now laid additional restrictions on the
trade of the colonists. By the statute 7 and 8, W. and
M. c. 22, it was enacted, that no commodity should, af-
ter the 28th of March, 1698, be exported to, or im-
ported from, the plantations, to England, Waltrs or
Berwick-upon-Tweed, except in vessels built in Eng-
land, Ireland or tiie plantations, owned by the king's
subjects, and navigated by a master and crew, three-
fourths of whom, at least, should bi- British subjects; an
exception was made in iavor of prize vessels. The
execution of the revenue laws was enforced by very se^
vere penalties. Persons, charged with ai\y offence
against them, were made liable to be tried in any part of
the colonies, in which the officer or informer might
allege it to have been committed i and they were depriv-
ed of a trial de medietate iinguce. Commodities of
1696] ' THE TENTH. 2QI
the s^roTvth and produce of the plantations, were forbid-
den to be landed in Ireland or Scotland, till after they
had been landed, and the duties thereon paid in England,
Wales or Berwick-upon-Tweed. The appointments of
the governors of the proprietary provinces were re-^P"
quired to be proposed to, and approved by the king ;
and the proprietors of these provinces were forbidden
from selling land to any but the king's natural born
subjects of England, Ireland, Wales, or Berwick-upon-
Twxed, without the king's license. The governors, in
every colony, were specially charged to see the revenue
laws carried into complete operation ; all laws, customs
and usages, in practice in any of the plantations, were
declared to be void and of no effect. Juries were re-
quired to be composed of natural born subjects of Eng-
land, Ireland, or the plantations, and the informer, or
prosecutor, was permitted to allege the offence to have
been committed in any colony, province, county, pre-
cinct or district, in the plantations.
Although no design, on the part of the ministry, of
taxing any of the colonies, at so early a period as this, can
be ascertained, about this time a pamphlet was pub- ^
lished in England, recommending a parliamentary tax ^^
on one of them. This pamphlet was answered by two
others, which totally denied the power of taxing the col-
onies, because they had no representatives in parliament
to give consent.
Preparations being made in France, for sending a coL
ony to the Mississippi, the king of Spain sent don An-
dres de Ariola, to Pensacola, as first governor of the
province. Don Andres built a fort, with four bastions ;
he gave it the name of St. Charles, and erected a
church and a few hovels.
N, CARD. 26
m. CHAPTER [169?
Early in the following year, a French fleet, under
commodore de Pointiz, plundered Carthagena, de-
stroved its forts, and carried off eight millions ot crowns.
A little before his landing, ti e people of fashion, and
the ecclesiastics of both sexes, had retired into the
country, with one hundred mules, lad^n with treasure.
On t'«e 17th of April, vice admiral N(-vil arrived at
Barbadoes, wi>h a ftect of En.^lish and Dutch men of
war; 'hev were in quest of Pointiz, and Fell in with him,
but he escaped them. The fleet cast anchor at Cartha-
gena, which had hufftTed so much from the visit of the
French, that the inhabitants seriously spoke of abandon-
ing it. From thence, the fl.eet proceeded to Hispaniola,
Rear admiral Muse was sent wnh a small party to Petit
Goave, which he surprised. The inhabitants flew into
the woods, and the soldiers began to pillage the town,
but soon grew intoxicated and set fire to it. The rear
admiral having joined the fleet, they proceeded t»
Jamaica, in order to take the king's ships that were there,
and proceed to Havana, in order to meet and convey
the galleons home. The governor refused to allow the
fleet to enter the port, even to permit them the purchase
of some provisions they were in want of; and the gene-
ral of the marines sent word to vice admiral Nevil, that
his orders did not allow him to avail himself of the offer
to convey the galleons. Rear admiral Muse and a num-
ber of English captains fell victims to the diseases of
the climate. The fleet proceeded to Virginia, where
the vice admiral paid the last debt of nature ; and Tho-
mas Dicks, the only commander who survived, took the
command, and conveyed hence the merchant ships that
5ay before Jamestown.
1697] THE TENTH. gOS
On the 28th of September, peace was concluded
between England and France. Louis XIV. acknow-
ledged William III. king of England, and engaged not
to trouble him, either directly or indirectly, in the enjoy-
ment oi hib three kingdoms, nor to favor in any dtgree^
any person that might pretend to have any claim thereto.
Mutual rcbtitution was agreed to be madt^, of II coun-
tries, forts and colonies, taken by each party during the
war.
Chalmers — History of South Carolina — Marshall
\
CHAPTER XL
The peace of Riswick was scarcely published in
America, before a misunderstaading l^egaii to manifest
itself between the agents of both powers in the tiew
world. The French claimed the exclusive propt^rty of
the fisheries, and of every part of the country to the east-
ward of Kennebeck. The English lay claim to all the
country westward of St. Croix, as being within the
bounds of the province of Massachusetts. Governor
Villebon of Acadia informed lieutenant governor
Slaughter of Massachusetts, that he was instructed to
consider Kennebedc river, from its source to the sea,
as the boundary between the two nations.
On the 25th of January, 1699, d'Iberville, ^with
two frigates and two transports,) sent by Louis XIV. to
begin the settlement of Louisiana, arrived on the coast
of Florida, and built a fort in the bay of Biloxi, between
that of Mobile and the Mississippi : this was the first
permanent establishment of the French on the gulf of
Mexico : it continued, with steady but slow improve-
ment, till the cession of the country to the Spaniards,
seventy years after.
King William having, in the year 1695, at the request
of the parliament of Scotland, incorporated a company in
that kingdom, to trade to Africa and the East and West
Indies, they projected a settlement at Darien ; three ships
1699] ~ CHAPTER. 20d
and two tenders; with about twelve hundred colonists,
sailed irom the Frith, in Scotland ; they landed on the
continent, within a league of an island now knov/n as
St. Catherine's island, treated with the natives, and with
their leave, on the fourth of November, took possession
of a tract of the country never before possessed bv any
European power, where they built a fort, and be2:an to
lay the foundation of a town, to be called New Edinbur^^,
and they named the settlement Caledonia. It lav near
Panama and had Portobeilo on one side, and Carthao^ena
on the oti^ei . This situation, while it excited in Scotland
the most sanguine hopes of treasures of gold, gready
alarmed the Spaniards a.id tne French, and Louis XIV.
offered to Charlts 11. a fleet to de-.trov the Scots. Both
nations complained to king William, who too readily
hearkened to their representations. Accordingly, the
next spring, Sir William Bereton, governor of Jamaica,
issued hii proclamation, imnoriing, that the king, con-
siderins: the settlement of Darien as a vicjlation of his
treaties with his allies, all the king's subjects were for-
bidden to hold any correspondence with the Scots at
Caledonia, or to give them any assistance. The go-
vernors of Barbadoes, New- York and Massachusetts,
issued similar proclamations, and the settlement was
abandoned.
The administration of the government of the northern
part of Carolina devolved on Henderson Walker, by
the death of Thomas Harvey, in 1699, and a material
alteration took place in the judiciary. Hitherto, the
general court had been holden by the chief magistrate,
the deputies of the lords proprietors, and two assistants :
a commission was now issued, appointing five persons
justices of the supreme court, two of whom were ot the
206 CHAPTER [1«99
quorum, the presence of one of whom was necessary
for constituting the court.
Government being informed, that captain Kidd, who
had fitted out an armed vessel, called the Adventure
Gaily, and had obtained a commission, authorizing him
to capture pirates and seize their vessels and goods, ex-
ercised notorious piracies, rear admiral Benlow had par-
ticular orders to look for him, and seize him and his
crew, with his vessel and goods, in order that an ex-
ample might be made. The history of this man was
this : a number of confederated pirates, mostly English,
infesting the East India scas» and having taken a ship of
the great mogul, die company communicated to govern-
ment their apprehensions, that this prince might grant
letters of reprisals to his subjects, and it was determined
to destroy these pirates, who took shelter in hidden
creeks in the island of Madagascar. A ship was ac-
cordingly fitted out, and the command of her given to
Kidd, who knew the retreats of the pirates, and was
supposed in all respects to be well qualified to attack
them. Government appropriated, however, no fund
for his armament ; the king proposed to interest in it
such individuals as might be wilUng to supply the means;
he offered to subscribe three hundred pounds himself,
and charged his ministers to look for adventurers.
Lord Somers, the earls of Oxford, Romney and Bella-
mont and others, furnished, however, all the funds ; the
king having found the means of avoiding to take any in-
terest, by making an abandonment of the proceeds of all
captures to the adventurers.
Kidd sailed, and news reached England some time
after, that, instead of pursuing the pirates, he was himself
engaged in piratical pursuits, committing great depreda-
1699] THE ELEVENTH. 207
tions in the West Indies, and alon^ the coast of the con-
tinent. The ministers, and lord Somers principally,
were highly blamed, and it was maliciously insinuated,
that Kidd would not have dared to engage in thcbc pira-
cies, if he had not depended on the protection of those,
who had supplied the means for the expedition.
Rear admiral Benlow proceeded to Carthagena, with
four men of war, where he compelled the governor to
release several merchantmen, which the Spaniards had
taken, on account of the settlement made by the Scotch
at Darien. The rear admiral, having anchored at Ja-
maica, was pressed by the governor and merchants to
requi-e from the Spanish admiral, some reparation for
the injuries the commerce of the king's subjects had of
late sustained in the West Indies, by frequent captures^
For this purpose, he proceeded to Portobello : the
Spanish admiral found an excuse for the excesses of his
countrymen, in confounding the interest of the English
with that of the Scotch. No satisfaction could be ob-
tained. The rear admiral returned to Jamaica, where
hearing that Kidd had lately been seen in those seas, he
went in quest of him. In his cruize, he anchored at St.
Thomas, to expostulate with the Danish governor, who
was said to afford shelter to Kidd, and other pirates who
infested the sea : he received a very unsatisfactory an-
swer ; but as he had no order to proceed to extremities,
he was compelled to dissimulate. He next proceeded
to New- York, where he was informed, that the earl of
Bellamond, governor of that province, had sent Kidd to
England, with a considerable part of his booty. At-
tempts were made to induce this man to implicate the
lords who had procured him the king's commission,
but however irregular might have been his conduct, he
•208 CHAPTER ^ [1699
had honesty enough to refrain from accusing innocent
persons : he was tried at tiie old bailey, with several of
his accomplices, convicted, executed, and hung in
chains.
Dr. Cox, of New Jersey, proprietor of the province
of Carolana, fitted out two ships, provided with twenty
great guns, sixteen patereros, abundance of small arms,
ammunition, stores and provisions of all sorts, not only
for the use of those on board, and for discovery by sea,
but also for building a fortification and settling a colony ;
there being, in both vessels, besides sailors and
common men, above thirty Eni^lish and French volun-
teers, **some noblemen and all gentlemen." One ship
entered the Mississippi, and meeting a party of French-
men, by whom they were pursued, the people on board
were persuaded that they had mistaken the stream they
were on, for the Mississippi : they returned to sea.
The place in which they met the French was, from this
circumstance, called the English Turn.
The attention of the colonists, in some of the north-
ern provinces, had been drawn to the raising of wool,
and the manufacture of some coarse kinds of cloth : this
sign of incipient prosperity was noticed in England with
a jealous eye ; and with a view to depress the enterpri-
sing spirit of the colonists, which tended not only to free
them from their dependence on the manufactures of
England, but to enable them, in course of time, to rival
those in the West India market, and in order to compel
the shipment of a greater quantity of the wool raised in
America to the mother country, a statute was now
passed (10 & 11 of W. &: M. 3) prohibiting the trans-
portation of wool, or any article manufactured out of
1699] THE ELEVENTH. 209
wool, from one of the American provinces to another,
by land or water. These instructions were guanled by
very severe penalties, made recoverable in the courts of
Westminster ; and the governors were strictly charged
to prevent the statute being eluded. By this mean, the
industry of the colonists was confined to very narrov/
limits, and was prevented from extending beyond the
manufacture of such coarse household goods, as a family
might make for its own use, or that of some of its
neighbors in the same province.
Complaints being made by the court of France, of
irruptions by the Indians in alliance with England, on
the back settlements of the French in Canada, orders
were despatched to lord Bellamont, governor of New-
York, to forbid any act of hostility against the French in
Canada, and to prevent the recurrence of the circum-
stances, which had caused the complaints of the court of
France, that the Indians of the five nations should be
disarmed, as far as he and the governor of Canada should
deem proper, and his lordship was directed to live in
good understanding with the French, till the commis-
sioners, appointed under the treaty of Riswick, should
agree on measures that would ensure a continuance of
peace.
On the 21st of December, 1699, the board of trade
reported to the king, that his attorney-general, upon the
perusal of letters patent and conveyances, produced to
him by doctor Coxe, had given it as his opinion, that
the doctor had a good title to the province of Carolana,
extending from the 31st to the 36th degree of north
latitude, inclusive, on the continent of America, and
several adjacent islands.
N. CARO. 27
^10 CHAPTER [nO«
By this report, the king and his council unanimously
agreed, that the doctor's design of settling his province,
should be speedily encouraged and promoted.
His majesty told the doctor's son, he would leap over
twenty stumbling blocks, rather than not to effect an
English settlement on the Mississippi, and assured him,
that he not only would receive public encouragement,
but that six or eight hundred French refugees, or Van-
dois, would be transported there, at the expense of the
crown, to join such of his subjects as could be induced
to remove and begin a settlement thither.
Lord Lonsdale, the lord privy seal, was among the
most distinguished patrons of this undertaking ; he of-
fered to assist the design with two thousand pounds
sterling, or a ship of two hundred tons, with one hun-
dred persons, of whatever trade or employment might
be thought most convenient, and to provide them with
provisions and necessary tools and instruments of agri-
culture, for one year. The death of this nobleman soon
after, and that of his sovereign within a short period,
put an end to the hopes of the doctor.
The coast of the continent, particularly that of Caro-
lina, continued to be infested with pirates, wiio commit-
ted great depredations; several vessels belonging t«
Charleston were taken, and kept as prizes, and the crews
sent ashore. A ship had been fitted out at the Havana^
to cruise on the coast of Carolina, the crew of which
was composed of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Portuguese
and Indians ; after a successful course of piracy, the
motley crew quarrelled about the division of their booty,
and the Englishmen, nine in number, being the weakest
part of the crew, were turned adrift in the long-boat;
they landed on Sewel bay, and proceeding thence to
1700] THE ELEVENTH. 211
Charleston, were recognized by the master of a ship
which they had captured, and were taken up, tried
and executed.
With a view to purine the sea of these marauders, par-
liament passed a statute (11 and 12 W. III. c. 7) au-
thorizing commissioners appointed by the king, exclu-
sively to take coiJ:nizance of piracies in proprietary go-
vernmeiits in America: a forfeiture of the charter was
denounced, in all cases in which the governors should
refuse their aid to the commissioners. By a statute of
the same year, (c. 12,) governors of the colonies, guilty
of oppression or any offence against the laws, within
their own (j:overnment, were directed to be tried in the
'.0 '
court oi ki ig's bench, in England, or before commis^
sioner.-: appointed by the king in any county in it.
in \Tjt month oi' January, the Rev. Mr. Blair, a minis-
ter of the church of England, was sent by lord Wey-
mouth as an itinerant missionarv, to reside in the north-
ern part of the province of Carolina : his lordship allow-
ed hmi a s-ilary of one hundred pounds a year, and he
is the first settled minister of whom an account has been
preserved. He entered on the duties of his mission
with great diligence ; but the people were settled on so
distant plantations along the rivers, that he was obliged to
be continually travelling from place to place, which
could not possibly be done without a guide, on account
of the badness of the roads, the difficulty of finding the
wav, and the vast wilderness between the plantations,
many of which were at the distance of forty miles from
each other ; the whole population not exceeding, at this
time, five thousand souls, and the inhabited part of the
country was about one hundred mil s square. He was
very useful in reviving a sense of religion among the
212 CHAPTER [1701
people, and during his st^y an act of assembly was
passed for building three churches. He found the labor
of continual travelling, during the extreme heat of the
summer, and the alternate and rapid vicissitudes of cold
and heat during the remainder of the year, beyond his
strength of body : he attempted to fix his residence in
one of the middle precincts, and offered to officiate to
those who would come to him, but the people were dis-
satisfied with this, and complained that he acted contrary
to the wishes of lord Weymouth, who intended his
charity for the whole colony. At leitgth, he found it so
difficult to give satisfaction, and to endure the hardships
of his situation, that he returned to England, quite sunk
\yith poverty and sickness.
This year, a society for propagating the gospel in
foreign parts, was formed in England, and received the
king's charter.
On the 16th of November, king James died. Louis
XIV. gave to his son (since called the pretender) the
title and honors of king of England. This was a tacit
engagement to support this prince, in violation of one
of the articles of the treaty of Riswick, King William
became exasperated at it, and considered the conduct of
Louis as a provocation to war. It must, however, be
admitted, that the English monarch had not waited for
this event to declare himself against France. In the be-
ginning of the year, negotiations had been commenced
between him, the emperor, and the States General, and
had been concluded and signed a very few days before
the death of James.
A. rupture having taken place between England and
Spain, governor Moore, of the southern part of Caro-
lina, proposed to the legislature to undertake an expedi-
1702] THE ELEVENTH. 213
tion a«'ainst the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine.
The proposition was acceded to, and about nine thou-
sand dollars were voted for the expense attending it :
six hundred militia were raised, and an equal number of
Indians engaged, and vessels impressed. The forces
were collected at Port Royal, which was the place of
general rendezvous, and in the month ol September, the
governor embarked with part of the forces, with a view
to block up die harbor, and colonel Robert Daniel, a
landgrave of the province, proceeded by land with the
rest, to make a descent on the town. The colonel ar-
rived, entered and plundered the town, before the vessels
made their appearance, and the Spaniards seasonably re-
tired to the castle, with their money and other valuable
effects. Governor Moore, on his arrival, found it im-
possible to dislodge the enemy, for want of artillery,
and despatched the colonel to Jamaica to fetch some :
in the mean while, two Spanish men of war appearino:,
the governor raised the siege, and made a hasty retreat
to Charleston.
About thirty thousand dollars were due to the troops,
and the nine thousand voted by the legislature were ex-
pended. To meet the exigencies of the time, an act of
assembly was passed, for the emission of paper money.
In order to sink the bills, a tax was laid on Hquors, skins
and furs, which it was believed would enable the pro-
vince to take up all the paper then put in circulation, in
three years. This was the first instance of a pajx^r cur-
rency in Carolina, and the second in the English Ame-
rican provinces. Two years after, a similar emission
took place in the island of Barbadoes.
The proprietors of East Jersey and West Jersey,
finding it dilficult to govern their provinces, to the satis-
^14 CHAPTER [1702
faction of the settlers, or their own interest, resigned the
government of them to the crown : they were erected
into one royal province, which was called New Jersey,
and lord Cornbury was appointed the first p;overnor of it.
On the llih of March, king William died, and was
succeeded by queen Anne.
On the demise of the king, the European possessions
on the northern continent of America, were extended on
the sea shore over almost all the country they covered at
the declaration of independence. With the single ex-
ception of the province of Georgia, all the provinces that
joined in this instrument, were now occupitd. The
reader has seen, that besides the pur«?uits of agriculture,
navigation and commerce, a part of the settlers began to
seek their livelihood Dv manufactures, and that their sue-
cess had attracted the attention of the mother country,
who, alarmed at the rapid advances of the colonists in this
respect, had sought to check their enterprising spirit by
parliamentary restrictions : and he must have viewed
with interest and pleasure, the early development of
that spirit of liberty and independence, which he will
observe in the short space of three fourths of a century,
bursting into a flame.
The population of the English provinces amounted,
according to an enumeration made about two years be-
fore the present period, to two hundn^d and sixty-two
thousand souls, nearly one half of whom were in that
part of the continent known under the name of New
England.
The French establishment of New France, in Canada
and Acadia did not contain twenty thousand souls :
they carried on a very extensive trade with the western
Indians, from whom they obtained vast quantities of fur.
1705] THE ELEVENTH. ^ 215
The settlement of Louisiana, was as yet confined to a
fort on the bay of Biloxi, and a few scattered plantations
near it.
The Spaniards had began to occupy Florida, by other
improvements than the erection of a few forts along the
coast, to which they had confined themselves for a cen-
tury, after their first occupation of the country ; the
settlements at St. Augustine and Pensacola, which at
this day constitute almost the only portions of Florida
as yet improved, were formed. Under the guns of the
castle of St. Augustine, a small town had reared itself, a
circumstance which evinces that some little attention
was paid to agriculture in the neighboring waste.
The colony of Bermuda was in a flourishing con-
dition.
In the West Indies, the French had a population, in
three several islands, of three thousand whites and forty-
five thousand blacks. There are no documents, from
which the number of people in the English West India
islands, can be ascertained.
The Spaniards possessed the islands of Cuba, Porto
Rico, and one half of that of Hispaniola.
After these nations, no other had settlements in the
West India islands.
Chalmers — History of South CaroUna'-^MarshalL
CHAPTER XII.
One of the first acts of queen Anne's reign was a
*JecIaration of war against France and Spain: it
took place on the 11th of May, 1702. The preamhle
of this instrument begins by a reference to the
usurpations and encroachments of Louis XIV., who
is stated to have taken and kept possession of a
great part of the Spanish dominions, exercising an
absohite power in that monarchy , having seized
Milan and the Spanish Netherlands by his arms,
and made himself master of Cadiz, of the entrance
of the Mediterranean, and of part of the Spanish
East Indies, by his fleets. It charges the French
monarch with the design of invading the liberties of
Europe, and to obstruct the freedom of the naviga-
tion and commerce of the world. It recites the lale
treaty of alliance with the empire, the States Gene-
ral and other powers, in which it is stipulated, that
if the injuriescomplained of are not redressed within
a certain time, now elapsed, the parties concerned
shall assist each other, v*^ith their whole strength;
and concluding with the real, the last, though not
the least cause of the war, that the French king,
instead of giving the satisfaction wdiich he owed,
had not only proceeded to fresh violences, but had
added a great affront and indignity to the queen
1703] THE TWnELPTH. 217
and her kingdom, by declaring the pretender king
of Great Britain.
The Apalachian Indians, excited by the Spaniards
at St. Augustine, making frequent incursions on the
western settle nents of Carolina, governor Moore
marched into the heart of their settlements, and
laid waste their towns between the rivers Savannah
and Alabama, and killed or captured several
hundreds of the enemy.
Lord Granville was now the palatine of Carolina:
though the form of constitution framed by Locke
had for several years been set aside, the office
of palatine and the dignities of landgrave and
cacique were preserved as long as the proprietary
government continued. The palatine, being a
zealous member of the church of England, exerted
all his influence to establish on a legal footing the
worship of that church in the province. xAccording-
ly, he instructed Sir Nathaniel Johnson, who suc-
ceeded governor Moore, to promote the passage of
a law for this purpose. Another reason powerfully
operated on the mind of Sir Nathaniel: the queen
had opposed his appointment to the government of
Carolina, on a suspicion of his entertaining senti-
ments unfavorable to the revolution, and had given
at last her assent on condition of his qiialifying him-
self for the office in the manner required by the
laws of England, and his giving security, to the
satisfaction of the lords commissioners of trade and
plantations, for his faithful observance of the laws
of trade and navigation, and his obedience to such
instructions as she might from time to time give him.
He was directed to appoint a deputy governor
N. CARO. 28
nt CHAPTER [nos
for the northern part of the province : in disposing
of land, he was instr-jcted to require twenty pounds
sterling: for every thoUvS^^nd acres, and to make it a
condition to be inserted in the p^rant, that the pre
mises should revert to the lords proprietors, if not
settled within four years; but, the most important
object recommended to the attention of the new
governor, was the establishment of the church of
England in the province. Both parts of it were in
a deplorable state as to religion; sucli of the inha-
bitants as were born, or had grown up to manhood,
in Carolina, were almost utter strangers to any
public worship of the Deity. Among the first emi-
grants, some sense of religion had been for a while
preserved, but the next generation, reared in a
wilderness in which divine service was hardly ever
performed, and where private devotions cannot be
supposed to have been much attended to, were
rather remarkable for loose, licentious principles,
and the fundamental principles of the Christian re-
ligion were often treated with the ridicule and
contempt of professed infidelity. The population
of the colony was composed of individuals of dif-
ferent nations, and consequently of various sects;
Scotch Presbyterians, Dutch Lutherans, French
Calvinists, Irish Catholics, Enghsh Churchmen^
Quakers and Dissenter*; emigrants from Bermuda
and the West Indies, which, from their late settle-
ments, could not be places remarkable for the
education of young people, in Christianity and
morality.
Governor Johnston, assisted by the principal
officers of the southern part of the province, exerted
1703] THE TWELFTH. St^
his influence with so much success, as to procure
the eiecuon of a sufficient number of persons,
dis nosed to forward his views.
Notwithstinditifi: the great opposition which the
bill received, it passed into a law. The southern
part of Carolina was divided into ten parishes, and
provision was made for the support of ministers,
thf^i erection oi' chijrches and glebes; and an act
was passed, requiring members of assembly to con-
form to the religious worship in the province, ac-
corling to the church of England, and to receive the
sacrament of the Lord's supper, according to th«
rites a! id usages of that church.
The inhabitants of the county of Colleto!), which
was cidefly settled by dissenters, sent John Ashe, an
influential character among them, and the grandsire
of Samuel Ashe, who was governor in North Carolina
in 179^', to lay their ^^rievances before the lords
proprietors. The s^overnor succeeded in prevent-
ing this gentleman obtaining a passage in any of the
ships in Charleston: he was compelled to travel by
land to Virginia, where he embarked. On his way,
he stopped in the county of Albemarle, where he
was received with great respect and cordiality, and
the people, feeling the same interest as his consti-
tuents in the object of his mission, prevailed on
Edmund Porter to accompany him, in order to aid
by the representations of tiie people of the northern
part of the province, the object which the people
of Carolina had much at heart.
The palatine received the emissaries of their
lordships' vassals in America with considerable cold-
ness. Unable to effect the object of his mission,
220 CHAPTER ^170;^
hy his representaiiori to the lords proprietors,
John Ashe, finding lh«i public sentjaif nt in his favor,
determined on raising it into action, by a candid
representation of the grievances oi his eonstituf nts;
but death prevented the intended appeal. Hi*
papers fell into -he hands of those wtio had an inte-
rest to suppress the expression of hs sentiments*
Bent upon carrying the palatine's views into exe-
cution, governor Johnson overcame every obstacle
in his way, A corporation, composed of twentj
individuals, was instituted, with power to e ercis«
high ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Authority wa8
given it, to deprive ministers of their livings, and
the acts of the legislature, of vviiich John Ashe had
gone to procure the repeal, were executed whh
great zeal and rigor. The dissenters were exas-
perated : a migration to Pennsylvania was spoken
of, but it was at last determined to send Joseph
Boon to England, with a petition to the house of
lords. On the introduction of this petition, the
house, on the motion of lord Granville, the palatine
of Carohna heard counsel, al its bar, in behalf of
the lords proprietors, and after some debate, came
to a resolution, that the laws complained of were
founded on falsity in matter of fact, repugnant to the
laws of England, contrary to the charter of the lords
proprietor^, an enc ouragement to at heism and irre -
ligion, destructive to trade, and tended to the ruin
and ^population of the province. The lords next
addressed the queen, beseeching her to use the
most effectual means to deliver the province of
Carolina from the "arbitrary oppression under
which it lay, and to order the proprietors of it to
17031 THE TWELFTH. £21
be pf-osecutecl accordiiio; lo law." The subject was
referred to t'le lords commishioners of trade and
plantations, who reported, t^iat the facts stated in
the petition were true; that the powers granted by
the charier, had been abused; that the grantees
h'ld isicurred a forfeiture of it, and recommended
that process might be ordered to issue accordingly
against their lordships. The queen's law servants
were thereupon directed to procnre a writ of quo
warranto^ and to report what might more effectual I j
be done, in order that the queen might take the
government of Carolina into her own iiands. 1 he
matter was, however, abandoned, and no step was
taken to annul the charter, or relieve the people.
The French in Canada began new hostilities on
the frontier: in the month of July, a body of ^\q
hundred French and Indians, in various parties,
attacked all the settlements from Casco to Wells,
and killed and took one ijundred and thirty people,
burning and destroying rI! before them.
Hostilities immediately began in the West Indies.
Rear admiral Benlow took a Spanish man of war,
carrying the governor of Ca thagena. In the sum-
mer, he destroyed a number of French vessels in
the West Indies, and sent captain Leake to New-
foundland, where he took or destroyed eleven
French merchantmen.
In the month of March following, he attacked
Guadeloupe, where he burnt several plantations,
and drove the inhabitants from Basseterre; from
whence he retired with a considerably booty.
On the 28th of February, 1704, Hertel de Neu-
▼ille, at the head of a body of three hundred French
222 CHAPTER £1704
and Indians, surprised and burnt the town of Deer-
field, in Connecticut, slew above forty persons, and
made one hundred prisoners.
In the summer, colonel Benchurch sailed from
Boston- with five hundred and fifty Svddiers, des-
troyed the towns of Morris and Chebucto, and did
considerable damage to the French and Indians in
Penobscot and Passamaquoddy.
On the 13th of April, president Walker died.
During his administration, we are informed by the
stone that co vers his remains, the proviiice enjoyed
perfect order and tranquility. On hearing of his
death, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, whose commission
extended now over the whole province, sent Robert
Daniel, the officer who had seconded governor
Moore in the late attack of St. Augustine, to suc-
ceed president Walker as deputy governor of the
Dorthern part of Carolina.
This gentleman had it in charge, to procure the
establishment of the church of England by legal
authority. The bill received great opposition, but
the address of the governor secured its passage.
The act provided, among other things, for a fine on
any person holding a place of trust, who should
neglect to qualify himself, by taking the oath
required by law. This part of the province was
now divided into parishes, and provision was made
for the building of churches, laying out glebes, and
providing for the maintenance of a clergy. The
people, not quite so obsequious, as the members of
the legislature had been, to the pleasure of governor
Daniel, manifested an immediate intenlion to pre-
vent the execution of the laws : the Quakers, who
1704] THE TWELFTH. 223
composed a considerable part of the population of
the precincts of Pasquotank and Perquimans,
evinced a disposition to sacrifice the pacific princi-
ples of their sect, to the preservation of their rights.
A union ^vas formed with the dissenters in the
southern part of the province, in order to convey to
England their just complaints against such arbitrary
and oppressive measures. Their petition was intro-
duced, and strongly supported, in the house of lords,
and the peers came to a resolution, that the acts of the
kgislature of Carolina, requiring conformity to the
church of England, were "founded on falsity, in matter
of fact, repugnant to the laws of England, contrary to
the charter of the proprietors, an encouragement to
atheism and irreligion, detrimental to trade, and tended
to the depopulation and ruin of the province." Queen
Anne declared them null and void.
The American colonies suffering greatly from the
different value of coin, in the provinces, queen Anne, to
create a uniformity, in this respect, this year issued a
proclamation for settling and ascertaining the current
rates of foreign coin, in her majesty's plantations of
North America.
Parliament, this year, relaxed a little the restrictions
of the navigation act, (15 Ch. II. c. 7,) which forbade
the importation of any European manufactures to the
plantations, except from England, and the Irish linens
were permitted to be shipped from Ireland to the plan-
tations, in vessels navigated according to law. 34
Anne, c. 8.
The importation of naval stores from the plantations
to England was, at the same time, encouraged by a
224 e'HAPTER [1706
bounty on tar, pitch, rosin, turpentine, hemp, masts,
yards, and bow-sprits. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 10.
This year was printed the firs: American newspaper:
it was entitled *'The B >ston New>-Letter."
The Bishop of London sent Gideon Johnson, as his
commissary for the province of Carofina. He was
directed to make Charleston his place of residence.
Governor Daniel made a treaty of peace, at a general
meeting of the chiefs of the different tribes of Indians,
bordering on the settlement of the whites. By an ar-
ticle of it, inserted at the desire of the Indians, white
traders w^re forbidden from supplying the Indians with
rum. This stipulation was not, however, aft'ifrwards
insisted upon : the young Indians threatened to kill
the plenipotentiaries, who had proposed it, and they
were allowed to have rum, when they went to the house
of an Englishman to buy it.
The following year, the town of Bath, on Tar river,
was established, by an act of the legislature, and the
county of Albemarle was divided ; the southern part be-
ing erected into a county, called Bath, composed of three
precincts, Wickham and Pamplico, on Roanoake and
Tar rivers, and Archdale, on Neuse.
Sir Nathanit'l Johnston having appointed Thomas
Cary deputy governor of the northern part of this pro-
vince, the lords proprietors disapproved of his choice,
and required that their deputies should from among
themselves elect a president and commander in chief.
William Glover was, accordingly, chosen. Cary yielded
to this measure at first ; but a few weeks after, support-
ed by the influence of the Quakers, and surrounded by
a rabble of profligate persons, posiessed himself of the
1706 J THE TWELFTH. 225
records of the province, and resumed the reins of
government.
Monsieur dc Subercase, governor of Acadia, sent an
expedition, to chase the English from Newfoundland.
He was so flir successful, that the trade of the island,
was almost ruined.
In the following year, the city of Charleston was in-
vaded. Monsieur Le Fevre, commanding a French
frigate, having with him four armed sloops, and eight
hundred soldiers, appeared off the coast. Governor
Johnson, w^ho had intelligence of his approach, had taken
every measure necessary to resist the enemy. The
alarm was immediately given, and the militia put under
armSt The enemy hovered all night upon the coast,
and anchored next mornina: near James Island. He
employed the day in sounding the south bar, and this
delay gave the governor time to call to his aid a consi-
derable part of the militia from the country, ajid a num-
ber of Indians. The next day, the enemy ]passed over
the bar, and cast anchor near SuHivan's4^nd. Governor
Johnson placed some great guns on board of a number
of ships that were in the harbor, and gave the command
of this little flotilla to William Rhett, a man of ability
and spirit. The French commander now sent a flag
to demand a surrender of the town, but was resolutely
answered, it would be defended to the last extremity.
The enemv now landed, and burnt several houses on
James island and Bearsly creek. Another party went
to Wando creek, to kill hogs and cattle. The govern-
or now sent captain Gantry, with an hundred men, to
watch the motions of these men. He crossed the river
in the night, coming up with the enemy at break
of day, and finding them in a state of imagined security,
N. CARD. 29
aSli . CHAPTER [1707
surrounded and surprised them with a sharp fire, which
completely routed them. A considerable number were
killed, wounded, or drowned, and the rest were made
prisoners.
Rhett, improvins^ this momentary success, advanced
with six ships upon the enemy, who precipitately
weighed anchor, and sailed over the bar.
A few days after, the governor was informed that ii
ship of war was at Serra bay, and had landed a number
of men. On this, he ordered captain Fenwick to cross
the river, with his company, and march against them ;
while Rhett should sail round, and attack the enemy.
Captain Fenwick came up with, and charged, the
enemy, who, after a few vollies, retired to the ship.
Rhett came soon after to his assistance, and the French
ship struck, without firing a shot, and the gallant officer
returned to Charleston, with his prize and ninety pri-
soners. Of tight hundred men, the French lost three
hundred, in killed and captured : among the latter was
Monsieur D* Arb( ussol, the commander of the land
forces, with several of the sea officers. The loss of the
Americans was trifling.
In the following year, lord Granville, the palatine.
died, and was succeeded by the earl of Craven.
Since the assumption of government by president
Carey, an end had been put to the administration of
justice, and an entire anarchy prevailed. The most
respectable part of the community adhered to president
Glover, and with a view to an attempt to put an end
tx) the disordered state of the colony, it was determined
to submit to the decision of the general assembly, whe-
ther president Carey, or president Glover, should
exercise the supreme power.
iT07] THE TWELFTH, 2iit
For this purpose, an election was ordered. In the
precinct of Chowan, after the writ of election, issued
by president Glover, was read, by Daniel Halsey, the
deputy marshal, one Robert Fendall rose, and read a
similar writ, issued by president Carey. The election
went on, and five members were chosen. The votes
were counted, and there appeared ninety-four votes for
the members chosen, and sixty-five for another ticket.
The successful candidates were all friends to president
Glover's pretensions. Edward Moseley, the leader of
the minority, bitterly complained of unfairness in tlie
election, and made all the contusion he could.
On the 11th of October, the assembly met at captain
Heckelfield'b, on Little river. Nine members came
from the precinct of Chowan, five of whom were re-
turned by the deputy marshal as chosen by the majority.
Robert Fendall returned those, as well as the five
chosen by Edward Moseley's party, he bein^ one of
tbem. Of the latter, four only attended; the fifth,
thinki.ig his election illesjal, staid at home.
The house bei^an by ordering these nine men out,
and after some debate, called in Edward Moselc^y's
party, he beins: one of them, and ordered the other *
five to be forcibly kept out. They chose Edward
Moseley speaker, and presented him as such to presi-
dent Carey and his counciL
The house consisted only of twenty -six members,
including the five from C-?owan precinct. Out of the
twenty -one, eight were Quakers, who knew that presi-
dent Glover would not suffer them to take their seats,
without taking the oath: six were from the county of
Bath, all under the influence of president Carey : two
«r three, of the remaining seven, were chosen by the
22» CHAP^fER [nm
Quakers of Pasquotank precinct. So that the five
members from Currituck precinct could not make any
stand: some of them went away-
m
Then the mstrument of writing^, or commission from
the lords proprietors, which John Porter had brought,
was read, and the house came to a resolution, that the
act passed during the administration of governor Daniel,
laying a fine on any person holding a place of trust or
profit, who should neglect to qualify himself, by taking
the oath required by law, was by that instrument
suspended.
President Carey and president Glover sat in separate
rooms, with their respective councils; and Robert Da-
niel, as a landgrave, having a right to a seat in the upper
house, sat alternatelv with either council.
President Glover sent a message to the assembly, by
one of their body, informing them, that to settle the
government, and to put the queen^s laws into execution,
it was necessary that the gentlemen returned should
choose a speaker, qualify themselves according to law,
and the house should purge itself of all unduly elected
and unqualified members ; tor a reference had been
made to the general assembly, not to any number of
persons, met without authority. He observed, that, it
was contrary to all law and reason, and in a very great
degree derogatory to the queen's prerogative, and be-
traying the trust reposed by the crown in the lords
proprietors, to submit the administration of the govern-
ment to any number of men, howsoever chosen and
delegated, even by the unanimous voice of all the inha-
bitants of the province, unless they should previously
acknowledge their allegiance, which both the common
law and statute required should be done by oath; a for-
1707] THE TWELFTH. 229
mality which the queen had imposed, and the lords
proprietors could not dispense with : for in doing other-
wise, the government could be surrendered to the dis-
posal of persons who were traitors to the q\ieen, or
maintained the rights of the pretended prince of Wales.
To such an assembly, he said, he would undertake to
prove, 1. That he was the lawful president of the queen's
council, and that the execution of the lords JDroprietors'
commission belonged to him, and to no other person :
2. That Thomas Carey was not president, nor had been
lawfully invested, or possessed, with any power of go-
vernment, since his departure to South Carolina:
3. That, although the powers of government should be
extinct in him (Giover) by death, or the command of
the lords proprietors, Thomas Carey was not qualified
to be elected to the office of president.
He added, that if the gentlemen now met assumed to
themselves the arbitrary power of proceeding in any
other manner, he, as president of the council, and com-
mander in chief, charged and commanded all civil and
military officers, and all the queen's loving subjects, to
forbear aiding or assisting them, in the execution of such
arbitrary powers.
He concluded, that as the assembly had rendered
them^selves incapable of deciding on the niatter that was
to have been submitted to them, he protested against all
they had done, and would do, ijgainst him, or any act of
his administration: and, because Thomas Carey had
pubhcly threatened, surreptitiously, without any form of
law, to take his life, and that of others who had assisted
him in keeping the peace ; he appealed to the queen, in
her court, at Westminster, and offirred himself as her
prisoner, to be sent in chains, if the matter required it,
rso CHAPTER [1707
to the governor general of Carolina, in Charleston, and
thence to England : provided, that Thomas Carey and
John Porter, who had been the chief causes of the un-
happy troubles that had distracted the country, should
bind themselves, with sureties, to prosecute him there.
The message was returned to president Glover, by
the member by whom he had sent it, vvh(3 informed him
he was instructed to say that the house should not
concern themselves therein.
The Quakers would show themselves singular,
coming to the table with their hats on, laying ^heir hands
on the book, repeating the words of the oat!), using the
word declare instead of the word swtar, and then having
their explanation of the sense or mt-aning in which they
took it entered underneath, they subscribed, with-
out kissing the book, and declared they took it in that
sense, and no otf er.
The society for the propagation of the gospel in fo-
reign parts, lately established in England, sent over this
year the reverend Mr. Adams, and the reverend Mr.
Gordon, to whom thev allowed handsome salaries.
The former took charge of the two eastern precincts,
Currituck and Pasquotank; the other had under liis
pastoral care the two eastern ones, Perquimans and
Chowan. The act for building three churches, passed
under the administration of governor Daniel^ had been
partially carried into execution. Two churches had
been built : the one in the precinct of Chowan was so
small, and so inartificially put together, that the inhabi-
tants talked already of building another. A better one
had already been built in the precinct of Perquimans ;
both, however, were very small. The people in the
precinct of Chowan were very ignorant ; few of them
1707] THE TWELFTH. 281
could read, and fewer, even among the better sort, could
write; yet, most of them were serious and well inclined^
and ready to embrace, both in public and in private,
all opportunities of being instructed. The precinct of
Perquimans, was chiefly inhabited by Quakers, and Mr.
Gordon complained, that his flock in that part of the di-
vision, was ignorant and loose in their morals, and
unconcerned in religion.
Mr. Adams gave a better account of his parishioners
in the precinct of Pasquotank. In their way of living,
he observed they had much the advantage of the rest of
the colony, being much more industrious and careful,
and above all, were to be commended for their order,
seriousness and decency, during worship. The roads
in their precinct, were worse than in the western ones ;
but it was more thickly settled: it contained thirteen
hundred souls, nine hundred of whom, professed them-
selves members of the Church of England. The pas-
tor considered this precinct as the principal branch of
his division, and made it chiefly his residence. Curri-
tuck, the other precinct, including the Sound Banks,
and a portion of the shore on the south side of Albe-
marle sound, was the least pleasant part of his district:
it contained eight hundred and thirty-nine souls. The
weather was damp and cold in winter, and the mos-
chetos rendered the country extremely unpleasant, in
summer.
The clergymen landed, with the belief that they should
meet with great discouragement in their mission, and
entered on the execution of its duties with great resolu-
tion, and received great countenance, from most of the
persons, in the administration of that kind of govern-
ment, which existed in the countrv.
y
232 . CHAPTER [1708
In the following year, a considerable number of
French Huguenots, who had emigrated to Virginia,
on the repeal of the edict of Nantz, by Louis XIV.,
had settled near the Manakin towns, on James river,
and came over, headed by Phiilipe de Richebourg, a
clerg\ man of their profession ; a number of them began
a settlement on Trent river, near the spot, on which a
toll bridge was afterwards built on that stream ; the rest
removed to South Carolina, and formed an establishment
on Santee river, which was afterwards made a parish, by
the name of St. James.
Parliament this year, passed a statute, (6 Anne,
c. 30,) for enforcing the due execution of the procla-
mation of the queen, of the 18th of June, 1704, to
regulate the currency of foreign coin, in the several
colonies and plantations in America.
Carey, as receiver of the quit rents, having neglect-
ed to settle his accounts, the proprietors, by an instru-
ment of writing, which they sent by John Porter, one of
their deputies, removed him from office, and ordered
him to come over and give an account of his conduct;
which he refused to do, and continued his opposition to
the colonial government.
The depredations of the French in the palatinate, com-
pelled the inhabitants to desert their country. Twelve
thousand of them, in the most forlorn condition, sought
refuge in London. The queen, for some time, sup-
ported them out of the privy purse. She was after-
wards helped by the benevolence of her subjects, and
twenty thousand pounds were subscribed and paid into
the treasury of the city, for the relief of these fugitives,
who were finally disposed of as colonists, in Ireland and
1709] THE TWELFTH. 233
North America. Several of them came to Carolina, and
Edwat d Tynte, who had succeeded Sir Nathiiiiel John-
ston in the government of the province, was directed to
grant land to them, in the county of Bath, the population
of which was, as yet, very thin.
Christopher, Baron de GraifFenreidt, a Swiss nobleman
from the Canton of Bern, vvas at this time in England,
with a considerable number of his countrymen, desirous
of migrating to America.
The lords prv)piietors, considering that the value of their
estate, in the province of Carolina, depended on its pop-
ulation, offered encouragement to the palatines and
Swiss, in order to induce them to remove to Carolina.
Ships were provided, and orders were given for the
transportation of those, who offered to go and settle on
the lords proprietors' lands.
The baron was created a landgrave. Louis Mitchell,
one of the principal characters among the Swiss, had ten
thousand acres of land allotted to him, on the rivers
Neuse and Cape Fear, or any of their branches, at the
rate of ten pounds sterling for every one thousand acres,
and five shillings of quit rent. One hundred thousand
acres were reserved for him, at the same price, provided
they were taken within seven years. One hundred acres
were given to every man, woman and child, free from
quit rent for ten years.
This was a valuable acquisition to the northern part
of the province. Besides a great number of palatines,
fifteen hundred Swiss followed the baron. They set-
tled chiefly on Neuse and Trent rivers; and for^their
accommodation, Thomas Pollock laid offa tract of land,
at the confluence of Trent and Neuse, for a town, which
in compliment to the leader of the Swiss, he called New
N. CARO. 30
^4 CHAPTER [1710
Bern; the city of Brrn, in Switzerland, being the
place of nativity of thij> nobleman.
The absence of a regular govera{^Je{l^ in North Car-
olina, now ^ave ribe to grtat fends and di? traction ; the
partisans of president Glover, irrit;itt d hv the persecu-
tions thev experienced from president Carey, sought
a temporary refuge in the neighb oriiig province of
Virginia.
The missionaries complained, that these commotions
retarded the progress of the gospel, arid even enconragtd
the ridicule of its ordinances. T^ey, however, perse-
vered in their work, in the hope that the feuds might
subside. Their expectations were disappointed, and
M .. Gordon despairing of being any longer usefirl, em-
barked for Europe, carr ing letters from the r^rincipal
inhabitants of the precincts of Chowin and Pasrpiotank>
stating that he had discharged his functions with great
fidelity among them, and indeflitigably employed his
time in promoting the interest of religion, in the colony.
In the month of October, Graaftenreidt and Mitchell^
contracted with the commissioners a))pointed by the
queen, for the relief and protection of the palatines, to
transport to North Carolina, a greater number of them^
These persons received, each, twenty shillings in clothes^
and five pounds ten shillings, were paid for their trans-
portation and comfortable settlement ; they were com-
posed of ninety-two families, and Gmaffenreidt and
Mitchell agreed to allow two hundred and fifty acres
to each family, to be divided among them by lot, free
from rent for five years, and afterwards, at the rate of
one half per cent. Carolina money. ,
Provisions were allowed them for one year, payable
at the end of the year.
niO] THE TWELFTH. " ^^
^ Two cows and calves, a sow and pigs, two ewes andw
lambs, widi a male of each kind, to each family, the ^-.^
Value whfrreof was payable in seven years, with one half *"^^
of the stock then remainin^i;; tools and implements, for
fellin.k- W')od and bai;dini>; houses s^ratis.
In the month of December, these palatines arrived
at the confluence of Trent and Neuse rivers, where
they b^a^ari a sHrlement, near that of the former.
The R V, vlr. Adams, thou,<i^»i much dejected at the
dep inure of his c.'>lleaij;ue, resolved to make further
eff'>rrs; but die rniblic distractioa-. could not be com*
P'»s '!, The !iartie!!> ^n\.v more- and more embittered
a^i-.u St each o ht-r ; and, thougn he behaved with un*
bi-iiided mo deration and unwearied zeal, in his pastoral
function-., he was compelled, wearied by the hardships
he met wir , to abandon the hope of doing any good,
and dercrmined to return to England, in 1710. His
concTi* gatinu bore testimony to his good conduct, and
assur-'t hi-, employers, he liad waded through every
iiiilicuiiy, U'^der ihe vigilant eye of his most malicious
enemv, v/uhout having beer charged with any thing
tinb.'coming a minister of Christ. As he was prepar-
ing to emo ark he fell sick and died.
In thf month of August, Edward Hyde, who had
been cnoseu to govern the nordiern part of the province,
arrived, with instructions to governor Tynte, to com-
mission him as 'db deputy. H-: found the governor
dead: diis cii'cnmstance left him without power, as he
had no testimoi^ial of his authority, except unoffi-
cial letters, from some of the lords proprietors to their
deputies, btit he was so successful in his endeavors to
conciliate botli parties, and the inhabitants were so
anxious for bume settled form of legal government, tha^"
•• -s-t-^.v :^>r..
t^'^
^36 .CHAPTER [17!©
all the lords proprietors' deputies, without even the ex-
ception of Thomas Carey, solicited him to assume the
» i^^ supreme command, as president and commander in chief,
I J ' until his commission as governor should arrive. He
was, accordingly, appointed and sworn as such.
The adherents of president Glover received him with
sincere, and those of president Carey with apparent, cor-
diality. The planters, who had S(^!ji^ht a shelter from
the political storm, in Virginia, now returned to their
estates, and one of them, high in authority, in a congra-
tulatory letter to the governor, on his arrival, hoped
" that he would settle the religion, laws, and Hberty of
the province, on such asuie foundation, that they might
not be trodden again by the Quakers, Atheists, Deists,
and other evil disposed persons."
During the confusion, the white people were suffered
to fall on the Indians, to redress their real, or pretended,
wrongs, which was attended with direful consequences:
for, although they succeeded by such means against one
tribe, there were others that took the alarm, when they
found that the English broke their faith with the Indiansa
Every act of violence was not attended with like suc-
cess, and the next was made accountable for the want
of success of the former. Hostilities began in the
month of December. Some of tlie Meherrin Indians,
fell on the most distant settlement, on Chowan river 5,
and killed two or three individuals. It was a misfor-
tune that the whites had been allowed to settle on land
/ contiguous to the Indians. This ought to have been
prevented, even when not objected to by the natives, on
account of the difficulty of preserving a good under-
standing, between them and the whites, while they lived
so near.
mo] THE TWELFTH. 237
This summer, some galleys were sent to protect the
coasts of Virginia and Carolina, which proved a great
relief to those two colonies, laboring under daily alarms
and terrible apprehensions, and discouraged by the fre-
quent insults and depredations of the privateers of the
enemy, and, often, vexed to stand the helpless specta-
tors of their own losses.
In the winter, the Indians began their irruptions
anew, ** They," says a letter of a gentlemen in office,
of the 25th of December, '* daily gather strength, and
have again besieged a party of inhabitants, in a smali fort
they had hastily thrown up for their protection. The
disiraciions, among the white people, gave the Indians
all the facility they could wish for destroying us. The
late assembly appears to have resolved to sacrifice their
country to dieir private resentments, and because they
could not introduce into the government, the persons
most obnoxious in the late rebellion and civil war, they
will make no provision for defending any part of the
country, and are now dissolved without doing any
business."
. Tranquility was now restored, and continued to pre-
vail, till an election of representatives to the first assem-
bly, under the new administration, took place. Carey's
party having been unsuccessful, he protested against
the legality of the authority, under which the election
had been holden.
At the meeting of the legislature, a law was passed
for securing his person, and that of some of his accom-
plices. Provision was made, for compelling him to
account for the moneys he had received during his
administration.
238 CHAPTER [17J0
These acts are not extant at tbis day ; but colonel
Spots wood, then govern r of Virginia, in a communica-
tion to lord Darmouth, secretary of state, observed,
"they Were too severe to be justified; and, indeed,
showed more the resentment of the makers, for the inju-
ries they had received, than their prudence in healing the
distractions of the country."
On the adoption of these measures, Thomas Carey
left his seat at the council board, and, repairing to the
precinct of his residence, collected a party of armed men,
at the head of whom, he bid defiance to the chief magis-
trate and the legislature. He fortified his house, en-
trenched it, and raised a battery, on which he placed
some cannon. His success, in these measures of de-
fence, emboldened him to act in the offensive. He
caused himself to be proclaimed president and comman-
der in chief, and by proclamation established a court of
justice; and fitted out a brig, furnished him by a leading
Quaker, armed it with six guns, and with her and a
barca tonga, filled with fusiliers, he sallied forth, and
came to an anchor with his naval force, near a plantation,
to which governor Hyde and his council had removed.
On the ai)peardnce of this armament, an express was
despatched to governor Spotswood, of Virginia, f )r as-
sistance. The council of that province advised the go-
vernor to offer his mediation to both parties, and to en-
deavor to induce governor Hyde to procure a suspen-
sion of the acts passed against Thomas Carey, and the
latter to suffer the administration of the government to
proceed undisturbed, till the pleasure of the lords
proprietors was known.
Governor Spotswood immediately despatched a man,
well qualified for moderating the resentment of the par-
1710J V '3^^^ TWELFTH. Sa^.
ties, with letters to governor Hyde and Thomas Carey.
This mediator was well received, by la^overnor Hyde
and his council, who declared, that, for the peace of the
country, they were ready to yield their assent to any
terms that could, with justice and honor, be proposed.
Thomas Carey made the same proposition ; but an
interview having taken place between the contending
parties, on the suggestion of the mediator, he treacher-
ously attempted, though without success, to secure the
governor and his council, and make them prisoners.
Enraged at his failure, he warned the mediator to return
to Virginia ; and avowed his determination, not to treat
otherwise than w^ith his arms.
A few days after, though the conduct of Thomas
Carey was sufficient to show what little faith ought to
be given to any treaty with him, or his party, the medi-
ator went to him and urged him to declare what his de-
mands were, and prevailed, with difficulty, upon him,
to furnish a specification of them. At length, Carey
produced a paper containing his proposals, of which he
very unwillingly allowed a copy to be taken, which
he refused to subscribe. These, with a very trifling
alteration, were acceded to by governor Hyde and his
council ; but Carey still persisted in withdrawing from
the terms of accommodation, and the mediator returned
to Virginia.
Thomas Carey now increased his naval force, hoisted
his flag at the topmast head of his brig, and came within
gun shot of the house, within which, the governor and
council sat. An express was again despatched to Vir-
ginia, to solicit some assistance of men and arms. The
queen's council for that province, considering how diffi-
cult it was to foresee how far a party of such desperate
^40 GH AFTER [1710
men, should they meet with success in their first at-
tempt on the government of Carolina, might carry their
disorganizing arms ; that the rebellion, excited a few
years before, by general Bacon, had at first a much less
dangerous appearance ; that the insurgents would pro-
bably endeavor to seduce their negroes, some of those,
in the frontier counties, having been already carried
away, to be employed on board of the armed vessel, ad-
vised governor Spolswood to raise tlie militia of the
southern counties of Virginia, and send them to the re-
lief of governor Hyde ; and applicition was made to the
commander of the king's ships, in Virginia, for some
boats to go round and attack Carey's shipping. Before
any relief could be sent, Carey attempted the landing of
some of his men, under the fire of his brio^; but thev
were repulsed by the militia of the neigl-borhood, which
governor H-de had time to collect. They returned
on board, and tl«eir chief sought a safe retreat in the
swamps of Tar river, where he raised his standard, and
endeavored to bring the Tuscarora Indians into an aili-
ance. For this purpose, he despatched to them Edward
Porter, one of his coitucil, who endeavored, by promises
of great rewards, to induce them to cut off all the inhabi-
tants of that part of the province, who adhered to gover-
nor Hyde. This was acceded to by some of the young
warriors; but when the meter was debated in council,
the old men dissuaded them from listening to Porter.
Governor Spotswood, in a letter to lord Darmouth,i
complained of the reluctance he found in the inhabitants
of the counties of his government bordering on Car-
olina, to march to the relief of governor Hyde. These
counties were chiefly settled by Quakers, and he imputed
their backwardness to the religions precepts of their sect,
IT 10] THE TWELFTH. 241
especially, seeing that their brethern in Carolina were
Carey's main allies, who, not only formerly, acted as his
council, and openly supplied him with provisions, and
an armed brig, but also took upon themselves military-
titles in the civil war.
Thomas Carey now retired to the house of one
Roach, in Pamplico, which he fortified. This man had
lately joined Carey, and was the supercargo of a ship
just arrived from London, and he supplied the insur-
gents with trading guns and ammunition from her
cargo.
In the month of July, Carey went to Virginia, where
governor Spotswood caused him to be apprehended, in
order to make him give security for his good behaviour.
While under examination, Carey prevaricated so
much, that governor Spotswood shipped him off, on
board of a man of war, bound to London.
On the 18th of September, 1710, general Nicholson
sailed from Boston, with thirty-six sail, for the reduction
of Port Royal : he arrived on the 24th, and landed his
troops without opposition : the French threw shells and
bombs from the fort, w4iile the English were making
preparation for the attack, and a bomb ship in the New
England fleet plied on them with her shells. On the first
day of October, Subercase, the French governor, was
summoned to surrender; a cessation of arms was
obtained, and terms of capitulation were agreed
upon and signed on the next day : the government of
the country was given to colonel Vetch, and the fleet
returned to Boston : the name of the town was altered
from Port Royal to Annapolis, in honor of the queen.
A statute was this year passed by parliament, for es-
tablishing a general post ofiice at New York, for the
N. CARD. 31
242 CHAPTER, [17r€
plantations on the continent : the preamble states, that
posts had been established on the main land in North
America, that in her majesty's plantations, Ports-
mouth, in the province of New Hampshire, the north-
ernmost, and Charleston in that of Carolina, the souths
ernmost town, are mentioned in the statute. (9 Anne,
c. 10.) A statute was also passed for the preservation
of white and other pine trees, grow in^ in the provinces
of New England, New York and New Jersey, for the
masting of the royal navy. (9 Anne, c. 17.)
In the following year, the society for propagating the
gospel in foreign parts, sent the reverend Mr. Umstead,
and the reverend Mr. Rainsford, to North Carolina: the
former took his residence in the precinct of Chowan, and
the latter in that of Currituck.
Shdmers — History of South Carolim^^JReeord^,
CHAPTER Xm.
The Indians did not always remain idle or uncon«
cerned spectators of the feuds and dissentions that so
long prevailed among the whites. The successive and
regular encroachments on their plantations and hunting
grounds, which an increase of European population did
occasion, had nv)t been always submitedto, without a
murmur. Aith'^ugh the native:* had been at first pleased
with neighbors, from whom they could procure spiritu-
ous liquors and other article**, which tended to the gra-
tificatioii of their real or imaginary wants, they had
viewed with some jealousy the frequent accessions of
new comers, requiring at first the surrender of larger
and larger portions o^ their domains, and at last, the re-
moval of families and tribes, from the neighborhood of
the bones of their ancestors, to more distant and less
valuable tracts of land. Other causes of animosity and
ill will had not been wanting : they were determined on
securing the opportunity of attacking the whites, while
their dissentions rendered them more easily vulnerable.
In the beginning of September, they concerted the plan
of a sudden and simultaneous attack of every settlement
in the colony.
T^he Tuscaroras were the principal and the most nu-
merous of the tribes that joined in the conspiracy : they
tmdertook the attack on the plantations on Roanoke, and
244 CHAPTER [1711
from that river to that of Pamplico : the Indians who
lived on that river, and from whom it received its name,
were chari^ed to fall on their more immediate white
neighbors : the Cothechneys, who dwelt in that part of
the province now known as the county of Greene, en-
gaged to come down and join the Cores, in an irruption
on the settlers along Neuse and Trent rivers : and the
Mattamuskets and Matchapungos undertook to fall on
the plantations in the neighborhood of the town of Bath.
Notwithstanding the very great number of individuals,
of diiferent tribes, to whom these arrans^ements must
have been made known beforehand, the secret was not
betrayed by any. The Tuscaroras, whose principal
town had been surrounded by a high pallisade, sent
thither their women and children. From thence, on
the day preceding the new moon, twelve hundred war-
riors secretly marched in numherless divisiotis : de-
tached individuals were sent to rerun noi^re. and en-
tered the hab'tations of the inteijded victims, uuder
the mask of friendship ; tovvar<!s ? ight, I irger squads
appeared, seemingly in quest of provi^iois. Pre-
tending to be offended, they ahus"d the planters, and
at the first, and often before the least, sign of resent-
ment, gave a whoop, 'iid being instantly joined
by others from the neighboring woods, began,
in indiscriminate slaughter, murdering the grandsire
and the father, the aged grand dame the lad, the
virgin, and the sucking infant that clang to the bleed-
ing bosom of the mother. One hundred and thirty
persons, thus fell on the eleventh of September,
in the settlement on Roanoke. Most of the Swiss
and palatines, who had flattered themselves with
having found, in the deserts of the precinct of Craven;»
1711] THE THIRTEENTH. 245
an asylum against distress and onprp.ssion, fell under
the tomahawk or the knife. The French Hugue-
nots, in the town of Bath, and the planters around it,
were inhumanly slaughtered ; the houses and cabins
were set on fire, and by the glare of the conflagration
the unrelenting foe sought for new victims; with
a lighted pine knot in one hand, and the tomahawk
in the other, the Indians of each party marched
through the woods to a common center, hunting, in
drunken gambols, for the few wiiite men who had es-
caped the desolation of their settlements ; they di-
vided themselves into new parties, and scoured the
country to the east of Chowan river, and the north of
Albemarle sound ; the carnage was continued for
three days, and did not iinish till drunkenness and
fatigue disabled the savage f »e frojn further action.
The few colonists, wiiom fortune favo 'ed in their
escape, assembled, and for a long time, under arms,
guarded their women and children, till assistance
could be procured from the southern part of the
province, and the neighboring one.
A few days before the massacre, the baron of
Graaffenreidt and Lawson left Newbern, attended by a
negro, with a view to ascend the river Neuse, to explore
the land on its banks : having proceeded to a small dis-
tance, they landed to pass the night, and were approach-
ed by two Indians, who were soon after joined by about
sixty more, well armed : this induced them to return to
the boat, to proceed farther up, where they were follow-
ed by the Indians, who took from them their arms, pro-
visions and bai>;gage, and comj)elled them to miirch
with them all night to a considerable distance from the
246 CHAPTER [1711
river, where they werepven up to the chief of a village :
a council was held, and it was determined to sum-
mon the inhabitants of the villages in the vicinity, to de-
cide on the fate of the prisoners. About two hundred
Indians met, and forty of them were chosen to compose
the council, who strictly examined them on the ob-
ject of their excursion : they answered, that their in-
tention. was to seek a better and shorter road to the
plantations of the whites in Virginia, that on the north
side of Albemarle sound being distant and bad. The
Indians complained much of the conduct of the Eng-
lish, and particularly of Lawson, who, as surveyor
general, was instrumental in depriving them of their
land. Finally, the council determined on his liberation,
and that of Graaffenreidt. However, on the next day,
an Indian, who understood English, complained to the
others, that the prisoners had spoken disrespectfully of
the Indians, and three or four of them fell on them,
beat them in a furious manner, and forcibly dragged
them back to the village, where the council sat again,
and determined on putting them to death.
On the following day, the victims were taken to a
large field for execution ; their wigs were thrown into a
large fire, and they were stripped and compelled to sit
down before it ; flowers vvtre strewed on them. In this
situation, they were kept the whole day and succeeding
night : at sunrise, a great number of Indians were col-
lected, to the amount of three hundred ; behind the
prisoners was a party who guarded them, and on each
side sat the chiefs in two rows; behind these, were the
rest of the Indians, jumping and dancing like so many
devils, and cutting a variety of infernal and obscene
nir] THE THIRTEENTH. 247
capers The eouncil again deliberated, and GraafFen-
\eidt turning to them, asked them whether no mtrcy
could be shown to the innocent, and with what propriety
they could put to death the governor of the palatines :
one of the Indians made a long and vehement harangue,
which softened the hearts of a majority of the council,
and it was determined to spare the baron. Lawson and
the negro were now put to death, with incredible tor-
tures : his spared companion was det ained five weeks in
captivity, and at last released.
On the first intelligence of this sad calamity at
Charleston^ the legislature, with a cheering alacrity,
equalled only by the necessity which called it into
action, appropriated eighty thousand dollars to the
relief of their suffering brethren. Six hundred mi-
litia, and about three hundred and sixty Indians^
were detached, under the orders of colonel Barnwell.
Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, on the first ac-
count of the disaster, sent a detachment of the mi-
litia to the tributary Indians of his province, to pre-
vent them joining in the war ; and understanding
that the Indians, in some of the Tuscarora towns,
had refused to march against the whites, sent messen-
gers to invite them, with the rest of the friendly
i-ribes, to a conference, at the Nottoway line, on the
southern border of Virginia, where he met them on
the 7th of November. He had drawn together at
that place the militia of the three southern counties^
amounting together to sixteen hundred men. Three
of the Tuscarora chiefs arrived just as he was mus-
tering this force, and was not a little surprised to find
such a large body of men, in good order and disci-
pline. The s;overnor, after entering into some con-
248 CHAPTER [nil
versation with the chiefs, had the pleasure to find the
report which his messengers had made, from their
observadoiiSj while in the Tuscarora towns, that they
were very desirous of continuing in peace, and were
grewtly concerned, that any of their nation should
have joined in the massacre. He then proposed to
them to carry on the war, agains^t the Indiars who
had commenced it, and to join the queen's subjects in
North Carolina, for the extirpation of the assassins ;
and that for the purpose of giving some assurance for
their future good behaviour, they should deliver two
children of some great li.en in each town, who
should be educated in the college. The chiefs re-
plied, that they were not authorized to conclude any
thing, without the consent of the rest of the nation ;
they desired time to inform their towns, and promised
to return on the 20th. The legislature of Virginia,
which sat soon after this, addressed tije governor, to
request that war might be iminediateiy declared
against the Indians who had been concerned in the
massacre, and voted twenty thousand pounds for car-
rying it oil ; and the qu^^en's council unanimously
advised, that the necessary preparations should be
made for carrying on the war; and that if the Tusca-
rora chiefs returned, as had been promised at Notto-
way, their alli-iuceand co-o|}eratiop. should be accepted.
The chiefs were detained, by llie badness of the
weather, and the indisposition of two of them, be-
yond the appointed time : the governor entered into a
conference with Uiem, at which the house of burgesses
was present. The chiefs, after accounting for the
delay that occurred, expressed the desire of the In-
dians of their towns, to continue in strict friendship
1711] THE THIRTEENTH. ^49
whh the wliifes, and assist them in chastising the au-
thors of the late (lisor'ler.
But now nn uiifortunr.te difference arose between
the governor and the ho ?se of burgesses, the latter
insist* og on the passage of a bill for raising an a my
in Virginia, without trusting to the sincerity of the
profession of the Tuscarora chiefs. The governor
refusing to accede to this proportion, the house de-
clined to co-operate in his plans The dispute ended
by a dissolution of the assembly.
Governor Spotsvvood, in his report of this trans-
action, to the lords commissioners of tr^ide and plan-
tations, charges the house with want of sincerity, m
their proffer of aid to the sister province. ^^Had
they," said he, ^*really inte^jded to carry on the war
against the Indians, they could liot have done it in a
more frugal way, than by the treaty I concluded with
the Tuscarora chiefs. Although this was entered
into at the instance of their own house, they have
made no provision for enabling me to perform the
terms of it. Indeed, som^. of that house, since the
dissolution, owned more freely, than they would do
while sitting, that most of the irregularity of their
proceedings are owing to so;r<e rash votes, passed
without foresight, which they could not afterwards
get over, w thout breaking the rules of their house :
and so they chose rather to let tlie country suffer,
thui to own themselves in an error. The conduct of
the late assembly will, in all probability, give a new
turn to the humour of the people, and make them
choose for their representatives men of more generous
and disinterested principles: but I fihali first sec
N. GARO. 32
'6
m ' CHAPTER [1711
some sign of this disposition, before I call a new
assembly. ^^
The baron and Indians entered into a freaty of
peace, by which it was stipulated thr?t, in case of war
between the English an- 1 the Indians, the palatines
sbonld reman neutral : that no land should be t?^ken
up f'>r, or by, the Jaroii, with* ut the c -rtsent of the
Indians : that there should Ue a full fr- lorn to hunt
in t!ie pen country : and that a comti}! vc 'a! treaty be
ftnt'Ted on, so that jusii(e migh? » e d'j.^ to the In-
dians, in the trade carried on wifh theTj
Graaffenr* idt was i!re vveek<^ a j riso^er, and du*
ring tha- ti ne the p !;ni?)j">^ were call d out, to defend
the con?. try. from Edtuton fit' was^, however, soon
after retaken, and carried to Virsrinii.
Appvehensio '.s were enter ained *hat .lie Fn^cb,
who traded among nations of Indians, not very re-
mote, would find means t > unite these Indians with
the Tuscai*oras, and furnish tliem with arms and am-
munit'on. The province was ill supplied with the
means of encountering an enemy, not otherwise to be
reduced, than by a continued pursuit t rough the
woods and deserts ; a fatigue whifh ilie people were
not able long to endure, without the coaveniency of
tents, to secure th m from Uie weather.
Governor Hyde called out as much of the militia
of North Carolina as he conld command, but the
people had been so long accustomed to resist govern-
ment, that few could be brought to any order or
discipline.
Colonel Barnwell, with his small army, expedi-
tiously crossed the extensive and dismal wilderness.
i712j THE THIRTEENTH 251
which then separated South and North Carolina.
On his arrival on Neu.^e river, lie was joi-^ied by s ich
Si portion of the militia of the colony as could be
spared from the necessary service of guarding the
help'ess pa t of the iahabitints. The Vidians, on
the first iiiteilJge'lce of the appr 'ach of this succ«>ar,
Lad chiefly colL;^* ted their strejjgth into one body.
Colonel Barn^vell soon caine up with them, and
pnrsued them to the uuper p rt of he present county
of Cr ven. where they erecte i a r^troog wooden
breastwork, on the shor s of Neuse river, at the
distance of about elgutc-.en miles to ihe west of the
tow .ff Vewbe'-n. After a short stay there, having
received some reinfur/emeut t'> their number, they
Bia "ched out to some distance, but wer'> attacked with
mui h bravery by the forces of South Carolina, and
deiCit^ed with great slaughter. Upwards of three
Jiundied of tiem were killed, and one hundred made
prisoners. The number of the wounded was not
ascertained. The rest retired into their strong hold,
where they were surrounded, and after sustaining
great loss, sued for p^*ace, which, it is said, was too
precipitately granted by colonel Barnwell.
*^ln all pr .b'.ibility," said a gentleman in high
authority, in an official communication to tiie lords
proprietors, two years afterwards, '^ if colonel Bfirn-
well had done his part, tliough some of his Indiins
left him, the w.ir would ha\e ])e n at an end before
th'S time : fore lonel itchell, a Swiss gendeman,
who came in with the baron de Graaff'enreidt, lia\ ing
cont nued to draw the trenches within eleven yards
of the Indian I'ort, raised a battery, in which h - had
placed two large guns, and collected a quantity
^52 CHAPTER [1712
of light wood and brush between the end of the
trenches and the pallisade of the fort. The Indians
within, who were all those concerned in the massacre,
would have surrendered uncon Mtionally, if a shame-
ful capitulation had not taken place.
^' The storming of this fort, which contained the
greatest part of our ene nies, wo dd have so much
dispirited the rest, that ihey would have complied
with our own terms, and aban'h)ned the country, and
our people would have been encouraged by the cap-
ture of so many slaves/'
Colonel Harnwell returned to Charleston soon
after the surrender of the f >rt. It was called after
him ; and the remains of it, which are at this daj
visil)le, siill retain his name.
In the month of May, governor Hyrle receivefl his
commission from He ry, duke of Beaufort, the pala-
tine, beari g date the 24th of January precedi g, and
he was qualified under it on the 9th of Alay. His in-
structions required him " to use with all gentleness
those who were deluded, and with a little severity
those who were concerned in the late disorders, as
was consistent ^* ith law and justice. And, as it must
of necessity have happened, that, during the commo-
tions, some unfortunate persons should have suffered
much in their estates, the lords proprietors desired
that restitution might be mads to them, if possible, to
the full, and if that couLl not be, as far as the
governor could." He was further required to send to
the lords proprietors as exact an estimate as he could
make of the sufferings of the people. He was au-
thorized to disp. se of vacant land, in tracts of six
hundred and forty acres each, at the rate of one pound
1712] THE THIRTEENTH. 253
sterlins, for every hundred acres, subject to a quit
rent of one shilling. He was directed to forward
copies of all the proceedings of his govejnment to
the lords proprietors, by the way of the province of
Virginia, or the island of Barbadoes. His title was
governor of that part of the province of Carolina,
which lies to the north and east of the river of
cape Fear.
The other principal officers of the province were,
at this time, Christopher Gal^^, chief justice, Edward
Benwick, attorney general, Danii-l Ricliardson, re-
ceiver general, Anthony Stafford, surveyor general,
and Tobias Knight, secretary of the province.
The expenses of government did not cost the pro-
prietors more than tbr*^e hundred a^id eighty pounds
sterling a year ; two hundred of Avhich were paid
to the governor, sixty to the chief justice, and forty
to each of the attorney general and secretaries in the
province and in England.
In pursuance to his instructi ^ns. governor Hyde
issued a proclamUion of pardon, in favor of all per-
sons concerned in ^ arey's rebellion, except Thomas
Carey, Em man 'el l,aw, John Porter, Edmund Por-
ter, and William Tittel.
The assembly sat on the 12th of March. A mes-
senger was sent to the Saponalndians, to procure them
to jv)in the provi. ce against the In iians in arms, and
to promise them protection in the mean while for their
woven and chddren. Korts were directed to be built
at Core Sound and at a Mr. Reading's, on Tar rixer :
the first was to have a garrison of thirty men, and be
called Kort Hyde, the second to be garrisoned by ten
men only.
254 CHAPTER [1712
On the application of governor Spotswood, the In-
dians, in whose town in Virginia the baron de GraafFen-
reidt was detained as a prisoner, released him, and he
was permitted to return to Newbern : the palatines and
Swiss, who had escaped the massacre, were permitted
to join him, after he had engaged his word, that he and
they would remain perfectly neutral during the war : he
lived undisturbed by the Indians, but was persecuted bv
the whites, for not breaking peace with their common
enemy : yet, they would not supply him with provisions
' or ammuni'ion, though no doubt wa:^ entertained of his
willingness to carry on the war, if the means were sup-
p icd,for it were madness in him to expose himtaelfand his
coui'tryinen to the fury of the savages, without some
better assurance of hdp, than that which the confused
state of the coluny held out, as the Indians would soon
destroy hib settlement, or compel him to abandon it, by
killing his cattle and preventing the planting or raising
any corn. The colony, however, derived great advan-
tage from his neutrality, as it enabled him to discover
and communicate any plan of attack, at the risk of paying
dear for it.
On the I2th of June, 'James Fenton was sent to
Charleston, to solicit a further aid.
In the summer, disease added its horrors to the disr
tresses of the war : an epidemic, of the kind of those
which have since ravaged, in the summer, the sea port
towns of the United States, and are known by the ap-
pellation of the yellow fever, scourged the few inhabit-
ants who remained ; men fell like leaves in autumn : on
the eighth of September, governor Hyde became a
victim of it.
1712] . THE THIRTEFNTH. ^255
On the 12th, the lords proprietors' deputies made
choice of Thorn \s Pollock, the deputy of lord Carteret,
as president atid commander in chief. This gentleman,
in his first official communication to tluir lordships,
after his election, describes the situation of the country
in the following words :
*' The people of this government are gready empove-
rished ; the inhabitants of Pamplico and Neuse have
most of their houses and household goods burnt, their
stock of cattle, horses and hogs, killed or carried away,
and their plantations laid waste by the Indians ; they are
obliged to secure their families in forts, and we, who live
on the south and south-west of Chowan river, are un-
der the same necessity. The farmers of the county of
Albemarle have to supply the whole of the county of
Bath with grain, not only for the use of the inhabitants,
but also for the support of their own militia, which they
have sent thither, and of the forces that are come from
South Carolina. By this mean, their trade is ruined,
and the vessels, that are come into Albemarle sound, of
late, have not been able to procure any loading, except a
few barrels of tar, so that the people have not wherewith
to pay their debts ; few can procure clothing for their
families,
*' The province is very largely in debt, for the pay
of the militia, which has been kept in actual service, for
arms, ammunition, provisions, and the expenses of
sending expresses to the neighboring governments.
** The war with the Indians still rages ; disobedience
to the constituted authorities, and intestine divisions, still
prevail among us. The want of the means of discharg-
ing the arrearages of pay due to the men who arc out, is
a serious cause of discontent, perhaps the greatest mis-
i^56 CHAPTER fnie
chief of all : for albeit, an act was passed by our legisla-
ture, at their last session, imposing a penalty of five
pounds on those whj refuse to march against the In-
dians, when called out, yet lew men could be induced to
leave their homes ; and although governor Hyde, a short
time before hib death, attempted to levy this penalty, he
found but few persons willing to assist in putting the
law into execution.
" We have now no more than from one hundred and
thirty to an hundred and forty men on Neuse river, un-
der the orders of colonel McKee and colonel Mitchell :
these officers cannot attempt any thmg with this handful
of men: they, however, expect a reinforcement from
South Carolina.
" Some of the Tuscarora chiefs have lately been with
governor Spottswood of Virginia, and pretend a great
inclination to [)eace : they are aeain to be with him on
the 26ih of this month : we are to send two agents to
meet them there, Mr. Tobias Knight and major Chris-
topher Gale, not from anv expectation that the governor
will make any treaty for us, for that would be dishonora-
ble to your lordhhips, and make us appear contemptible
in the eyes of the Indians, but with a view to hear what
they have to propose. I believe, ht^wever, that this pre-
tended desire for peace is only a scheme, to gain time
until they can gather their corn, secure it in their forts,
and see whether they are to have any assistance from the
five nations.
"Your lordships may see," continues the president,
" what difficulties we are placed in : our enemy strong,
numerous, and well provided with arms and ammuni-
tion : our people poor, dispirited, undisciplined, timo-
rous, divided, and generally disobedient, without arms
1712J THE THIRTEENTH. 257
or ammunition ; the few who are willing to turn out,
unable to procure their pay, cannot obtain necessary
clothing, to support the severity of the weather in the
woods; if the legislature of South Carolina had not
assisted us with their militia and Indians, Neuse and
Pamplico would be entirely deserted, and probably a
great part of the county of Bath."
The communication concludes, by conjuring their
lordships to consider, that '' the people, who undergo
these distresses, are Christians, the subjects of the queen
and the tenants and vassals of the lords proprietors, ven-
turing their lives and spending their estates in the defence
of the province, and to lose no time in forwarding a
supply of arms and ammunition. "
In a letter of a later date, to lord Craven, one of the lords
proprietors, president Pollock attributes the calami-
ties that desolated the country, to ** the machinations of
the Quakers." *' Our divisions," saye he, ** chiefly oc-
casioned by the Quakers and some other ill disposed
persons, have been the cause of all our troubles : for,
the Indians were informed by some of the traders, that
the people who live here are only a few vagabonds, who
had run away from other governments aiid settled here
of their own accord, without any authoiity ; so that, if
they were cutoff, there would be none to revenge them.
This, with their seeing our differences rise to such a
height, that we, consisting of two counties only, were in
arms one against another, encouraged them to fall upon
the county of Bath, expecting it would have no assist-
ance from this, nor any other of the English plantations.
This is the chief cause, that moved the Indians to rise
against us, as far as I understand."
N. CARO. 33
^oS CHAPTER [1712
" The Quakers, with their adherents, have been a
great occasion of the war : for they, with two or three
persons, (not in such posts of profit or trust in the
government as they desire) have been the chief cause
that the war has not been carried on with the vi.8:or it
ought to, by their disobedience to the government, and
the encouragement they gave others to imitate them.
In some of the precincts, being the most numerous in the
election fields, they chose such members of the assem-
bly as would oppose what was necessary to carry on the
war. The generality of the people, seeing that the Qua-
kers, from their disobedience and opposition to the go-
vernment, rose actually in arms, and attacked the gover-
nor and council, without any manner of punishment,
were emboldened to do the like, and seemed to want
a leader onlv, to raise another insurrection."
President Pollock, a few days after his election, re-
ceived information from Charleston, that the legislature
had directed governor Craven to send one thousand In-
dians and fiftv white men, to the relief of the inhabitants
of the county of Bath, under the orders of colonel James
Moore, a son of the late governor Moore, of South
Carolina: governor Craven, in conveying this intelli-
gence to president Pollock, assured him he was so
anxious to expedite this succour, that he would march
with it, as far as the boundary of the two settlements.
The legislature of the province of Virginia appropri-
ated a sum of three thousand five hundred pounds, to be
laid out under the direction of governor Spots wood, in
assisting the people of Carolina in carrying on the war ;
and a further sum of six hundred pounds, was ordered
to be invested in blankets and coarse woollen clothes, to
be immediately forwarded for the use of their troops.
1712] THE THIRTEENTH. 259
Tom Blunt, the headman of the Tuscaroras, with the
chiefs who were to meet the commissioners of North
Carolina, at governor Spotswood's, instead of attending
there, came to president Pollock, to induce him to con-
sent to a termination of hostilities, and the restoration of
trade. The president utterly refused to listen to him,
unless he would engage to bring Hancock, a chief of
his nation and his kinsman, who had been one of the
contrivers of the late massacre, and cut off and bring the
scalps of six other Indians, who had been uncommonly
active in it. He promised to do so, and begged some
ammunition for that purpose. The president refused
to supply him with any, unless he would bring twelve
hostages, from each of his towns or forts. He appeared
satisfied with this proposal, and said he was sure of the
assent of some of his towns, and hoped for that of all.
He went away, promising to be back by the middle of
October, when he would accompany the colony's agents
to Virginia.
At the appointed time> he appeared with fifteen of his
men, saying, he had been in pursuit of a party of the
Cothechney Indians, on the north side of Pamplico river;
that one of his men had seen Hancock there, but accom-
panied with such a number of his adherents, as pre-
cluded the hope of securing him ; that he was going
with a large party in quest of him, and would hunt with
them in his company, in order to catch the opportunity
of finding him alone, and after he had secured and
brought him, he would go to Virginia. The president
gave little credit to the promises of a man capable, from
his own account, of acting with so much treachery to
one of his own nation, his kinsman too, but concealed
his distrust, lest the Indian, finding that he had nothing
260 CHAPTER [1712
to hope, should join the rest of the Tuscaroras, against
the whites.
On the 25th of November, however, preliminary arti-
cles of peace were entered into, between the president
and council, and Tom Blunt, Saroonah and four other
headmen of the Tuscaroras.
The Tuscaroras f)romised to mal^e war against the
Cothechneys, Core, Neuse, Bear river, and Pamplico In-
dians, and not to give quarter to any male individual of
either of these tribes, above the age of fourteen, to
capture and sell to the English, all those of and under
that age ; and thit as soon as these tribes were destroyed,
or sooner, if it were desired, they would join the English
in an attack on the Matchapongos.
They engac;ed to surrender all the prisoners, arms,
horses and negroes, taken from the English, and to forbear
hunting or ranging near the plantations or stocks of the
English, without leave, or with it, in a larger number
than three at any one time, and to relinquish all claims to
the land on the south side of Neuse river, below Co-
thechney and Bear creeks, on the north side of
Pamplico river.
They bound themselves to pay, after a general peace,
such a tribute, as should be agreed on, and that, in the
meanwhile, no further injury should be the cause of
hostilities, that should not be redressed by satisfaction,
assessed by persons appointed for tiiat purpose.
They agreed to deliver, at the house of the president,
before the next full nioon, six of the principal women
and children from each town, as hostages, unless, before
that time, they had destroyed the enemy.
Lastly, they promised to endeavour to bring alive to
some of their towns, ten Indians named in the treaty.
1713] THE THIRTEENTH. 261
who had been the foremost in the mussacre, and to send
runners to fort Reading, who were to give two whoops
and show a white cloth, as a signal, and to pilot such
persons, as might be sent from the garrison, to see
execution done on these murderers.
, The reinforcement from South Carolina, under the
orders of colonel Moore, reached Neuse river a few days
after the signature of these preliminaries : the provisions
in that neighborhood being quite exhausted, the presi-
dent requested the colonel to march his men into the
county of Albemarle, where they could refresh them-
selves and wait till supplies could be sent round. This
increase of numbers, in the northern part of ihe colony,
was productive of great inconvenience and murmur;
the planters loudly complaii\ed of their inability to pro-
vide for their guests. The South Carolina Indians
grew so unmanageable, that many of the inh bitants of
the county of A bemarle showed m ):e disposition to
turn their arms against those troublesome allies, than to
inarch with them as^jainst the common enemv.
With the view of ascertaining whether any depend-
cnce could be placed on the promises of Tom Blunt, no
order wa^ given for the march of the troops into the
county of B.ith, uiuil the middle of January.
On their way thither, they stopped at Fort Reading,
on the south side of Pamplico river, where they were
detained, by a very heavy fall of snow, till the 4th of
February. The enemy, on the first intelligence of colo-
nel Moore's approach, sought their safely in flight, and
finally entrenched themselves in Fort Nahucke, which
they had built, at no great distance from the spot, on
which the court house, of the county of Greene, now
stands. On the 20th of March, the colonel laid siege
262 CHAPTER {1713
to, and in a few days became master of it. On its
surrender, eight hundred prisoners were made. The
loss of the Indians, in killed and wounded, was great;
but no materials exist, by which it could be ascertained.
Colonel Moore had twenty-two whites, and thirty-six
Indians, killed, and twenty-four whites, and fifty -six
Indians, wounded. The Souih Carolina Indians, se-
cured as many slaves among the Indian prisoners, as
they could, and made the best of their way towards
Charleston. One hundred and eighty of them only,
remained with their commander. Colonel Moore, in
making his report of the siege, to the president, tendered
him the continuance of his services, and offered to retain
his small force, in the settlement on Neuse river. The
president judged it of the utmost importance, that the
blow should be vigorously followed up, lo the utmost
of the power of the colony, till the enemy was compelled
to submit, which was likely to happen soon, as the In-
dians were greatly dispirited by their late defeat ; and
were now convinced how little dependence they could
place in their forts. He called a meeting of the council,
for the 15th of April, and requested colonel Moore to
attend, in order to afford them the benefit of his senti-
ments.
This year, a violent storm opened a new inlet, about
a mile south of the old one, (Currituck) since which,
the latter river entirely choaked up, and grew smaller and
smaller every day.
On the meeting of the council, it appeared that the
stock of provisions in the possession of the colony,
consisted of only eight hundred bushels of corn, and
thirty-two barrels of meat. The most sanguine did not
believe, that the greatest efforts could procure more
1713] THE THIRTEENTH. 263
than fourteen hundreil bushels of corn; in addition
thereto, governor Craven had written that he would
send two or three hundred Indians more. This force,
added to that under the orders of colonel Moore, was
not sufficient to pursue the Indians with effect ; and if
a greater number could be obtained, there was no proba-
bility, that the colony could afford them subsistence;
few farmers having corn enough for the use of their
families till harvest. The council were of opinion that
the colony being unable to enter into a new campaign,
it was best to make an honorable peace, if possible,
while the smart of the last blow was still fresh.
The definitive treaty was, accordingly, concluded.
Tom Blunt was, in consequence of his fidelity, and the
services rendered to the English, made and acknow-
ledged, king and commander in chief of all the Indians,
on the south side of Pamplico river, under the protec-
tion of government ; and a firm and lasting peace, with
him, and all the tribes that might acknowledge him as
such, was declared. On his part, he engaged to deliver
up twenty of the chief contrivers of the massacre, to
be named by government. He promised to pursue to
destruction, the Cothechneys, Matchapangos, and all
other tribes, at war with the English, and bound him-
self to attend the next legislature, with three hostages
from each of his towns.
The council obtained from him information that the
Indians who were not in Fort Nahucke, had retreated to
Fort Cahunke; at the distance of about forty miles
to the south west of the former, and hearing of the sur-
render of Fort Nahucke, had abandoned the fort and
liad scattered ; the greater part of them going up Roa.
noke river. Conaquani, a Tnscarora chief who had
264 CHAPTER [47 IS
lately returned from Albany, where he had attended a
meeiin^r of the English commissioners, was endeavor-
ing to dissuade Tom Blunt from making peace, telling,
him the Enj^lish were amusing him with fair words,
to keep him from doing any mischief; but that, when
they would have destroyed the rest of his nation, they
would in turn, fall upon him. The desire of having
on the frontiers, iriendly Indians, who might guard the
distant plantations, from the insults of straggling par-
ties ; and the consideration, that, if Tom Blunt attended
the legislature, according to his promise, and the treaty
was confirmed by them, there would only be the
Cothechneys, Core, and Matchapungos to reduce, the
motives that induced the council to offer these terms,
A party of the Matchapungoes, in the last days of the
month of April, iell on the western part of the precincts
of Currituck, on Alligator river, and killed twenty white
inhabitants : and colonel Moore sent a party of his In-
dians to protect that settlement.
The legislature met early in the month of May.
Tom Blunt, attended with his hostages, and the treaty
made with him, by the president and council, was con-
firmed. In settling the claims on the public treasury,
to which the war had given rise, the ordinary resources
of the colony appeared quite insufficient. Recourse
was had to the press: an emission of bills of credit, to
the amount of eight thousand pounds, was issued, and a
law was passed, making the bills, then already in cir-
culation and those now to be emitted, a tender in dis-
charge of all sums, due on contract, for rated com-
modities.
This is the first emission of a paper currency, in
North Carolina ; and there are no means of ascertaining,
1713] THE THIRTEENTH. ae5
whether the bills that were in circulation, before this
time, were some of those that had been emitted in the
southern part of the province, since the year 1706, after
the return of the expedition against St. Augustine. It
appears that the bills were not made a tender in all pay-
ments, but only in case of contracts, made in rated com-
modities* The extreme scarcity of the precious metals,
had thus early taught the inhabitants, to substitute the
contract of barter tor that of sale, and rate the principal
articles of the produce of the country, by a legal tariff,
so that payment might, in all cases of barter, be effected
by the delivery of any kind of produce, the debtor might
offer. Contracts, for the payment of money, were not
affected by the new act. From that day to the present,
the experience of one century has not enabled the people
to carry on ordinary dealings between man and man,
without tie aid of paper money.
Immediately after the adjournment of the legislature,
colonel Moore sat off for Pamplico, in order to collect
his Indians, whom he had ordered to range on the lands
of the Tuscaroras, with a view to watch their motions,
and to obtain the earliest intelligence, in case of their
embodying for a new attack. The colonel marched
with them against the Matchapungoes, who occupied
that part of the country, which is now known as thu
county of Hyde; and president Pollock sent a body of
militia by v/ater, to effect a descent on their lands. On
the approacii of these forces, the Indians sought a shel-
ter in the Dismal Swamp, a vast desert, one hundred
miles in length, and of considerable breadth, full of lakes
and quagmires, in which it was impossible for the w hites
to follow them: they had with them, portable canoes,
with which they reached its most distant extremities.
N. CARD. 34
26^ CHAPTER [17 IS
Colonel Moore's Indians were of peculiar service on
this occasion : they hunted out the foe, made several
prisoners, and brought a considerable number ot scalps.
From thence, the militia and ailied Indians, marched
to that part of the country, near which, the present town
of Beaufort stands, where they vi;;orously attacked and
despatched a party of the Core Indians, who were
lurking about on the south side of Neuse river, occa-
sionally destroying the settlers, about the town of New-
bern, or crossing the sound, joined the Matchapungoes,
in their irruptions on that of Bath. Colonel Moore
destroyed a great number of canoes, wisich they had
collected, burnt their town and laid their plantations
waste.
In the latter part of June, the Tuscaroras, who had
again occupied Fort Carunche, evacuated it and joining
the rest of the nation, on Roanoke river, abandoned Car-
olina. They migrated northerly, towards Canada, near
the south east end of lake Oneida, on the shores of
which they settled. They were admitted into the con-
federacy of fhe five nations, which, from this time, were
known by the appellation of the Six Nations : the Tus-
caroras becoming the sixth member in the union.
Of the thousand Indians, who had accompanied colo-
nel Moore from Charleston, one hundred only, were
now with him. In the latter part of the month of Au-
gust, the Matchapungoes and the Cores, having sued
for peace, Tom Blunt, and the few individuals of his
nation, who had remained behind, continuing tranquil,
and forming a sufficient barrier between the back settle-
ments and the Cothechneys, colonel Moore returned^
by water, to Charleston.
1713]
THE THIRTEENTH.
261
**The differences and divisions among the people,"
said president Pollock, in a letter to lord Carteret, of the
15th of October, " have, in a manner subsided ; most of
our enemy Indians killed, taken, submitted, or fled, so
that there are, but foriy or fifty individuals hovering on
our frontiers, that we can hear of. The Quakers,
though very refractory under president Glover's and go-
vernor Hyde's administrations, since I have been en-
trusted vvi h the government, I must needs acknowledge,
have been as ready, in supplying provisions for the
forces, as any other inhabitants of the province."
Chalmers — History of South CaroUna'^Recordsc
CHAPTER XIV.
On the 30th of March, 1713, peace was concluded
between England and France. Louis XIV. recogniz-
ed the succession of the British throne in the protec-
tant line. The bay of Hudson was declared to belong
to Great Britain, a tit re de restitution^ and Nova Sco-
tia, hitherto called Acadia, Newfoundland and the ad-
jacent islands, a titre de noucelle acquisition. The
exclusive riorht of fishing on the coast of Nova Scotia
was given to Great Britain. The French retained
I'isle Royale and that of Cape Breton. Commission-
ers were agreed to be appointed to settle the limits of
the American dominions of both nations.
Peace was at the same time made with Spain. She
ceded to Great Britain Gihraltar and the island of
Minorca. Independently of these two very valuable
acquisitions. Great Britain acquired two very impor-
tant advantages, el pacio de el ass lento de negro»^
and an implied recognition of their claim to the log-
wood trade,
Elpaclo de el assiento de negros^ was a contract
which secured the British the privilege of supplying,
in exclusion of Spanish subjects, several parts of
Spanish America, with negroes. This privilege had
at first been enjoyed by the French Guinea Company,
under a convention, which began the 1st of Septem-
270 CHAPTER. [1713
ber 1701, and ended on the same day, in the year
1712. The British had appHed themselves to thwart
the operations of that company, which was inclined
by its losses to quit that service. The British obtain-
ed it on the 26th of March 1713. The treaty be-
tween France and Spain, however, left some share of
it to the French, but as the British had obtained better
prices than those given to the French, the latter were
soon evicted. This traffic, aUhough to be confined
to ihe islands, opened the way to the main, and to the
commerce that it facilitated, was one of the motives
of the war which the peace of Utrecht terminated.
The clause of uti possidetis in the treaty between
Great Britain and Spain, m the year 1070, which al-
lowed, in the opinion of the former, the right of the
English to cut logwood in the bay of Cam peachy
was recognized, anrl confirmed, " without any pre-
judice, however, to any liberty or power, which the
subjects of Great Britain enjoyed before, either
through right, sufferance or indulgence."
On the 13th of July, the duke of Beaufort, pala-
tine of Carolina, granted a commission to Charles
Eden, as governor of North Carolina. He arrived in
the spring of the following year, and qualified on the
28th of May. His instructions differ very little from
those of governor Hyde. He was directed not to allow
the survey of land, at a greater distance than twenty
miles from the rivers Cape Fear and Trent. The
quit rents were now fixed at ten shillings sterling for
every thousand acres. The expenses of government
were now encreased: they amounted this year to up-
wards of nine hundred pounds sterling. The salary
©f the chief magistrate was raised to three hundred
1714] THE FOURTEENTH. 271
pounds. The sale of land and the collection of quit
rents did not produce to the treasury much more
than eleven hundred pounds, and the net revenue
was one hundred and sixty-nine pounds, seven shil-
lings and ten pence. One half of a century had alrea-
dy elapsed since the lords proprietors had obtained
the king's charter, for perhaps the most unexampled
concession of land. They had spent considerable sums
of money in peopling and governing their province,
and yet, at this very late hour, it hardly yielded a reve-
nue of twenty pounds a year, to each of the eight
proprietors.
Governor Eden found the part of his province in
a state of incipient convalescence. He visited its
precincts and was every where received with marks of
cordiality and respect. He found every where the
planters returned on their farms, endeavoring to re-
trieve, by agricultural labours, the losses which they
had sustained during the war.
It does not appear that there was any meeting of
the legislative body during the first year after the gov-
ernor's arrival. It is believed there was none, as there
was one on the preceding year, and the sessions of
that body were biennial.
On the 24th of May, Henry, duke of Beaufort, the
palatine, died, and was succeeded in that dignity by
John, lord Carteret.
On the 1st of August, queen Anne died, and in the
fall George I. was proclaimed, as the lawful sove-
reign of the British empire, and of the province of
Carolina.
In the month of February, the govrrnor and coun-
27S CHAPTER [1715
cil concluded a treaty of peace with the Core and
Matchapungolndians. The two tribes were so reduc-
ed in numbers that they united in one settlement,
and lands were allotted to them near Mattamuskeet
lake, in the precincts of Hyde. An agent was ap-
pointed to reside in their neighborhood.
The storm, that had just subsided in the northern
part of Carolina, now broke out with increased fury
in the south. All the tribes of Indians, from Cape
Fear to Florida entered into a confederacy for the
destruction of the whites. The principal tribe of the
Yamassees, who dwelt on the back of Port Royal
island, acted in this tragedy the same part which the
Tuscaroras had perfr^rm^^d ff)ur years before on
Roanoke. Oii the !25tii of April, about break of day
the cries of vvar gave universal alarm, and in a few
hours about ninety persons were massacred in Poco-
taligo and the neighboring plantations. A captain of
militia, escaping to Port Royal, alarmed the town,
and a vessel happening to be in ihe harbour, the in-
habitants repaired precipitately on board, sailed to
Charleston, and thus providentially escaped a massa-.
ere. A few families of planters on the island, not
having timely notice of the danger, fell into the hands
of the savages. While the Yamassees were thus fall-
ing on Port Royal, the Sauras, Saponas and Sissipa-
haw tribes who dwell towards the river of Cape Fear
ran down upon the plantations, between that stream
and Charleston. The city itself trembled for its peri-
lous situation. In this hour of terror, although there
were not on the muster roll of this part of the pro-
vince, more than twelve hundred men fit to bear arms.
1715] THE FOURTEENTH. 273
the governor resolved on collecting as much of this
small force as he could to march against the enemy.
He proclaimed martial law, and laid an embargo on
all ships to prevent either men or provisions from leav-
ing the country. The Indians having murdered a
family on a plantation to the north of Charleston,
at the distance of about fifty miles, captain Barker,
at the head of a party of ninety horsemen, marched
towards the foe; but, being compelled to confide in an
Indian guide, was treacherously led in an ambuscade,
where he was slain, with the greater part of his men :
the rest retreated in confusion. A party of ahout
four hundred Indians came down on lower Goose
creek, where seventy men and forty negroes had sur-
rounded themselves with a breastwork, with the re-
solution of maintaining their post Discouraged, how-
ever, about as soon as attacked, they rashly agreed to
terms of peace; but, on admitting the enemy within
their works, they were barbarously murdered. The
Indians now advanced towards Charleston, but were
repulsed by governor Craven, at the head of the
militia. The Yamassees, in the mean while, with the
tribes near them, had spread desolation through the
parish of St. Bartholomew, and proceeded down to
Stono. Governor Craven's men, advancing with cau-
tious step, dispersed their straggling parties, until he
reached the Saltcatchers, where the Indians had pitch-
ed their main camp. Here was fought a severe and
bloody battle, from behind trees and banks; the Indi-
ans, with their terrible war whoop^ alternately retreat-
ing and returning with redoubled fury to the charge.
The governor, undismayed, pressed closely on widi
N. CARO. 35
U1I4 CHAPTER [ITlii
his militia, pursuing the Indians over Savannah riven
The enemy sought sheUer in the province of Florida^
where they were hospitably received. During this
war, four hundred white inhabitants were slain.
Intelligence of its breaking out did no sooner
reach the Core and Matchapungo Indians, than they
attempted to avail themselves of the confusion, which
the alarm created in the county of Bath, by irruptions
on distant plantations, where they slaughtered several
individuals. Governor Eden called out a part of the
militia and prevailed on some of them to march to
cape Fear and Charleston, if needed, to the aid of th«
white people there. Colonel Maurice Moore headed
a troop of horse on this service.
Three small forts were now erected on the Con-
garee. Savannah and Apalachicola rivers, to protect
the province of Carolina against the excursions of the
Yamassees from Florida.
On the 13th of September, governor Eden issued
his proclamation for convening the legislative body
on the ISdiof November. Hitherto, for several ses-
sions, it had assembled in the church of the precincts
of Chowan. It was now directed to meet on the
plantation of John Hecklefield, one of the lords pro-
prietors* deputies, on Little river, the stream that
divides the counties of Pasquotank and Perquimans.
The acts, that were passed at this session, are the
oldest at present on record, that have survived the
ravages of time. It is believed a revision of all for-
mer acts was had at this period: certain it is that,
on the rise of the legislature,there remained no acts in
force, except such as were passed or confirmed dur-
nia] THE FOURTEENTH. ms
ing the session. They were directed to be printed,
but as no printed copy is extant, and manuscript ones
may be found in some Hbraries, it is imagined the or-
der of the legislature in this respect was never carried
into execution. A specific tax of one bushel of In-
dian corn, upon every titheable inhabitant was laid for
the support of some forces, which it was judged still
necessary to keep on the frontiers for the defence of
the back settlers, and to discharge part of the debt
due to the government of South Carolina. The ex-
treme scarcity of a circulating medium again induc-
ed the legislature to resort to the press, and an emis-
sion of twenty thousand pounds in bills of credit was
ordered. We have seen that eight thousand pounds
had been emitted in 1713. A clause in the act, pass-
ed for the new emission, induces a belief that several
others had preceded, and rendered some palliative
necessary. The act denounces any member of a fu-
ture legislature, who may move any proposition, in
the opinion of the house, derogatory or preju-
dicial to the credit of the bills about to be emit-
ted, or to any new emission, as an enemy to the lords
proprietors and the province. If the man hold a
seat in the upper house, he is to be fined in the sum of
twenty pounds and his seat is to be vacated till the
pleasure of the lords proprietors be known ; if he
be a member of the lower house, he is to be fined in
the same sum and expelled from the house, and de-
clared incapable of ever holding a seat therein. A
tax was laid for raising annually the sum of two thou-
sand pounds, to be applied to the redemption of (he
bills. An act was passed for establishing the church
276 CHAPTER [1716
of England and the election of vestrymen ; but provi-
sion was made, at the same time, for liberty of con-
science, and for the substitution of a solemn afRrma-
tioo, in lieu of an oath, in favor of the Quakers. An
act was passed for establishing the town of Carteret,
on the island of Roanoke. This island, remarkable
only as the cradle of the first English colony in the
new world, must have had at this time a proportiona-
bly greater population, than it now enjoys. However,
it seems, in the language of Thomas Jefferson, the
legislature, in this instance, said there should be a
town, where nature had said there should be none ;
for no vestige remains of the town, besides its name
in the few copies of the acts erecting it, which ere ex-
tant. Provision was made for pilots at Roanoke and
Ocracock inlets, for roads and ferries, weights and
measures, the building of mills, the suppression of
vice and immorality, and for keeping the 22d of Sep-
tember, the anniversary of the late massacre, as a day
of fasting, humiliation and prayer ; a duty was laid
on the tonnage of vessels, to supply ammunition
for a public magazine; priority was given to debts
contracted in the country; the damage on bills of
exchange v^as regulated ; the rate and place of delive-
ry of staple commodities were fixed; the fees of
officers ascertained ; the election for members of the
legislature regulated ; the rights and duties of mas-
ters and servants settled ; a court law was passed ; the
common law and some English statutes introduced :
indeed, the acts of this session appear to form a com-
plete code.
In the latter part of the session, Edward Moseley,
the speaker of the assembly, and some of the other
1715] THE FOURTEENTH. 277
members, who had supported president Carey during
his insurrection, and had since opposed governor
Hyde, carried through the house a number of resolu-
tions, censuring the present administration. They
voted, "that the impressing of the inhabitants or their
property, under pretence of its being for the pubjic
service, without authority from the assembly, was un-
warrantable, a great infringement of the liberty of the
subject, and very much weakened the government,
by causing many to leave it: that the late treatment
of the Core Indians, contrary to the treaty made with
them, and the tenor of an act of assembly relating to
Indian affairs, was injurious to the justice of the gov-
ernment and likely to involve it in war: that such
persons as refuse to take the public bills of credit,
in payment for fees or quit rents, or demand or receive
any allowance for taking them, very much lessen their
credit, and are guilty of a very great breach of the
act of assembly."
The house appointed Edward Moseley, Joseph
Jessup, Thomas Boyd, William Swann, John Por-
ter, Frederick Jones, and D. McFarlane, or any four
of them, a committee, with full power and authority
to represent the deplorable circumstances of the
colony to the lords proprietors, and entreat them to
accept the public bills of credit for the purchase of
land and the payment of quit rents, as well in that
government, as in that of South Carolina.
The upper house reprobated these resolutions, as
being clandestinely obtained, not having been com-
municated to them, as tending to the infringement of
the authority of government, whose undoul)ted pre-
278 CHAPTER [1715
rogative it was to suppress invasions and insurrections,
and provide against unforseen emergencies: as at-
tacking the prerogatives of the lords proprietors, and
creating in them jealousies of the faithful services of
their officers in the province: and, as intended to give
ill and disaffected persons an opportunity of clandes-
tinely venting their malice, to the lords proprietors,
against the present administration, under colour of the
authority of the people.
In the summer, the governor issued a proclamation
for dissolving the assembly.
It appears that there were, at this time, two thousand
taxable inhabitants in the settlement, and that one
million of acres of land had been granted by the lords
proprietors.
The lords proprietors, disregarding the remon-
strance and petition of the assembly, instructed their
receiver general, in Carolina, to demand the price of
land, and the quit rents, in sterling money.
The province of Virginia having procured from the
Indians the cession of a vast tract of land, beyond the
Apalachy mountains, governor Spotswood formed the
design of raising a company, who should acquire
those lands from the crown, and settle a colony there.
But the good understanding, that then prevailed be-
tween Great Britain and France, prevented the suc-
cess of his scheme. It went, however, so far into
effect, that three millions of acres were granted by the
colony to the west of the Apalachy mountains. The
plan of ihe governor was, about half a century after,
improved on, by the establishment of the Ohi«
company.
1717] THE FOURTEENTH. 2T9
Experience having shown that the punishments,
inflicted by the laws in force in the mother country,
against persons guilty of robbery and larceny, had
not proven effectual to deter the wicked ; and many
offenders, to whom the royal mercy had been extended,
on condition of transporting themselves to America,
having neglected to perform the condition of their
pardon, but returned to their former practices,
came at length to an ignominious death ; and there
being in many of the American colonies a great want
of servants, who, by their labour and industry, might
be the means of improving, and making them
more useful to the mother country, a statute was
passed, (4 Geo. J. c. 11.) by which persons, convicted
of clergyable offences, were directed to be transported
for seven years, to the king's plantations and colo-
nies in America: persons convicted of mitigatable
offences, to whom the king might extend his pardon,
and receivers of stolen goods, were transported for
seven years. Transported persons, returning before
the expiration of the time, for which they were trans-
ported, were to be punished capitally; and, with a
view to encourage a more useful class of emigrants,
merchants and others were permitted to contract with
persons, between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one,
willing to be transported, and enter into service, in any
of his majesty's colonies and plantations in America,
for their services during the period of eight years.
The few individuals of the Tuscarora nation, who
had remained with king Blunt, on the migration of the
main body of the nation towards the lakes, had land
allotted to them on Pamplico riv(^r. The smallness of
their number, disabling them from resisting rhe attacks
280 CHAPTER [1718
of the southern Indians, governor Eden and the
council, on the 5th of June, entered into a treaty, by
which the land on PampHco was abandoned by the
Indians, and another tract granted to them, on Ro-
anoke river, in the present county of Bertie, in con-
sideration of which, they relinquished all claims to
any other land in the province. The descendants of
these Indians, at this day, though removed to the
northern lakes, still retain their right to the land, thus
granted them, and have, at various times, sent agents to
collect the rents accruing thereon, in which they have
been assisted by the legislature.
Merchants and masters of ships had, in their trade
to America and the West Indies, suffered much from
the barbarity and depredations of pirates. On their
complaint to the king in council, a proclamation had
been issued, promising a pardon to all pirates who
should surrender themselves within the space of twelve
months: and at the same time a force was ordered to
sea, to suppress them. The island of Providence
being their common place of resort, captain Wood
Rogers sailed with a few ships of war against the
island, and took possession of it for the crown of Eng-
land. It will be recollected, that this island, with the
rest of the Bahamas, had, in 1665, been granted to
the lords proprietors of Carolina, who had made efforts
to settle a colony in these parts. All the pirates, ex-
cept one Vane, with about ninety others, (who made
their escape in a sloop) took the benefit of the king's
proclamation and surrendered. Rogers, who was
constituted governor of the island, formed a council,
appointed civil and military officers, built forts, and
1718] THE FOURTEENTH. 281
from this time the trade of the West ladies was well
protected against those lawless plunderers.
They were not yet, however, extirpated from the
southern shores of the continent About thirty of
them took possession of the land at the mouth of cape
Fear river, the plantations which had been, about
forty years before, begun in this part of the province,
having been long since abandoned. They infested
the coast of Carolina, and did immense injury to the
commerce of Charleston. Governor Johnson of
South Carolina, resolving to check this alarming evil^
sent out to sea a ship of force, which captured one of
their sloops, and brought Steed Bennet, the com-
mander, and about ihirty-nine men, to Charles-
ton. The governor soon after embarked in person,
and sailed in pursuit of an armed sloop, which, after a
desperate engagement, was also taken. Two pirates,
who alone survived the action, were instantly tried,
condemned and executed. Bennet, and his crew,
were also tried, and all, excepting one man, w^ere
hanged.
Edward Teach, commonly called Black Beard,
a noted freebooter, still made the coast of Carolina
the station of a small squadron, which he commanded.
His flag was hoisted on board of a forty gurj ship, tiie
crew of which consisted of one hundred men. He
had with him six other vessels. Bennet, before his
capture, and Vane and VVirley, were the officers next
in grade to him. The inlets of Ocracock and Top-
sail and the river of cape Fear, were the places from
which they salhed forth, and to which they retreated
for safety. In the month of May, Tcacli came ic
N.. CARO. 36
2^ - CHAPTER 0718
cruize before the bar of Charleston, with his forty gun
ship. Having captured a ship, on board of which
Samuel Wragg, a member of the council of the pro-
vince of South Carolina, had taken his passage, he
robbed that gentleman of six thousand dollars, in
specie, and taking him on board of his ship, as a pri-
soner, with several other passengers, sent four of his
men to Charleston, to demand of governor Johnson,
a chest of medicine, threatening to behead Samuel
Wragg, and the other passengers, unless the chest was
sent. The pirates staid in town some time, walking
publicly along Main street, while they waited for the
governor's answer. At last, the desire of saving the
life of the prisoners induced a compromise, and the
pirates w^ere suffered to return on board, unmolested,
with the chest.
Soon after, Vaughan, one of Teaches captains, lying
off the bar, sent in a like insolent message. The in-
dignation of the people was raised, and some ships
were fitted out, for the purpose of taking him, but
Vaughan, having had intimation of their intention,
escaped.
Teach came into North Carolina, where he intend-
ed to break up his company, and secure the plunder
he had collected, and proceeded to Eden's house, w^th
twenty of his men, where, pleading the king's pardon,
they obtained the governor's certificate. A court of
admiralty being soon after held at Bath, Teach ob-
tained the condemnation of a sloop, as a good prize,
although he never had a commission. He now mar-
ried a young girl, his thirteenth wife, and having spent
some time rioting in Pamplico, he sailed on a cruize.
niB) - THE FOURTEENTH. 283
and shortly after, returned with a valuable prize, a
French ship, laden with sugar and cocoa. Four
men swore she had been found at sea, without any
person on board : on this evidence, the court of ad-
miralty adjudged her, as a lawful prize, to the captors.
There were men, unfriendly to governor Eden, and to
the judge, Tobias Knight, who said, that the governor
had received sixty hogsheads of sugar, as a douceur,
and the judge twenty; and in order to elude every
means of enquiry into the affair, the ship, on a sugges-
tion, that she was leaky and unseaworthy, was con-
sumed by fire.
Teach remained in the river, trading with the small
vessels that came in, and with the planters, for provi-
sions and other things, in exchange for his part of the
plunder. They complained of his want of correctness
in the application of the rule of meum et tuum^ and
imagining that the governor did not exert his autho-
rity in a manner sufficiently energetic to afford them
ledress, sent a message to governor Spotswood, to so-
licit his influence with the commodore on that station,
for a small force, to subdue the pirate. Accordingly
two sloops were fitted out, and Robert Maynard, a
lieutenant of the royal navy, was ordered to proceed
with them to North Carolina. A proclamation was,
at the same time issued by governor Spotswood, offer-
ing a reward of one hundred pounds for the apprehen-
sion of Teach, fifteen pounds for every officer, and
ten pounds for every other man, taken out of his
sloops. Lieutenant Maynard left James river on the
17th of November, and four days after passed Ocra-
cock bar, and shortly after approached tlie pirate.
284 CHAPTER 1718]
Although the expedition had been fitted out with great
caution and secresy, yet Teach had been apprized of
the Heutenant's motions, and had accordingly put
himself in a posture of defence. His force consisted
of twenty-five men. Lieutenant Maynard, on disco-
vering Teach's vessel, came to an anchor, the diffi-
culty of the channel requiring this precaution. In
the morning, he came within gun-shot of her, and
received her fire ; whereupon he stood directly to-
wards the pirate, endeavoring to make a running
fight, but run aground. Teach hailed him, with hor-
rid imprecations ; boasting he neither would take nor
receive quarter. A bloody fight immediately ensued,
and the lieutenant's men being much exposed, he lost
twenty of them, at one broadside ; on which he ordered
all the others below, bidding them to be ready for
close fighting on the first signal. The pirate poured
in his granadoes, and seeing no person on deck, or-
dered his men to board the enemy. The lieutenant
calling his men on deck, fell on the assailants. The
two commanders fired first at each other, and instantly
drew their diriis, while their men, being as eagerly
engaged, the deck was soon covered with gore. Teach
fell, exhausted by the loss of blood from a number of
wounds: eight, out of fourteen, of the pirates who had
boarded the king's vessel were killed, and the other
six, totally disabled by their wounds, sued for mercy.
The men who had remained on board of Teach's
vessel were next attacked, with the same bravery, and
surrendered. Their commander, after firing the first
broadside, seeing but litde hope of an escape, had
placed a desperate negro, with a firebrand, at the ma-
1718J THE FOURTEENTH. ^1/
gazine, with orders to apply it the moment the enemy
boarded the sloop. He was with difficuhy dis-
suaded from doing so, ahhough informed of the death
of his master.
Lieutenant Maynard caused Teaches head to be se-
vered from the body, and hung from the end of his bow-
sprit, and then sailed up to the town of Bath, where he
landed his men. After they were a little recovered, he
returned with the pirate's crew to James river, the head
still hanging from the bowsprit. They were tried in the
court of admiralty, and thirteen of them were hung.
Edward Teach was born in Bristol, and had served
several years during the last war on board of a privateer,
fitted out in Jamaica, and had distinguished himself for
his intrepidity and boldness. In the year 1706, he
joined one Hornsgold, a pirate, with whom he went on
a cruize, between the island of Providence and the con-
tinent. Having captured a sloop, of which Hornsgold
gave him the command, he took with her, soon after, a
French Gurneaman, bound to Martinico : he put forty
guns on board, and called her Queen Anne's Revenge,
and went on a cruize, with the sloop as a«tender, to South
America and the Canary islands, where he heard of the
king's proclamation. Having collected much plunder,
and being desirous of diminishing the number of those
with whom it was to be shared, he ran aground, as if by
accident, and abandoning seventeen men on a desert
island, where they must haye perished, if they had not
soon after been taken off by Steed Bennet, one of his
captains : he had come to Carolina.
The adherents to president Carey still continued
their opposition to the measures of the administration,
and on Christmas dav, Maurice Moore and Kdward
!2S6 CHAPTER [1718
Moseley possessed themselves of all the papers in the
office of the secretary of the province, in the custody of
John Lovick, the deputy secretary, at Sandy point.
The governor had them instantly arrested, and called a
meeting of the council, who approved of his conduct,
and ordered those gentleman to remain committed, till
they gave bail to stand their trial. They were after-
wards tried, in the general court, and Edward Moseley
was convicted, fined one hundred pounds, silenced as
an attorney, and declared incai)able of holding any place
of trust or profit, under the government, during three
years, and ordered to give security for his good beha«»
viour for a year and a day.
Governor Eden laid before the council an account of
his proceedings, on the surrender of Teach and his men,
of some disorder ' committed by them in Bath, of
the means by which he put a stop to them, of Teach's
clearing out for St, Thomas, and returning soon after
with a wreck, loaded with sugar and cocoa ; and a
statement of his conduct towards the pirates, till Teach
was killed, and the others carried to Virginia. The
council expressed their approbation of the governor's
conduct.
Daring the trial of these men at^Williamsburg, seve-
ral witnesses charged Tobias Knight, who exercised the
functions of chief justice, in the absence of chief justice
Gale, with having been accessray to their piracies. This
induced the council to call him before them ; but, on
examining into the case, they found no cause of sus-
pecting him.
The lords proprietors had rendered themselves most
obnoxious to their tenants in Carolina. Joseph Boor
had returned to Charleston, without having been abfe
17 19^ THE FOURTEENTH. ^^
to obtain 9ny redress. An association was formed, with
a view to unite the whole colony, in an attempt to destroy
the proprietors' government. Governor Johnson had
put an end to a contest between him and the assemby
of his part of the province, by a dissolution of the latter,
and, after issuing his proclamation for that purpose, had
retired into the country. The house, when the marshal
attempted to read the proclamation, ordered it to be
torn from his hands. This measure was followed by
the immediate rise of the standard of revolt. The
assembly called James Moore, (the officer who liad
headtd the succour to North Carolina, about seven
years before) to the supreme magistracy, as governor
for the king, and appointed him a council, and the new
form of government went into operation, without the
least confusion or struggle. Governor Johnston, how-
ever, having unsuccessfully attempted to thwart these
measures, made a last bold effort to recover his au-
thority. He was joined by the commander of a small
naval force, that was then in the province. The ships
of war came, and laid their broadsides towards Charles-
ton, and threatened the destruction of it, if the inhabitants
persisted in refusing obedience to legal authority : but
the people, having anns in their hands, and forts in their
possession, bid defiance to the governor, and he relin-
quished his attempt to re-establish the proprietors'
government.
This year, the town of Pensacola was taken by the
French from the Spaniards, who retook it a few months
after.
The flame of revolution, which had burst out in
South Carolina, did not extend to the north, c nd on the
19th of February, governor Eden and his council ad-
X
S>88 CHAPTER [1720
dressed the lords proprietors, assuring them of their utter
detestation of the proceedings by the people at Charleston,
and that nothing in their power should be wanting to
promote their interest in the northern part of the pro-
vince ; that they were entirely easy and satisfied under
their lordships' government, and would always use
their utmost endeavours to maintain it.
In the month of August, governor Eden met the le-
gislature at the court house of the precinct of Chowan ;
it sat but eighteen days ; no very important act w^as
passed during this session ; the land and poll taxes were
lessened, an evidence of the tranquility of the country.
By an act of this session, it appears, a town had some
time before been established by law in the precinct of
Chowan, which in honor of the governor was called
Edenton ; the original act is not extant, and it is im-
possible to establish its date.
The agent of the people of South Carolina, during the
absence of the king at Hanover, obtained a hear-
ing from the lords of the regency and council in Eng-
land, who were of opinion, that the lords proprietors had
forfeited their charter. In conformity to this decision,
he ordered the attorney general to take out a scire
facias against it, and in September, Francis Nicholson,
who had lately presided over the provinces of Virginia,
and Marjdand, received the king's commission as gover-
nor of South Carolina : it does not appear that his au-
thority was ever exercised in North Carolina. It is bcr
lieved, that at this time, the authority of the lords pro-
prietors ceased to be acted under in the southern part of
the province. In the northern, the acts of the legisla-
ture and every other act of government, till the arrival of
governor Burrington, with a royal commission, in 1730,
1721] THE FOURTEENTH. 283
appear to have been enacted by the authority of the lords
proprietors.
Governor Nicholson arrived in Charleston early in
the following year, and soon after convened the legisla-
ture : they recognized king George as their immediate
lord, and proceeded with cheerfulness and harmony to
the regulation of the affairs of the colony. Before go-
vernor Nicholson left England, a suspension of arms
between Great Britain and Spain had taken place, and by
the treaty of peace which succeeded, it was agreed that
all subjects and Indians, living under these different ju-
risdictions, should cease all acts of hostility : orders
were sent out to the governor of St. Augustine, to for-
bear molesting the people of Carolina, and governor
Nicholson was instructed to cultivate the friendship and
good will of the Spanish subjects and Indians in Florida.
In conformity with these instructions, governor Nichol-
son gave his first attention to fix the limits of the hunt-
ing grounds of the Indians, and forbid any encroach-
ments on their hunting grounds. With this view, he
sent a message to the Cherokees, inviting their chiefs
to a general congress : he met them, smoked the calu-
met with them, marked the boundaries of their lands,
and appointed an agent to regulate their affairs. He
then held a treaty with the Creeks, appointed an agent
to reside among them, and fixed on Savannah riwr, as
the boundary of their hunting grounds, beyond which
no settlement was to extend.
By a statute passed this year, (8 Geo. 1. c. 12.) the
premium on the importation of hemp from America,
was continued ; v/ood, plank and timber, wrought or
unwrought, were allowed to be imported from the colo-
nies in America, free from duty : restrictions were im-
N. CAHLO. 37
29a CBfAPTER [1721
posed on the cutting or falling of any white pine trees
in the northern colonies.
By the articles of the treaty of peace, ratified this year
between France and Spain, Pensacola, which the Frt- nch
had taken a second time, was restored to his Catholic
majesty. The seat of government of the province of
Louisiana was removed from Biloxi to New Orleans,
which had been laid out since 1717, but which did not
take any consistency till after this removal. The pro-
vince was reduced to such a distressed state, that many
of the colonists came over to Charleston : the number of
these people was so great, that governor Nicholson ad-
vised monsieur de Bienville, governor of Louisiana, to
take measures to prevent the further desertion of his
people.
The endeavours of the French, to confine the Eng-
lish colonies to narrow limits along the sea coast, by a
chain of forts, on the great passes from Canada to Lou-
isiana, were now so apparent, that governor Burnett, of
New York, concluded it to be of the utmost importance
to get the command of Lake Ontario, to secure the trade
and friendship of the six nations, and frustrate the de-
signs of the French : he therefore began the erection of
a trading house at Oswego, in the country of the
Senekas,
Daniel Coxe, the son of the proprietor of the province
of Carolana, who had attempted, during the reign of
queen Anne, to induce the ministry to yield to the set-
tlement of his province the aid which had been promised
him in the former reign, without success, owing to the
wary which occupied their attention, now made a
new effort to draw the public attention to his views, by
the publication of a description of Carolana, and an ex-
tract of his memorial to king William.
1722] THE FOURTEENTH, 291
The king this year granted to John, dake of Mon-
tague, liis letters patent, constituting him captain gene-
ral of St. Lucia and St. Vincent, with liberty to settle
those islands with British subjects. The duke's at-
tempt being opposed by the French, miscarried. Three
years before, monsieur D'Estree had obtained from
the regent of France a grant of St. Lucia, and sent s
colony to possess and settle it : but on a remonstrance
of the British ambassador at Paris, he had orders to dis-
continue his settlement, and withdraw the people from
that island. St. Lucia was at this time evacuated by
both French and English, and together with St. Vincent
remai.jed a neutral island, until the treaty of 1763.
On the 26th of Vlarch, governor Eden died : his
tomb stone at Eden house, on Salmon creek, in the
county of Chowan, informs posterity, that he " govern-
ed the province eight years, to the greatest satisfaction
of the lords proprietors, and the ease and happiness of
the people; that he brought the country into a flourish-
ing condition, and died much lamented, in the forty-
ninth year of his life.*'
During the war between France and Spain, under the
regency of the duke of Orleans, the French of Louisiana
attacked the Spanish mission in Texas, from Natchi-
toches : the Spaniards retreated as far as San Antonio
de Bexar. Li 1719, the marquis de Valero advanced
with a considerable force, and drove the French back to
ISfatchitoches.
Chalmers — History of South Carolina — Records,
CHAPTER XV.
On the 30th of March, 1722, Thomas Pollock, the
deputy of lord Carteret, qualified as president and
commander in chief, under a commission from the lords
proprietors.
Oil the 8th of August, the precinct of Craven was
divided, by an order of the president and council The
eastern part, including all the land lying on Core sound,
Bogue sound, the rivers and creeks running into
them, and all the settlements to the south, was erected
into a new precinct, which, in compliment to one of the
lords proprietors, was called Carteret. Craven precinct,
consisted of all the settlements on Neuse and Trent
rivers, and their branches, including Bear river.
Nearly about this time the Reverend Mr. Newman,
whom, at the repeated solicitations of governor Eden,
the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts,
had sent to North Carolina, arrived, and entered on
the duties of his appointment. Like those of his pre-
decessors, his reports to the society deplored the
poverty and ignorance, and sometimes, the profligacy
of his flock, the remote situation of the individuals of
it, and the consequent hardships and fatigue, he had to
endure. These brought on a severe illness, to which
be soon after fell a victim.
On the 30th of August, the president died; and on
the 7tb of September, William Reed entered on the du-
[1723 CHAPTER. 293
ties of the office of president and commander in chief.
This gentleman met the legislature, in the new town of
Edenton, a few weeks after his election. The country-
was in the calm moment of peace. The settlements on
Neuse, around the town of Ne wbern, had considerably
increased; but they were not accessible, with facility by
land, from those around the town of Bath, on Pamplico
river ; the communication by water was tedious, and at
times, dangerous : a law was now passed, to open a
road from Core point, between the two settlements.
A sum of twelve thousand pounds, in bills of credit,
was emitted, for the purpose of exchanging those which
were afloat. The measure was not considered as de-
structive of the credit of the currency, or a new Hege-
torides encountered the penalties denounced by the act
of 1715. It does not appear that any was exacted.
Owing to the great charges government had been at,
during the late Indian war, the preceding legislature had
not taken care of establishing the precinct courts, in
any fixed or certain places ; but they had hitherto been
held at private houses, liabble to be removed at the plea-
sure of the owner. This inconvenience was now reme-
died; and the justices were ordered to have a court house
erected in every precinct, except those of Hyde and
Beaufort, for which, it was imagined, one would suffice.
. The court house of the precinct of Carteret was directed
to be built in a town which, about this time, began to be
erected, which, in the following year, was etablished
by law in that precinct, and in honor of the Duke
of Beaufort, one of the lords proprietorss, was called
Beaufort. Those of the precincts of Craven and Chowan,
were directed to be built in the towns of Newbern and
Edenton ; that of the precincts of Beaufort and Hyde, in
294 CHAPTER [1723
the town of Bath; that of the precinct of Perquimans, at
Felps point, at the mouth of the Narrows : those of the
precincts of Currituck and Pasquotank, at the choice of
the justices.
That part of the county of Albemarle, lying to the
westward of Chowan river, was erected into a new pre-
cinct, which was called Bertie, in honor of James Bertie,
who, on the death of Seth Sothel, had purchased the
share in the province, which had originally been held
by the earl of Clarendon, or Henry Bertie, who held,
afterwards, that of Sir William Berkely. The court
house of this precinct was directed to be built at
Abotskey.
Settlements on Cape Fear river began, it is said, to
be made this year; since the retreat of the planters
brought there by Sir John Yeamans, no attempt had
been made at agriculture on that river. There are, how-
ever, no documents extant, from which the exact time,
when the permanent settlement on that river began, can
be ascertained ; it is, however, probable, that it hap-
pened about this time. By the erection of the precinct of
Carteret, the lands on Cape Fear river, at least, on the
eastern side of that stream, were taken in as part of the
new precinct, and regular government was extended
thereto.
In the following year, a fort was built high up on
Connecticut river, which took the name of lieutenant
Dummer, under whose direction it was built. Around
it, a setdement began soon after, which was the origin of
the present state of Vermont.
President Reed met the legislature at Edenton, on
the 23d of November. Peace continued to prevail, and
the legislature thought themselves justifiable, in giving
1724] THE FIFTEENTH. 295
another direction to the tonnage duty, which had been
imposed on all vessels, for the purpose of obtaining
powder and ammunition, in 1715. The duty was now
to be paid in money, to be employed for beaconing out
the channels of Roanoke and Ocracock inlets. Provi-
sion was made for obtaining impartial jurymen, for
regulating elections, and settling the bounds and titles of
land, for destroying vermin, and restraining the too
great number of horses and mares, and improving the
breed.
George Burrington, who had been appointed to suc-
ceed governor Eden, arrived early in the following year,
and opened his commission at Edenton, on the 15th of
January.
According to his instructions, twelve counsellors
were to compose his council, and the upper house of
the legislature. He was authorized to fill vacancies in
that body, by a provisional appointment ; and with the
majority of the council, empowered to suspend any
member of it. He was authorized to assent to laws not
repugnant to those of England, and containing a clause,
that they should not go into execution, until approved
by the lords proprietors. This was a sesious restric-
tion, when we consider the paucity of opportunities,
which the colonists had, of transmitting their laws to
England. He was particularly ordered to redeem and
cancel the paper currency, and to enforce the execution
of the statute, passed in the sixth year of the late queen's
reign, for regulating the value of foreign coins, in the
A-merican plantations.
The officers of government, besides governor Bur-
rington, were Christopher Gale, chief justice, James
Stanway, attorney general, John Lovick, secretary
236 CHAPTER [17^4
of the province, Edward Moseley, surveyor general,
Arthur GofFe, receiver general, John Dunstan, naval
officer, and Henry Clayton, provost marshal.
The expenses oi government, which were not covered
by the receipts, were only six hundred pounds sterling:
three hundred were paid to the governor, sixty to the
chief justice, and the same sum to the secretary of the
board of the lords proprietors, in England : forty
pounds each, to the attorney general, secretary, surveyor
general, and naval officer, and twenty pounds to the
receiver general.
The utmost tranquility continued to prevail in the
settlement. A tract of land, containing eleven thousand
three hundred and sixty acres, was laid out for the
Chowan Indians, on Bennet and Catherine cieeks
In the fall, Thomas Pollock, a son of the late presi-
dent, was appointed chief justice ; and William Dun*
ning Cullen Pollock, Isaac Hill, John Alston, and
Robert Lloyd, associate justices.
William Little, succeeded James Stanway, as attorney
general.
In the month of October, governor Burrington went
to visit the incipient settlements on Cape Fear river.
Considering this journey as almost an absence from his
government, he devolved the power of chief magistrate,
on Edward Moseley, as president and commander in chief.
Governor Burrington presided but fifteen months
over the settlement. If any legislature was in session,
during his administration, no record of any of their pro-
ceedings has been preserved. By an order of council,
of the 24th of April, 1724, lands are directed to be grant,
ed, in the county of Bath, on the petition of the lower
1725X THE FIFTEENTH. ' ^1
house of the legislature, which sat under president Reed,
in the month of November, 1723.
On the 7th of April, 1725, the lords proprietors ap-
pointed Sir Richard Everard, as successor to governor
Burrington; he qualified at Edenton, on the 17th
of July. With him, arrived the Reverend W. Back-
nail, a missionary, sent over by the society for propagat-
ing the gospel, in foreign parts. The tranquility, in
which he found the northern part of the province, did
not prevail in the southern. No final agreement having
yet been concluded, with respect to the limits of Florida
and Carolina, the Indians, who were in alliance with
Spain, particularly the Yamassees* continued to harrass
the British settlements. Colonel Palmer, at length, to
make reprisals, collected a party of militia and friendly
Indians, to the number of about three hundred; he
marched into Florida, as far as the gates of St. Augus-
tine, and compelled the inhabitants to take refuge iu the
castle. He destroyed their provisions in the fields, drove
off their cattle, killed sonie Indians, and made others
prisoners; burning almost every house in the colony,
and leaving the Spaniards but little property, besides
}vhat was protected by the guns of the fort.
Richard Fitzwilliams, surveyor general of the cus-
toms, for the southern district of North America, vis-
iting the settlement, took his seat in the council next
to the governor.
The bishop of London, as patriarch of England, ex-
tended his jurisdiction to the Britibh American colonies.
The expenses of government exceeded the receipts,
by the sum of two hundred and thirteen pounds nine-
teen shilings and seven pence, in 1726; and two hun-
dred and fifty-one pounds, nine shillings, in 1727.
N. CARO. 38
298 CHAPTER i;n26
The lords proprietors required that every tract of land
granted should be improved, by having thereon a house
built, fifteen feet by ten, tight and habitable, of clap
boards, or squared logs, with a roof, chimney and door
place, a whole acre cleared, and the major part broken
up and planted with fruit trees and grain.
In 1726, the unhappy contest, began under Charles
II., (1678) between the parent state and the island of
Jamaica, ended. Matters were compromised, by agree-
ment on the part of the assembly, to settle on the crown
a perpetual revenue of eight thousand pounds a year,
on condition that the quit rents, then estimated at one
thousand four hundred and sixty pounds, per annum,
should form a part of that sum. 2d. That the body of
their laws should receive the royal assent. 3d. That all
such laws and statutes of England, as had been at any
time esteemed, introduced, used, accepted or received^
as laws of the island, should be and continue, laws of
Jamaica, forever. This was implicitly to admit that
the others were not, and a tacit renunciation of the
power of parliament over the island.
During the fall of the following year, accounts reach-
ed the province of the demise of George I., which had
occurred on the 20th of May, and George II. was pro-
claimed.
Sir Richard E verard met the legislature, at Edenton^
on the 6th of November. The acts of this session are
few and unimportant. Provision was made for prevent-
ing suits of little moment being brought in the general
court; for obtaining different jurymen; for regulating
towns and the election of members of assembly ; for
regulating trade and facilitating navigation; for the
destruction of vermin and the tanning of leather.
1727] THE FIFTEENTH. 299
The house of commons, in 1728, addressed the king A • ^'^'*^
praying Kim to contract with- the lords proprietors of ^ *^
Catjlina, for the purchase and surrender of their title to
th<: province, promising to make the expense good, ou^
of he next aid granted by parliament. An unanimous
ad< ;ress was also presented, beseeching the king to use
Jiis utmost endeavors to prevent the depredations on the
English trade in America ; to procure satisfaction for
past ones, and secure a free commerce and navigation, to
and from the British provinces in that quarter of the
worid.
This year, the boundary line was run, between the
provinces of Virginia and Carolina, by the commission-
ers of both, from the sea bhore to Peters creek, which
falls into Dan river, a lirrle below the Saura tovvns, in
the present county of R.ickinghara. The commission*
€rs, on the part of Virginia, were William Byrd, William
Dandrige and Richard Fitzwilliams : those on the part
of Carolina were Christopher Gale, Edward Moseley
and Samuel Swann.
The commissioners met on the 5th of March, 1727,
near Old Currituck inlet, which was then so shallow
that the breakers beat over it with a horrible noise. On
the north side, the land terminated in a bluff point, from
which a spit of land extended, towards the south east
fall, half a mile. The inlet was between that spit and
another on the south, leaving an opening of not quite a
mile, then impracticable for any vessel whatever.
At two o'clock next morning, the variation was tried
by a meridian taken from the north star, and found to be
somewhgLt less than three degrees west.
The commissioners from Virginia, in their diary, ob-
serve, that their associates from Carolina, "brought not
800 . CHAPTER [H^
^^•* §• above two men with them, that would put their hands
^ S • to any thin^ but the kettle or frying pan ; and they spent
so much of their industry that way, that the\ had but
little spirit or inclination for any other work.
** The women and children of the borderers came to
stare at the commissioners, with as much curiosity as
if thev had lately landed from Canton or Morocco. The
men appeared all to dread, that the line should pass to
the south of their land, as in that case they must sub-
mit to some kind of order and government, while in Car-
olina, every one did what was best in his own eyt s; and
none paid any tribute to God or to Caesar. A justice
of the peace, in the precinct of Currituck having, about
this time, ordered a fellow into the stocks, for being dis-
orderly in his drink, was, for his intemperate zeal, car-
ried thither, and narrowly escaped being wlupped by the
rabble."
Many women brought their children to the chaplain
of the commissioners of Virginia, to be baptized; but
the gentleman who kept their dairy adds, "they brou;^ht
no capon along with them to make the solemnity
cheerful." ^
Although the reverend gentleman of Virginia christen^
ed upwards of one hundred children, during the running
of the line, he did not marry a single couple. None
were attracted by the novelty of having their hands
joined by a man in holy order: they considered mar-
riage as a civil contract only, and its knot as firmly tied
by a justice, as by an archbishop.
On the 6th of April, the weather growing warm, and
the rattle snakes be^einning to crawl out of their winter
quarters, a stop was put to the running of the line.
During one month, the line was run from Currituck to
i72«] THE FIFTEENTH^ 801
the plantation of a Mr. Kiiichen, a sjentleman of res-
pcrtability and note, w!to dwelt on the south side of the
Mthtrrin, in the present county of Hcrtfort, a distance
of s(. vent -three miles and thirteen chains. This place
is the only one at which the commissioners saw an
orchard. They resumed their labor on the 20th of
Sri/tember.
This year is remarkable, in the annals of agriculture,
for the first appearance of the weavel; an insect hitherto
Unknown in British America. They were first seen
in North Carolina, from whence these mischievous flies
extended gradually to Virginia, Maryland, and Dela-
ware,
The last legislature, which sat under the authority of
the lords proprietors, met in Edenton, on the 27th of
November ot the following year. They emitted bills of
credit to the amount of forty thousand pounds. The
precinct of Hyde was separated from that of Beaufort,
and the court house directed to be buili on the spot on
which the present town of Woodstock stands. A new
precinct was f Tmed, from parts of those of Currituck,
Pasquotank, Chowan and Bertie, which was called
Tyrell, in memory ol" Sir John Tyrell, a gentleman who
now owned that part of the province, which had been
originally granted to lord Ashley ; and the precinct of
Carteret was divided, and the lower part of it erected
into a new precinct, which was called New Hanover,
in honor of the reigning family.
Seven of the lords proprietors, finding that the ex-
penses wliich had attended the settlement of Carolina
were hardly productive of any advantage; the frequent
wars which ihey had to sustain against the Indians
302 CHAPTER [1726
absorbing the revenues of the province, and disabling
the settlers from paying the quit rents on their lands,
the arrears of which now amounted to above ten thou-
sand pounds, applied to the new monarch, and offered
to surrender the government of the province, and all the
franchises secured to them by the charter of Charles II.
as well as their property in the soil. The king entered
into an agreement with them, which was this year rati-
fied by parliament. (2 Geo. II. c. — .) Each of them
received from the crown the sum of two thousand five
hundred pounds sterling, as the consideration of the
surrender, and a further sum was allowed him, for his
share of the quit rents due by the planters.
The share of lord Clarendon, under the original char-
ter, was, at the time of the surrender, the property of
James Bertie; that of the duke of Albemarle, the pro-
perty of Henry duke of Beaufort and Charles Noel
Somerset, his brother ; that of the earl of Craven was
still in the holder of that title ; that of lord Ashley was
held in trust by A. Hutchinson, for John Cotton; that
of Sir John Colleton by one of his descendants of the
same name ; that of Sir William Berkley, was claimed
by three persons, Henry Bertie, Mary Dawson, and
Elizabeth Moore.
John, lord Carteret, baron of Hawnes, as heir of his
father, who died in 1696, was in possession of the share
of Sir George Carteret. He decUned parting with it.
Thus ended the proprietary government in Carolina,
sixty-six years after the charter, by which it had been
established.
At its close the whole population did not exceed twen-
ty-five thousand persons, of all sexes and colours, i. e. ten
1728] THE FlFfEENTH. 303
thousand in the northern, and fifteen thousand in the
southern part of the province.
The primary division of the northern part was into
three counties; Albemarle, Bath and Clarendon.
•Albemarle was subdivided into six precincts, Curri-
tuck, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan, Bertie and
Tyrrel; its population about seven thousand.
Bath, into four precincts, Beaufort, Hyde, Craven
and Carteret; its population two thousand five hundred.
Clarendon had but one precinct^ New Hanover ; its
population not exceeding five hundred.
Four towns only, had a legal establishment : Eden-
ton, in the precinct of Chowan; Bath, in that of Beau-
fort, Newbem, in that of Craven, and Beaufort, in that
of Carteret : they were all extrremely small.
The legislative power, resided in the lords proprietors
and the general assembly: the former acted by their go-
vernor, and a deputy from each of their lordships: the
general assembly was composed of members from the
precincts and towns.
The sessions of the legislative body were biennial :
Edenton was the only town in which it sat.
The executive power resided in the governor, ap»
pointed by the lords proprietors.
The judicial power, resided in a general and precinct
courts and justices of the peace.
The general court held semi-annual sessions, and
Edenton was the only tow^n in which it sat. The pre-
cinct courts held quarterly sessions : they were com-
posed of the justices of the peace of each precinct ; but
every lord proprietor's deputy, the secretary and recei-
ver of the province, were named in the commission of
the peace of each precinct; these courts sat at the town
3^04 CHAPTER [172*9
in each precinct, that had one ward at Felj)s* point, at the '
mouth of the Narrows ; and the place of sitting, in the
precincts of Currituck, Pasquotank, Hyde, Bertie and
Tyrrel, was left to the choice of the justices.
The general court was composed of a chief and four
associate justices.
The governor held a court of admiralty, and with the
lords deputies, one of chancery.
Kdward Moseley, John B. Ashe and William Swanut
are the only persons, who filled the chair of the general
assembly, whose names appear on record.
R. Chevin, Francis Foster, Christopher Gale, Ed-
mund Gale, Thomas Lovick, Maurice Moore, John
Palin, Thomas Pollock, William Reed, Richard San-
derson, Robert West, J. Worley and Tobias Knight^
are the proprietors' deputies, whose names have reached
us.
The tanning of leather, is the only species of manufac-
lure which appears to have obtained the notice of the
legislature.
An act for the preservation of a library, the gift of
Doctor Bray, was the only help afforded to literature.
Nothing el^e appears to have been thought of, to
promote education.
Acts had been passed, for the election of vestrymen,^
and church wardens ; but it is not known, that more
than two houses of worship had been erected.
Quit rents, poll and land taxt- s. with a small duty on
exports, ar.d, originally, one on tobacco exported, were
the means resorted to, to fill the coffers of the province.
Though the congress at Soissons proved abortive,
conferences were begun at Seville, between the pleni-
potentiaries ot England, France and Spain, and a treaty
T7l^] ' THE FIFTEENTH. $05
Was concluded, on the ninth day of November, not only
without the concurrence of the emperor, but even con-
trary to his right, as established by the quadruple
alliance. "
(ft
The lords in the opposition excepted to the article
by which the merchants were to make proof of their
losses at the court of Spain.
At the time the crown purchased seven eighths of the
province of Carolina, the French, the Spanish and the
British, were the only European powers that had colonial
establishments on that part of the northern continent of
America, which is washed by the Atlantic ocean. T;ie
French possessed Canada and Louisiana, and the
Spanish Florida. The British possessions were divided
into eleven provinces : Nova Scotia, New Hamr s'lire,
Massac 'iusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the counties on the
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Carolina.
With regard to their internal policy, the governments
of the provinces were of three sorts: 1. Provincial go-
vernments, the constitutions of which depended on the
respective commissions, issued by the crown to the
governors, and the instructions which usually accom-
panied these commissions ; under the authority of which,
provincial assemblies were constituted, with the power
of making laws, not repugnant to those of England ; as
in the provinces of Nova Scotia,* New Hampsliirc,
New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. 2. Proprietary
governments, granted out by the crown to individuals,
in the nature of feudatory principalities, with all the in-
* Nova Scotia was, however, so thiiily settled; that no
legislature had as yet been called in it.
N. CAItO. 39
306 CHAPTER Ln29
ferior powers of legislation, which formerly belonged to
the owners of English counties palatine ; yet stili with
the express condition, that the ends for which the
grant was made be substantially pursued, and that no-
thing be attempted, which might derogate from the
sovereignty of the mother country ; as in the provinces
of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and hitherto those of New
Jersey and Carolina. 3. Charter governments, in the
nature of civil corporations, with the power of making
bv-la\vs, for their own interior governments, not
repugnant to the laws of England, and with such rights
ar^d authorities as were specially given them, in their
several charters of incorporation ; as in the provinces of
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In the
first of these, the constitution was of a mixed nature :
the power seemed divided between tlie king and the
people, but the latter had, by far, the greatest share :
for, they chose the assembly, and the assembly, the
council ; and the governor depended upon the assembly
for his annual support, which frequently laid this officer
under the temptation of giving up the prerogative of the
crown and the interest of Great Britain. In the two
other provinces, almost the whole power of the crown
was delegated to the people : for they chose the assembly,
the council and the governor; and held little or no-
correspondence with any officer in the mother country.
The forms of government in the eleven provinces ^
were borrowed from that of England. Each had a
governor, named by the king, the proprietor or the
people ; they had courts of justice of their own, from
whose decisions an appeal, in certain cases, lay to the
king and council in England. Their general assemblies^
composed of a house of representatives and the council
iT29] ^ THE FIFTEENTH. . 307
lis an upper house, made laws suited to their own
emergencies, with the concurrence of the king, or his
representative, the governor. In all the provinces,
except those of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Mary.
land, copies of the acts of assembly were forwarded by
the governor, immediately after the rise of each session,
to the secretary of state for America, by whom they
were laid before the board of the lords commissioners of
trade and plantations. One of the king's counsel, spe-
cially appointed for the service of that board, (called the
reporting counsel) took them under consideration, and
reported his opinion on each act, whether the king should
be advised to approve or repeal it. On the report of
this gentleman, the board laid the act, with their own
observauons. before the lords of the king's council, on
whose report the fate of the act chiefly depended.
The crown was confined in the exercise of its right
an repealing the laws of the province of Massachusetts,
to a period of three years, from the time they had been
presented to the king, and those of Pennsylvania within
six months.
The principal objections to a provincial law, which
induced its repeal, by the authority of the crown, were,
that it lessened the prerogative of the king, or the de-
pendence of the province on the mother country, was
repugnant to the laws of England, unnecessarily at
variance with the laws and usages of the neighboring
provinces, or affected the trade, manufactures or other
real or fancied right of the king's English subjects.
The members of the lower house were more fairly
and equally chosen by their constituents, than those of
the British house of commons, by the people of Great
Britain, The other two branches of the legislature
iStJa CHAPTER [172^
Were necessarily less perfect than the corresponding ones
of the British parliament, beini^ absolutely dependent.
The advantages, which resulted to the mother country
from her intercourse with the American colonies, were
alrtady considerable. Sir William Keith, who had
resided a long time on the continent, in some observa-
tions, which he submitted to Geor^Jje II. on his
coming to the crown, and which Were referred in council
to the lords commissioners of trade and ',<laatatio?is,
state-:, that they took off, and consumed, about on fii.h
part of the woollen m iuufactures, exp )rted from Brit »in^
the chief staple of England and the m tin support of her
landed interest. They took off >»ud consumed more
tha.i double the value of tbse woollen cc^mmodities, in
liJien and cahco, partly the product of Britain and Ire-
land, and partly the profitable return made for that pro-
duct, when carried to foreign coumries. The luxury
of the colonies, which increased daily, consumed great
quantities of English manufactured silks, haberdasherv,
household furniture, and trinkets of all sorts, as also,
a very considerable quantity of East India goods. A
great revenue was raised to the crown, by returns made
in the produce of the colonies, especially tobacco, which,
at the same time, enabled England to bring nea*'er fo a
balance her unprofitable trade with France. The colo-
nies promoted the interest and trade of the mother country,
by a vast increase of shipping and seamen, which enabled
her to carry great quantities oi fish to Spain, Portugal,
Leghorn, and other places ; furs, logwood and rice, to
Holland; and eminently contributed in keeping the
balance of trade with these countries in favor of Eng-
land. If reasonably encouraged, the American provinces
^vere now in a condition to furnish Briton with as much
2729] THE FIFTEENTH, 80.9
of thqfollowinsj commodities as it could demand : masts
for the navy, all sorts ot lumber, hemp, flax, pitch, tar,
oil, rosin, copper ore, and pig and bar iron, whereby the
balance of trade with Russia and the Baltic mighi be
verv much reduced in favor of Great Britain. The
profits arising to the colonies by trade were returned in
bullion, or other objects useful to the mothtr country,
where th^ superfluous cash, and other riches acquired
in America continued, which was one of the best
securities of the due subjection of the colonies.
The province of Mova Scoda, had been an important
acquisition, as a barrier against the French of Canada,
Oi) the score of agriculture and commerce, it was of
no value; the former was insufficient for the subsistence
of the inhabitants and the lattt^r was cuTifined to the ex-
portation of timber to the West Indies; the quantity
was inconsiderable, and the quality much inferior to
that of the timber in the southern provinces.
The trade of the province of New Hampshire princi-
pally consisted in lumber, fis i and naval stores : coarse
woollen cloths were manufactured at home, by some of
the colonists, for the use of their own families, and small
quantities of linen were made by a few emigrants, who
had lately arrived from Ireland : iron works had been
set up in different parts of the province, and it was an
object of complaint in England, that, with a view to en-
courage those establishments, the provincial legislature
had prohibited the exportation of iron ore.
The trade of the province of Massachusetts, dif^P.Ted
from that of New Hampshire only in its extent, being by
far more considerable ; the colonists were also exten-
sively engaged in ship building and supplied the French
310 CHAPTER [1729
and Spanish with vessels, in return for rum, molasses,
wines and silk, which were clandestinely introduced.
They had already some East India trade, enjoying an
advantage over the English ports, in the drawback for
all India and other goods exported, which paid a duty
in Great Britain, while no duty was paid upon importing
them into the plantations. In some parts of ttie pro-
vince, the inhabitants worked up their wool and flax,
and made an ordinary coarse cloth for their own use ;
small quantities of cloth were also made of linen and
cotton, for ordinary shirting and sheeting, 'A paper mill
had lately been set up, nineteen forges for making bar
iron, and six furnaces for cast iron or hollow ware, and
one slitting mill, (the owner of which carried on a manu-
facture of nails) were counted in the province. Great
quantities of hats were made, and some were exported
to Spain, Portugal and the West India islands, and
there were some rum distilleries and sugar refineries.
Copper mines had been discovered, but so distant from
water carriage, and the ore so poor, that they were not
thought worth the digging. The greater part of the leather
used in the province, was of its own manufacture. Brown
hoUands, duck, and sail cloth, began to be made, and
the provincial legislature had passed laws for allowing a
bounty on every piece of duck or canvass made, and for
encouraging the erection of paper mills.
The province of Connecticut exported horses and
lumber to the West India islands, and received in return,
salt, rum and molasses ; their maimfactures were incon-
siderable; the inhabitants who were not engaged in
tillage, employed their time in tanning, shoemaking and
other handicraft works. *
\
1729] TH£i FIFTEENTH. 311
Considerable iron works were carried on in the pro-
vince of Rhode Island, but the other manufactures, and
the commerce of this colony, were insignificant.
The trade of the province of New York, consisted
chiefly in furs, whalebone, oil, pitch, tar, provisions,
horses and lumber : they exported these last articles to
the West India islands : there were hardly any manu-
factures in this colony ; some hats and coarse cloths
were however made, and there were a few distilleries
and sugar refineries.
The trade of the province of New Jersey, consisted
chiefly in the same articles with that of New York,
through the principal port of which it was almost exclu-
sively carried. This province did not carry on any
manufacture.
In the province of Pennsylvania, brigantines and
sloops were built, which were sold to the people of the
West India islands, with whom the trade of the colony
was chiefly carried on : its exports, consisting of pro-
visions, principally grain and lumber : some coarse
woollens being all the articles it manufactured, none of
which were exported, and a few only for sale, in a small
Indian town, where a German palatine had lately settled.
In the southern provinces, Maryland, Virginia and
Carolina, tobacco, naval stores and rice, were the great-
est articles of exportation, chiefly for the European
markets : large quantities of provisions and lumber were
shipped to the West Indies. There were no manufac-
tures ; i\ few hats, however, and cotton cloth, were
made, but none for exportation.
It is not to be wondered at, that more trades were car-
ried on, and more manufactories set up, in the northern
provinces, especially in New England, than in the rest :
Sl^ CHAPTER. [1729
for, their soil, climate and produce, beirig nearly the same
with that of England, they had no staple commodities
to exchange for British manufactures, which laid them
under greater temptations of providing for themselves
at home. In the chartered governments, the little de-
pendence on the mother country, and consequently the
small restramts they were under, all measures detri»
mental to her interest, were additional inducements.
Chalmers — History of South Carolina'^Records.
%
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.— FROM 1512 TO 1586.
Discovery of Florida; Cabot's voyage; Ponce de Leon's
second voyage; Veranzzani's voyages; French navigators'
voyages to Newfoundland and St. Lawrence ; first British
t^tatute relating to the colonies; the French invade Carthagena;
Louis de Beluastro's voyage to Florida; Jean Riband takes
possession of Caroline; Laiidoniere transports a colony thither;
tlie Spaniards destroy it; De Goiirgues revenges it; Armidasand
Barlow come to Ocracock; Granganameo; Wingina; Wingado-
cea; Indians; Roanoke island; the English entertained by Gran-
ganameo's wife; return to England; country called Virginia;
sir Richard Grenville's voyage; colony left in Virginia; go-
vernor Lane; journey up Roanoke; Granganameo's death;
Ensenore; Wingina's hatred of the EngHsh; King of Chowa-
nocks visits governor Lane; recognizes the authority of the
queen of England; distress of the colonists; they are relieved
by Sir Francis Drake, and taken back to England; description
of the aborigines and of the country; notice of European set-
tlements on the main.
CHAPTER II.^FROM 1586 TO 1603.
Succour sent to governor Lane; Sir Richard Grenville^s se-
cond voyage; a colony sent under governor White; they
N. CARD. 40
314 TABLE OF
reach Virginia ; settle on Roanoke island; Indians kill George
Howe; expedition to cape Look Oat; Governor Lane o;oes to
revenge Howe's death; kills by mistake some friendly Indians;
first child of British parentage born in America; Governor
White returns to England; his efforts to procure rehef f->rthe
colony; Spanish armament; governor Wnite sets sail and is
obliged to return; Sir Walter Raleigh disposes of his claim to
Virginia; governor White sets sail again; arrives at cape Hat-
teras; vainly seeks for the colonists, wanders in search of in-
formation about them and returns to England; Newport and
Drake's voyages ; Sylvester Wyatt's ; Sir Walter Raleigh sends
a ship to South America; attack on Trinidad; Guiana; Sir
Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins' voyages to South Ame-
rica; British take the island of Portorico; voj^age to Cape
Breton; the French attempt to settle Canada ; BartholomewGos-
nold's voyage to the northern part of the continent; Sir Walter
Raleigh's frequent attempts to discover and relieve governor-
White's colonists; notice of European settlements in America.
CHAPTER IlI—FROM 1603 TO 1610.
Martin Pring's voyage to North Virginia; Bartholomew Gil--
bert's attempt to seek and relieve the Virginia colony; Henry
IV.'s patent to Dumontz; Champlain's voyage; Port Royal;
river St. Croix; Peace with Spain; Weymouth's voyage; Sir
Richard Hackluyt; first Virginia charter; instructions; colo-
nial councils; their powers; king's council for Virginia, in
England; Christopher Newport carries over a colony; they
reach cape Hatteras; cape Charles; cape Henry; bay of
Chesapeake; they land; president Wingfield; his council;
Jamestown; party sent to reconnoitre the bay; security of
the colonists; Indians kill some of them; sickness; distress of
the colony; President Radcliffe; John Smith; provisions ob-
CONTENTS. 3l3
tained from the Indians; conflagration; colonists and succour
from England; low state of the colony; agriculture; severe
winter; Indians; Raleigh Gilbert's voyage to North Virginia;
John Smith's services to the colony; he is called to the coun-
cil; farther migration; pitch; tar; potash; French in Canada;
Hudson's voyage; Samuel Argal; second charter; lord Dela-
ware, governor of Virginia; sir Thomas Gates, lieu^nant ge-
neral; sir George Somers, admiral; their departure; storm;
shipwreck; Bermudas; fleet reaches Jamestown; provisional
government; Powhatan; John Smith; distress of the colony;
arrival of sir Thomas Gates and sir George Somers at James-
town; dearth of provisions; determinaticfn to abandon the
colony; c:>lonists re-embark; notice of European settlement*:
in America.
CHAPTER IV.—FROM 1610 TO 1625.
Lord Delaware arrives in James river; induces the colonist*
to return; his authority and administration; the colony thrives;
vessel sent to Bermudas for hogs; earl of Northumberland's
patent; lord Delaware's return; president Percy; governor
Dale; governor Gates; Henrico; Bermuda Hundi^ed; third
charter; first hostihties between French and English in Ame-
rica; captain Argal; Port Royal destroyed; Dutch settlement
on Manhattan reduced; industry of the Virginians encouraged;
division of lands; Bermudas; governor Dale; Dutch resimie
possession of New Netherlands; John Smith's voyage to the
northward; grant of land to colonists; governor Yardley;
Chickahomini Indians; culture of tobacco; neglect of provi-
sions; Indians; governor Argal; lord Delaware sails for Vir-
.ginia; dies on his passage; governor Argal's rigorous conduct;
governor Yardley; great mortality; Puritans; they m-igrate
to Holland; arrive at Cape Cod; New England patent; great
316 TABLE OF
migrations to Virginia; girls sent thither; convicts; iron
works; first importation of slaves; governor Wyatt; college;
Ferdinando Gorges; sir William Alexander's patent; lord
Baltimore's patent for Newfoundland; pr«perity of Virginia;
Indians massacre the whites; legislature; quo warranto; char-
ter annulled; king James's demise; state of the English and
other European settlements on the continent.
CHAPTER v.— FROM 1625 TO 1649.
Charles I.; governor Yardley; despotic government; bill
to secure navigation and fishery; Swedish colony on the Dela-
ware; province of Carliola, in the West Indies; governor
Harvey; company of Massachusetts bay; capture of Quebec;
Boston; Nova Scotia; grant of Carolana to sir Robert Heathj
peace with Spain; Connecticut patent; license to Clayborne^
treaty of St. Germain enlarged; Canada; Acadia and New
France restored; grant of Maryland; Virginia complaint against
it; lord Baltimore's arrival; commission to govern the colo-
nies; mutiny in Boston; determination to resist council of
Plymouth; surrender their charter; quo warranto against that
of Massachusetts; settlement of Connecticut; French colony
at Cayenal; Providence; Virginians send governor Harvey to
England; the king orders him back; sir William Berkeley;
migration to America restrained; Plan of one colonial govern-
ment; sir Ferdinando Gorges; Martinico; proclamation
against emigration; province of Maine; first printing press in
British America; change of government resisted; Surinam;
Virginia required to aid the settlement of Carolana; Clayborne;
Indian war; New England union; earl of Warwick; Provi-
dence charter; St. Lucia; rebellion in Maryland; ordinance
restraining the transportation of colonial produce; Iroquois;
negotiations with Canada; peace of Westphalia; grant to
CONTENTS. Sn
Culpepper and others; Charles I. beheaded; condition of the
colonies at this period.
CHAPTER VI.— FROM 1649 TO 1656.
Charles II.'s commission to sir WilHam Berkely; Grenada
andAnguilla; house of commons assume government; procla-
mation for the reduction of the colonies; navigation act; sir
George Askew reduces Barbadoes; sends a squadron to Vir-
ginia; preparation for defence; capitulation and surrender; go-
vernor Benaet; tobacco prohibited being planted in England;
Maine added to Massachusetts; government of Maryland ta-
ken from lord Baltimore; that of Rhode Island suspended;
mint at Boston; sir William Berkely; governor Digges;
Western country; Ohio river; preparation for the conquest of
Canada; admiral Penn's attack oii Hispaxiiola; Jamaica taken;
the Dutch drive the Swedes from the Delaware; add their settle-
ment to New Netherlands; New Amsterdam; governor Mat-
thews, settlement on Cape Fear; Nova Scotia; insurrection
in Maryland; peace with France and Spain; treaty of the Py-
renees; situation of the colonies at the end of the protectorate.
CHAPTER VII.— FROM 1660 TO 1664.
Navigation act; governor Berkely; legislature under
Charles II. 's authority; common law and statute of England
introduced; society for propagating the gospel; Massachusetts;
Connecticut charter; lord Baltimore resumes his province;
church of England estabUshed in Virginia; great earthquake
in Canada; first charter of Carolina to the lords proprietors ;«/
Indians; proposals to settlers; county of Albemarle; gover-
nor Berkely 's visit to it; expedition from Barbadoes to Cape
Fear; its journal; government of Albemarle; governor Drum-
f
31^ TABLE OF
mond; charter of Rhode Island; grant to the duke of York;
New Netherlands possessed by the EngHsh, and called New-
York; Si. Lucia; the French claim the land on the back of the
British settlements in America.
CHAPTER VIII.— FROM 1664 TO 1673.
Second charter; lords proprietors publish proposals for the
.settlement of their province; sir John Yeamaus leads a colony
from Barbadoes to Cape Fear; Charleston; county of Claren-
don; legislature of Barbadoes forbid emigrations; William
Sayle sent to survey the coast of Carolina; is shipwrecked on
the Bahamas; makes a chart of the sea coast of Carolina;
grant of the Bahamas to the lords proprietors of Carolina;
peace of Breda; treaty of commerce with Spain; transporta-
tion of convicts; governor Stephens; great deed of grant;
legislature; peace with France; St. "Vincent and Dominico;
charter of Hudson's bay; Locke's fundamental constitution;
lord Albemarle; palatine; people of Albemarle county averse
to the new system; William Sayle, governor of South Carohna;
he leads a colony to Port Royal; Indian wars; treaty of Ma-
drid; transportation of convicts; temporary agrarian laws;
sir John Yeamans removes his colony southerly; made gover-
nor of South Carolina; settlement of old Charleston; division
of South Carolina into counties; county of Albemarle divided
into precincts; Quaker missionary's visit; Spanish Schedule;
Campeachy wood; complaints in parliament of the trade of the
colonists; statute to retrieve it; war against the Dutch;
Spanish party invades South Carolina; insurrection in New
Jersey; West India British islands divided into two govern-
ments; the Dutch take New York; discovery of the Mississippi
by the French from Canada
CONTENTS. ^19
CHAPTER IX.— FROM 1673 TO 1685,
Sir John Yeamans returns to Barbadoes; Governor West's
parliament in South Carolina; Governor Cartright-, culture of
the vine; peace with the States General; New Jersey; Indian
war; jealousies in England of the trade of the colonies: in-
structions to colonial governors; insurrection in Virginia; af-
fairs in the county of Albemarle; governor Eastchurch; presi-
dent Miller; Culpepper's insurrection; manifesto; new system
of colonial administration; lord Carhsle sent to enforce it in
Jamaica; his ineffectual attempt; Culpepper's mission to Eng-
land; Miller arrested there, tried and acquitted; governor
Harvey; settlement of the present town of Charleston; New
Hampshire separated from Massachusetts; Lasalle sails up the
Mississippi; Spaniards invade the Bahama islands; logwood
cutters; Henry Wilkinson, governor of North Carolina; Penn-
sylvania charter; migration thereto; proprietor's arrival; La-
salle floats down the Mississippi to the gulf of Mexico; lord
Cardross leads a colony to Port Royal; Governor Sothel; col-
lection of duties resisted in Massachusetts; quo warranto
against the charter; judgment for the king; Kirk appointed
governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Ply-
mouth; Lord Effingham, governor of Virginia; parliament of
Carolina raises the value of foreign coins; act approved, but
afterwards disapproved; demise of Charles II.; notice ol
European settlements in America.
CHAPTER X.— FROM 1G85 TO 1697.
King James continues the attack on the chartered riglUs of
America; Dudley ai)pointed President of New England; 'the
Spaniards attack lord Cardross's colony; quo warranto against
the charter of Carolina; of New Jersey; New Jersey annexed
820 TABLE OF
to the government of New England; printing presses disallow"
ed in New York; general assembly abolished; Sir Edmund An-
dross; government of Rhode Island assumed in the king's
hands; Huguenots migrate to Boston; many of them proceed
to the southern provinces; insurrection of the blacks in Vir-
ginia; quo warranto against the province of Maryland; go-
vernment of Connecticut assumed in the king's hands; Sir Ro-
bert Holmes sent to suppress pirates; Monsieur de Lasalle
leads a French colony to the northern shore of the gulf of
Mexico; vainly seeks for the Mississippi; travels by land to-
wards Canada; is murdered; insurrection in North Carolina; go*
vernor Sothel imprisoned; Andross, governor of New England,
New York and New Jersey; discontents in New England;
clergy advise resistance; King James's abdication; insurrec-
tion in New England; charter resumed; Rhode Island follows
the example; discontent in New York; Leisler possesses him-
self of the fort for the prince of Orange; Governor Slaughter,
Governor Ludwell; Bishop of London's commissary; irruptions
from Canada; French privateers; Sir William Phips attacks
and takes Port Royal; fruitless attempt on Quebec and Mont-
real; first emission of American paper money; French emi-
grants transported at the royal expense to America; Doctor
Cox lays his claim to Carolana before the king; his descrip-
tion of the country; Seth Sothel appears in Charleston; as-
sumes the government; lords proprietors establish a govern-
ment in the Bahama islands; St. Kitts; French irruptions from
Canada; new charter of Massachusetts; governor Phips;
Connecticut and Rhode Island; fort WilHam Henry; general
post office; governor Harvey; Cherokees solicit the aid of the
EngHsh against the Esaws and Congarees; Locke's system
abrogated; great storm; government of Pennsylvania taken
into the king and queen's hands; restored to the proprietor;
irruption of the French; commodore Wheeler's expedition:
^CONTENTS. 3:21
governor Archdale: his arrival and conduct in NorthCarolina :
goes to South Carolina; rice; commodore Wilmot's expedi-
tion; French hostilities; small pox rages in PampUco; gover-
nor Harvej; lords commissioners of trade and plantations;
parliamentary restrictions; pamphlets on taxing the colonies;
Pointiz plunders Carthagena; admiral Morse's expedition;
peace with France.
CHAPTER XI.— FROM 1698 TO 1702,
Misunderstanding in respect to American boundaries; Scotch
colony at Darien; it gives umbrage to the French and Span-
iards; proclamation for the removal of the Scotch; president
Walker; change in the general court; captain Kidd; rear
admiral Benlow's expedition; first permanent settlement of
Louisiana; parliamentary restrictions; British governors or-
dered to cultivate a good understanding with the French; pi-
rates infest the coast of Carolina; statute relating to pirates;
a church of England's missionary resides in North Carolina;
state of the colony; society for propagating the gospel in fo-
reign parts incorporated; king James dies; Louis XIV. sup-
ports the pretender; rupture with France; governor Moore,
of South Carolina marches against St. Augustine; is unsuc-
cessful, and returns; paper currency in South Carolina; no-
tice of European settlements on the continent, and French aad
English in the West Indies.
CHAPTER XII.— FROM 1702 TO 1710.
Queen Anne declares war against France; Sir Nathaniel
Johnston, appointed governor of Carolina; hostilities in the
West Indies; lord Granville, the palatine, instructs gover-
nor Johnston to promote the establishment vf the Church of
N. CARO. 41
S22 TABLE OF
England, by law, in the province: act passed for that pur-
pose: John Ashe sent to England to procure its repeal: gover-
nor attempts to prevent his departure: he goes to Virginia: the
people of Albemarle send Edmund Porter on the same errand:
the palatine receives those men coldly: Ashe prepares a de-
fence of his countrymen: sickens and dies: Porter's unsuccess-
ful efforts: corporation established in Charleston, with high
ecclesiastical powers: colonists send new representations by
Joseph Boon: petitions to the house of lords, from Carolina:
the lords proprietors prayed to be heard by counsel, at the
bar of the house: the lords address the queen, in favor of the
people of Carolina : the matter referred to the lords' commis-
sioners of trade and plantations: who report against the lords
proprietors: recommend a quo warranto against the charter:
irruptions from Carolina: colonel Church's expedition: gover-
nor Daniel: he procures an act, establishing the Church of
England in North Carolina: queen Anne's proclamation in re-
spect to foreign coins: parhamentary restrictions modified:
bounty on naval stores: first American newspaper: bishop of
London's commissary in Carolina: Indian treaty: Sir Nathaniel
Johntson appoints Thomas Carey deputy governor, in North
Carolina: act relating to oaths: lords proprietors disapprove
of Thomas Carey: direct the council in North Carolina, to
appoint a president, and commander in chief: president Glover:
Carey possesses himself of the records and resumes the su-
preme power: Subercase's expedition: Lefebvre's unsuccessful
attack on Charleston: earl of Craven palatine: election of two
presidents and two councils, in North Carohna: assembly sup-
ports Carey: Glover's message: Quaker members: missionaries :r
their reports: French Huguenots: statute regulating the val-
ue of foreign coins: Palatines: Swiss emigrants: baron de
GraafTenreidt: Newbern: feuds and dissentions missionaries:
governor Hyde: behaviour of Carey: assembly have a new
CONTENTS. 323
insurrection: relief sought from Virginia: mediator, and con-
duct of governor Hyde and Carey: Quakers: Carey's party re-
pelled by the militia: he flies: attempts to gain the Indians to
his party: fails: goes to Vu-ginia: he is arrested and sent
to England,
CHAPTER XIII.— FROM 1710 TO 1713.
General Nicholson takes Port Royal: general post office:
missionaries: Indian massacre: rehef from South Carolina:
governor Spots wood: proceedings in Virginia, on the relief to
be sent to Carolina: misintelligence: dissolution of the as-
sembly: governor's representation: colonel Barnwell arrives,
with forces from South Carolina: attacks and defeats the
Indians capitulation granted to them reprobated: communica-
tions made to the lords proprietors on the Indian war: gover-
nor Hyde's instructions: officers of the provinces: Civil list:
meeting of the legislature: baron de GraafTenreidt paroled:
epidemic: governor Hyde dies: president Pollock: his first
communication to the lords proprietors: relief from Virginia:
Tom Blunt, a Tuscarora chief: preliminaries of peace: colonel
Moore marches with forces, from South Carolina: attacks and
conquers the Indians: South Carolina Indians move away with
prisoners: meeting of the legislature: Matchchapungos Indians:
emission of paper money: colonel Moore reduces the Match-
chapungos and Cores: incipient state of tranquility.
CHAPTER XIV.— FROM 1713 TO 1722.
Peace of Utrecht: Pado del assicnio: Campe-chy wood:
governor Eden: receipts at the treasury: civil list: lord
Craven, palatine : Yamassee Indians: massacre in South Caro-
lina: Matchchapungos hearing of it, endeavor to rise, but ar«
324 TABLE OF
suppressed: meeting of the, legislature: revisal of the laws:
emission of paper money: resolves of the assembly: repro-
bated by the council: assembly dissolved by proclamation:
lords proprietors insist on payment in sterling money: wes-
tern country: project of a western land company: transporta-
tion of convicts: lands allotted to Tuscaroras: pirates: Ed-
ward Teach: he comes to North Carohna: surrenders himself
to governor Eden, with his associates: they go to sea: bring
in a French ship: obtain her condemnation: vex the people in
Pamplico: application to governor Spotswood for relief: he
sends a naval force: Teach is attacked and killed: his compa-
nions surrender: are carried to Virginia: tried, convicted, and
executed: disturbances in North Carolina: Moseley and Moore
seize the records of the colony:* Governor Eden commits them:
they are tried, fined, he: governor Eden and C. J. Knight,
accused of having favored Teach: exculpated: revolution in
Carolina: governor Johnston deposed: a new government es-
tablished: James Moore, governor: Pensacola, taken and re-
taken: governor and council in North Carolina, declare their
attachment and fidelity to the lords proprietors: meeting of thft
legislature: Edenton: scire facias against the charter of Car-
olina: Francis Nicholson comes to Charleston, as governor for
the king: end of proprietary government there: calls a legis-
lature: they recognize their immediate dependence on the
crown: instructions to governors of CaroHna and Florida:
peace with the Indians: Pensacola restored to the Spaniards:
New Orleans: French attempt to hem in the Enghsh, between
the mountains and the sea: governor Bennett: St. Lucia and
St. Vincent: governor Eden dies.
CHAPTER XV.~FROM 1722 TO 1729.
President Pollock: Carteret precinct: missionary: president
Pollock dies: president Reed: road from Bath to Newborn:
CONTENTS. 326
emission of paper money: court houses: Bertie precinct: Cape
Fear settlement: Vermont: legislature: governor Burrington:
his instructions and powers: officers of government: re-
ceipts and expenditures: Chowan Indians: chief justice and
associates: governor Burrington goes to Cape Fear: land
granted in the county of Bath: governor Everard: state of the
colony: surveyor general of the customs, for the southern dis-
trict of North America: expenses: requisites to save land:
demise of George I.: meeting of the legislature: house of
commons recommend the purchase of CaroHna: northern
boundary line run: last legislature: emission of paper money:
Hyde precinct separated from Beaufort: Tyrrel precinct:
Wpodstock: New Hanover precinct : statute authorizing the
tie purchase of Carolina, by the king: seven lords proprietors
sell their shares: lord Carteret retains his: end of proprietary
government: a view of the British provinces on the continent.
END OF VOLUME I.
ERRATA.
l?age 2, line 6, for in, read before.
6, 13, highest — thirtieth.
7, 21, VII. —IX.
49, 11,11.-111.
52, 1 , colonies — colonists.
55, 10, dele not.
92, 2, II.— I.
95, 18 & 1^ Carolina — Carolana.
98, 5, after archbishop, add of Canterbury.
100, 3, John — William.
128, 31, metropolis — mother country.
140, 9, they — the lords proprietors.
144, 32, returning — reserving.
157, 20, and — in.
189, 31, ever — even.
210 l,by — on.
APPENDIX
North Carolina, ss«
At a Council, held at the house of Frederick Jones,
Esq. May 27th, 1719: Present, the honorable
Charles Eden, Esq. governor, captain general and
admiral; Thomas Pollock, William Reed, Ira
Foster, Frederick Jones, and Richard Sanderson,
Esquires, lords proprietors' deputies.
In pursuance of an order of council, dated April
1th, 1719, Tobias Knight, esq. secretary of this pro-
vince, and a member of the council, attended this
board, to make answer to the several depositions, and
other evidences, mentioned in the aforesaid order j
which said depositions and evidences were read, in
the following words : Copies of several depositions,
and other evidences, given before the court of admi-
ralty, constituted by commission under the great seal,
for hearing and determining cases of piracy, for the
colony of Virginia, the 12th March, for the trial of
James Blake, alias Jemmy, and other pirates, late of
the crew of Edward Teache. Hezekiah Hand, late
master of the sloop Adventure, commanded by Ed-
ward Teache, being sworn and examined, deposed,
that he was on board the said sloop Adventure, at the
taking of two French ships, in the month of August
last past, and that all the prisoners at die bar were on
board the said sloop, and bore arms under Teache at
1*
n APPENDIX.
the time of the said piracy; that Tcache plnndered
one of the ship^ of some cocoa, and brought the other
in with him to North Carolina, having first put her
crew on board the ship first mentioned ; that, soon
after Teache arrived at Ocracock inlet, he went in a
pirogue, with some of the prisoners, by names James
Blake, Richard Stiles, James White and Thomas
Gates, to Mr. Tobias Knight, secretaiT of North
CaroHna, carrying with him a present of chocolate^
loaf sugar and sweetmeats, being a part of what was
taken on board the French ships above mentioned^
and that, upon Teache's return from Mr. Knight's, he^
the deponent, saw divers goods brought in the pirogue^
which Teache said he bought in the country, but the
deponent afterwards hearing that one William Bell
had been robbed, and understanding, as well by
common report as by discourse with the said Bell, of
what kind of goods he had been robbed, the deponent
knew them to be the same which Teache had brought
on board his sloop, but durst not discover to the said
Bell who had robbed him. The four prisoners being
asked whether they knew of die robbery of Bell's
pirogue, acknowledged, that, some time in September,
they went from Ocracock, in a pirogue, with Edward
Texhe, to the house of Tobias Knight, secretary of
North Carolina, and carried in the said pirogue three
or four kegs of sweetmeats, some loaf sugar, a bag of
chocolate, and some boxes, the contents of which thev
did not know; that they got to the said Knight's
house about twelve or one o'clock in the night, and
carried up the kegs and boxes aforesaid, which were
all left there, except one keg of sweetmeats, which
was carried back in the pirogue ; that the said Knight
APPENDIX. Ill
was then at home, and the said Teache staid with him
until about an hour before the break of day, and then
departed; that, about three miles from the said
Knight's house, at a place called Chester's landing,
ihey saw a pirogue lying near the shore, upon which
Teache ordered them to row up towards her, saying
he would go ashore, to Chester's house, but when he
came up with the said pirogue, (in which were a white
man, a boy and an Indian,) Teache asked them for a
dram, and immediately jumped aboard of the pirogue,
and after some dispute, plundered her, carrying away
with him some money, one cask of pipes, a cask of
rum or brandy, some linen, and other things, and then
the said Teache commanded the said prisoners to
row away for Ocracock inlet, instead of going ashore
at Chester's, as he first gave out he intended.
William Bell, of the precinct of Currituck, being
sworn and examined, deposeth, that being on board
his pirogue, at die landing of John Chester, on Pan-
chicough river, in North Carolina, on the night of the
15th September last, a large pirogue passed by, stand
ing up the river, that a litUe before break of day, the
pirogue returned, and came on board the deponent;
that a white man, who, he since understands, was
Edward Teache, entered the deponent's pirogue, and
asked him if he had any thing to drink, to which the
deponent answered, it was so dark he could not well
see to draw any, whereupon, the said Teache called
for his sword, which was handed him from his own
pirogue, and commanded the deponent to put his
hands behind him, in order to be tied, swearing,
damnation seize him, he would kill the deponent if
he did not tell him truly where the money was; that
IV APPENDIX.
the deponent asked him who he was and whence he
came, to which the said Teach e rephed, he came
from hell, where he w ould carry him presently ; that
the said deponent laid hold of the said Teache and
struggled with him, upon which he called to his men
to come on board to his assistance, and they came and
laid hold of the deponent, his son and an Indian he
had with him; that then the said Teache demanded
his pistols, and the deponent telling him they were
locked up in his chest, he was going to break it open ;
but the deponent intreated him not do so, saying he
would unlock it, but though he permitted the deponent
to open the chest, he would not suffer him to put his
hands therein, but took his pistols out himself; that
the said Teache having got the deponent's pirogue
out into the middle of the river, rifled her, took away
£66 10 in cash, one piece of crape, containing fifty-
eight yards, a box of pipes, half a barrel of brandy,
and several other goods, the particulars are mentioned
in an account the de{)onent now delivered into court:
that, particularly, the deponent was robbed of a silver
cup, of a remarkable fashion, being made to screw in
the middle, the upper part resembling a chalice the
lower a tumbler, which cup, the deponent is informed,
has been found on board Teache's sloop; that when
the said Teache and his crew had taken what they
thought fit from the deponent, they tossed his sails and
oars overboard, and then rowed down the river; that
the said Teache, in beating the deponent, broke his
sword about a quarter of a yard from the point, which
broken piece of the sword the deponent found in the
pirogue, and now produces in court; and this depo-
nent verily believes Teache had intelligence of his
APPENDIX. V
having money, otherwise he would have passed by in
returning from, as he did in going to, Mr. Knight's,
withoutconcerning himself with the pirogue: and the
deponent further saith, that within two hours after he
had been thus robbed, he went to complain to the
governor of North Carolina, who sent him to Mr.
Knight's, then chief justice, upon which the said
Knight gave him the warrant of hue and cry, which
he now produces in court, and that, notwithstanding
the deponent did particularly describe the pirogue,
and the men by whom he had been robbed, and did
repeat, as near as he could, the language the white man
used to the deponent, and declared that the other four
were negroes, or white men disguised as such, and
that the said pirogue had passed by the same night
towards his house, or Bath town, yet the said Tobias
Knight did not discover to the deponent that any
such pirogue had been at his house, or that he knew
of Teache's being in the country. There was pro-
duced a letter from the before named Tobias Knight,
directed to captain Edward Teache, on board the
sloop Adventure, which letter was proved to have
been found among Teache's papers, after his death,
and by comparison of the hand with other papers,
appears to be the writing of the said Tobias Knight,
which said letter was read, and is as follows:
JSTovember 17, 1717.
My Friend: If this finds you yei in harbour, I
would have you make the best of your way up, as
soon as possible your affairs will let you. I have
something more to say to you than, at present I can
write: the bearer will tell vou the end of our Indian
VI APPENDIX.
war, and Ganet can tell you, in part, what I have to
say to you; so I refer you, in some measure, to him.
I really think these three men are heartily sorry at
their difference with you, and will be very willing to
ask your pardon. If I may advise, be friends again;
it is better to, than falling out among yourselves. I
expect the governor this night, or to-morrow, vv^ho,
I believe, would be glad likewise to see you, before
you go. I have not time to add, save my hearty re-
spects to you, and am your real friend and servant.
T. KNIGHT.
After which, captain Ellis Brand, commander of
his majesty's ship tlie Syren, declared, that, having
received information of twenty barrels of sugar and
two bags of cotton, lodged by Edward Teache at
the house of Tobias Knight, he asked the said
Knight for those goods, they being part of the cargo
piratically taken from the French si dp, and that the
said Knight, with many asseverations, positively de-
nied that any such goods were about his plantation;
but yet the next day, when the said captain Brand
urged the matter home to him, and told him of the
proofs he could bring, as well by the persons con-
cerned in landing the said goods, as by memoran-
dums in Teache's pocket-book, he, the said Knight,
owned the whole matter, and the piratical goods
aforesaid were found in his barn, covered with
fodder.
At a Court of Admiralty, continued and held at the
Capital, the 13th day of March, 1718.
Whereas it has appeared to this court, Mr. Tobias
Knight, Secretary of North Carolina, hath given just
APPENDIX. Vir
cause to saspect his being privy to the piracies, com-
mitted by Edward Teache and his crew, and hath
received and concealed the articles by them pirati-
caUy taken, whereby he has become an accessory.
It is, therefore, the opinion of this court, that a
copy of the evidences given to this court, so far as
they relate to the said Tobias Knight's behaviour,
be transmitted to the governor of North Carolina, to
the end, he may cause the said Knight to be appre-
hended and proceeded against, pursu int to the direc-
tions of the act of parliament, for the more effectual
suppression of piracy.
And then the said Tobias Knight did remonstrate
to this board, in answer thereto, as followeth:
North Carolina.
To the honorable Charles Eden, governor, and to
the rest of the members of the honorable the
council, now sitting:
The humble remonstrance of Tobias Knight, esq,
secretary of this province, and a member of this board,
in answer to the several depositions, and other pre-
tended evidences, taken against him, at a court of
admiralty, holden at the capital, in Virginia, on the
12th day of March, 1718. First, The said Tobias
Knight doth aver for truth, and doubts not to make it
evidently appear, that he is not, in anywise whatso-
ever, guilty of the least of these crimes, which are so
slyly, maliciously and falsely suggested and insinu-
ated against him, by the said pretended evidence. The
which to make more apparent to your honors, the said
Tobias Knight doth pray your honors, first, to con-
sider as to the evidences themselves; they being such
as contradict themselves; or as not to be taken in any
VIII APPENDIX.
court of record, or elsewhere, against the said Tobias
Knight, or any other white man; for, first^ Hezekiah
Hands, master of captain Teache's sloop Adventure,
seems to swear positively, in his deposition, that the
said Teache went from Ocracock inlet, on his return
to this country, from his last voyage, with a present
to the said Tobias Knight's house, when, by the same
deposition, he acknowledgeth that to be out of the
reach of his knowledge, he being all the time at the
said inlet, wdiich lies at above thirty leagues distance
h^om his house; and, further, the said Tobias Knight
doth pray your honors to observe, that the aforesaid
Hezekiah Hands was, as he has been well informed,
for some time before the giving of the said evidence,
kept in prison, under the terrors of death, or a most
severe prosecution, and that there doth apparently
appear throughout the whole evidence, more of art,
malice and design against the said Tobias Knight
than truth. Secondly, As to the four next evidences
pretended to be given against the said Tobias Knight,
under the name and pretext of four of captain
Teache' s men, is utterly false, and such as the said
Tobias Knight humbly conceives ought not to be
taken against him, for that they are, though cunningly
couched under the names of Christians, no other than
four negro slaves, who, by the laws and customs of
all America, ought not to be examined as evidence,
neither is their evidence of any validity against any
white person whatsoever; and, further, that the said
negroes, at the time of their giving the pretended evi-
dence aforesaid, as the said Tobias Knight is in-
formed, were upon trial for their own lives, for the
supposed piracies by them committed on board the
said Teache, and that what they did then say was in
APPENDIX. IX
liopes of obtaining money, though they were then
condemned, and since executed, so that, had they
heen ever so lawful evidences, the said Tobias
Knight is debarred from his right and benefit of aa
examination of them. Thirdly, as to tlie deposition
of Wm. Bell,l shall only observe to your honors that
there is nothing in it, that can affect the said Tobias
Knight, save that it is therein cunningly suggested
that Edward Teache was at the said Tobias Knight's
house, the night in which he was robbed, which the
said Tobias Knight lias good reason to believe was
rather an artful and malicious design of those that
drew the said deposition; for, had it been true, it was
impossible to have been within the reach of his know-
ledge, and besides the said Bell, upon his examina-
tion, the day after he was robbed, had in suspicion
one Smith Undy, Tetery Dick, and others, and
hath since the date of that deposition, viz: on or
about tlie 25th of April last past, declared, that he
doth verily believe, that the said Teache was not at
that time at the said Tobias Knight's house, for the
truth of which, the said Tobias Knight doth humbly
refer to the examination and deposition of Mr. Ed-
mund Chamberlain. Fourthly, as to the pretended
evidence of captain Ellis Brand, the said Tobias
Knight doth liumbly conceive the same ought not to
affect him; for had it been true, it should, and ought
to have, been upon oath, which it is not, though the
said Tobias Knight doth, in the most solemn manner,
aver that the said pretended evidence is every word
false^ and that the said Brand never did, at any
time, speak one word, or mention to the said Knight,
in any manner whatsoever, touching or concerning
2*
X APPEMDIX.
the sugBr mentioned in the said evidence, before the
said Knight first mentioned it to him, neither was
the said sugar ever denied by the said Tobias Knight
to be in his custody, for the truth of which he humbly
refers to the honorable the governor; but further saith
that, when the said Tobias Knight was aj prised , that
the said Brand had been informed, thai the said sugar
had been connivingly put on shore for the said
Knight's use, and that there might be found in his
custody several things of value, belonging to the said
Teache, and that the said Brand did intend to send
his people to search his, the said Knight's house, he
did then speak himself to the said Brand, and did
acquaint him truly how, and for what reason, the said
sugar was there lodged, viz: at the request of the
said Teache, only, till a more convenient store could
be procured, by the governor, for the whole, with
assurance that the said Tobias Knight never did
present any claim or right to any part thereof, and
did, also, at the same time desire the said Brand, if
he had any other information against him, he would
be so civil as either to come himself, or send his secre-
tary, to his house, and every lock in his said house
should be opened to him, to which he only replied,
that, though he had some spiteful things insinuated to
him by evil minded persons, whose names he need
not mention, intimating Mr. Maurice Moore, Jere--
miah Vail, and others of that family, yet he had more
honor than to do any such thing; for, that, ever since
his coming into this government, he had found nothing
in the said Tobias Knight, but a great deal of readi-
nesss to assist him in the service of the crown, very
much becoming a gentleman, and one in his post,
APPENDIX. XI
which character he should give of him in Virginia, in
opposition to all the false and malicious stories diere
suggested against him, or words to the same effect.
Fifddy, as to the letter, that was said lo he found, of
the said Tobias Knight's writing, on board the said
Teache's sloop, the said Knight doth believe to be
true, for that he did write such a letter, by the go-
vernor's orders; he having advised him by letter that
he had some earnest business with the said Teache;
but he doth utterly deny that there was any evil intent
in writing the said letter, but that he did verily believe,
at the same time, that the said Teache was as free a
subject of our lord the king, as any person in the go-
%^ernment; and the said Tobias Knight doth further
say, in his own justification, that when the said
Teache and his crew first came into this government
and surrendered themselves, pursuant to his majesty's
proclamation of indemnity, the said Tobias Knight
then was, and for a long time had been, confined to
his bed by sickness, and that during his whole stay in
this government he never was able to go from his
plantation, nor did either the said Teache, or any of
his crew, frequent the said Knight's house, unless
when they had business at his office, as secretary or
collector of the king's customs; neither did the ^aid
Tobias Knight^ nor any of his ftimily, contract any
acquaintance with the said Teache, or any of his
crcAv, nor did deal, buy or sell any with, or of, any of
them, during their whole stay, save only two negro
slayes, which die said Knight purchased from two
men, who had received dieir pardons, and since are
gone lawfully out of this government, and still continue
In their s/ood allesiancc. and the said Tobias Kti'is^ht
Xir APPENDIX.
doth aver for a truth, that from the time the saitJ
Teaclie took his departure from this government,
bound to St. Thomas's, he did never see the said
Teache, or any of his people, until on or about the
24th of September last past; when he came and re-
ported to the governor, that he had brought a wreck
into this government, and particularly, that the said
Teache was not, to the said Knight's knowledge, nor
to' the knowledge of any of his family, at or near his
, house, on or about the 14tli day of September last
past, as is most falsely suggested in the aforesaid evi-
dence, given against him in Virginia; for the truth
whereof, he refers himself to the examination and
deposition of Mr. Edmund Chamberlain, aforesaid.
All of which is most humbly submitted by your
honors most dutiful and most obedient servant.
T. KNIGHT,
Then, Mr. Edmund Chamberlain was examined,
and his deposition was read and sworn to before this
board, in the following words:
North Carolina, ss.
The deposition of Edmund Chamberlain, gent.
taken upon his examination before the honorable the
governor and council, at a council board, holden at
Chowan, ihe 27th day of May, 1719, who being sworn
on the the Holy Evangelist, saith: that he, this depo-
nent, hath been for some considerable time past, viz:
ever since the latter end of August last past, to this
time, a resident at tlie house of Tobias Knight, esq. in
Bath county, and that particularly on or about the 14th
of September last past, and for several days before
, APPENDIX. XUl
and since, he never was absent from the said Tobias
Knight's house, either by night or by day, nor was
there any passages or occurrences, as this deponent;
verily beheves, kept a secret or unknown to him, and
further, saith that this deponent did never see captain
Edward Teach e, nor any of his crew ; neither was any
of them to his knowledge at the said Tobias Knight's
house, either by night or by day, until on or about the
24th day of the said last September, when, as this de-
ponent is informed, he came up to the governor, and
reported to him, that he had brought a wreck into this
government; and diis deponent doth verily believe
that if the said Teache, or any of his crew, had come
to the spjd Tobias Knight's, at any time, either by
night or by day, before that time, and especially on or
about the 14th of September, the said deponent must
and should have seen them ; because, at that time,
there was an alarm of the heathens falling upon us,
and this deponent was, at that time, and upon that
account, very watchful, and apprehensive of every
thing that stirred about the house, and the said Tobias
Knight was also, at that time, in saill a state of healthy
that this deponent verily believes he could not possibly
have gone out of his house, to have had such commu-
nication with any person, as in the said pretended
evidence is suggested, without manifcvSt danger and
hazard of his life ; neither doth die deponent believe it
was possible for the said Tobias Knight to have had
such communication with any person, either within
or without his said house, widiout his knowledge, for
that his lodging room was so near to this deponent's,
that he must have known diereof ; and this deponeiii
further saith, that he was at the said Tobias Knidit's
XIV APPENDIX.
house, on the 14lhof September, when William Bell
came and complained that he was robbed, and desired
a hue and cry from the said Tobias Knight, and heard
the said Tobias Knight examine the said Beli, whether
he could describe the persons to him that robbed him ;
to which the said Bell said be could not, but said he
did violendy suspect one Thomas Undy and one Ri-
chard Snelling, commonly called Tettery Dick, to be
two of them, and the others to be negroes, or white
men disguised as such. Some time afterwards, he
came again to the said Tobias Knight's, and had in
suspicion one William Smith, and others: and this
deponent further saith, that he never did see, or know
of any presents, of any kind, to the said Tobias Knight,
nor any of his family, from the said Teache, nor any
of his crew, since his being at'the said Tobias Knight's
house, save only one gun, of about forty shillings value :
and this deponent further saith, that some time, on or
about the 25th of April last, he, the deponent had dis-
course with William Bell, of Currituck, merchant,
concerning his being robbed of some money and
goods, in Pamlico river, on or about the 14th day of
September last, by captain Edward Teache, and
among other things, he, the deponent, did ask the
said Bell whether he thought the said Teache was at
the said Tof^ias Knight's house the night he was
robbed, or whether he thought he knew any thing of
it, to which the said Bell replied, that the said Tobias
Knight was a very civil gendeman, and his wife a very
civil gentlewoman, and he did not think, or believe,
that the said Teache was there, or that he knew auy
thing of the matter, or words to that effect.
ED3IUND CHAMBERLAIN.
APPENDIX. ' XV
And this board having taken the whole into consi-
deration, and it appearing to them, that the four
evidences, called by the names of James Blake, Ri-
chard Stiles, James White and Thomas Gates, were
actually no other than, four negro slaves, and since
executed, as in the remonstrance is set forth, and that
the other evidences, so far as they relate to the said
Tobias Knight, are false and malicious, and that he
hath behaved himself in that, and all other affairs
wherein he hath been intrusted, as became a good
and faithful officer; and, thereupon, it is the opinion
of this board, that he is not guilty, and ought to be
acquitted of the said crimes, and every of them, laid
to his charge as aforesaid.
A journal of the proceedings of the commissioners
for running the boundary Hne between Carohna
and Vircfinia.
The boundary betwixt the two governments ha-
ving been long contested, it being uncertain what was
meant by Currituck river, or gullet, in the king's
charter, and many disputing which was Wyanoke
creek, the line being to begin at the north end of Cur-*
ratuck river or gullet, but there was no river known
by that name; Curratuck being a large bay, extending
northw^ardly and southwardly of the inlet, and the
north end of it, above a dozen miles to the northward
of the inlet, where the line ought to have begun, if by
the river, or gullet, was meant the bay; but that not
having been duly insisted on, the inlet in time began to
he reputed the boundary, and the north-west river, and
channel up to it, were acquiesced in as the natural
bounds, which left all Nott's island in Virginia, to the
southward of the inlet; but the governor of Virginia
afterwards granted patents to the southward of the said
river, when they thought it was to the northward of a
Avest line from the inlet, viz: towards the head of the
river, up to the dismal or great Pocoson, on the west
of which Pocoson the bounds remaining unfixed, and
great debates being about Wyanoke creek, to which
the line was to run, the government of Virginia pre-
tending it was a creek, since called Wiccons, and
Carolina claiming it to be a place called Nottaway.
APPENDIX. XVIf
Commissioners were appointe 1 by both governments
to settle the matter; and depositions were taken, on
both sides, concerning the Wyonoke Jndians, who, at
different times, lived in both places, but no satisfaction
being that way obtained, and the observations made to
find the latitude differing as widely, the Virginia
commissioners making the latitude of Wiccons to be
in 36 deg. 40 min. and Nottaway to be in 37deg. or "
37 deg. 16 min.; this egregious error, (as it is since
denrionstrated to be) broke off the conference not
without some warmth, and undue reflections made
on it by Virgi^iia; and some time after the two go-
vernors, viz: colonel Spotswood, lieutenant governor
of Virginia, and colonel Eden, governor of Carolina,
had an interview upon it, meeting at Nansemond, and
agreed on certain pr >po3als about the boundaries
which were interchangeably signed.
That from the mouth of Currituck river, or inlet,
and setting the compass on the norih shore thereof, a
due west line be run, and fairly marked, and if it hap-
pen to cut Chowan river, between the mouth of Not-
toway river and Wiccon's creek, then shall the same
direct course be continued towards the mountains,
and be ever deemed the dividing line between Vir-
ginia and Carolina. That if the said west line cuts
Chowan river to the southward of Wiccon's creek,
then, from that point of iiHerseciion, the hounds shall
be allowed to continue up the middle of e^aid Chowan
river to the middle of the entrance into the said
Wiccon's creek, and from thence a due west line sludl
divide the two governments. TJrat, if the said west
lino cuts Black water river to ibe northward ol
3# . '
XVIII APPENDIX.
Natioway river, then, from tliat point of interseciioii,
the bounds shall he allowed to continue down the
middle of said Black water river, to the middle of
the entrance into the said Nottaway river, and from
thence a due west line shall divide the said two go-
vernments.
That if a due west line shall be found to pass
through islands, or to cut out slips of land, which
might much more conveniently be included in the
one province than the other, by natural water bounds^
in such cases, the persons appointed for running the
lines shall have power to settle natural bounds: Pro-
vided, the commissioners on both sides agree thereto,
and that all variations from the west line be punctually
noted in the maps or plats which they shall return,
to be put upon the records of both governments.
On the last of February, 1729, the commissioners
set off, and met the Virginia commissioners at Cur-
rituck, the fifth day of March, at the inlet, but some of
ihem being delayed by the weather, nothing was done
that day. At night the variation was taken by the
north star, viz: when the north star and the fourth in
the great bear came on the meridian together, or on
a perpendicular, which was done by a line hanging
perpendicular from the end of a pole, and a moveable
light, at some distance on the ground, to range at the
same lime in the line; and afterwards that light re-
maining fixed, and the perpendicular line set by the
compass and the variance of that from the needle, i^
the variation which was found, about 3 degrees, and
the sun's altitude the next morning made it much the
same ; and so again, when the north star was observed
APPENDIX. XIX
the second night, so that it was agreed on to he the
variation of the compass. The latitude, too, was
observed, and foun9 to he about 36 degrees and 31
minutes.
There was also a debate, at this conference, about
the first station to set out from. The place being a
little altered since the proposals were made, deposi-
tions were taken of the neighboring people. Thursday,
March 7, a cedar post was fixed in the sand, on tbe
north side of the inlet, for the first station, and a due
west line set out with, viz: by ilie compass No. 87,
west, and that day the line was run as far as Nott's
island, about twenty rods to the northward of Wicker's
house, and so across the island to the marsh, leaving
about tbree hundred and fifty acres of upland of the
island in Vu'ginia, and two families; the rest of the
island taken into Carolina, which is about five miles
long, and also Jones, joining to it, which contains
about two thousand acres and about half a score of
families, tliercby taken into Carolina, that before were
in Virginia.
On the 8th of March, the line was run from Nott'S
island through the marsh and a part of Back bay, to
the main, leavinor a JiiiJe of tlie marsh to the north-
"\vard; but the greatest part taken into Carolina, of
wbich, dioui;b some thousands acres partiaiivsurvevcd,
as could be learned only some by captain AVhite, and
abotit five hundred and forty acres by Mr. Morse. The
main end is a point of land, made by Back bay and
North river^ about a mile and a half over, and was
cut by the litie near two miles from the e?)d of the
point, leaving a()out five or six fatnilics to the south-
ward (hat \\:u] been reputed Virginians.
/
XX APPENDIX. /
On the 9th of March, the hne was continued across
the point of Princess Anne county, striking North
river to the northward of Riclrard Eisland's house,
crossed the river and a great body of marsh, to die
upland, near three miles to the northward of the
mouthof Northwest river, which had been the reputed
boundary.
On Sunday, March 10th, we rested at our camp at
Marchand's plantation.
On the 11th, the line was continued to Northwest
river, at the mouth of a small creek, running east-
wardly towards Notham's house, being about a mile
to the northward of Moyok creek, taking into Caro-
lina, between North river and where it cutsNordiwest
river, about five or six thousand acres of land taken up,
besides quantities of marsh and other land^ including
three thousand one hundred acres formerly belonging
to governor Gibbs, now said to belong to the honora-
ble Mr. Bladen, one of the lords of trade, there being
five or six families in that space taken from Virginia.
On the 12tli, the line w^as run from Northwest river,
two Iiundred and thirteen chains, to a stooping red
oak, by a path side that leads from Jolm Monk's to
Henry Bright's, being about tw^enty miles from the
inlet, the line running about three quarters of a mile
to the southward of a bridge of Northwest river, leav-
ing about four or five poor families and small tracts
of land in Virginia that before were reputed in Caro-
lina, this being the first land that Virginia gained.
On the 13th, the line was continued to the edge of
the Great or Dismal swamp, two hundred and seventy-
eight chains, being about twenty-three miles and a
APPENDIX. ^XXI
Tialf from sea; the line this day running a few rods to
southward of Richard Bellamy, sen.'s, leaving Henry
Everidge to the southward of William Bellamy to the
northward and Richard Lenton to the southward;
and only three Carolina families were this day left
into Virginia, though they all had but one tract of six
hundred and forty acres of land among them ; a few
families, to the southward of Northwest river, were
left in Virginia, who had Virginia patents before, and
belonged tliereto.
On the 14th, the line entered the Dismal, and it was
the 28th before it was finished, though being found
to be only about fifteen miles through in a direct
coarse, and came out to the nordiward of Coreapeck
swamp, greatly to the disappointment of the Virginians
and to the great satisfaction of Carolina.
On the 29th, the line was run near the main road
that leads from Perquimans to the White marsh, in
Virginia, cutting the said road about seven or eight
miles to the northward of captain Speight's, and a
marked post was put up by the road.
On the 30th, the line was run five hundred and
fifteen chains, nejir to Richard Parker's, whose house
was left about one hundred rods to the southward.
On the 1st of April, the line was run nine hundred
and thirteen chains, to Sommerton creek, cutting
Sommerton road about a mile and a half to the so'.nh-
ward of die Capple and Meherring ferry road, near
William Speight's, whose plantation was split by the
line, marked posts being put up on the main roads
where the line crosses them.
On the 2d, the line was run seventy-two chains and
a half, to Biackwater river, cutting the said river above
XXII APPENDIX.
the mouth of Nottaway, going south on a straight line
forty-four chains; and ihehne was continued this day
to the upland from Nortavvay river to an Indian old
field. It now appeared how the government of Vir-
ginia had heen mistaken, and how exceedingly their
former commissioners and surveyors had erred in
their reports and observations from the Great or Dis-
mal swamp to Blackvvater river, being twenty-one
miles and a half that were taken by the line into Caro-
lina, a very great quantity of land, and a number of
families that before had beenunder Virginia, of which
the time would not admit to take an exact account,
but computed to above one hundred thousand acres,
and above three hundred titheables.
On the 3d, the variation was observed in the night,
and found to be here 2 1-2, so the line was run by
the compass north 87 degrees 30 minutes west, and
continued one thousand and twenty-two chains this
day, to the side of Meherring river, being above a
quarter of a mile to the northward of the line run
formerly by colonel Allen, by order of the govern-
ment of Virginia, which was done without allowinij
for the variation of the compass, by which means
some lands and two or three families were this day
taken into Carolina from Virginia.
On the 4th, a conference of the commissioners was
held, and it was proposed by those of Virginia, that,
as the hot weather and the season for snakes and ver-
min, were about commencing, a continuation of the
service might be dangerous: desiring the opinion of
the commissioners, whether it would not be better to
defer the finishing of the line till the fall. It was
answered bv the commissioners of Carolina, that thev
APPENDIX. XXIII
would be governed in it by ibe gentlemen commis-
sioners of Virginia, being willing to proceed if they
would; but if they thought fit to defer it to the fall, it
was submitted to. After some debate, it was agreed
on to defer the matter until the fall for finishing the
line, and the commissioners on both sides agreed to
meet again on the 10th of September following, only
this day to run the line to some better place to leave
off at; and accordingly the line was continued, cross-
ing the river Meherring three times, to a red oak on
the west side thereof, about a mile above Mrs. Kin-
chen's, at whose house the commissioners broke up.
Succinct history of the settienitnt of the Unitas
Fratrvm^ or the United Brethren, in North
Carolina.
The Unitas Fratrwn,, or the Protestant Episcopal
Church of the United Brethren, commonly called
Moravians, made the beginning of its settlement in
North Carolina in the year 1753.
In the year 1735, some members of this church
came from Europe, to settle in Georgia, on a piece of
land, which was granted unto count Zinzendorf by
the trustees of this province, for a settlement of the
United Brethren. One of the principal motives for
accepting this ofTer, was the hope, that thereby a way
might be opened for the preaching of the gospel to the
Indians, especially to the Creeks and Cherokees.
The first colony of brethren arrived in Georgia, in
the spring of the year 1735, and received in the sum-
mer of the same year a considerable increase. They
built a large house in the town of Savannah, and made
a settlement in the country. God so blessed their
industry, that in three years they were able to pay off
all the money advanced to them. They likewise erect-
ed a school house for the children of the Creek In-
dians, on the river Savannah, four miles above the
town. Many Indians, and with them their king, Tomo
Tschatchi, came io see the brethren, and to liear the
^^ospel, or, as they expressed it, the great word.
APPENDIX. XXV
There was a fine prospect, that this settlement of
the brethren would prosper, and they would find en-
trance with the gospel anriong the Indians, and be
blessed with success in the instruction of their chil-
dren, as some of them had already learned to read
English pretty well, and began to write; but, as a
war broke out bet^^eea the British and the Spaniards,
in 1737, and was renewed in 1739, the brethren,
who were conscientiously scrupulous to take arms,
were forced to do it, contrary to the promise made
unto them, of being exempted from persohal military
service, they sa\> themselves necessitated to abandon
their well cultivated land and houses, and remove,
after having defrayed all the expenses incurred on
their account, in 1738 and 1740, to Pennsylvania;
where they began the settlements at Bethlehem and
Nazareth, and likewise missions among the Indians in
different parts of Pennsylvania and New- York. God
blessed their libor among these savages, in so emi-
nent a manner, that by his grace many of them turned
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God, and received forgiveness of sin and inherit-
ance among those that are sanctified by faith in Jesus.
The various oppressions which the brethren and
their missionaries among the heathen, had to endure,
by ill disposed persons and other circumstances, gave
occasion to the negotiations of tlie Unitas Fratruni
with the British parliament. The result of them Was,
that after a strict examination into the origin and tlie
present state of the brethren's church, the Unitns
Fratrum or United Brethren, wore declared by a
public act of the parliament of Great Britain, to wiiich
4^
XXVI APPENDIX.
the royal assent was given the 12ih May, 1749^311(1
which is entitled '•• an act for encouraging the people
known by the name of Unitas Fratrvm or United
Brethren, to settle his majesty's colonies in America,"
to be an ancient Protestant Episcopal church ; that
those who were settled in his majesty's colonies in
America, had demeaned themselves there as a sober,
quiet and industrious people, and that they shall be
indulged with full liberty of conscience, and be ex-
empted from personal military service for a reasona-
ble compensation, and be permitted, instead of taking
an oath; in cases where the laws require it, to make a
solemn affirmation or declaration.
While these negotiations with the British parlia-
ment were pending, several lords and gentlemen be-
came more intimately acquainted with the brethren,
and made offers unto them of settlements on the con-
tinent of America and on the islands. Among all
these offers, none came to effect but the purchase of
a hundred thousand acres of land in North CaroHna,
in the territory of the earl of Granville,^ the president
of the privy council. The view of this colony was^
to give to such of the brethren's church and others
as should desire it, an opportunity of setding at a
cheap rate^ in a country as yet but little cultivated, to
serve both in a temporal and spiritual sense the inha-
bitants, who were already setded there, and who
should setde in their neighborhood, and to preach the
gospel to them as well as to the Cherokees, Creeks
and other Indians. The purchase of the land was
made in the year 1751. August Gotdieb Spangcn-
berg, one of the bishops oixh^Uniias Fratrum^ who
APPENDIX. XXVII
then resided at Bethlehem, and had the superitend-
ence of all the setdements and missions of the bre-
thren in Pennsylvania, was commissioned to go with
some brethren to North Carolina, in order to seek
out, and survey the land. They departed in August,
1752, from Bethlehem for Edenion, and from thence
with Mr. Churton, the general surveyor, to the head
waters of the rivers Catawba, New river and Yadkin,
where they spent several months before they could ob«
tain their aim ; during which time they suffered much
by sickness, cold and hunger, till ihe end of the
month of December. After having surveyed several
small pieces of land on Catawba and New rivers,
and at the Mulberry fields, on the Yadkin, they were
led by the good hand of the Lord to a large tract of
land on the east side of the Yadkin, full of springs,
rivulets and creeks, well timbered, and, for the greatest
part, good for agriculture and raising catde.
Bishop Spangenberg and the other brethren re-
turned in January, 1753, to Bethlehem, having finish-
ed the survey of 73,037 acres, in fourteen numbers:
to these, an additional survey was made by Mr. Chur-
ton, of 25,9 18 acres, in five numbers, in the same
tract; making the total sum of 98,925 acres.
In conformity to an agreement made heretofore,
between the right honorable John, earl of Granville,
lord president of his majesty's most honorable privy
council, sole proprietor of a certain district, territory
or parcel of land, lying in the province of North Caro-
lina, in America, on one part, and the count Zinzen-
dorf, lord advocate, chancellor and agent of die IJnitas
Fratriim^ or United Brethren, on their behalf, on the
XXVIII APPENDIX.
Other part; the aforesaid tract of land, in considera-
tion of a certain sum of money to him, the said John,
earl Granville, to be paid, was granted and conveyed
to Jamts Huiton, gentleman, secretary of the Unilas
Fratrnm^ or United Brethren, his heirs and assigns, in
trust and for the use, benefit and behoof of the said
TJnitas Frntrum^ to be set out and surveyed in con-
venient tracts and parcels, according to the option and
direction of such person or persons, as should be em-
ployed for that purpose by the lord advocate, chancellor
and agent aforesaid, to hold the same to the said
James Hutton, his heirs and assigns, at and under a
yearly rent to be annually paid to the said John, earl
Granville, his heirs or assigns, &.c.
The general deed for the whole tract was sealed
and signed the 7th August, 1753. Besides it, nine-
teen special deeds were made for each number of the
said tract. As count Zinzendorf had also the tide of
lord of the valley Wachau, in Austria, the aforesaid
tract of 98,985 acres, was named Wachau, or
Wachovia.
In order to facilitate the improvement of the land,
to furnish a part of the purchase money, and to defray
the transport, journey and other expenses of the first
colonists, a society was formed, under the name of
Tlie Wachoma Society^ consisting of members of
the brethren's church and other friends. The di-
rectors of it were bishop Spangenberg and Cornelius
Van Laer, a gendeman residing in Holland. The
members of it, who were about twenty, received in
consideration for the money which they advanced,
two thousand acres of the land. This society was
APPENDIX. XXIX
again dissolved, in the year 1763, having proved very
beneficial, and answered the intended purpose. In
the autumn of the year 1753, the first colonists, twelve
single brethren,"^ or unmarried men, came from Beth-
lehem to settle upon the land. They had a waggon,
six horses, cattle, and the necessary household furni-
ture and utensils for husbandry with them. After a
very tedious and fatiguing journey, by way of Win-
chester, Evan's Gap and Upper Sauratown, on which
they spent six weeks, they arrived on the land the 17th
of November, and took possession of it. A small de-
serted cabin, which they found near the Mill creek,
served them for a shelter, or dwelling house, the first
winter.! They imediately began to clear some acres
of land, and to sow it with wheat. In the year 1754,
seven new colonists, likewise single brethren, came
from Bethlehem. It was resolved, that on the same
spot, where the first setders had made already a small
improvement, a town should be built, which was named
Betliahara^ (the house of passage) as it was meant
only for a place of sojourning for a time, till the prin-
cipal town, in the middle of the whole tract, could be
built, at a convenient time. Bishop Bohler, who was
here on a visit from Bethlehem, laid, on the 26th of
November the corner stone for the first house in this
* Their names are : The reverend Rernhard Adam Griibe.
minister, Jacob Lash, warden, Hans Martin Kalberlahn, sur-
geon, Jacob Pfeil, shoemaker, Erich Ingelretsen and Henry
Feldhousen, carpenters, Hans Petersen, taylor, Christoph
Merkle, baker, Herrman Lash, miller, Jacob Lung, John Bcroth
and John Lisher, farmers.
t On the spot where this cabin stood a monument was erected
in the year ISOG, with the inscription, Wachovia sctilcm'iifj begun
the, nth November y 1753.
XXX APPENDIX.
town, which was appointed for a church and dwelling
house of the single brethren, with prayer and suppli-
cation to our Lord, that he might prosper the work.
He likew^ise examined more accurately the greatest
part of the Wachovia tract, divided it into proper parts
for improvement, and gave names to several creeks,
which are yet sometimes used, and are to be found in
deeds and pubHc records.
The Millcreek^ on which Bethabara, or Old town,
is buih, was called Johanna^ the Muddy creek, or
Gargales, on which Bethany was afterwai^ds built
Dorothy^ the Middlefork, on which now Salem, the
principal town, stands, Wacli^ and the Southfork,
which waters the Fried berg and Friedland settlements.
Ens. In the year 1755, a mill was began to be built,
on Mill creek, near Bethabara, which proved a great
benefit to the setdement, and the circumjacent country,
as more inhabitants soon settled in the neighborhood.
In the month of May, bishop David Nitschmann came
on a visit from Bethlehem, and on the 11th of the same
month, the first meeting house was consecrated, which
solemn transaction was attended with a gracious feel-
ing of the divine presence. Many travellers and
neighbors have heard afterwards, in this house, the
word of life, with joy and gratitude. The physician,
or surgeon, soon acquired an extensive practice, which
was a great benefit to this infant settlement, in ihe
autumn of the same year, Wachovia was declared by
an act of assembly a separate parish, and after the
name of their governor, called Dobb^s parish. The
reverend Christopher Thomas Benzien, from Bethle-
hem, was commissioned to transact this business with
APPENDIX. XXXI
the assembly. This regulation lasted to the year 1756.
The reverend Mr. Jacob Rodgers, who canie in the
year, 1758 from England, was the first minister, or
rector, of Dobb's parish. His ministry, as the preach-
ing of the gospel by the brethren in general, was at-
tended with great blessing to many hearers in the
different places, on Muddy creek, Southfork, ^c.
where they used to preach, and particularly to a great
number of people, who, on account of the war widi
the Shawanoes and Delaware Indians, in 1756, and
the following years, sought, and found, refuge with the
brethren. The latter enclosed their town, Beihabara,
and the adjacent mill, near which some of the fugitives
built houses, with pallisadoes. As there was at the
same time a great scarcity of corn in North Carolina
and Virginia ; for the crop of Indian corn, which is
the chief support of the inhabitants, had failed, the
brethren, who had reaped a great quantity of wheat
and rye, were enabled to supply the wants, not only
of these fugitives, but also of many other people.
In the year 1758, the Cherokees and Catawbas, who
went to war against the Indians on the Ohio, often
marched through Bethabara, in large companies,
sometimes seyeral hundreds at once, and the brethren
were obliged to find thom quarters and provisions for
several days. The Cherokees were much pleased
with the treatment which they met, and gave to their
nation the following description of Bethabara: The
Dutch fort ^ where there are good people and much
bread.
As several of the fugitives, who had constantly at*
tended the preaching of the gospel, and felt the power
XXXII APPENDIX.
of it, asked leave of the brethren to stay with them
and to setde on their land, it was resolved in the year
1 759, when bishop Spangenberg and the reverend Mr-
John Ettwein, from Bethlehem, were present, to lay
out another town, three miles to the north from Beth-
abara, on Muddy creek, in the northwest corner of
Wachovia tract. This was done in the month of July,
and two thousand five hundred acres of land assigned
to the town lot, which the inhabitants of the town
should hold for a certain yearly rent, after three years
rent free, for the first settlers. The town was called
Bethany, it was laid out into thirty lots, fifteen of
which in the upper part were assigned to the fugitives,
and fifteen in the lower town were appointed for such
families in Bethabara, (which setdement of late had
received an increase often families from Bethlehem,)
who might be inclined to begin husbandry and house-
keeping for themselves; for, hitherto, everything at
Bethabara had been done and laid out for the common
good, as was the case in Bethlehem, in the first be-
sinnino: of (hat setdement. Bethabara was visited in
the autumn of 1759, with an epidemical disorder, of
which eleven persons died, and among them the Ger-
man minister of the place, the reverend Christian
Seidel, and the surgeon, Mr. JTilberlahn.
In the year 1780, the devastations and cruelties of
the Cherokees, who had now joined the northern In-
dians in the war against the white people, put the inha-
bitants of Bethabara and Bethany under the necessity
of being day and night continually upon their guard.
Hostile Indians came often very near their towns, with
an intention t» destrov them, and to kill the inhabitants
APPENDIX. 3;X|C1U
or making ihem prisoners, but never ventured to make
an attack. Often times, they were frightened by the
ringing of the beli for meeting at church, which meet-
ings tiie brethren in both places kept regularly on
Sundays, and every evening in the w^eek. Many sol-
diers, marching against the Indians, attended divine
service in both places. In Bethany, about four hun«
dred were present at it, on Easter Sunday. Besides
the meeting house, ten dwelling houses were, in ApriU
1760, already built and inhabited, in this new town.
When peace was established, in the year 1761,
with the Cherckees, die setdenients increased in the
following yeais in numbers, by new colonists from
Pennsylvania, atxl trade and commerce began to
iiourish. At the end of the year 1765, the number of
inhabitants in Bethabara was 88, and in Bethany 78.
The greatest part in the latter place were farmers, and
in the former tradesmen, as taylors, shoemakers, car-
penters, potters, tanners, milwrights, gunsmiths, 4*^,
In the year 1766, the beginning was made to build
Salern^ the principal setdenient of the Unitas Fratmm
in North Carolina, five miles to the south east from
Bethabara. Hitherto, all the brethren and sisters who
settled in North Carolina, came from Pennsylvania.
But, in this year, the first company, consisting of ten
persons, came from Germany, by way of London and
Charleston. As bishop Spangenberg, who with unre-
mitted zeal and diligence had superintended the affairs
of these sctdements, returned, in the year 1763, to
Europe, Frederick William von Marshall, senior ci-
vilis of the Unitas Fratrum^ wa$ appointed in hi&
place, in the year 1761. He laid out, in 1765, tli^
5
#
XXXIV APPENDIX.
town of Salem, went in 1766 to Europe, to transact
there the necessary business concerning this new set-
tlement, and returned in 1768, with several brethren
and sisters. Jn the conferences, which he had during
his stay in Europe with the elders of the brethren's
unity, it was resolved, that Salem should be built in
the same manner, and have the same regulations as
Herrnhut, Niesky, Bethlehem, and other setdements
of the United Brethren, wherein the unmarried
men and boys, and the unmarried women and girls,
live in separate houses, by themselves. The house
for the unmarried men, or single brethren, was built
in the years 1768 and 1769.
In this and the following years, several families^
chiefly farmers, from different parts of Pennsylvania,
and the province of Maine, in Ne vv -England, settled
on the Wachovia tract, and in the neighborhood of it>
with a desire, that they and their children might be
under the care of the brethren's church, and instructed
by them in their way of life. Most of them were be-
fore in the connexion of the brethren, and had heard
from them the gospel of our salvation through Christ^s
atoning blood and death, with a blessing for their
souls. A part of the German families, who came from
Pennsylvania, settled in the neighborhood of Bethany,
where they attended regularly the meetings on Sunday:
most of them having joined in the following time the
brethren's church. Another part of said German fa-
milies settled on the waters of the Southfork, in the
southwest part of Wachovia. Several of these new,
and some of the old, setders in these parts, to whom
the brethren had preached the gospel, since the ye^x
APPENDIX. XXXV
1758, m the house of Adam Spach, were formed into
a society of the brethren, and put themselves under
their care in spiritual things. A meeting and school
house was buik on a piece of ground, consisting of
seventyseven acres, and consecrated for divine service
on the l*2th March, 1769, This settlement received
the name of Friedberg, Another settlement in the
^outh east part of Wachovia land, on the head waters
of Southfork and on the Middlefork was begun in
1770, by about fourteen German families, who in this
and the year before arrived from Broad bay, now York
county, in Maine, in the state of Massachusetts. The
first company, consisting of six families, was ship-
wrecked on their voyage from Broad bay to Wilming-
ton, in North Carolina, near the island of Roanoke,
but no lives were lost, and most of their goods saved.
They tound for the first, winter quarters and provisions
m Salem, and assisted in building several houses in
the new town. When the second company, consisting
«f eight families, accompanied by their minister, the
reverend Mr. Soelie, arrived, the farm lots of the new
setdement were laid out, in November, 1770, and the
settlement called Friedland, In the middle of it, a lot
of thirty acres was reserved for a meeting and school
house. In the year 1771, the inhabitants in all the
Wachovia settlements, and especially those in Betha-
bara, were in great danger, on account of the regula«
tors, who were very numerous in these parts, and se-
veral times threatened to destroy tiie settlements of the
brethren, as they would not join tliem in their opposi-
tion to government. Governor Tryon, after having
^btainod a complete victory ovoi* them, and re-esta-
SXXVI APPENDIX,
blished order and peace, came with his army to Beth-
abara, to receive the oath of allegiance, and take tiic
arms of all people in the neighborhood, who had op-
posed government. He and his army were highly
gratified by the treatment they met from the brethren,
and by their improven^ientsand progress in agriculture
and the mechanical arts. The brethren, on their part,
acknowledged, with heartfelt gratitude, the mercy of
God, in averting from them all evi! in these perilous^
times, and in strengthening the arm of government for
their protection.
In order to promote the internal and external wel-
fare of the settlements of the brethren in North Caro-
lina in general, and especially to assist in the regula-
tions concerning the principal settlement at Salem,
a deputation arrived this year from Europe, which
was sent in conformity to a resokition, made in ther
general synod of the Unitas Fratriinij which wdts held
in the year 1769, in Marienburg, in Germany. The
deputies were two members of the elders' conference
of the Unitas Fratrum^ Christian Gregor and Joha
Lorez, the first of whom was afterwards consecrated
a bishop, and the latter a senior cimlis of the bre-
thren's church, Ha^s Christian von Schweiniz, Mr.
von Marshall's son in law, one of the directors of the
brethren's settlements in Pennsylvania, also assisted
in this service. They arrived m September, 1771.
from Pennsylvania^ and having finished the work
committed to^ their care, to the satisfaction of all the
brethrea and sisters, to whom this visit gave much joy
and encouragement, they returned in November to
Bethlehem. On the 13th of that month, the eongre*
APPENDIX. XXXVIi
gation and meeting house in Salem, to which the
corner stone had been laid on the 17th April, 1770,
was consecrated.
In the year 1772, several English families, who
lived in Carrolismanor, in Frederick county, Mary-
land, and had been many years in connexion with the
brethren's church, came to North Carolina, and be-
gan a settlement in the southwestern part of Wacho-
via tract, on the waters of Muddy creek. This settle-
ment, which in the following year was increased by
several other families from Maryland, received after-
wards the name of Hope, Anumber of English fami-
lies, living on the Yadkin river and Muddy creek, had
the gospel preached unto them, since the year 1758,
by the Rev. John Ethvein, Rogers, Usley and Soelle,
and other ministers of the brethren's church, at stated
times, in the houses of Christopher EIrod and Isaac
Douthil, whereby they became connected with the
brethren's church, and attended several years the
meetings in Bethabara, Salem and Fried berg. Some
of them became members of the latter congregation,
the meeting house of which being the nearest to them.
As these Ens^lish families had a desire to have the
gospel regularly preached unto them, in their own
language, they, in conjunction with the English fami-
lies arrived from Maryland^ formed themselves into a
society, with the intent to become in time a settled
conorregation of the church of the United Brethren,
and to build a meeting house in the new settlemefif,
wherein divine service might be held, and the holy
sacraments administered unto them in Uieir own lan-
guage. Salem received this year an increase of above
XXXVIll APPENDIX.
sixty persons from Bethabara and Pennsylvania ; and
Fried berg, its settlement and regulations as a congre*
gation of the brethren's church, and the holy commu-
nion was held for the first time in the meeting house,
which had been built in this settlement as early as the
year 1769.
In the year 1773, Wachovia, formerly a part of
Anson, and afterwards of Rowan county, became a
part of Surry county. By and act of assembly, made
in this year, it was confirmed to be a separate parish.
A vestry was elected in April, consisting of twelve-
persons, and two church wardens were appointed.
The Rev. John Michael Grafl^ minister of the congre-
gation in Salem, to whom the Rev. Paul Tiersch,
who came last year from Pennsylvania, was associa-
ted in this office, was on the 6th June consecrated in
Bethlehem, a bishop of the TJnitas Fratrvm, He
ordained, on the 17;h October, in Salem, Ludolph
Gottlieb Bachhoff* and John Jacob Ernst, deacons of
the brethren's church: this was the first act of ordina-
tion performed in Wachovia. The general direction
of all the settlements and congregations of the bre-
thren in North Carolina, was now committed to Fre-
derick William von Marshall, senior chilis^ and John
Michael Graff, ep. for.^ to whom were associated
Paul Tiersch, presbyter, and Richard Usley, deacon.
They had to superintend all the general concerns, as
well internal as external, and to deliberate on them in
conference, under the name of the General Helpers'^
Conference for Wachovia,
The special direction of the three congregations in
Salem, Bethabara and Beihania, was vested in an
APPENDIX. txXlK
elders' conference, consisting of the above named per-
-sons and all the ministers and elders of said congre-
gations, who met regularly once a week in Salem.
Committees, elected by the church members, were
anew appointed in every place to assist the elders'
conference, in keeping good order, and in transacting
the external affairs of their congregations. Similar
committees were afterwards constituted in Friedberg,
Friedland and Hope.
In the years 1774 and 1775, two faithful gospel
ministers entered into the joy of their Lord, viz: the
Rev. Paul Tiersch on the 1 6th October, 1774, and
the Rev. Richard Usley on the 9th October, 1775.
In the beginning of the latter, Frederick William von
Marshall went to Europe, accompanied by his wife,
and attended the general synod of the Unitas Fra-
trum in Barbey, m Saxony, as senior civilis and de-
puty of all the brethren's congregations in North
Carolina. He took his way through South Carolina
and Georgia, and visited the missionary settlement of
the brethren, which in the preceding year had been
commenced on general Habersham's estate, in Geor-
gia, for the conversion of the negroes, and conducted
unto the missionaries an assistant from Salem.
During the revolutionary war, which commenced
in 1776, the settlements of the brethren in North
Carolina, suffered great hardships and losses, but ex-
perienced at the same time many signal proofs of the
gracious providence and powerful protection of the
Lord, to whom alone they ascribed their preservation
in these perilous times, and who inclined the hearts of
superior and inferior magistrates, and ofTicers of the
XL APPtNDIX.
armies on both sides, to interpose in their favor, often-
times when they found themselves in the greatest dis^
tress and anxiety.
In 1778, several brethren were drafted for military
service in the army, and each of them had to pay
£25 North Carolina currency for a substitute: ill dis-
posed persons took out warrants on the lands of the
brethren. The system of parishes being abolished,
the name of Dobbs' parish ceased of course. In the
new county of Wilkes, the court house was built on a
tract of land on Yadkin river, near the Mulberry
fields, which had been granted in die year 1751 by
lord Granville to Henry Cossart, in trust for the UnU
tas Fratrum^ and on which certain persons had set-
tled without leave. This occasioned in the following
time a law suit, between the Uiiitas Fratrum on one
side, as plaintiffs, and the persons who settled on the
land, as defendants.
In January, 1779, the Rev. Gottfried Prsezel and
Christian Heckweelder, were sent to the general as-
sembly, then sitting at Halifax, with a petition, signed
by the greatest part of the brethren in Salem, Betha-
bara, Bethania and Fried berg, praying to be exempted
from taking the oath of abjuration, and for protection
in the quiet possession of their land, as several persons
had entered in the new established land office several
parts of the Wachovia lands, and even the town lots of
Salem, Bethabara and Bethania. Upon this petition,
the general assembly made a law, that the brethren, if
they should take the affirmation of allegiance and
fidelity to the state of Carolina, and the United States,
should remain in the quiet possession of their proper-
APPENDIX. XLi
ty, and be exempted from all personal military duties^
provided they pay a triple tax. In conformity to this
law, the brethren took the affirmation of allegiance
and fidelity before a justice of the peace, and remain-
ed from tliat time undisturbed in the possession of
their property, and of those privileges granted unto
them by the before mentioned act of the British
parliament and the assembly of this state.
A troop of light horse, belonging to general Pu-
laski's corps, were quartered in May of the same
year, several days in Salem, and attended public wor-
ship, with great satisfaction. Their deportment was
very civil, and they paid all their expenses. As one
of them had lately recovered from the small pox, the
town of Salem was infected, and forty persons got the
disorder, of whom two died. Frederick William von
Marshall returned, with his wife, from Europe, after
an absence of nearly five years, being there so long
detained on account of the war. They made the voy-
age from London to New- York in company with
bishop John Frederick Reichel, a member of the
Unity's elder's conference, who was deputed by it to
hold a visitation of all the brethren's setdements and
congregations in the United States of America, and
arrived, with his wife, in Salem, in June 1780, with
some assistants for the service of the congreorations in
North Carolina. During his stay, fiom the 15th June
to the 5th October, he published the resolutions of the
last general synod of the Unitas Fratrum^ which was
held in Barby, in 1755, made the necessary regulations
in conformity to them, ordained three deacons, bap-
tised several adult persons, and strenfflhened the con-
Xm APPENDIX.
gregations and iheir divisions according to the different
ages and sexes, by his pubHc and private discourses to
them, in faith, love and hope, Tlte Lord blessed his
labor in a particular manner.
On the 20th August, he held the first holy commu-
nion, in Hope^ in the meeting house in this settlement,
which was built in 1779, and this congregation vvas^
now settled and regulated according to the tenets,
rules and rites established in the brethren's church •
The same was done by him in Friedland, on the 4th
September, in which setdement the nreeting house had
been built already, in the vear 1775. These trans-
actions were blessed in borh places with a gracioui^
feelings of the presence of the Lord, and the members
of the new formed congregations pledged themselves
mutually, m a solemn manner, by grace to walk
wordiily their high calling in Christ Jesus, in truth ^
and love. As the legislature of North Carolina had
Fesolved to meet in November, in Salem, the governor^
and several members of both houses, stayed there se-
veral weeks, but.no quorum was formed. These gen-
tlemen were much satisfied with the reception and
treatment which they met. Salem became more
known, and the brethren were regarded as a peace-
able, industrious and benevolent society. In the year
1782, an act was passed by the general assembly of
North Carolina, entitled, "An act to vest in Frederick
William Marshall, esq. of Salem, in Surry county, the
lands of the Uititas Fratrum^ in this state^ for the
use of the said United Brethren, and for other pur-
j>oses."*
* It is as follows: *' Whereas Frederick William Marshall,
e^. of Salem, in Suit^. county, hath made it appear to this
APPENDIX. XLIIZ
On the 29th of August of the same year, bishop
John Michael Graff, entered into eternal rest, and
joy. The ministry of this meek and humble follower
and faithful servant of Christ was blessed by his Lcrrd
in a particular manner to the congregation in Salem,
and to all the brethren's congregation in North Caro-
lina. The 4th of July in the year 1783, being set
apart by the legislature of the state of North Carolina,
as a day of prayer and thanksgiving, on account of the
.<»eneral assembly, that all the tracts of land in this state, be-
longing to the lord advocate, the chancellor and agent of the
Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren, have been transferred to
him from the former possessors, in trust for the Unitas Fratrwrif
x)r United Brethren; and whereas doubts have arisen whether
the said tracts do not come within the description of the con-
fiscation act, and to quiet the minds of (hose to whom convey-
ances have been, or are to be, made, or any part, or parts,
thereof:
" Be it, therefore, enacted, by the general assembly of the
state of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the au*
thority of the same, that a certain deed of Jease and release,
dated the 27th and 28th of October, 1773, from James Hutton,
conveying the tract of Wachovia, in Surry county, be hereby
declared valid in law, and to be admitted to probate in the
county of Surry, and registered in the register's office, agreeable
■to the testimonials thereunto pertaining; and that all land^
which, by a deed of bargain and sale of the 20th April, 1764,
between William Churton and Charles Medcalf, registered in
the county of Orange, in book No. 1, p. 106, and in Rowan
county, in book 8, No. 5, p. 4-52, &c. were then conveyed to
.said Charles Medcalf, be hereby vested in the said Frederick
W. Marshall, in trust as aforesaid, and all conveyances of the
above mentioned lands, or any of them, made, or which shall
be made, by the said Frederick W. Marshall shall be as good
and valid, to all intents and purposes, as if the confiscatiou act
had never passed.
"And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid: that
the power of aftornoy of Christian I'redeiick Cossart, dated
the 3d November, 1772, empowering said P'rederick W. Mar-
shall to sell his lands, be admitted to probate and registry in
the county of Wilkes, and be as good and valid in law, as it
could or might have be^n, bad the act qf conliscation never
passed."
XUV APPENDIX.
treaty of peace and amity between the United States
and Great Britain, was celebrated in a very solemn
inanner in all the brethren's congregations in this
state, with heartfelt gratitude towards the Lord, for
his protecting care and help which they had enjoyed
during the Avar, in hours of dinger and affliction, and
with fervent prayers for the welfare and prosperity of
the United States in general, and the state of North
Carolina in particular, to the glorification of his name,
and the propagation of the Redeemer's kingdom.
On the 31st of January, 1781, the tavern in Salem
took fire by accident, and the whole building was re-
duced to ashes. This, and a similar accident in
Bethabara, where, in December, 1802, the distillery
house was consumed by fire, were the two only cases
of distress by fires in the settlements of the brethren
in North Carolina. Salem received, in the year 1785,
two fire engines from Europe, and a fire regulation
was made in this town. Bishop Johannes von Watte-
wille, a member of the Unity's elders' conference, was
deputed by the synod of the Unilas Fratrum^ held in
the year 1782, in Herrnhut, on a visitation of all the
brethren's congregations in North America, and ar-
rived, with his company, in May, 1784, in Bethlehem-
They had a very tedious and dangerous voyage, and
suflfered shipwreck, on the the rocks on the coast of
the small island of Barbuda, near Antigua. The
reverend Daniel Koehler, appointed minister of the
congregadon in Salem, in the place of the late bishop
Graff, was in his company, and arrived, with his wife,
and some assistants, in the month of October, in
Salem.
APPENDIX. XLV
In the same month of the next year, bishop Jo-
hannes von Watte ^> ille came, with his lady, (daughter
of the late count Zinzendorff,) to Salem, and returned
to Bethlehem in May, 1806. His visitation of this
and the other brethren's congregations in North Ca-
rolina, was attended with a particular blessing of the
Lord. During his stay, the general helper's confer-
ence for the superintendence of all the brethren's con-
gregation in North Carolina, was anew regulated and
the baron Frederick W. von Marshall, John Daniel
Koehler, Godfrey Prsezel and Christopher Lewis Ben-
zien became members of it.
In the year 1787, a society was formed, under the
name of "A society of the United Brethren, for pro-
pagating the gospel among the heathen." The mem-
bers of this society, who reside in Pennsylvania, New-
York, New-Jersey, Rhode Island and Marylam], had
their first general meeting on the 1st November, 1787,
in Bethlehem, end those who reside in North Cai olina,
on the 19th June, 1788, in Salem.
In the synod of the Unitas Fratrum^ which was
held in the year 1789, in Herrnhut, and which the
reverend John Ettwien and Jacob van Vleck attended
as deputies from the brethren's congregations in
Pennsylvania, and the adjacent states, and the reve-
rend Christopher Lewis Benzien, as deputy from the
brethren's congregation in North Carolina, the reve-
rend John Daniel Koehler, minister of the congrega-
tion in Salem, was elected a bishop of the brethren's
church, and consecrated to this office on the 9ih of
May, 1790, in Litiz.
His excellency, general Washington, president of
the United States, honored Saleni; in the year 1791
XLVI APPENDIX.
on his tour through the southern states, with a visit,
where he stayed two days, to the great joy and satis-
faction of all the inhahitants, who paid him their re-
gard in a respectful address, which he answered in an
affectionate manner.
In the year 1792, Salem was afflicted by a malig-
nant fever, of which fourteen persons died, all under
thirty years of age, and whereby, for a time, all inter-
course with the neighborhood was stopped. On the
9th of November, 1800, the consecration of a new
church, in Salem, the corner stone of which was laid
in 1798, was performed, in a very solemn manner.
Most all of the brethren and sisters from the other
setUements of the brethren in Wachovia, and a great
number of neighbors and strangers, attended. All the
transactions were accompanied with a gracious feeling
of the divine presence.
On the 11th February, 1802, Frederick William
von Marshall, senior chilis^ was called into the eter-
nal rest and joy, after a very laborious and useful life,
of eighty-one years, of which he had spent more than
fifty in the service of the Unitas Fratrum, and more
than forty years in the service of the brethren's con-
gregation in North Carolina, with great zeal and faith-
fulness, and under the blessing of the Lord, who
crowned his undertakings with good success. By his
last will, he devised to the reverend Christian Lewis
Benzien the Wachovia and other tracts of land, which
he possessed in trust for the Unitas Fratrum. As
bishop Koehler, who went, with his wife, at the end of
the year 1800, to Europe, and attended the general
synod of the Unitas Fratrum^ which was held in the
year 1801, in Herrnhut, as deputy of the brethren's
APPENDIX. XLVII
congregations in North Carolina, received, in the
synod, another appointment, the reverend Charles
Gottheld Reichel, from Nazareth, in Pennsylvania
was called, in his place, to be minister of the congre-
gation in Salem, and being elected, in said synod, a
bishop of the brethren's church, he was consecrated
to this office on the 6th December, 1801, in Bethlehem.
At the end of May, 1802, became with his family^
and some assistants, to Salem.
In the year 1803, the general direction of the bre-
thren's congregation in North Carolina was committed
by the Unity's elders' conference to the brethren
Charles Gottheld Reichel, Christian Lewis Benzien
and Simon Peter.
On the 17th November of said year, fifty years were
completed since the arrival of the first twelve brethren
from Bethlehem, who began the settlement of Wach-
ovia. On this account, the day was celebrated as a
jubilee by all the brethren's congregations in North
Carolina, whose members met in Salem, and united in
solemn praises and thanksgiving to our gracious Lord
and Saviour, for all the favors and blessings which he
had bestowed, in such a rich measure, during this
period of fifty years, and in fervent prayers and sup-
plications for a new outpouring of the spirit of grace,
love and truth upon each congregation.
From the 25th October, 1806, to the 11th February,
1807, the reverend John Renatus Vcrbeck presb., and
Charles von Forestier, senior civilis, two members of
the Unity 'b elders' conference, were on a visitation in
Salem, and the other brethren's congregations in North
Carolina. The Lord blessed their labor abundantly^
and strengthened thereby the bond of love and union
LX.VIII
APPENDIX.
between the brethren's congregations in America and
Europe, and other parts of the world, in a particular
manner. Having visited all the congregations of
the brethren's church in the United States, and like-
wise the mission settlements at Goshen and Peitquat-
tiiig, in the state of Ohio, and at Fairfield, in Upper
Canada, they returned, in October, 1807, to Europe.
On their voyag«3 from Philadelphia to Hamburg, they
were detained in Eiigland, from whence they went, by
way of Gottenburg and Copenhagen, to Hamburg,
where they arrived at the end of May, 1808, safe and
well, in Berthelsdorf, a village near Herrnhut, in
Upper Lusalia, where at present the elders' conference
of the Unitas Fratntm doth reside.
i;he following table shows the number of persons
under the care of the brethren's church, in each of
their seulements in North Carolina, children included,
at tlie end of every decennium, from the 17th Novem-
ber, 1753, to the 31st December, 1807.
Settlements.
be^un.
1753 176311773 1783
1793|1803 1807
Salem,
1766
132
185 241
290
316
Bethabara,
1753
12
77
54
73
94
81
92
Bethany,
1759
73
108
230
187
293
306
Friedberg,
57
232 280
331
346
Friediand,
32
133
173
135
183
Hope,
•
21
151 170
175
199
Total, I I 12 [150 |404 |1004|1145|1305|1412
The beginning of the first setdement was made on
the 17th November, 1753, with twelve persons:
Increase in the 1st ten years, from 1753 to 1763, 138 persons
1763 " 1773,254
1773 " 1783, 600
a
2d
a
a
<c
3d
i(
u
((
4th
((
u
i(
5th
iC
(C
1783 " 1792, 141
1793 " 1803, 160
a
Increase in fifty years, from 1753 " 1803, 1305 persons
" four years, from 1803 " 1807, 137 "
Increase in fifty-four years, from 1753 '* 1807. 1442 persons
APPENDIX. XLIX
By the church registers, which are kept regularly
in each settlement, it appears, that in the period of
fifty years, from the 17th November, 1753, to the 17th
November, 1803, 1357 births and baptisms of chil-
dren, and 665 deaths, vi^ere entered ; so that the num-
ber of births exceeds that of deaths by 692, which is
more than one half: besides about 1300 births and
baptisms of children, whose parents do not belong to
the brethren's church, are entered during the same
period in the register.
Now follows a description of each settlement.
Salem^ the principal setdement of the United Bre-
thren in North Carolina, is situated in Stokes county,
eighteen miles to the south from Germantown, the
county town, and 110 miles to the south-east from
Raleigh, in 36 deg, 10 min. north lat. and 3 deg. 15
min. Ion. west from Washington. The town was laid
out in 1765, after a regular plan, on a piece of ele-
vated but broken ground, near the Middlefork or
Wach, over which a bridge was built in 1771. The
principal street in it is sixty feet wide, in a direction
from south to nordi, leading from the south-eastern
parts of the state to Virginia. This is intersected by
a street 56 feet in width, from east to west, leading to
the Shallowford of the river Yadkin, which is at a
distance of 18 miles. The other streets are 40
feet wide. Nearly in the centre of the town, is a
s juare, 300 by 170 feet^ surrounded with large catal-
ba, sycamore, poplar and other trees. On the west
side of this square, adjoining the main street, is a neat
brick market house, which was built in 1803, and
wherein also the fire engines of the town are kept in
^ APPENDIX.
a separate apartment. The town lots arc 96 in num-
ber, from 66 to 85 in front, and from 170 to 280 in
depth. Some are larger. The public buildings are:
1. The churchy an elegant brick building, 92 by
45 feet^ on the north-east corner of the square. It was
built in the years 1798 to 1801, and consecrated on
the 9th November, 1801, for divine service^ which is
held noi only on Sundays, but every evening of the
other days, chiefly in the German language. On the
gallery, to the west side in the church, is a beautiful
organ of fourteen stops: it is supposed to be at present
the largest organ in the whole state of North Carolina^
In the steeple, on the west end of the church, is the
town clock, which strikes hours and quarters.
2. The congregation honse^ to the south of the
church, wherein the ministers reside. In the upper
story was the first meeting hall of die congregation at
Salem, which is now used for children's and other
private meetings. The house was built in 1771.
3. The single brethren"^ s house ^ on the west side of
the square, opposite the congregation house, wherein
the large boys and unmarried men live and board-
The northern part of this spacious house, which in
front is two, and the back three stories high, was built
in 1768, and the southern part, wherein apartments
are for dining and sleeping, and for family worship,
in 1786.
4 The smgle sisters'* house^ on the east side of
the square, was built in 1785. The regulations
are the same as in the single brethren's house. Some
of the unmarried women and girls, who live and
board in this house, get their livelihood by needle*
APPENDIX. ' LI
work, spinning, <Slc. The greater part of them are,
in tlie day time, employed in the famihes with washing
and other work.
5. The school house for the hoys, on the north-
west corner of the square, was built in 1791. The
male children of the inhabitants of the town and of
other members of the congregation, living in the
neigborhood, receive from their sixth to their twelfth
or fourteendi year, instruction in reading and writing
German and English, cyphering, history, geography
and some of tiiem in the rudiments of the Latin lan-
guage, drawing and music.
6. The school house for the girls, on the east side
of the square, between the congregation and single
sisters' houses, a neat and elegant brick building, 62
feet long and 4*2 feet deep, which was erected in the
years 1803 and 1804. In the lower story are, be-
sides a spacious entry, two large and some smaller
apartments. In one of the first, the school for the
female children in town is kept; the other is a dining
room, for the young ladies who board in the house.
In the upper story are three large apartmcBts; in
each of which, from fourteen to sixteen joung ladies
have room to live under the care of two tutoresses; a
fourth apartment in this story, is to accommodate
such as may become sick. Over and above these
rooms, is a large hall, 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and
14 feet high, wherein the young ladies sleep with their
tutoresses. This seminary, which commenced in the
year 1804, is under the direction of the minister and
elders of the congregation in Salem, and under the-
special care and superintendence of an inspector, to
til APPENDIX.
whom all parents and guardians, who intend to put
young ladies into this school for education, have to
apply. The branches taught are, reading, grammar,
arithmetic, history, geography, German if desired,
plain needlework, &c. Music and fine needlework,
such as tambour and embroidery, including drawing,
are two extra branches, in which instruction is given,
if expressly desired. From the beginning of the insti-
tution, in May, 1804, to the end of the year 1807,
about one hundred and twenty young ladies from
North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky^ Ten-
nessee and Georgia, received their education in it, of
whom, at the end of 1807, forty-one remained in the
seminary.
T The store^ contains a good assortment of
merchandise. The goods are partly imported from
Europe, pardy taken from the merchants in Fayette,
Petersburg, and chiefly in Philadelphia. This house
was built in 1774, on the south-west corner of the
square, opposite to the single sisters' house.
8. The house of entertainment^ or public tavern^
at the south-west end of the principal street, was
built in 1772. In the year 1784, it was destroyed by
fire, the only accident of this kind in Salem, and re-
built of brick, as most all the public buildings are.
Besides these public buildings, the following are to
be noted, viz: the post-office; the house of the doctor,
with an apothecary shop, an elegant building on an
eminence; the pottery; toy shop; the tannery and
leather dressery: a great quantity of doer skins, cured
and dressed here, are annually exported by way of
Philadelphia to Hamburg. The other tradesmen and
APPENDIX. LIII
mechanics in the town are: shoemaker, taylor, baker,
carpenter, cabinetmaker, glover, hatter, saddler, wheel-
wright, turner, tinner, gunsmith, blacksmith, silver-
smith, watch and clockmaker, tobacconist, &.c. In
the neighborhood of the town are several mills, built
on the Middle or Brushy fork and other small
branches, as paper, oil, saw, grist and merchant mills,
and a cotton machine. The whole number of per-
sons, belonging to the Salem congregation, children
included, was at the end of the year 1807, 316, where-
of 233, besides 41 young ladies in the boarding school,
lived in the town, and 83 in the neighborhood on their
farms.; the greatest part of them are of German ex-
traction. The number of dwelling houses in the
town was about 40; the town lot belonging to Salem,
contains 3140 acres. The town is provided with
water from several springs, about a mile distant from
it, the water of which is conducted through wooden
pipes into the town, and distributed in such a manner,
that the greatest part of the inhabitants are supplied
with it: there are also wells of good vvater in the
town.
Bethahara^ the first settlement of the United Bre-
thren in North Carolina, was begun in 1753. It is
situated in Stokes county, five miles to the north-west
from Salem, near the Mill creek. It has a handsome
church, with a steeple, built of stone in 1788; a store,
tannery and distillery, and several other houses, inha-
bited by tradesmen, viz: hatter, shoemaker, potter,
turner, &c. The street on which the houses are built,
in a direction from south-east to north-west, is 66 ^eeA
wide. On the Mill creek is a merchant and saw mill
LIV APPENDIX.
The congregation at Bethabara consisted, at the end
of the year 1807, of ninety-two persons, children in-
cluded, all Germans; thirty-nine of whom lived in
the town, and fifty-three on their farms, in the neigh-
borhood, from a half to four miles distant. The town
lot, belonging to Bethabara, contains 2118 acres.
Bethania^ or Bethany^ is situated in Stokes county,
near Muddy creek, nine miles to the north-west from
Salem, and three miles from Bethabara. The town
which was laid out in 1759, of thirty lots, consists of
a single street, 56 feet wide, in a direction from south
soutb-west to north nortli-east. The houses are frame
or log houses, most of them two stories high, and in-
habited by farmers and tradesmen, viz: blacksmith,
gunsmith, wheelwright, hatter, tanner, taylor, shoe-
maker, &.C. As the church, or meeting house, in the
middle of the town, which was built in 1771, began to
be too small for the congregation, a new neat brick
churcii, 62 feet long and 42 feet deep, witli a steeple
on it, was built in 1807 and 1808. There is also a
good store, tavern and apothecary shop in the town,
and near it a saw and grist mill. The congregation
at Bethania consisted, at the end of the year 1807, of
306 persons, children included, all Germans; of
whom 130 lived in the town and 176 on their farms
in the neighborhood, from a half to ten miles distant.
The town lot contains 2500 acres.
Friedberg seitlemeM is situated partly in Rowan
and partly in Stokes county. The meeting house,
which was buil in 1768, is in Rowan county, near the
line of Stokes county, nine miles from Salem to the
south-west, on a lot of seventy-seven acres, belonging
APPENDIX. LV
to it. The number of persons under the care of the
brethren's church, in this settlement, children included,
were at the end of the year 1807, 346: they live on
their farms, from one quarter to ten miles distant from
the meeting house, where they attend divine service
on Sundays, which is held in the German language.
Friedland^ or Broad bay settlement, is situated in
Stokes county. The meeting house, which was built
in 1774, on a lot of thirty acres, belonging to it, is five
miles from Salem, to the east. At the end of 1807,
the number of persons in this setdement, under the
care of the brethren's church, was 183, chddren in-
cluded. The most distant live five to six miles from
the meeting house, where divine service is held every
Sunday, in the German language.
Hope^ or Maryland settlement, is situated in Stokes
and Rowan counties. The meeting house, wherein
divine service is held every Sunday, in the English
language, was built it 1779, and is eight miles from
Salem, to the west, near Muddy Creek, on a lot of
thirty acres, belonging to it. The number of persons
under the care of the brethren's church, were, at the
end of 1807, 199, children included. The greatest
part live on Muddy creek and its branches, and some
on Yadkin river, into which Muddy creek empties it-
self about eight miles below the meeting house. Near
the latter is a merchant mill, on said creek, and a toll
bridge over it, and five miles from this, a bridge over
Yadkin river.
About eight miles above the Hope meeting house,
and ten miles from Salem, on the west side of Muddy
creek, a meeting house was built in 1782, by a Ger-
LVI APPENDIX.
man Lutheran and Reformed congregration, wherein
since the year 1797 divine service is held, by one of
the ministers of the brethren's church, every fourth
Sunday, in the German language.
The foregoing was received from the late major
R, Williams^ of Raleigh^ and is believed to have
been icritten by bishop Reichei,.
The\t4|^wing piece, wJuich appeajred in iheVirgiuia
Gazerani^f November7^77l\was written by
Maurice MT5^s^;B, then one of the asWiate iusiiees
of the sup^ior coun>©«tr^rth Carolina.
To his Excellency WILLIAM TRYON, Esquire.
I am too well acquainted with your character to
suppose you can bear to be told of your faults Avith
temper. You are too much of the soldier, and too
little of the philosopher, for reprehension. With this
opinion of your excellency, I have more reason to be-
lieve, that this letter will be more serviceable to the
provhice of New- Yorkc than useful or entertaining to
its govern ;:r. The beginning of your administration in
this province was marked with oppression and dis-
tress to its inhabitants. These, Sir, I do not place
to your account: they are derived from higher author-
ity than yours. You were, however, a dull, yet willing
instrument, in the hands of the British Ministry, to
promote the nieans of both. You called together some
of the principal inhabitants < f your neighborhood,
and, in a strange inverted self-affecting speech, told
them that you had left youi* (native country, friends
and connections, and taken upon yourself the gov-
ernment of North 'Carolina with no otlier view
than to serve it. In the next breath, Sir, you ad-
vised them to submit to the stamp act, and become
slaves. How could you reconcile such baneful ad-
vice with such friendly professions? But. Sir. ^elf
8^
'k v>
I,VIII APPENDIX.
contradictions with you have not been confined to
words only; they have been equally extended to ac-
tions. On other occasions, you have played the gov-
ernor with an air of greater dignity and importance
than any of your predecessors; on this, your e^tcel-
lency was meanly^conrent-^'o solicit the c^Tency of
stamped paper.ih private companies, ^m^ aVdsl mi-
nisterial apptobation is the iirst -^wi^d of your heart;
it is the best security you have for your ol!ice. En-
gaged as you were in this disgraceful ncgociation,
the more important duties of the governor v.f re for-
gotten, or wilfully neglected. In murmuriDg, dis-
content and public confusion, you left the colony
committed to your care, for near eighteen months to-
gether, without casing an assembly. The stamp act
repealed, you called one; and a fatal one it was! un-
der every influence your character afforded you, at
this assembly, was laid the foundation of all the mis-
chief which has since befalled this unhappy province.
A grant was made to the crown of live thousand
pounds, to erect a house for the residence of a gov-
ernor; and you. Sir, were solely intrusted with the
management of it. The infant and impoverished
state of this country could not afford to make such a
grant, and. it was your duty to have been acquainted
with the circumstances of the colony you governed.
This trust proved equally fatal to the interest of the
province and to your excellency's honour. You
made use of it. Sir, to gratify your vanity, at the ex-
pense of both. It at once afforded you an opportu-
nity of leaving an elegant monument of your taste in
building behind you, and giving the ministry an in-
stance of your great influence and address in your
APPENDIX. LIX
new government. You, therefore, regardless of ev-
ery moral^ as well sls legal obligation, changed the
plan of a province house for that of a palace, worthy
the residence of a prince of the blood, and augment-
ed the expense to fifteen thousand pounds. Here,
Sir, you betrayed your trust, disgracefully, to the
governour, and dishonorably to the man. This lib-
eral and ingenious stroke in politics may, for all I
know, have promoted you to the government of New-
York. Promotions may have been the reward of
such sort of merit. Be this as it ma}", you reduced
the next assembly you met to the unjust alternative
of granting ten thousand jXHinds more, or sinking the
five thousand they had already granted. They chose
the former. It was most pleasing to th? governour,
but directly contrary to the sense of their constituents.
This public imposition upon a people, who, from
poverty, were hardly able to pay the necessary ex-
penses of government, occasioned general discontent,
which your excellency, with wonderful address, im^
proved into a civil war.
In a colony without money, and among a people,
almost desperate with distress, public profusion
should have been carefully avoided; but, unfortu-
nately for the country, you were bred a soldier, and
have a natural, as well as acquired fondness for mi-
litary parade. You were intrusted to run a Cher-
okee boundary about ninety miles in length; this lit-
tle service at once aftijrdcd you an opportunity of
exercising your milittry talents, and making a splen-
did exhibition of yourself to tlie Indians. To a gentle-
man of your excellency's turn of mind, Uiis was no
unpleasiiig prospect: you marched to perform it, in a
LX xlPPENDlX.
lime of profound peace, at the head of a company of
militia, in all ihe pomp of wa^*, arid returned with the
honorable title, conf rred on yon l>y the Cherokees«
of Great Wolf of JV^ovth Carolitia, This line or
marked trees, and your xcelkncy's prophetic title,
cost the province a greater sum thr^n two pence a
head, on all the taxable persons in it for one year^
would pay.
Your next expedition,^ Si^, was a more important
one. Four or five hundred ignorant people, who
called themselves regulators, took it into their head
to quarrel with their representative, a gentleman hon-
ored with your excellency's esteem, The;y foolish-
ly charged him with every distress they felt; and, in
revenge, shot two or three musket balls through liis
house. They at the same time rescued a horse which
had been seized for the public tax. These crimes
were punishable in the courts oflaw, and at that time^
the criminals were amenable to legal process. Youi?
excellency and your confidential friends, it seems^
were of a different opinion. All your duty could
possibly require of you on this occasion, if it required
any thing at all, was to direct a prosecution against
the offenders. You should have carefully avoided
becoming a party in the dispute. But, -^ir, your ge-
Bins could not lie still; you enlisted yourself a vol=
unteer in this service, and enter d into a negotiation
with the regulators, which at once disgraced you and
encouraged them. They despised the governor
who had degraded his own character by taking part
in a private quarrel, and insulted the man whom they
considered, as personnally their enemy. The terms
of accommodation your excellency had offered them
APPENDIX LXI
were treated with contempt What they were I
never knew; they could not have related to public
oftences; these belong to another jurisdiction. All
hopes of settling the mighty contest by treaty ceasing,
you prepar'^d to decide it by means more agree ible
to your martial disposition, an appeal to the sword.
You took the field in September 1768, at the head of
ten or twelve hundred men, and published an oral
manifesto, the substance of which was, that you had
takeu up arms to protect a superiour court of justice
from insult. Permit me here to ask you, Sir, why
you were apprehensive for the court? Was the court
apprehensive for itself? Did the judges, or the at-
torney-general, address your excellency for protect
tion? So far from it, Sir, if these gentlemen are to
he believed, they never entertained the least suspi-
cion of any insult, unless it was that, which they af-
terwards experienced from the undue influence you
offered to extend to them, and the military display
of drums, colours and guards, with which they were
surrounded and disturbed. How fully has your con-
duct, on a like occasion since, testified, that you acted
in this instance from passion, and not from principle!
In September 1770, the regulators forcibly obstruct-
ed the proceedings of Hillsborough superior court,
obliaied the officers to leave it, and blotted out the re-
cords. A little before the next term, when their con-
tempt of courts was sufficiently proved, you wrote
an insolent letter to the judges, and attorney general,
commanding them to attend it. Why did you not
protect the court at this time ? You will blush at the
answer, Sir. The conduct of the regulators, at the
preceding term, made it more than probable that those
LXIi APPENDIX.
gentlemen >vould be insulted at this, and you were
not unwilling to sacrifice tliem to increase the guilt
of your enemies.
Your excellency said, that you had armed, to pro-
tect a court Bad you said to revenge the iisult
you and your friends had received, it would have
been more generally credited in this country. The
men, for the trial of whom the court was thus extra-
vagantly protected, of their own accord, squeezed
through a crowd of soldiers, and surrendered them-
selves, as if they were bound to do so by their recog-
nizance.
Some of these people were convicted, fined and
imprisoned; which put a end to a piece of knight
errantry, equally aggravating to the populace and
burthensome to the country. On this occasion, Sir,
you were alike successful in the diffusion of a mili-
tary spirit throtigh the colony in the warlike ex-
hibition you set before the public; you at once dis-
posed the vulgar to hostilities, and proved the lega-
lity of arming, in cases of dispute, by example. Thus
warranted by precedent and tempered by sympathy,
popular discontent soon became resentment and op-
position; revenge superceded justice^ and force the
lavv s of the country; courts of law were treated witii
contempt, and government itself set at defiance. For
upwards of two months was the frontier part of the
country left in a state of perfect anarchy. Your ex-
cellency then though fit to consult the representatives
of the people, who presented you a bill which you
passed into a law. The design of this act was to
punish past riots in a new jurisdiction, to create new
offences and to secure the collection of tlie public
-/
APPENDIX. LXIII
tax; which, ever since the province had been saddled
with a palace, the regulators had refused to pay.
The jurisdiction for holding pleas of all capital of-
fences was, by a former law, confined to the particu-
lar district in which they were cominitted. This
act did not cha?*ge that j.irisdiction; yet your excel-
lency, in the fulness of your power, established a new
one for the trial of such crimes in a different district.
Whether you did this through ignorance or design
can only be determined in your own breast; it was
equally violative of a sacred right, every British sub-
ject is entitled to, of being tried by his neighbours,
and a positive law of the province you yourself iiad
ratified. In this foreign jurisdiction, bills of indict-
ment were preferred, and found, as well for felonies
as riots against a number of regulators; they refused
to suirender themselves within the time limited by
the riot act, and your excellency opened your third
campaign. These indictments charged the crimes to
have been committed in Orange county in a distinct
district from that in which the court was held. The
superior court law prohibits prosecution for capital
offences in any other district, than that in which they
were committed. What distinctions the gentlemen
of the long robe might make on such an occasion I
do not know, but it appears to me those indictments
might as well have been found in your excellency's
kitchen; and give me leave to tell you. Sir, that a
man is not bound to answer 'o a charge that a court
has no authority to make, nor doth the law punish
a neglect to perform that, which it does not command.
The riot act declared those only outlawed who re-
fused to answer to indictments legally found. Those
LXIV APPENDIX.
who had been capitally charged were illegally indict-
ed, and could not be outlaws; yet^ your excellency
proceeded against them as such. I mean to expose
your blunders, not to defend their conduct; that was
as insolent and daring as the desperate state your ad-
ministration had reduced them to could possibly oc-
casion. 1 am willing to give you full credit for ev-
ery service you have rendered this country. Your
active and gallant behaviour, in extinguishing the
flame you yourself had kindled, does you great hon-
our. For once your military talents were useful to
the province: you bravely met in the field, and van-
quished, an hosi of scoundrels whom yon had made
intrepid by abuse. It seems difficult to determine,
Sir, whether your excellency is more to be admired
for your skill in creating the cause, or your bravery
in suppressing the effect. This single action would
have blotted out, for ever, half the evils of your ad-
ministration; but alas, Sir! the conduct of the gener-
al after his victory, was more disgraceful to the hero
who obtained it, than that, of the man l)efore it had
been to the governor. AVhy did you stain so great
an action with the blood of a prisoner tvho was in a
stale of insanity? The execution of James Few was
inhuman; that miserable wretch was entitled to life
till nature, or the laws of his country, deprived him
of it. The battle of the Alamance was over; the
soldier was crowned with success, and the peace of
the province restored. There was no necessity for
the infamous example of an arbitrary execution, with-
out judge or jury. I can freely forgive you, Sir,
for killing Robert Thompson, at the beginning of the
battle; he was your prisoner, and was making his
APPENDIX. LXV
escape to light against you. The laws of self pre-
servadoQ sanctified the action, and justly entitle your
excellency to an act of indemnity.
The sacrifice of Few, under its criminal circum-
stances, could neither atone for his crime nor abate
your rage; this task was reserved for his unhappy
parents. Your vengeance, sir, in this instance, it
seems moved in a retrograde direction to that pro-
posed in the second commandment against idolaters;
you visited the sins of the child upon the father, and,
for want of the third and fourth generation to extend
it to, collaterally divided it between brothers and
sisters. The heavy affliction with which the untime-
ly death of a son had burthened his parents was suf-
ficient to have cooled the resentment of any man?
whose heart was susceptible of the feelings of hu-
manity; yours, I am afraid, is not a heart of that
kind? If it is, why did you add to the distresses of
that family? Why refuse the petition of the town of
Hillsborough in favour of them, and unresentingly
destroy, as far as you could, the means of their future
existence? It was cruel, sir, and unworthy a soldier.
Your conduct to others after your success, whether
it respected person or property, was as lawless as it
was unnecessarily expensive to the colony. When
your excellency liad exemplified the power of gov-
ernment in the death of a hundred regulators, the
survivors, to a man, became proselytes to govern-
ment; they readily swallowed your new coined oath,
to be obedient to the law s of the province, and to pay
the public taxes. It is a pity, sir, that in devising
this oath you had not attended to the morals of those
people. You might easily have restrained every cri-
V 9*
tXVt APPENDIX.
liiinal inclination, and have made theoi good men, as.
well as good subjects. The battle of the Alamance
had equally disposed them to moral and to political-
con, ersion; there was no necessity, sir, when the-
peopl'^ were reduced to obedience, to ravage the coun- •
try, or to insult individuals.
Had your excellency nothing else in view than ta
enforce a submission to the laws of the country, you
might safely have disbanded the army within ten
days ifter your victory; in that time the chiefs of the
regulators were run awpy, and thrir deluded follow-
ers had returned to their homes. Such a measure
would have saved the province twenty thousand
pounds at least. But, sir= you had farther employ-
ment for the army; you were, by an extr ordinary
bustle in administering oaths, and disarming the coun-
try, to give a serious appearance of re bell ion to the
outrage of a mob; you were to aggravate the imp? rt-
ance of your own services by changing a general dis-
like of your administration into disaffection to his ma-
jesty's person and government, and the riotous con-
duct that dislike had occasioned into premeditated re-
bellion. This scheme, sir, is really an ingenious one;
if it succeeds, you may possibly be rewarded for your
services with the honour of knighthood.
From the 16th of May to the 16th of June, you were
busied in securing the allegiance of rioters, and levy-
ing contributions of beef and flour. You occasion-
ally amused yourself with burning a few houses, tread-
ing down com,, insulting the suspected, and holding
courts martial. These courts took cognizance of ci-
vil as well as military offences, and even extended
*heir jurisdiction to ill breeding and want of good
APPENDIX. LXVl^^
manners. One Johnston, who was a reputed regu-
lator, but whose greatest crime, J beHeve, was writ-
ing an impudent letter to your lady, was sentenced,
in one of these inilitary courts, to receive five hundred
lashes, and received two hundred and fifty of them
accordingly. But, sir, however exceptionable your
Conduct may have been on this occasion, it bears lit-
tle proportion to that which you adopted on the trial
of the prisoners you had taken. These miserable
wretches were to be tried for a crime made capital
by a temporary act of assembly, of twelve months
duration. That act had, in great tenderness to his
majesty's subjects, converted riots into treasons. A
rigorous and punctual execution of it was as unjust,
as it was politically unnecessary. The terror of the
examples now proposed to be made under it was to
expire, with the law, in less than nine months after
The sufferings of these people could therefore amount
to litde more than mere punishment to themselves.
Their offences were derived from public and from
private impositions; and they were the followers, no/t.
the leaders, in the crimes they had committed. Nev-
er were criminals more justly entided to every lenity
the law could afford them ; but, sir, no consideration
could abate your zeal in a cause you had transferred
from yourself 10 your sovereign. You shamefully ex-
erted every influence of your character against the
lives of these people. As soon as you were told that
an indulgence of one day had been granted by the
court to two men to send for witnesses, who actually
established their innocence, and saved their lives, you
sent an aid-de-camp to the judges, and attorney gen-
eral to acquaint them that you were dissatisfied witJi
LXVIU APPENDIX.
the inactivilv of their conduct, and threatened to re-
present them unfavourably in England, if they did not
proceed with more spirit and despatch. Had the
court submitted to influence, all testimony, on the part
of the prisoners, would have been excluded; they
must have been condemned, to a man. You said that
your solicitude for the condemnation of these people
arose from your desire of manifesting the lenity of
government, in their pardon. How have your actions
contradicted your words! Out of twelve that were
condemned, the lives of six only were spared. Do
you know, sir, that your lenity on this occasion was
less than that of the bloody Jeffries in 1685? He con-
demned five hundred persons, but saved the lives of
two hundred and seventy.
In the execution of the six devoted offenders, your
excellency was as short of general Kirk in form, as
you were of judge Jeffries in lenity. That general
honoiared the execution he had the charge of with
play of pipes, sound of trumpets, and beat of drums;
you were content with the silent display of colours
only. The disgraceful part you acted in this cere-
mony, of pointing out the spot for erecting the gal-
lows, and clearing the field around for drawing up
the army in form, has left a ridiculous idea of your
character behind you, which bears a strong resemb-
lance to that of a busy undertaker at a funeral. This
scene closed your excellency's administration in this
country, to the great joy of every man in it, a few of
y^iur own contemptible tools only excepted.
Where I personally your excellency's enemy, I
would follow you into the shade of life, and show
APPENDIX, LXIK
you equally the object of pity and contempt to the
wise and serious, and of jest and ridicule to the lu-
dicrous and sarcastic. Truly pitiable, sir, is the
pale and trembling impatience of your temper. No
character, however distinguished for wisdom and
virtue, can sanctify the least degree of contradiction
to your political opinions. On such occasions, sir,
in a rage, you renounce the character of a gentle-
man, and precipitately, mark the most exalted merit
with every disgrace the haughty insolence of a gov-
ertior can inflict upon it. To this unhappy temper,
sir, may be ascribed most of the absurdities of your
administration in this country. It deprived you of
every assistance men of spirit and abilities could have
given you, and left you, with all your passions and
inexperience about you, to blunder through the duties
of your office, supported and approved by the most
profound ignorance and abject servility.
Your pride has as often exposed you to ridicule,
as the rude petulance of your disposition has to con-
tempt. Your solicitude about the title of her excel-
lency for Mrs. Tryon, and the arrogant reception you
gave to a respectable company at an enttjrtainment
of your own making, seated with your lacy by your
side on elbow chairs, in the middle of the ball room,
bespeak a littleness of miixl, which, believe me, sir,
when blended with the dignity and importance of
your office, renders you truly ridiculous.
High stations have often proved fatal to those vv^ho
have been promoted to them ; yours, sir, has proved
so to you. Had you been contented to pass through
life in a subordinate military character; with the pri-
LXX APPENDIX.
vate virtues you have, you might have lived ser-
viceable to your country, and reputable to yourself;
but sir, when, with every disquahfying circum-
stance, you took upon you the government of a
province, though you gratified your ambition, yon
made a sacrifice of yourself.
Your's &c. ATTICUS.
The Fuiulamental Constitutions of Carolina: as com-
piled by John Locke.
Our sovereign lord the king, having, out of his
royal grace and bounty, granted unto us the province
of Carolina, with all the royalties, properties, juris-
dictions and privileges of a county palatine, as large
and ample as the county palatine of Durham, with
other great privileges; for the better settlement of the
government of said place, and establishing the inter-
est of the lords proprietors with equality, and with-
out confusion; and that the government of this pro-
vince may be made most agreeable to the monarchy
under which we live, and of which this province is a
part; and that we may avoid erecting a numerous de-
mocracy: we the lords and proprietors of the pro-
vince aforesaid, have agreed to this following form
of government, to be perpetually established amongst
us, unto which we do oblige ourselves, our, heirs
and successors, in the most binding ways that can be
devised.
1. The eldest of the lotds proprietors sliall be pal-
atine; and, upon the decease of the palatine, the
eldest of the seven surviving proprietors shall always
succeed him.
2. There shall be seven oilier chief officers erect-
ed, viz. the admirals, chamberlains, chancellors, con-
stables, chief justices, high stewards and treasurev^i;
which places shall be enjoyed by none but the lord^
10*
LXXIV APPENDIX.
proprietors, to be assigned at first by lot; and, upou
the vacancy of any one of the seven great offices by
death, or otherwise, the eldest proprietor shall have
his choice of the said place.
3. The whole province shall be divided into coun-
ties: each county shall consist of eight signiories;
eight baronies, and four precincts; each precinct shall
consist of six colonies.
4. Each signiory, barony and colony, shall consist
of twelve thousand acres; the eight signiories being
the share of tiie eight proprietors, and the eighi ba-
ronies of nobility; both which shares, being each of
them one fifth part of the whfde, are to be perpetu-
ally annexed, the one to the proprietors, the other to
the hereditary nobility, leaving the colonies, being
three fifths, amongst the people; so that in setting out
and planting the lands, the balance of the government
may be preserved.
5. At any time before the year one thousand seven
hundred and one, any of the lords proprietors shall
have power to r linqdsh, alienate and dispose, to
any other person, his proprietorship, and all the sig-
niories, powers and interest, thereunto belonging,
wholly and entirely together, and not otherwise.
But, after the year one thousand seven hundred, those
who are then lords proprietors shall not have power
to alienateor makeover their proprietorship, with the
signiories and privileges thereunto belonging, or any
part thereof, to any person whatsoever, otherwise
than as in §. xviii; but it shall all descend unto their
heirs male, and, for want of heirs male, it shall all
APPENDIX. LXXV
descend on that landgrave or cassique of Carolina,
who is descended of tiie next heirs female of the pro-
prietor; and, for want of such heirs, it shall descend
on the next heir general; and, for want of such heirs,
the remaining seven proprietors shall, upon the va-
cancy, choose a landgrave to succeed the deceased
proprietor, who being chosen hy the majority of the
seven surviving proprietors, he and his heirs success-
ively, shall be proprietors, as fully to all intents and
purposes as any of the rest.
6. That tlie number of eight proprietors may be
constantly kept; if, upon the vacancy of any proprie-
torship, the seven surviving proprietors shall not
choose a landgrave to be a proprietor, before the se-
cond biennial parliament after the vacancy; then
the next biennial parliament but one, after such va-
cancy, shall have power to choose any landgrave to
be a proprietor.
7. Wfiosoever, after the year one thousand seven
hundred, eitiier by inheritance or choice, shall suc-
ceed any proprietor in his proprietorship, and signo-
ries thereunto belonging; shall be obliged to take the
name and arms of that proprietor whom he succeeds;
which from thenceforth shall be the name and arms
of his family and their posterity.
8. Whatsoever landgrave or cassique shall any
way come to be a proprietor, shall take the signiories
annexed to the said proprietorship; but his former
dignity, with the baronnies annexed, shall devolve
into the hands of the lords proprietors.
LXXVl APPENDIX.
9. There shaUbejast as rnanylnndgraves as there,
are counties, and twice as many cassiques, and no
more. These shall be the hereditary nobility of
the province, and by right of their dignity be mem-
bers of parliament. Each landgrave shall have four
baronies, and each cassique two baronies hereditari-
ly and unalterably annexed to, and settled upon, th(i
said dignity.
10. The iirst landgraves and cassiques of the
twelve first counties to be planted, shall be nominat-
ed thus: that is to say, of the twelve landgraves, the
lords proprietors shall each of them, separately for
himself, nominate and choose one; and the remain-
ing four landgraves, of the first twelve, shall be nom-
inated and chosen by the palatine's court. In like
manner of the twenty -four cassiques, each proprietor
for himself shall nominate and choose two, and the
remaining eight shall be nominated and chosen by
the palatine's court: and when the twelve first coun-
ties shall be planted, the lords proprietors shall again
in the same manner, nominate and choose twelve
more landgraves and twenty-four cassiques, for the
twelve next counties to be planted; that is to say,
two thirds of each number by the single nomination
of each proprietor for himself, and the remaining one
third by the joint election of the palatine's court, and
so proceed in the same manner till the Avhole province
of Carolina be set out and planted, according to the
proportions in these Fundamental Constitutions.
11. Any landgrave or cassique at any time before
the year one thousand seven hundred and one, shall
APPENDIX. LXXVII
have power to alienate, sell, or niake over, to any
otlier person, liis dignity, with the baronies therenulo
belonging, all entirely together. But, after the year
one thousand seven hundred, no landsirave er cas-
s?que shall have power to alienate, sell, make over,
or let, the hereditary baronies of his dignity, or any
part thereof, otherwise than as in §. xviii; but they
shall all entirely, with the dignity thereunto belong-
ing, descend unto his heirs male; a;?d; for want of
lieirs maV, all entirely and undivided, to the next
heir general; and for want of such heirs, shall de-
volve into the hands of the lords proprietors.
11. That the due number of landgraves and cas-
siques may be always kept up; if, upon the devolu-
Intion of any landgraveshlp or cassiqueship, the pala-
tine's court sha^l not settle the devolved dignity, witli
the baronies thereunto annexed, before the second
biennial parliament after such devolution; the next
biennial parliament but one after such devolution,
shall have power to make any one landgrave or cas-
sique in the room of him, who, dying without heirs,
his dignity and baronies devolved.
13. No one person shall have more than one digni-
fy, with the signiories and baronies thereunto belong-
ing. But whensoever it shall happen that any one,
who is already proprietor, landgrave, or cassique,
shall have any of these dignities descend to him by
inheritance, it shall beat his choice to keep which of
the dignities, with the land annexed, he shall like
best; but shall leave the other, with the lands annex-
ed, to be enjoyed by him, who, not being his heir ap-
LXXVIII APPENDIX.
parent and certain successor to bis present dignity, is
next of blood.
14. Whosoever, by the right of inheritance, shall
come to be landgrave or cassique, shall take the name
and arms of his predecessor in that dignity, to b&
from thenceforth the name and arms of his family and
theii' posterity.
15. Since the dignity of proprietor, landgrave, or
cassique, cannot be divided, and the signiories or ba-
ronies thereunto annexed, must forever all entirely
descend with, and accompany that dignity; whenso-
ever, for want of heirs male, it shall descend on the
issue female, the eldest daughter, and her heirs shall
be preferred, and the inheritance of tho?e dignities,
and the signiories or baronies annexed, there shall be
no co-heirs.
16. In every signiory, barony and manor, the res-
pective lord shall have power, in his own name, to
hold court-leet there, for trying of all causes both
civil and criminal: but where it shall concern any
person being no inhabitant, vassal, or leet-man of the
said signiory, barony, or manor, he, upon paying
down the sum of 40 shillings to the lords proprietor's
use, shall have an appeal from the signiory or barony
court to the county court, and from the manor court to
the precinct court.
17. Every manor shall consist of not less than
three thousand acres, and not above twelve thousand
acres, iu one entire piece and colony; but any three
thousand acres or more in one piece, and the pos-
APPENDIX. LXXIX
session of one man, shall not be a manor, unless it
be constituted a manor by the grant of the palatine's
court,
18. The lords of signiories and baronies shall have
power only of granting estates not exceeding three
lives, thirty-one years, in two thirds of said signiories
or baronies^ and the remaining third shall be always
demesne.
19. Any lord of a me nor may alienate, sell or dis-
pose, to any other person and his heirs forever, his
manor, all entirely together, with all the privileges
and leet-men thereunto belonging, so far forth as any
colony lands; but no grant of any part thereof, either
in fee, for any longer term than three lives, or one
and twenty years, shall stand good against the next
heir.
20. No manor^ for want of issue male, shall be di-
vided amongst co-heirs; but the minor, if there be
but one, shall all entirely descend to (he eldest daugh-
ter and her heirs. If there be more minors than one,
the eldest daughter first shall have her choice, the
second next, and so on, beginning again at the eldest,
till all the manors be taken up; that so the privileges
which belong to manors being indivisible, the lands
of the manors, t<» which they are annexed, may be
kept entire, and the manor not lose those privileges,
which, upon parcelling out to several owners, must
necessarily cease.
21. Every lord of manor, within his manor, shall
have all the rights^ powers^ jurisdictions and privi-
XC APPENDIX.
leges, which every laiulgrave or cassique hath in his
barouies.
22. In every siguiory, barony and manor, all the
leet-men shall be under the jurisdiction of the respec-
tive lords of the said signiory, barony, or manor,
wiiliout appeal from him. JSor shall any leet-mau
or leet- woman, have liberty to go off from the land
of their particular l<>rd, and live any where else, with-
out license obtained from their said lord, under hand
and seal.
23. All the children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
and so to all generations.
24. No man shall be capable of having a court-leet
or leet-men, but a proprietor, landgrave cassique, or
lord of a manoi^.
25. W hoever shall volunfcai ily enter himself a leet-
man, in the registry of a county court, shall be a leet-
man.
26. Whoever is lord of leet-men^ shall, upon the
marriage of a leet-man or leet- woman, of his, give
them ten acres of land for (heir lives; they paying
to him, therefor, not more than one eighth part of
all the yearly produce and growth of the said tQii
acres,
27. No landgrave or cassique shall be tried for any
criminal cause, in any but the chief justice's court,
and that by a jury of his peers.
28. There shall be eight supreme courts. The
first called the palatine's court, consisting of the pal-
APPENDIX. XCI
atiiie and the other seven ])roprietors. The other se-
ven courts of the otiier seven great officers^ shall con-
sist each of them of a proprietor^ and six counsellors
added to him. Under each of these latter seven
courts, shall be a college of twelve assistants. The
twelve assistants of the several colleges shall be cho-
sen, two out of the landgraves, cassiques, or eldest
sons of proprietors, by the palatine's court; two out
of the landgraves, by the landgraves' chamber; two
out of the cassiques, by the cassiques' chamber; four
more of the twelve shall be chosen by the commons'
chamber, out of such as have been, or are, members
of parliament, sheriffs, or justices of the county court,
or the younger sons of proprietors, or eldest sons
of landgraves or cassiques; the two others shall be
chosen by the palatine's court, out of the same sort
of persons, out of which the commons' chamber is to
("hoose.
29. Out of these colleges shall be chosen at first,
by- the palatine's court, six counsellors, to be joined
with each proprietor in his court; of which six, one
shall be of those who were chosen in any of the colle-
ges by the palatine's court, out of the landgraves, cas-
siques, or eldest sons of proprietors; one out of those
who were chosen by the landgraves' chamber; and
i)ne out of those who were chosen by the cassiques'
chamber; two out of those who were chosen by the
commons' chamber; and one out of those who were
chosen by the palatine's court, out of the proprietors
younger sons, or eldest sons of landgraves, cassiques
or commons, qualified as aforesaid.
11
#
XCII APPENDIX,
30. When it shall happen that any counsellor (lies>
and thereby there is a vacancy, the grand council shall
have power to remove any counsellor that is willing
to be removed out of any of the proprietors courts, to
fill up the vacancy; provided they take a man ol the
same degree and choice the other was of, whose va-
cant place is to be filled up. But if no counsellor
consent to be removed, or upon such remove, the last
remaining vacant place, iu any of the proprietor's
courts, shall be filled up by the choice of the grand
council, who shall have power to remove out of any
of the colleges, any assistant, who is of the same de-
gree and choice that that counsellor was of, into
whose vacant place he is to succeed. The grand
council also shall have power to remove any assistant,
that is willing, out of one college into another, provi-
ded he be of the same degree andchoice. But the last
remaij'ing vacant place in any college, shall be filled
up by the same choice, and out of the same degree
of nersons the assistant was of, who is dead or remo-
ved. No place shall be vacant in any proprietor's
court above six months. No place shall be vacant
in any college longer than the next session of parlia-
ment.
31. No man, bejng a member of the grand council,
or of any of the seven colleges, shall be turned out
^for misdemeanor, of which the grand council shall
be judge; and the vacancy of the person so put out,
shall be filled, not by the election of the grand coun-
cil, but by those who first chose him, aud out of the
same degn^e he was of who is expelled. But it is not
hereby to be understood, that the grand council hath
APPENDIX. XCIII
any power to turn out any one of the lords proprie-
tors or their deputies, the hrrds proprietors having in
themselves an inherent original right.
32. All elections in the parliament, In the sever-
al chambers of the parliament, and in the grand
council, shall be passed by balloting.
33. The palatine's court shall consist of the pal-
atine and seven proprietors, wherein nothing shall
be acted without the presence and consent of the
palatine or his deputy, and three others of the pro-
prietors or their deputies. This court shall have
power to call parliaments, to pardon all offences,
to make elections of all officers in the proprietor's
dispose, and to nominate and appoint port towns;
and also shall have power by their order to the trea-
surer to dispose of all public treasure, excepting
money granted by the parliament, and by them
directed to some particular public use; and also
s^hall have a negative upon all acts, orders, votes
and judgments, of the grand council and the par-
liament, except only as in 5- vi. and xn; and shall
have all the powers granted to the lords proprie-
tors, by their patent from our sovereign lord the
king, except in such things as are limited by these
fundamental constitutions.
34. The palatine himself, when he in person shall
be either in the army or in any of the Y>roprietors
courts, shall then have the power of general, or of
that proprietor, in whose court he is then pre
^ent; and the proprietor, in whose court the pal-
XCIV APPENDIX.
atine then presides, shall during his presence there
be but as one of the council.
35. The chancellor's court, consisting of one of
the proprietors, and his six counsellors, who shall
be called vice-chancellors, shall have the custody
of the seal of the palatinate, under which ail char-
ters of lands, or otherwise, commissions and grants
of the palatine's court, shall pass. And it shall not
be lawful to put the seal of the palatinate to any wTit-
ing, which is not signed by the palatine or his de-
puty, and three other proprietors or their deputies.
To this court also belong all state matters, dis-
patches, and treaties with the neighbour Indians.
To this court also belong all invasions of the law,
of liberty of conscience, and all disturbances of the
public peace, upon pretence of religion, as also the
licence of printing. The twelve assistants belong-
ing to this court shall be called recorders.
36. Whatever passes under the seal of the pala-
tinate, shall be registered in that proprietor's court,
to which the matter tberein contained belongs.
37. The chancellor or his deputy shall be always
speaker in parliament, and president of the grand
council, and, in his and his deputy's absence, one of
his vice-chancellors.
38. The chief justice's court, consisting of one of
the proprietors and his six counsellors, who shall
be called justices of the bench, shall judge all ap-
peals in cases both civil and criminal, except all
APPENDIX. XCV
such cases as shall be under the jurisdiction and
cognizance of any other of the proprietor's courts,
which shall be tried in those courts respectively.
The government and regulation of the registries of
writings and contracts, shall belong to the jurisdic-
tion of this court. The twelve assistants of this
court shall be called masters.
39. The constable's court, consisting of one of
the proprietors and his six counsellors, who shall
be called marshals, shall order and determine of all
military affairs by land, and all land-forces, arms,
ammunition, artillery, garrisons, forts, &c. and what-
ever belongs unto war. His twelve assistants shall
be called lieutenant-generals.
40. In lime of actual war, the constable, whilst
he is in the army, shall be general of the army, and
the six counsellors, or such of them as the palatine's
court shall for that time or service appoint, shall be
the immediate great officers under him, and the
lieutenant-generals next to them.
41. The admiral's court, consisting of one of the
proprietors, and his six counsellors, called consuls,
shall have the care and inspection over all ports,
moles, and navigable rivers, so far as the tide liows,
and also all the public shipping of Carolina, and
stores thereunto belonging, and all maritime affairs.
This court also shall have the power of the court of
admiralty; and shall have power to constitute judges
in port-towns, to try cases belonging to law-mer-
chant, as shall be most convenient for trade, The
XCVI APPENDIX.
twelv^e assistants, belonging to this court, shall be
called proconsuls.
42. In time of actual war, the admiral, whilst he
is at sea, shall command in chief, and his six coun-
sellors, or such of them as the palatine's court sliall
for that time and service appoint, shall be the im-
mediate great officers under him, and the procon-
suls next to them.
43. The treasurer's court, consisting of a propri-
etor and his six counsellors, called under-treasurers,
shall take care of all matters that concern the pub-
lic revenue and treasury. The twelve assistants
shall be called auditors.
44. The high-steward's court, consisting of a pro-
prietor and his six counsellors, called comptrollers,
shall have the care of all foreign and domestic trade,
manufactures, public buildings,^work-houses, high-
ways, passages by water above the flood of the tide,
drains, sewers, and banks against inundations,
bridges, post, carriers, fairs, markets, corruption or
infection of the common air or water, and all things
in order to the public commerce and health; also
setting out and surveying of lands; and also setting
out and appointing places for towns to be built on in
the precincts, and the prescribing and determining
the figure and bigness of the said towns, according
to such models as the said court shall order; con-
trary or differing from which models it shall not be
lawfiil for any one to build in any town. This court
shall have power also to make any public building.
APPENDIX. XCVH
or any new high-way, or enlarge any old high- way,
upon any man's land whatsoever; as also to make
cuts, channels, banks, locks and bridges, for making
rivers navigable, or for draining feus, or any other
public use. The damage the owner of such lands
(ori or through which any such public things shall
be made) shall receive thereby, shall be valued,
and satisfaction made by such ways as the grand
council shall appoint. The twelve assistants, be-
longing to this court, shall be called surveyors.
45. The chamberlain's court, consisting of a pro-
prietor and his six counsellors, called vice-cham-
berlains, shall have the care of all ceremonies, pre- ^
cedency, heraldry, reception of public messengers,
pedigrees, the registry of all births, burials, mar-
riages, legitimation, and all cases concerning ma-
trimony, or arising from it; and shall also have
power to regulate all fashions, habits, badges, games
and sports. To this court also it shall belong to
convocate the grand coundil. The twelve assist-
ants, belonging to this court, shall be called pro-
vosts.
46. All causes belonging to, or under the juris-
diction of any of the proprietors courts, shall in
them respectively be tried, and ultimately deter-
mined, without any farther appeal.
47. The proprietors courts shall have a power to
mitigate all fines, and suspend all executions in cri-
minal causes, either before or after sentence, in any
of the other inferior courts repectively.
XCVIII APPENDIX.
48. In all debates, hearings, or trials, in any of
the proprietor's courts, the twelve assistants be-
longing to the said courts respectively, shall have
liberty to be present, but shall not interpose, unless
their opinions be required, nor have any vote at all;
but their business shall be, by the direction of the
respective courts, to prepare such business as shall
be committed to them; as also to bear such offices,
and dispatch such affairs, either where the court is
kept or elsewhere, as the court shall think fit.
49. In all the proprietor's courts, the proprietor,
and any three of his counsellors, shalh make a quo-
rum; provided always, that, for the better dispatch
of business, it shall be in the power of the palatine's
court, to direct what sort of causes shall be heard
and determined by a quorum of any three.
50. The grand council shall consist of the pal-
atine and seven proprietors, and the forty-two coun-
sellors of the several proprietors courts, who shall
have power to determine any controversies that
may arise between any of the proprietor's courts,
about their respective jurisdictions, or between the
members of the same court, about their manner and
methods of proceedings; to make peace and war,
leagues, treaties, &c. with any of the neighbour In-
dians; to issue out their general orders to the con-
stable's and admiral's courts, for the raising, dis-
posing, or disbanding the forces, by land or by sea.
51. The grand council shall prepare all matters
to be proposed in parliament, Nor shall any mat-
APPENDIX. XCrX
ler whatsoever be proposed in parliament, but what
hath first passed the grand Ci>uncil; which, after
having been read three several days in the parlia-
ment, shall by majority of votes be passed or re-
jected.
52. The grand council shall always be judges of
all causes and appeals that concern the palatine, or
any of the lords proprietors, or any counsellor of
any proprietor's court, in any cause, which other-
wise should have been tried in the court in which
the said counsellor is judge himself.
53. The grand council, by their warrants to the
treasurer's court, shall dispose of all the money giv-
en by the parliament, and by them directed to any
particular public use.
54. The quorum of the grand council shall be
thirteen, whereof a proprietor or his deputy shall be
always one.
55. The grand council shall meet the first Tues-
day in every month, and as much oftener as either they
shall think fit, or they shall be convocated by the cham-
berlain's court.
56. The palatine, or any of the lords proprietors,
shall have power under hand and seal, to be regis-
tered in the grand council, to make a deputy, who
shall have the same power to all intents and purposes
as he himself who deputes him; except in confirming
acts of parliament, as in §. lxxvi, and except also in
nominating and choosing landgraves and cassiques, as
12*
C APPENDIX.
in §.x. All such deputations shall cease and deter-
mine at the end of four year, and at any time shall
be revocable at the pleasure of the deputator.
57. No deputy of any proprietor shall have any pow-
er whilst the deputator is in any part of Carolina, ex-
cept the proprietor, whose deputy he is, be a minor.
58. During the minority of any proprietor, his guar-
dian shall have power to constitute and appoint his
deputy.
59. The eldest of the lords proprietors, who shall
be personnally in Carolina, shall of course be the pal-
atine's deputy, and if no proprietor be in Carolina,
he shall choose his deputy out of the heirs apparent of
any of the proprietors, if any such be there; and if
there be no heir apparent of any of the lords proprie-
tors above one and twenty years old in Carolina, then
he shall choose for deputy any one of the landgraves of
the grand council ; and till he have by deputation un-
der hand and seal chosen any one of the foremention-
ed heirs apparent or landgraves to be his deputy, the
eldest man of the landgraves, and, for want of a land-
grave, the eldest man of the cassiques, who shall be
personnally in Carolina, shall of course be his deputy.
60. Each proprietor's deputy shall be always one
of his own six counsellors respectively; and in case
any of the proprietors hath not, in his absence out of
Carolina, a deputy, commissioned under his hand
and seal, the eldest nobleman of his court shall of
course be his deputy.
APPENDIX. CI
61. In every county there shall be a court, consist-
ing of a sheriif, and four justices of the county, for ev-
ery precinct one. The sheriff shall be an inhabitant
of the county, and have at least five hundred acres of
freehold within the said county; and the justices shall
be inhabitants, and have each of them five hundred
acres a-piece freehold within the precinct for which
they serve respectively. These five shall be chosen
and commissioned from time to time by the palatine's
court.
62. For any personal causes exceeding the value
of two hundred pounds sterling, or in tide of land, or
in any criminal cause; either party, upon paying
twenty pounds sterling to the lords proprietors use,
shall have liberty of appeal from the county court unto
the respective proprietor's court.
63. In every precinct there shall be a court, con-
sisting of a Stewart and four justices of the precinct,
being inhabitants, and having three hundred acres of
freehold widiin the said precinct, who shall judge all
criminal causes; except for treason, murder, and any
other oifences punishable with death, and except all
criminal causes of the nobility; and shall juge also all
civil causes whatsoever; and in all personal actions not
exceeding fifty pounds sterling, without appeal ; but
where the cause shall exceed that value, or concern a
title of land, and in all criminal causes; there either
party, upon paying five pounds sterling to the lords pro-
prietors use, shall have liberty of appeal to the county-
court.
6^1. No cause shall be twice tried in any one court,
upon anv reason or pretence whatsoever.
en APPENDIX,
65. For treason murder, and all other offences pun-
ishable with death, there shall be a commission, twice
a year at least, granted unto one or more members of
the grand council or colleges ; who shall come as itin-
erant judges to the several counties, and with the sher,
iff and four justices shall hold assizes to judge all such
causes ; but, upon paying of fifty pounds sterling to the
lords proprietors use, there shall be liberty of appeal
to the respective proprietor's court.
66. The grand jury at the several assizes, shall,
upon their oaths, and under their hands and seals,
deliver in to the itinerant judges a presentment of
such grievances, misdemeanors, exigences, or de-
fects, which they think necessary for the public
good of the county; which presentments shall, by
the itinerant judges, at the end of their circuit, be
delivered in to the grand council at their next sit-
ting. And whatsoever therein concerns the execu-
tion of laws already made; the several proprietors
courts, in the matters belonging to each of them res-
pectively, shall take cognizance of it, and give such
order about it, as shall be effectual for th« due exe-
cution of the laws. But whatever concerns the
making of any new law, shall be referred to the sev-
eral respective courts to which that matters belong,
and be by them prepared and brough to the grand
council,
67. For terms, there shall be quarterly such a cer-
tain number of days, not exceeding one and twenty
at any one time, as the several respective courts
shall appoint. The time for the beginning of the
APPENDIX. ' cm
term, in the precinct-court, shall be the first Mon-
day in January, April, July, and October; in the
county-court, the first Monday in February, May,
August, and November; and in the proprietors
courts, the first Monday in March, June, September,
and December.
68. In the precinct-court no man shall be a jury-
man under fifty acres of freehold. In the county-
court, or at the assizes, no man shall be a grand
jury-man under three hundred acres of freehold;
and no man shall be a petty jury-man under two
hundred acres of freehold. In the proprietors courts
no man shall be a jury-man under five hundred acres
of freehold.
69. Every jury shall consist of twelve men; and it
shall not be necessary they should all agree, but the
verdict shall be according to the consent of the ma-
jority.
70. It shall be a base and vile thing to plead for
money or reward; nor shall any one (except he be
a near kinsman, not farther off than cousin-german
to the party concerned) be permitted to plead an-
other man's cause, till, before the judge in open
court, he hath taken an oath, that he doth not plead
for money or reward, nor hath nor will receive, nor
directly nor indirectly bargained with the party,
whose cause he is goinsj to plead, for money or any
other reward for pleading his cause.
71. There shall be a parliament, consisting of
the proprietors or their deputies, the landgraves
CIV APPENDIX.
and cassiques, and one freeholder out of every pre*
cinct, to be chosen bv the freeholders of the said
precinct respectively. They shall sit all together
in one room, and have every member one vote.
72. No man shall be chosen a member of parlia-
ment, who hath less than five hundred acres of free-
hold within the precinct for which he is chosen;
nor shall any have a vote in choosing the said mem-
ber that hath less than fiftv acres of freehold within
the said precinct.
73. A new parliament shall be assembled the
first Monday of the month of November every se-
cond year, and shall meet and sit in the town they
last sit in, without any summons, unless by the pal-
atine's court they be summoned to meet at any oth-
er place. And if there shall be any occasion of a
parliament in these intervals, it shall be in the pow-
er of the palatine's court to assemble them in forty
days notice, and at such time and place as the said
court shall think fit; and the palatine's court shall
have power to dissolve the said parliament when
they shall think fit.
74. At the opening of every parliament, the first
thing that shall be done, shall be the reading of
these fundamental constitutions, which the palatine
and proprietors, and the rest of the members then
present, shall subscribe. Nor shall any person what-
soever sit or vole in the parliament, till he hath
that session subscribed these fundamental constitu-
tions, in a book kept for that purpose by the clerk
of the parliament.
APPENDIX. CV
75. In order to the due election of members for
the biennial parliament, it shall be lawful for the
freeholders of the respective precincts to meet the
first Tuesday in September every two years, in the
same town or place that they last met in, to choose
parliament-men; and there choose those members
that are to sit the next November following, unless
the Stewart of the precinct shall, by sufficient notice
thirty days belore, appoint some other place for
their meeting, in order to the election.
76. No act or order of parliament shall be of any
force, unless it be ratified in open parliament during
the same session, by the palatine or his deputy,
and three more of the lords proprietors or their de-
puties ; and then not to continue longer in force but
until the next biennial parliament, unless in the
mean time it be ratified under the hands and seals
of the palatine himself, and three more of the lords
proprietors themselves, and by their order publish-
ed at the next biennial parliament,
77. Any proprietor or his deputy may enter his
protestation against any act of the parliament, be-
fore the palatine or his deputy's consent be given
as aforesaid ; if he shall conceive the said act to be
contrary to this establishment, or any of these fun-
damental constitutions of the government. And in
such case, after full and free debate, the several es-
tates shall retire into four several chambers; the
palatine and proprietors into one; the landgraves
into another; the cassiques into another; and those
chosen by the precincts into a fourth : and if the
OVl APPENDIX.
major part of any of the four estates shall vote that
the law is not agreeable to this establishment, and
these fundamental constitutions of the government,
then it shall pass no farther, but be as if it had never
been proposed.
78. The quorum of the parliament shall be one
half of those who are members, and capable of sit-
ting in the house that present session of parliament.
The quorum of each of the chambers of parliament
shall be one half of the members of that chamber^
79. To avoid multiplicity of laws, which by de-
grees always change the right foundations of the
original government, all acts of parliament what-
soever, in whatsoever form passed or enacted, shall,
at the end of an hundred years after their enacting,
respectively cease and determine of themselves,
and without any repeal become null and void, as if
no such acts of laws had ever been made.
80. Since multiplicity of comments, as well as of
laws, have great inconveniences, and serve only to
obscure and perplex; all manner of comments and
expositions on any part of these fundamental con-
stitutions, or any part of the common or statute law
of Carolina, are absolutely prohibited.
81. There shall be a registry in every precinct,
wherein shall be enrolled all deeds, leases, judg-
ments, mortgages, and other conveyances, which
may concern any of the land within the said pre-
cinct; and all such conveyances not so entered or
APPENDIX. CVri
registered, shall not be of force against any person
nor party to the said contract or conveyance.
82. No man shall be register of any precinct, who
hath not at least three hundred acres of freehold
within the said precinct.
83. The freeholders of every precinct shall nomi-
nate three men; out of which three, the chief jus-
tice's court shall choose and commission one to be
register of the said precinct, whilst he shall well
behave himself
84. There shall be a registry in every signiory,
barony and colony, wherein shall be recorded all
the births, marriages and deaths, that shall happen
within the respective signiories, baronies and col-
onies.
85. No man shall be register of a colony, that
hath not above fxfty acres of freehold within the said
colony.
86. The time of every one's age, that is born in
Carolina, shall be reckoned from the day that his
birth is entered in the registry, and not before.
87. No marriage shall be lawful, whatever con-
tract and ceremony they have used, till both parties
mutually own it before the register of the place
where they were married, and he register it, with
the names of the father and mother of each party.
88. No man shall administer to the goods, or have
right to them, or enter upon the estate of any per-
son deceased, till his death be registered in the re-
spective registry.
13*
CVIII APPENDIX.
89. He that doth not enter in the respective re-
gistry the birth or death of any person that is born
or dies in his house or ground, shall pay to the said
register one shilling per week for each such neglect,
reckoning from the time of each birth or death re-
spectively, to the time of registering it.
90. In like manner the births, marriages and
deaths of the lords proprietors, landgraves and cas-
siques, shall be registered in the chamberlain's court.
91. There shall be in every colony one constable^
to be chosen annually, b} ihe freeholders of the colo-
ny; his estate shall be above a hundred acres of free-
hold within the said colony, and such subordinate offi-
cers appointed for his assistance as the county court
shall find requisite, and shall be established by the
said county court. The election of the subordinate
annual officers shall be also in the freeholders of the
colony.
92. All towns incorporate shall be governed by a
mayor, twelve aldermen and twenty-four of the com-
mon council. The said common council shall be
chosen by the present householders of the said town ;
the aldermen shall be chosen out of the common coun-
cil; and the mayor out of the aldermen, by the pala-
tine's court.
93. It being of great consequence to the planta-
tion, that port towns should be built and preserved;
therefore, whosoever shall lade or unlade any commo-
dity at any other place but a port town, shall forfeit
to the lords proprietors, for each ton so laden or unla-
den, the sum of ten pounds sterling ; except only such
APPENDIX. QIX
goods as the palatine's court shall license to be laden
or unladen elsewhere.
94. The first port town upon every river shall be
in a colony, and be a port town forever.
95. No man shall be permitted to be a freeman of
Carolina, or to have any estate or habitation within it,
that dbth not acknowledge a God ; and that God is
publicly and solemnly to be worshipped.
96. [As the country comes to be sufficiently plant-
ed and distributed into fit divisions, it shall belong to
the parliament to take care for the building of church-
es, and the public maintenance of divines, to be em-
ployed in the exercise of religion, according to the
church of England; which being the only true
and orthodox, and the national religion of all the
king's dominions, is so also of Carolina; and, there-
fore, it alone shall be allowed to receive public main-
tenance, by grant of parliament,^]
97. But since the natives of that place, who will be
concerned in our plantation, are utterly strangers to
Christianity, whose idolatry, ignorance, or mistake,
gives us no right to expel, or use them ill; and those
who remove from other parts to plant there, will una-
voidably be of different opinions concerning matters
of religion, the liberty whereof they will expect to
have allowed them, and it will not be reasonable for
us, on this account, to keep them out; that civil peace
may be maintained amidst the diversity of opinions,
*This article was not drawn up by Mr. Locke; but inserted
by some of the chief of tlie proprietors, a«;ainst his judgment;
as Mr. Locke himself informed one of his friends, to whom he
presented a copy of these constitutions.
ex APPENDIX.
and our agreement and compact with all men may he
duly and faithfully observed; die violation whereof,,
upon what pretence soever, cannot be without great
offence to almighty God, and great scandal to the true
religion, which we profess; and also that Jews,
Heathens, and other dissenters from the purity of
Christian religion, may not be scared and kept at a
distance from it, but, by having an opportunity of ac-
quainting thenlselves with the truth and reasonable-
ness of its doctrines, and the peaceableness and inof-
fensiveness of its professors, may, by good usage and
persuasion, and all those convincing methods of gen-
tleness and meekness, suitable to the rules and design
of the gospel, be won over to embrace and unfeign°
edly receive the truth ; therefore any seven or more
persons agreeing in any religion, shall constitute a
ehurch or profession, to which they shall give some
name, to distinguish it from others.
98. The terms of admittance and communion with
any church or profession, shall be written in a book^
and therein be subscribed by all the members of the
said church or profession; which book shall be kept
by the public register of the precinct wherein they
reside.
99. The time of every one's subscription and ad-
mittance shall be dated in the said book of religious
record,
100. in the terms of communion of every church
or profession, these following shall be three ; without
which no agreement or assembly of men, upon pre-
tence of religion, shall be accounted a church or pro-
fession within these rules;
APPENDIX. CXI
I. " That there is a God."
II. " That God is puhlicly to be worshipped."
III. " That it is lawful and the duty of every man,
being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear
witness to truth; and that every church or profes-
sion shall^ in their terms of communion, Fet down the
external way whereby they witness a truth as in the
presence of God, whether it be by laying hands on
or kissing the bible, as in the church of England,
or by holding up the |hand, or in any other sensible
way."
101. No person above seventeen years of age shall
have any benefit or protection of the law, or be capa-
ble of any place of profit or honor, who is not a
member of some church or profession, having his
name recorded in some one, and but one religious re-
cord at once.
102. No person of any other church or profession
shall disturb or molest any religious assembly.
103. No person whatsoever shall speak any thing
in their religious assembly irreverently or seditiously
of the government or governors, or state matters,
104. Any person subscribing the terms of commu-
nion, in the record of the said church or profession,
before the precinct register, and any {i\e members of
the said church or profession, shall be thereby made
a member of die said church or profession.
105. Any person striking out his own name out of
any religious record, or his name being struck out by
any oflicer thereunto authorised by each ciiuroh or
profession respectively, shall cease to be a member of
that church or profession.
CXll APPENDIX.
106. No man shall use any reproachful, reviling or
abusive language, against the religion of any church
or profession ; that being the certain way of disturbing
the peace, and hindering the conversion of any to the
truth, by engaging them in quarrels and animosities,
to the hatred of the professors and that profession,
which otherwise they might be brought to assent to.
107. Since charity obliges us to wish well to the
souls of all men, and religion ought to alter nothing in
any man's civil estate or right, it shall be lawful for
slaves, as well as others, to enter themselves, and be
of what church or profession any of them shall think
best, and therefore be as fully members as any free-
man. But yet no slave shall hereby be exempted from
that civil dominion his master hath over him, but be
in all other things in the same state and condition he
was in before.
lOS. Assemblies, upon what pretence soever of re-
ligion, not observing and performing the above said
rules, shall not be esteemed as churches, but unlawful
meetings, and be punished as other riots.
109. No person whatsoever, shall disturb, molest
or persecute another for his speculative opinions in re-
ligion, or his way of worship.
110. Every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute
power and authority over his negro slaves, of what
opinion or religion soever.
111. No cause, whether civil or criminal, of any
freeman, shall be tried in any court of judicature, with-
out a jury of his peers.
112. No person whatsoever, shall hold or claim any
land in Carolina by purchase or gift; or otherwise, front
APPENDIX. CXIII
the natives, or any other whatsoever: but merely from
and under the lords proprietors; upon pain of forfeit-
ure of all his estate, moveable or immoveable, and
perpetual banishment.
113. Whosoever shall possess any freehold in Ca-
rolina, upon what title or grant soever, shall, at the
farthest, from and after the year one thousand six hun-
dred and eighty-nine, pay yearly unto the lords pro-
prietors, for each acre of land, English measure, as
much fine silver as is at this present in one English
penny, or the value thereof, to be as a chief rent and
acknowledgment to the lords proprietors, their heirs
and successors, forever. And it shall be lawful for
the palatine's court, by their officers at any time, to
take a new survey of any man's land, not to out him
of any part of his possession, but that by such a sur-
vey, the just number of acres he possesseih may
be known, and the rent thereupon due may be paid by
him.
114. All wrecks, mines, minerals, quarries of gems,
and precious stones, and with pearl-fishing, whale-
fishing, and one half of all ambergris, by whom-
soever found, shall wholly belong to the lords propri-
etors.
• 115. All revenues and profits belonging to the lords
proprietors in common, shall be divided into ten parts,
whereof the palatine shall have three, and each pro-
prietor one; but if the palatine shall govern by a de-
puty, his deputy shall have one of those three tenths,
and the palatine the other two tenths.
116. All inhabitants and freemen of Carolina,
above seventeen years of ago, and under sixty, shall
CIV APPENDIX.
be bound to bear arms, and serve as soldiers, whenever
the grand council shall find it necessary.
117. A true copy of these Fundamental Constitu-
tions shall be kept in a great book, by the register of
every precinct, to be subscribed before the said regis-
ter. Nor shall any person, of what condition or de-
gree soever, above seventeen years old, have any es-
tate or possession in Carolina, or protection or benefit
of the law there, who hath not, before a precinct regis-
ter, subscribed these Fundamental Constitutions in this
form:
" I, A. B. do promise to bear faith and true allegi-
ance to our sovereign lord king, Charles 11., his
heirs and successors ; and will be true and faithful to
the palatine and lords proprietors of Carolina, their
heirs and successors; and with my utmost power will
defend them, and maintain the government according
to this establishment in these Fundamental Constitu-
tions."
118. Whatsoever alien, shall, in this form, befoi^
any precinct register, subscribe these Fundamental
Constitutions, shall be thereby naturalized.
119. In the same manner shall every person, at his
admittance into any office, subscribe these Fundamen-
tal Constitutions.
120. These Fundamental Constitutions, in num-
ber a hundred and twenty, and every part thereof,
shall be and remain the sacred and unalterable form
and rule of government of Carolina forever. Wit-
ness our hands and seals, the first day of March, six-
teen hundred and sixty-nine.
♦ -f
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
THE
HISTORY
OF
I^ORTH CAROLINA,
FROai THE EARLIEST PERIOD.
BY FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARTIN.
Colonic autem juruy institutaque popuH Romania non sui
arbitrii habehant.
Gel. lib. 16, cap. 23.
VOLUME II.
UE'W-ORLEAN'S:
PRIJVTED BY A. T. PEJ^JVIMAJV !f CO.
Corner of Chartres aud Bienville Street?.
1829.
Eastern District of Louisiana^ ss.
Be it remembered, That on the twentieth day of July, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, and of the
independence of the United States the fifty-third, FRANCOIS-XAVIER
MARTIN, of the said district, hath deposited in the Clerk's office for the
District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Louisiana^
the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, to wit;
" The History of North Carolina, from the earliest period. By
iPranQois-Xavier Martin.
ColonicB autemjura, institutaque populi Romania nonsui
arbitrii, habebant.
Gel. lib. 16, cap. 23.
In conformity to an act of Congress of the United States, entitled *' An
act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps,
charts and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during
the times therein mentioned;" and also, to the act entitled " An act sup-
plementary to an act, entitled ' an act for the encouragement of learning,
by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and
proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and ex-
tending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching
historical and other prints.'*
FRANKLIN W. LEA,
Clerk of the United Court for the Eastern DisfriH
of Louisimin.
THE
HISTORY
OF
NORTH CAROLINA.
CHAPTER I.
Carolina, on its becoming the property of the
crown, was divided into two distinct provinces, and
on tiie 29th of April, 1730, George Burrington, who
a few years before, had presided over the northern
part of the province, under the authority of the lords
proprietors, was appointed governor of North Car-
olina. He did not reach his government till the
middle of the month of February; Sir Richard Eve-
Fard yielded him the supreme authority without any
struggle, and he qualified at Edenton on the 2.')th.
None of the former officers were continued. Wil-
liam Smith was appointed chief justice, Nathaniel
Rice, secretary, Edmund -^orter, judge of the ad-
miralty, John Montgomery, attorney general, and
Robert Holton, provost marshal. Those officers
were named as councellors, in the governor's com-
mission. John Palin, Joseph Jenoure, John Bap-
tist Ashe, Cornelius Harnett, John Lovick, Edmund
Gale and Mathew Rowan were either named with
them in the same instrument, or called into the
king's council, during Burring ion's administration.
His instructions provided, ;hat three members of
the king's council should constitute a quorum ; they
required him, in case of a vacancy, to forward with
N. CARO. ir, 1
e CHAPTER [1730
the information of it, the names of a number of res-
pectable planters, whom he might deem proper
persons to fill it; but, in case the board was reduc-
ed to less than seven members, they authorized
him, with the advice of the council, to fill vacancies,
until that number was complete. He had power to
suspend any member of the council, on just cause,
from his seat at the board, until the king's pleasure
was known ; to grant reprieves in cases of treason,
and pardons for all other offences, and to collate to
all ecclesiastical benefices.
He was directed, with the advice of the council,
to call assemblies of the freeholders of the prov-
ince, according to former usage, and authori-
sed, with their consent and that of the council, ta
exercise legislative powers: but the provincial acts
were to be transmitted to the king in council for
his revision, and on his disallowance they were to
cease having any force.
With the assent of the council, he was also em-
powered to establish courts of justice, fairs and
markets, and to dispose of vacant lands.
The governor and council were authorized to
hold a court of error, and take cognizance of all
suits, in which the matter in dispute exceeded in
value the sum of one hundred pounds, and from
them an appeal lay to the king in council, in Eng-
land- if it exceeded three hundred pounds sterling.
The lords of the admiralty had granted to gov-
ernor Burrington a commission of vice-admiral in
the province.
The vice-admiral, members of the council,
commanders of the king's ships in the province,
7730] THE FIRST. $
^chief-justice, judge of the vice-admiralty, secretary,
receiver and surveyor-general, were constituted a
court for the trial of pirates.
The prosperity of the king's new acquisition
depending; in a great degree on the tranquility of
its inhabitants, it had been judged by the British
ministry, an object of primary impv>rtance to secure
the friendship of the nations of Indians, by w^hom
there was most reason to apprehend it might be
disturbed. For this purpose Sir Alexander Cum-
ming was sent to conclude a treaty of alliance with
the Cherokees, at that time a warlike and formida-
ble nation. They occupied the land on the back
part of the settlements of both the Carolinas, to-
wards the Appalachean mountains. The country
th^y claimed as their hunting grounds was of im-
mense extent, and the boundaries of it had never
been ascertained. The inhabitants of their differ-
ent towns were computed to amount to more than
twenty thousand, six thousand of w^hom were war-
riors, fit to take the field on any emergency. Ah
alliance, with this nation, was an object of impor-
tance to the Carolinas, and likewise to the mother
country, who now engaged their protection and de-
fence. Sir Alexander arrived at Charleston about
the same time that governor Burrington reached
Edenton. He lost no time, and in a few weeks
after met the chiefs of the Cherokee lower towns,
at Keowee; they received him with marks of
f riedship and esteem. Messengers were immedi-
ately sent to the towns in the middle, valley and
over hill settlements to summon a general meeting
of the chiefs, for the purpose of holding a congress
4 , CHAPTER i^m}
with Sfr Alexander, in the month of April, at
Requassee.
Immediately after his qualification, governor Bur-
rington issued a proclamation for convening tcve
first legislative assembly of the province, under the
immediate authority of the crown. They were
called at Edenton, and required to meet on the
13th of April, 1731. With a view to secure the
friendship of the Indians, who were immediately on
the western frontier of his government, he sent
John Brikell, a physician, to meet them. The doc-
tor sat offin the latter part of February from Eden-
ton, attended by a company of ten men and two
Indians as huntsmen and interpreters. The detail
of his journey affords an accurate idea of the state
of the country, at that time. He had provided him*
self with fire arms, ammunition, horses, two mari-
ners compasses, rum, salt, pepper, Indian corn, and
other necessaries. After they had passed the plan-
tations of the whites, they camped every evening
an hour before sunset, tied their horses to trees,
which they made the Indians climb up to procure a
sufficient quantity of moss for the horses, and to
make beds for the men. They then sent the Indians
to hunt, and, in the mean while, made a large
fire of broken limbs of trees, which they found
plentifully scattered through the woods; they
piled them up, in order to continue burning all night,
to prevent wild beasts or pernicious insects from
approaching them or their horses.
As soon as the Indians had discharged one or two
shots, and jL>;iven signal of their success by hallow-
ing, some of the party were despatched to their as-
i730j THE FIKST. 5
sistance to bring to the camp the game they had
killed: and they seldom returned vvithout more than
a sufficient quantity of venis'"»n, wild turkeys and
other game, for the support of the whole company.
When thus supplied with meat, they roast'^d and
boiled a portion of it for supper, parched some
Indian corn to serve instead of bread, and sat down
to their meal with good appetite, whetted by the
keen air; their tables, dishes and plates beini^ the
bark of trees. Sapper bein.^ oyer they made a
large gourdful of punch, and, when disposed to
rest, lay on beds of moss near the fire, the company
keeping a constant watch by turns, every four hours.
After a journey of fifteen days, they reached the
foot of the mountains, without having met any hu-
man being on their way, since they hnd left the set-
tlements of the white people. On their approach,
they were discovered by a party of the Iroquois
Indians, a powerful nation, continually at war, and
wandering between the gulf of Mexico and the
river St. Lawrence. As soon as they perceived
the doctor's party they disappeared, and gave no-
tice to their chief, who despatched one of his cap-
tains, painted as red as vermillion, with a strong
guard, armed with bows and arrows. When the
party came in sight of the doctor's camp, which
was in the middle of a large savannah, they halted,
and the leader, attended by one Indian, advanced,
holding a green bough in his hand. He gave the
doctor to understand that he was sent by his chief,
who desired to know whether the white people
came for peace or war, or what other business had
brought them hither. The doctor informed him,
CHAPTER [1730
througli one of his interpreters, that his views were
friendly, that he had no other object than to cnlti-
vate a good understanding and view the country.
On receiving this answer he sat down and despatch-
ed the Indian, who had approached with him, to
convey the doctor's answer to the chief. The
doctor regaled his guest with punch, and made him
a present of a few toys, with which he appeared
much pleased. On the return of the Indian, his
messenger, he went to meet him at a small distantie,
and receiving his message, returned to inform the
doctor, that it was the wish of the chief that his
party would pay him a visit, assuring them of his
friendship. The doctor and his men were at first
unwilling to comply, fearing some untoward conse-
quence might attend the acceptance of this invita-
tion : at length, encouraged by the assurances their
guest gave them of the sincerity of the chiePs friend-
ship, they consented to visit him, determined on de-
fending themselves to the last extremity, in case any
violence was offered. They marched, attended by
all the Indians that had come out, and towards six
o'clock reached the Indian town, and were con-
ducted to the state house, where the chief and his
war captains were met to receive them. On their
entering they all rose, and the chief placed the
doctor near him : he enquired into the motives of
the journey of his party, and after the health of his
brother, meaning the governor of the whites. On
receiving the doctor's answer, he welcomed him
and his companions, shaking every one of them by
the hand, assuring them of his great regard, and of
the friendship he entertained for their natiouy
1730] , ' THE FIRST. 7
Some punch was made for the chief and his cap-
tains, and a few knives and glass beads were pre-
sented him, which proved so highly acceptable
that he gave orders to all his people to treat his
guests in the most friendly manner, and supply them
with whatever they had occasion for, while they
chose to tarry among them: they were conducted
to one of the chief's houses, which had been pre-
pared for their reception, where they lay upon
benches, covered with bear-skins. The Indians
took particular care of their horses, and supplied
the doctor and his men, with venison, wild fowls,
fish, various kinds of dried fruit, pulse and water,
no stronger liquor being to be met among these
people.
The chief's houses were in the center of the
town; the rest of the buildings being erected in a
confused order, without any regular streets, shops,
or any handicraft trade being found among men.
The news of the arrival of the doctor, brought
a number of men and women around him, and,
also^ boys and girls, who were stark naked. These
would come to the white people, touch their
clothes and gaze on them, with admiration and
wonder.
The chief endeavored to amuse his guests, by
making men and women dance before them, and
the lads shoot with bows and arrows, and perform
their warlike exercises. The doctor finding him-
self in favor with liis host, requested a sight of h\^
quiogoson, or chtunelhou^e^ and was indulged; hr
observed it was the lar2;est he had over beheld.
g CHAFTEE [ITSO
Having spent two days in town, the doctor beg-
ged the chief to permit him to depart, uhich was
reluctantly granted; he presented him with a bot-
tle of rum, and was forced to accept, in return,
some venison, Indian corn and dried fruit. The
Indians accompanied their visitors about half a
mile out, and *ook leavf , wishing them health, and
entreating them to call again, on their return. The
party proceeded west ward ly, and at eve, reached the
top of a high mountain, where they halted. They
found it difficult to provide, for their horses, the moss,
which had, hitherto, nourished them, not being to be
found on the mountains. They made a large fire,
and gathering the withered leaves together for their
beds, went to sleep. The next morning, they started
very early, and setting forward, they reached, at eve,
the western side of the first ridge of mountains, and
got into an even beautiful valley, adorned with woods
and savannahs, of a very rich soil. Here they en-
camped that night, after having made the longest day's
journey, since their first setting out; for the country
they had traversed was barren, and destitute of run-
ning water, having met none but what was found by
chance, in the hollow narts of the rocks, which was^
so bad that the horses would not drink it. The next
morning, they set forward, with great cheerfulness,
having plenty of water and all kinds of provisions.
Th^y met with an Indian in the woods, who, as soon
as he espied the party, fled, and, notwithstanding they
endeavored, by calling him, and making signs, to in*
to induce him to stop, he soon disappeared. After
1730] THE FIRST. b
two days' journey, they reached another ridge of
rocky mountains, with large trees in several places,
and little or no pasture, like the former; much higher,
and having a beautiful prospect of large woods and
forests, as far as the sight could extend : hence, they
returned eastwardly and, in thirty two days, reached
the setdements of the white people.
Early in the month of April, the chief warriors of
the Cherokee towns met Sir Alexander Cumming, at
the place appointed, and acknowledged king George,
for their sovereign lord, and, on their knees, promised
fidelity and obedience to him. Sir Alexander, by
their unanimous consent, appointed Moytoy, comman-
der in chief of the Cherokee nation, and the warriors
of the different tribes, acknowledgea him for their
king, and promised to be accountable to him, for their
conduct. Sir Alexander made several useful presents
to the Indians, and the congress broke up to the sat-
isfaction of all. The crown, or diadem of the nation,
which consisted of five eagle-tails and four scalps of
their enemies, was brought from Tennessee, their chief
town, and Moytoy presented it to Sir Alexander, de-
siring him, on his return, to lay it at the feet of his
sovereign ; but at his request, the Indian king deputed
six of his warriors to carry it to England, and there
do homage with it to the king. They accompanied
Sir Alexander to Charleston and embarked on board
the Fox ship of war.
GoveriTor Burrington met the legislature, according
to his proclamation, at Edenton, on the 13th of April.
In his speech, at the opening of the session, he inform-
ed the house, he had the king's commands to recom-
N. CARO. II. 2
• \
10 CHAPTER , [1730
mend it to them, to settle an adequate and permanent
revenue on the king and his heirs, for defraying the
necessary charges of government in the province ; to
allow a salary to his governor, suitable to the dignity
of his office ; to make provision for defraying the ex-
penses of the members of the king's council and the
house of assemblv, and the emoluments and fees of
the officers employed in the administration of justice.
The lower house did not recognize, in this catalogue
of requisitions, any of the advantages, which the
people had been taught would attend the change of
ownership: they were not prepared to receive it
with complacency, and but litde attention was paid
thereto.
Justice now began to be administered in the king^s
name, and Cullen Pollock, George Martin and Isaac
Hill, were appointed assistant justices of the supreme
court. Chief justice Smith did not recognize his
American brethren, as persons whose opinions were
to have nuich influence in forming the judgment of
the court. He contended that, as his commission
gave him "full power to hold the supreme court of
the province," he needed no assistant in the exercise
of that power. He was willing to allow them to sit
on the bench, provided they would confine themselves
to yielding their advice, as the master of the rolls
and sometimes the chief justice of England assist the
lord chancellor. Perhaps, his displeasure arose from
their being persons appointed by governor B urrington
between whom and himself, a considerable misunder-
standing subsisted. The chief justice charged the
governor with attempts to screen from punishment,
several officers, who had been guilty of great abuse
17301 THE FIRST. li
and oppression, tinder the late administration, and he
even insinuated that the governor had shared the
profits of their ill practices.
O' ' the 31)th of June, the Fox ship of war, on hoard
of which Sir Alexander Cumming and ihe six Che-
rokof? chiefs had emlarked, arrived at Dover. They
proceeded to London, were introduced to the king,
ani laid the regalia of their nation at the foot of
the ihroiie. Considerable presents were made to
them, of cloth, guns, shot, vermillion, flints, hatchets,
knives, &:.c. They entered into a treaty, by which
they submitted themselves and their people, to the
sovereignty of the king and his successors: they en-
gaged not to suffer their people to trade with any
other nation than the English, nor to permit white
men of any other nation to build forts or cabins, or
p'ant<"orri among the n ; and, in case any such attempt
was made, to give information of it, to the king's gov-
ernor, and do whatever he would direct, for the main-
tenance and defenceof the king's right to the country.
They engag^ni to apprehend runaway negroes and
deliver them to their owners or the governor; a
gun and watch-coat were agreed to be given them,
for every negro they apprehended and brought back.
Provision was made for the punishment of any Eng-
lishman killing an Indian, and the surrender of any
Indian killing an Englishman, was stipulated. They
were sent back, in the ship which had brought them,
and met their ccuntrymcn, with the highest idea of
the power and greatness of the English nation, and
not a little pleavSed with the kind and generous treat-
zneui they received.
Ifi CHAPTER [1731
The animosity which subsisted between chief jus-
tice Smith and governor Burrington, continuing to
increase, the former, fearing hkely at the meeting of
the council in the spring of the following year, that
the latter would exercise the power he had, of sus-
pending him from his seat at that board, sailed
for England, with private instructions from the coun-
cil, and laid their complaints against the governor, at
the foot of the throne.
At the third session of the parliament, which was
convened on the accession of George II. to the crown,
a statute, of importance to the Carolinas, was passed.
Rice having become the principal staple commodity of
the southern province, ai>d of that part of the northern
which borders on the river Cape Fear, the regulation
which required that species of produce to be landt^d in
Great Briiaii , before it could be shipped to any other
part of Europe, had been found extremely burden-
some. This commodity, being bulky, could not well
bear a double freight, and the circuitous route to which
it was confined, before it could reach the countries, in
which there was the greatest demand for it, often pre-
vented its arrival at market, in as seasonable time, and
in as good condition, as that from other places, less
distant, and from wi'ich, it was more immediately ship-
ped. To remedy this evil, permission was granted to
the king's subjects, of transporting rice from the Car-
olinas, to the ports of E^urope, to the southward of
cape Finisterre, in vessels built in Great Britain, or
owned by the king's subjects, residing there, navi-
gated according to law, and clearing out, in any port
of Great Britain, for the Carolinas. Persons avail-
ing themselves of tliis facility, were compelled to give
1731] THE FIRST. 13
bonds that no tobacco, sugar, cotton, wool, indigo, dye
woods, molasses, tar, turpentine, hemp, masts, yards,
bowsprits, copper ore, skins or fur, would be exported
with the rice.
During the summer, governor Burrington visited
the settlements of cap*- Fear, which began to extend to
some distance along the stream and its branches; he
returned to meet the legislature, in t'le town of Eden-
ton, where he arrived on the 3d of NovembT, He
repeated his requisitions, and found the lower house
totall}- unwilling to grant them. He, shortly after their
meeting, prorogued them, observing he refrained from
laviniJ^ anv business before them, on account of the
indisposition, which they manifested, to comply with the
king's wishes; that he judged it improper to proceed
upon business with them, until he received the king's
cominands, having laid before him the undutiful beha-
viour of the lower house last year, and concluded by
assuring them that, in the mean while, he would take
good care that the business of the province should be
faithfully conducted, and good order preserved.
, The Irish, obtained this year, a statute of the British
parliament, allowing the exportation of non-enumerated
commodities, from the king's American colonies to
Ireland.
Rope-walks, having been established in some of the
northern provinces, and most of their shipping being
supplied with cordage of their manufacture, measures
were taken in parliament, to depress th.se rising estab-
lishments, and it was enacted, 'hat no drawback should
be allowed on foreign unwrought hemp, exported to
the American colonies.
14 CHAPTER 11732
In the latter part of the month of November, the
precinct of Carteret, was divided by an act of the gov-^
ernor in council, and the vi^estern part of it was erected
into a new precinct, called Onslow, in honor of Arthur
Onslow, speaker of the British house of commons.
With a view to the farther security of ti:e province of
South Carolina, and the relief of indigent people in
Great Britain and Ireland, the settlement of a ntw pro-
vince, between the rivers Savannah and Alatamaha, was
projected in England. Public spirit and private com-
passion conspired in the promotion of this excellent
design; several persons of humanity and opulerice
united and formed a plan for raising mont-v for trans-
porting poor families, to this part of America, and on
the 9th of June, obtained a charter of incorporation:
the new province was called Georgia, in honor of tlie
king, who greatly favored the undertaking. The cor-
poration, which consisted of twenty -one persons, was
styled the trustees for settling and establishing the colony
of Georgia.
In the month of November, one hundred and fifty
settlers, led by James Oglethorpe, one of the trustees,
embarked, at Gravesend, for Georgia.
The facility with which furs were procured in most
of the American provinces, the trifling stock, the cheap
apparatus, which are required in the manufacture of hats,
had induced some of the colonists to employ their time
and industry in this branch of business. Its success
had been considerable, and the exportation of American
made hats, to the West India islands, Portugal and
Spain, became so extensive as to give great uneasiness
to, and consequently excite the clamours of the com-
pany of hatters in London. In order ^^to check the
1733] THE FIRST. - 15
enterprising spirit of the Americans, in this respectp
parliament forbade the exportation of hats from the conti-
nental provinces, to the West India islands and from one
province to the other, and made other severe regulations:
no person was allowed to work at, or carry on, this
kind of manufacture, without having served an appren-
ticeship of seven years; no master was allowed more
than two apprentices at the same time, or to employ
any negro. The statute had the intended effect, it consi-
derably prevented the estabhshment or employment of hat
manufactures for distant sale, and confined the industry
of the colonists, in this respect, to very narrow limits.
To guard against the partiality of a jury of the vicinage,
the heavy penalties, by which these regulations were
enforced, were made recoverable in any of the provinces,
or in any part of Great Britain, in which the defendant
might be convicted, or the goods brought and seized.
For assisting British creditors, in the recovery of the
debts due them in America, a statute was passed this
year, authorizing the admission of ex parte testimony,
taken before t( e mayor, or chief magistrate of any city,
borough, or town corporate, in Great Britain, and lands
andjhouses were made liable to seizure and sale, as goods
and chattels.
Frederick V. of Denmark, purchased the island of
St Croix, from Spain, in 1733.
In the month of April, a new precinct was established,
by a resolution of the governor and council, and called
Edgecombe, and in the month of October, the precinct
of New Hanover was divided, and the western part of
it erected into a new one, by the name of Bladen,
in compliment to Martin Bladen, one of the lords com-
missioners of trade and plantations.
16 CHAPTER [1734
In the spring, chief jubtice Smith returned from
England, and hoon aitcr, the governor took his depar-
ture, under the pretence of a visit to South Carolina,
from whence he sailed for London, in the month of
April. The administration of government devolved on
Nathanial Rice, the secretary of the province, who was
the councillor, first named in the kins^'s instructions,
as president and commander in chief; he qualified at
Edenton, on the 17th of April.
During the absence of the chief justice, John Palin,
presided, for some time, in the supreme court of the
province, and was succeeded by William Little, with
whom, John Worley, William Owen, Mackara Scarbo-
rough and William Badham, sat as associate justices.
Great Britain took no part in the war, that began in
1733, between France and Austria. The minister, de-
pending on the |)acific temper of Cardinal de Fleury,
whom war too much perplexed by the difficulties of the
time, to reap too great an advantage, from the first
succeess of the French arms.
Chalmers — Brickie — History qfS. C.-^-Records.
CHAPTER II.
President Rice's administration was of very short
duration, for, during the summer, Gabriel Johnston v/as
appointed governor of the province.
This gentleman was a native of Scotland, and had re-
ceived his education in the universitv of St. Andrews :
m
he had spent a few years in the acquisition of medical
knowledge, and soon after his reachin.^ manhood, was
appointed professor of the oriental languages, in the
seminary in which he had been reared. This office be-
ing a mere sinecure, he removed to London, where he
was employed in writing some numbers of *' The Crafts-
man," a periodical paper, supported by the ablest po-
litical writers of the day, (lord Bollingbroke and Mr.
Pultney being of the number,) in which the measures
of the administration were attacked with equal animosity
and argument. On the succeeding change in the mi-
nistry, governor Johnston had obtained his appointment
principally through the recommendation of Spence
Compton, baron of Wilmington.
He arrived in the river of Cupe Fear late in October ;
on the second day of November he took the oaths of
office, at the court house of the precinct ofNew Hano-
ver, in the town of Brunswick, and shortly after met
the legislature at Edcnton. He communicated to them,
in his speech, at the opening of the session, the king's de-
N. CARO. II. 3
itr CHAPITER [1734
sire, that provision should be made for an adequate
and permanent revenue for the support of the govern-
ment of the province, and for a fixed salary for the chief
mnijistrate, for the time being.
The bills of ci edit which had been emitted in 1729,
under the authority of the lords proprietors, were stamp-
ed and exchanged, and their future circulation limited to
a period of ten years ; a duty on liquors was laid, for
the support of government ; and the poll tax, on the
poorer inhabitants of the province, was lessened ; the
qualifications of the electors and of the members of the
lowtr house were defined ; new regulations were made
for the improvement and extension of roads ; the pre-
cincts of Onslow and Bliiden, which had been established
by an order of the late governor in council, were con-
firmed, and a grant of fourteen thousand pounds was
made to the king, for the service of the province, and
for the more immediate payment of part of it, an emis-
sion of bills of credit, to the amount of ten thousand
pounds, was directed ; provision was made for defray-
ing the expenses of the council and assembly, but none
for the support of the chief magistrate.
In the course of the following year, a court of ex-
chequer was established : it held its first session at New-
ton, a small village lately built on Cape Fear river, on
the 13th of May : chief justice Smith was appointed
chief baron, and James Innes and William Forbes,
baronso
It does not appear, that there was any meeting of the
legislature, in the course of the year 1735.
The war, which had lately commenced, and was now
carried on with great fury, by the united powers of
France, Spain and Sardinia^ against the emperor,
1735] THE SECOND. 19
threatened tlie tranquility of the other Eurrpean powers ;
and althoLi.ojh the king of Great Britain was in no ways
engas^ed in it, his subjects could not be regardless of the
passing events, or unconcerned for the future con^^e-
quences of a war, undertaken and supported by so pow-
erful an alliance. The situation of the southern British
provinces in America, excited a lively degree of alarm;
to tlie south and south-west was situated the strong
castle of St. Augustine, garrisoned by four hundred-
soldiers, who had several nations of Indians in their sub-
jection, besides several other settlements or garrisons,
some of which were not eighty miles distant from the
l>rovince of Georgia. To the south-west and west, the
French had erected a considerable town, near fort
Conde, on the river Mobile, and other forts and garri-
sons, some not above three hundred miles distant from
the settlements in the province of South CaroUna, and at
New Orleans. Since the conclusion of the war under
queen Anne, they had increased their trade and traffic,
and had now many forts and garrisons on both sides of
the Mississippi, for several miles up that river ; and since
the king of France had taken the government of the
country from the Mississippi company, the French from
Canada came daily down in shoals to settle along the
river, where regular forces had lately been sent to
strengthen the garrisons ; they had five hundred men in
pay, constantly employed as wood rangers, to keep their
neighboring Indians m subjection, and to prevent those
at a distance from coming on and destroying their settle-
ments ; they had been so successful in their intrigues,
that they had completely under their control and influ-
ence the numerous nations of Indians tliat dwelt near the
Mississippi; one of them, the Choctaws, who were al^
20 CHAPTER [1735
ways deemed a very warlike people, and who were able
to bring into the the field five thousand warriors, was at
the distance of four hundred miles only from the back
settlements in the province of South Carolina ; among
them, as among several other nations of Indians, many
French Europeans had been sent to settle, and were en-
couraged by their priests and missionaries to take Indian
wives, and other alluring means were used, the better
to attach the Indians to the French alliance. Thus the
French had become thoroughly acquainted with the In-
dian mode of living, warring and dwelling in the woods ;
and a great number of them were among the Indians,
able to perform a long march with an army of those
people, upon any expedition.
There was room to apprehend, that, in case the mea-
sures of France should provoke Great Britain to a state
of hostility in Europe, the French and Indians on the
Mississippi settlements, would invade the Carolinas and
Georgia.
They had already paved the way for a design of this
nature, by erecting a fort, called the Alabama Fort, or
Fort Toulouse, in the middle of the upper Creek Indians,
upon a navigable river leading to Mobile, which they
kept well garrisoned and mounted with fourteen pieces
of cannon ; they had lately attempted to build one nearer
the British settlements. The upper Creeks were a
bold and active nation, and had about twenty-five hun-
dred warriors ; they were about one hundred and fifty
miles distant from the Cherokees, and although the Bri-
tish had heretofore traded with, and looked upon them
as in their alliance, yet the French, on account of the fort,
and a superior ability to make them fiberal presents, had
been for some time too successfully striving to draw
1735] THE SECOND. 21
them to their interest, and had effected their purpose
with some of the towns : they were the only nation
which the soutliern provinces could consider as a barrier
against tlie attempts of the French, or their confederate
Indians.
Hitherto the French at Mobile, unable to gain the
Indians to their interest, without buying their deer skins,
the only commodity which the Indians had to procure ne-
cessities with, and having no means of disposing of them
in France, had found means to encourage vessels from
the British provinces, particularly from New York, to
truck the skins with them for Indian trading goods,
especially the British woollen manufactures, which they
disposed of to the Creeks, Choctaws, and other Indians,
by this means alienating them more easily from the Bri-
tish interest.
Besides the many dangers to which the southern pro-
vinces were exposed, from so many enemies in rear
of their settlements, their sea coast was in the most
defenceless condition, their ports and harbors, lying open
to the invasion of any enemy by sea, there not being in
any of them a fortification, capable of making much
resistance.
Governor Oglethorpe, having brought a number of
heavy guns with him, began to fortify the province of
Georgia, at the place which is now known as the town
of Augusta, he erected a fort on the bank of the river
Savannah, excellently situated for protecting the Indian
trade, and holding treaties with several of the nations of
the Indians ; on an island, near the river Alatamaha, ano-
ther fort with four bastions was erected, and several
pieces of cannon mounted in it ; the place was called
Fredcrica ; ten miles nearer the sea, a battery was raised,
CHAPTER [1736
commanding the entrance of the sound, through which
all armed vessels must come, that might be sent against
Frederica. To keep garrisons in these forts, and reim-
burse the expenses of their erection, parliament made a
grant of ten thousand pounds.
While governor Oglethorpe was thus employed in
fortifying the province under his command, he received
a mes«iage from the Spanish governor at St. Augustine,
acquainting him that a commission from the king of
Spain had arrived there from Spain, in order to make
certain demands of him, and would meet him at Fre-
derica, for that purpose. A few days after, the com-
missioner came to Georgia by water, and governor
Oglethorpe, unwilling to permit him to proceed to
Frederica, sent a sloop to convey him to Jekyl sound.
Here he unfolded the object of his mission; it was to
summon the governor, in the name of the king of
Spain, to evacuate the country, to the thirty-third de-
gree of north latitude, which his master claimed, and to
which he was determined to maintain his right. The
governor endeavored to convince him that the king had
been misinformed, but to no purpose: the instructions
of the commissioner were peremptory, and the confer-
ance broke up without their coming to any agreement.
Governor Johnston met the legislature on the 21st
day of September, in the town of Edenton. In ad-
dressing the houses, he began by bewailing the deplora-
ble situation of the province, in which no provision ex-
isted for keeping up the sense and awe of the Deity on
the minds of the people, nor any care was taken to in-
spire the youth with generous sentiments, worthy
principles, or the least tincture of literature — in which
the laws were diffused up and down, in different places,
1736] THE SECOND. 23
on loose papers, many of them contradictory, others
unintelligible, appearing under ridiculous titles, couch-
ed in a childish style, and offending the common rules
of grammar. He observed, that from the best and
plainest of these laws, the vilest malefactors, not only-
might, but did actually escape, with impunity, on ac-
count of the insufficiency of the jails. He besought
the members of both houses, to consider themselves
as the representatives of such a country, possess-
ing the power and means, and earnestly solicited to
remedy these calamities, an'd then laying their hands on
their hearts, think how they could answer it to God and
their own consciences, if they neglected the opportunity
of relieving the province, or suffered themselves to be
diverted from it by the arts of designing men. He
complained of the insufficiency of the militia law, and
recommended to the consideration of the houses, the
propriety of giving encouragement to a direct trade with
Great Britain.
He complained of notorious untruths and impudent
falsehoods, which, with a design of keeping the country
in confusion, had been industriously propagated by a
party, remarkable for nothing more than their indefatiga-
ble efforts in spreading the basest calumnies, and for their
want of shame when detected. He flattered himself, he
had no occasion to say much on this subject, because
it was pretty well known, that if those men had been
permitted, as in former times, to injure the king's reve-
nue, and oppress their fellow subjects, the province
would not have been troubled with their complaints.
He wished every planter would bring the matter home
to himself, make the case his own, and suppose that in
the kte times, when no Jegal title could be obtained?
24 CHAPTER V inSG
he had sat down widi his family on a vacant tract of land,
and with great expense and labor, built upon and culti-
i^oted it for several years, and after all a person (unac-
quainted, perhaps, with the bounds of the tract, but by
the survey the occupant had paid for) and with an inso-
lent air, by virtue of a patent, which, likely, a few hours
before was a blank sheet of paper, rob him of his land,
and of the fruit of his labor of so many years. After
asking whether there would not be just and real cause
of complaint, against a government which would con-
nive at proceedings like these ; he observed, that the case
he had put, was not an hypothesis, but had actually
happened several times, and no one could tell how often
it would have happened, if a seasonable stop had not
been put to it. He said that, for his own part, he thought
he might say, without vanity or ostentation, that he had
been at great expense, and even risked his health, to do
justice to the people, by going on the spot to hear their
different pretentions, and, on all occasions, relieving the
poor industiious planter, from the oppression of his
more powerful and crafty neighbor; and as he heartily
despised the poor, trifling efforts of those men, to his pre-
judice, as well as the scandalous method they took
to make them effectual, if any artifice should pre-
vail with the houses, to lose this favorable opportu-
nity of settling the country, he would still have the
satisfaction of reflecting, that he had performed his duty.
He conciu.led by observing, that as he had been obliged
by his instructions, vigorously to maintain the rights
and just revenue of the crown, he should be glad, on
all occasions, to show a tender re^c^ard for the privileges,
happiness and liberties of the people, not being appre-
hensive, that they were in the least inconsistent with one
1737] THE SECOND. 25
N.
another. The address of the upper house echoed the
sentiments in the speech; the members did not, how
ever, all approve of it; two out of six, Cullen Pol-
lock and Edward Moseley, prayed leave to enter their
protest against the address, but the house did not allow
it. The address of the lower house has not reached us,
it is believed to have been of a different complexion;
both houses continued in session during three weeks,
withoutany bill of importance being introduced. On the
12th of October, the governor came to the upper house,
and sent a message to command the attendance of the
lower; they declined coming up, and the message was
reiterated, without success. The governor then pro-
rogued the legislative body, without having had any
bill presented for his assent.
A considerable contraband trade was carried on by
the British American colonies, with the Spanish do-
minions; remonstrance having been often made, with-
out success, the court of Madrid increased their guar-
das costas, and the most rigorous orders were given to
the officers commanding tliem. In consequence of
these, British vessels were often stopped, carried into
Spanish ports, sometimes detained for examination,
and at others condemned. A committee of the mer-
chants of London, trading to America, presented a pe-
tition to the king, beseeching his interference in this
respect.
With a view to give encouragement to British man-
ufactures, parliament passed a statute requiring every
vessel, built in America, to be supplied, on her first
sailing out, with a complete suit of sails, made of Bri-
tish sail cloth
N. CARO. II. 4
26 CHAPTER [1738
This year, commissioners appointed by the legisla-
tures of North and South Carolina, began to run the
dividing line between the two provinces. The king
had fixed its beginning at the north-east end of Long
bay, and directed it to run thence, north- west wardly, to
the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude, and thence,
west wardly, to the south sea. It was run to the dis-
tance of sixty -four miles, and it was agreed that the eas-
tern and northwestern frontiers of the lands of the Ca-
tawbas and Cherokees, should, till the line was further
extended, be considered as the dividing line of the pro-
vinces.
The extension of the population of the province, to*
wards its southern boundary, and the width of Albe-
marle sound, rendering the attendance of the members
of the legislature at Edenton, inconvenient, the general
assembly was convened at Newbern, on the sixth of
March.
A poll tax of five shillings per head on all the tithe-
able inhabitants of the province was granted to the
king, and regulations were adopted to prevent frauds in
the assessment and collection of taxes. Two thousand
pounds sterling were appropriated for the building of a
jail and also, an office, for the safe keeping of the records
of the general court, in the town of Edenton, and for
the repairing the court-house; circuit courts were ap-
pointed to be holden in the town of Newbern and
village of Newton, on the river of Cape Fear. An act
was passed for providing a rent roll and securing the
king's rents, for the remission of the arrears of quit
rents, for quieting the inhabitants in their possessions,
and for promoting the better settlement of the province;
k was, however, repealed by the king's order in council.
i738] THE SECOND. 2.T
The population of the province having much increased,
and btm^ spread through a vast territory, often in dis-
tinct settlements, scattered at a great distance from each
other, and sometimes separated by a trackless wild, the
inconvenience of having the fiscal affairs, and the minis-
terial duties in the judicial department, under the direc-
tion of a single individual, began to be severely felt.
His deputies not only often neglected, but at times ab-
solutely refused, to perform their duties; their con-
duct in many other respects, occasioned great murmurs,
discontents and a delay of justice, greatly injurious
to the tranquility and prosperity of the province. This
evil was remedied by the abolition of the office of pro-
vost marshal of the province, which Robert Helton, a
member of the king's council, had held since the arrival
of governor Burrington: the loss which this gentleman
was to sustain, by the abolition of his office, was com-
pensated by a sum of two thousand pounds sterhng.
The primary division of the province, into the three
counties, Albemarle, Bath and Clarendon, was abo-
lished, and the precincts were denominated counties;
a sheriff was directed to be appointed in each, chosen by
the governor out of three persons, recommended by
the county court, out of their own body; the office
was made biennial. Provision was made for facilitating
the navigation of the principal rivers, for placing buoys
and beacons in the main channels, and procuring skilful
pilots; regulations were adopted for the preservation
of game, and the destruction of vermin; a town was
established on the west side of Matchapungo river, in
the county of Hyde and called Woodstock.
As the sovereigns of Great Britain and Spain, were
both anxious lor peace, their differences were soon ad-
2a CHAPTER. [1739
justed, and a preliminary treaty was signed in London,
on the 9th of September, Spain agreeing to pay ninety-
live thousand pounds sterling, as a compensation for
the depredations, committed by her subjects on the com-
merce of Great Britain in America. Whether the Span-
ish minister had deviated from his instructions, or whe-
ther, as is more likely, the cabinet of Madrid, seeing the
facility with which that of London had yielded to an ac-
commodation, repented of its too easy concession, and
sought to obtain better terms, Philip, in ratifying the
treaty, insisted, as an indispensable condition of his sig-*
nature, that the sum of sixty-eight thousand pounds
sterling, which were due him by the British company
of the Assiento, should be accepted in part of that, stipu-
lated by the treaty.
The court of London complained of this condition,
as an infidelity ; and after the reproaches usual on such
a circumstance, a new negotiation was begun on the
10th of January : it concluded by a vague agreement,
that in case the companv of the Assiento should not sa-
tisfy the Catholic king, he would be at liberty to sus-
pend their privilege, and four days after, a treaty was
signed at the Pardo, by which it was agreed, that until
measures could be taken to conciliate the interest of the
two nations, and ascertain the true boundary between
the provinces of South Carolina and Georgia, and that
of Florida, all acts of hostility should cease in America,
and that neither the Spanish nor the English would erect
any fortification on, or occupy any new part of the dis-
puted ground : the king of Spain promised to pay eighty-
five thousand pounds within four months, and the king
of Great Britain to satisfy the claims of his subjects on
Spain, for spoliation. These terms excited a genera!
1739] THE SECOND. 29
indignation in England ; the merchants exclaimed against
the smallness of the sum, and the nation, trusting on her
strength, hoped to be able to reduce Spain to allow a
continuance of what she called an illicit trade. Parlia-
ment, biassed by the general wish, seemed disposed to
contest the prerogative of the crown, in making peace
or war.
The ministry, intimidated, discovered no other means
of calming the public mind, than a seeming dereliction of
the treaty of the Pardo : they suffered to remain in the
Mediterranean, the fleet which had been agreed to be
withdrawn, and instead of giving orders for the suspen-
sion of hostilities in America, dispositions were made
for sending new forces thither. As every thing announced
an approaching war, Philip was in no hurry in making
the stipulated payment, and George, pleased with a pre-
tence to gratify his subjects, complained of an infraction
which was so welcome to him, and pretending great
anger, granted letters of marque against Spain.
No business of importance came before the general
assembly, which was convened at Newbern, earlv in the
year. Newton, a small village, conveniently situated
near the confluence of the two branches of Cape Fear
river, where several merchants and tradesmen had set-
tled, invited by the depth of the water, which allowed
the approach of vessels of considerable burden, was
now established as a town, and the name of it altered to
that of Wilmington, in compliment to the earl of Wil-
mington, the nobleman to whose protection, it has been
observed, governor Johnston was chiefly indebted for
his office. The privilege of sending a member to the
lower house of the legislature was extended to the new
town : the collector and naval officers of Port Bruns-
30 CHAPTER [1740
wick, the clerk of the court, and the register of the
county of New Hanover, were directed to remove their
offices thither.
A formal declaration of war against Spain, was signed
by the king on the 19th of October, and four days after
was proclaimed with great solemnity throughout the
city of London. Admiral Vernon was sent to take the
command of a squadron on the West India station,
with orders to act offensively against the Spanish do-
minions in that quarter, and governor O.^iethorpe was
directed to annoy the subjects of Spain in Florida, by
every means in his power : he immediately determined
on an expedition against St. Augustine, and communi-
cated his design to lieutenant governor Bull of South
Carolina, and governor Johnston. The former laid
the plan before the legislature of his province, which was
then in session : they voted one hundred and twenty
thousand pounds, for the service of the war, and a regi-
ment of four hundred men was raised, partly by gover-
nor Bull in that province, recruits being made in North
Carolina under the auspices of governor Johnston, and
in the province of Virginia under those of governor
Gooch; colonel Vanderdussen was appointed to the
command of this regiment. Indians were sent for from
the different tribes in alliance with the British, and Vin-
cent Price, who commanded the ships of war on this
station, furnished four twenty gun ships and two sloops.
Governor Oglethorpe, having appointed the mouth of
St. John's river for the place of general rendezvous, re-
turned to Georgia, and, placing himself at the head of
his own regiment, on the 9th of May passed over to
Florida ; on the following day he infested fort Diego,
at the distance of twenty. five miles from St. Augustine ;
1740] THE SECOND. ^1
after a short resistance, the commanding officer capitu-
lated, and lieutenant Dunbar, being left in the fort with a
small garrison, the governor proceeded to the place of
rendezvous, where he was joined by colonel Vander-
dussen's regiment, and a company of Highlanders under
captain Mlntosh : but, before this time, six Spanish half
galleys with long brass nine pounders, and two sloops
laden with provisions, had arrived at St. Augustine, and
the army, now consisting of a little more than two thou-
sand men, regulars, provincials and Indians, mov^ed to fort
Moosa, within two miles of St. Augustine. On its
approach, the garrison abandoned the fort and retreated
into the town ; the goveanor burnt the gates of the fort,
made three breaches in its walls, and advanced towards
the town and castle ; he soon discovered that an attack
by land upon the town was impracticable, and that an
attempt to storm the castle would be precarious and
dangerous ; the enemy was too well prepared to receive
him ; during his stay at Fort Diego, they had drove all
the cattle from the woods around the place, into the
town ; the garrison consisted of seven hundred regulars,
two troops of horse, besides the militia of the province,
two companies of armed negroes and some Indians.
The castle, built of soft stone, had four bastions, a cur-
tain sixty yards long, and a parapet nine feet thick ; the
rampart, which was twenty feet high, was casemated un-
derneath for lodgings, arched over, and newly made
bomb proof; fifty pieces of cannon, a number of them
twenty-four pounders, were mounted ; the town was,
besides, entrencl)ed with ten salient angles, on each of
which some small cannon were placed.
In these circumstances, it was resolved, with the as-
sistance of the ships, to turn the siege into si blockade.
32 CHAPTER [1740
and shut up every channel by which provisions could
reach the garrison. Accordingly, colonel Palmer, with
ninety-five Highlanders and forty-two Indians, was left
at fort Moosa, and directed to scour the woods and in-
tercept all supplies from the country by land ; colonel
Vanderdussen, with the Carolina regiment, was sent to
take possession of point Quarsel, about a mile distant
from the town, and erect a battery ; while the governor,
^vith his party and the greatest part of the Indians, land-
ed on the island of Anastasia ; hence he resolved on
storming the town ; captain Green, with one of the
ships, guarded the passage by the way of the Matanzas,
and with ihe rest the mouth of the harbor, so as to cut
off all supplies by sea; batteries were erected on the
island, and cannon mounted. These dispositions being
made, the governor thought himself in a situation to
summon the place to surrender, but the Spanish com-
mander returned for answ^er, he would gladly shake
hands with him in the castle. On this, the governor
opened his batteries against the castle, throwing at the
same time a number of shells into the town : his fire
was spiritedly returned from the castle and half galleys,
but the distance wsls so great, that though the cannon-
ade was continued on both sides for several days, very
little execution was done. It ^vas thought of destroy-
ing the half galleys by a nightly attack, but on sounding
the bar, it appeared impracticable to employ the large
ships, and the galleys being covered by tha cannon of the
castle, to send small vessels on this service appeared too
rash. A detachment of three hundred Spaniards sallied
out and surprised colonel Palmer's party at fort Moosa,
and cut them almost entirely to pieces : some of the
Chickasaw Indians, in escaping, met with a Spaniard,
8740] THE SECOND, S3
and according to their mode of warfare, cut off his head,
brought it to the camp and presented it to governor
OiTlethorpe : he called them barbarous dogs, and angrily
bid them be gone. This treatment, more humane thaa
politic, exasperated the Indians, who loudly complained
of it, observing, that if one of them had carried the head
of an Englishman to the Spanish commander, he would
have been differently received. The vessels stationed
at Matanzas being ordered off, some small vessels
from Havana, with troops and provisions, passed
through that small channel to the relief of the garrison :
some Spanish prisoners, taken soon after, reported, that
this reinforcement consisted of seven hundred men, and
the supply of provisions was ample.
The governor now despaired of forcing the place to
surr^rrler: his men were dispirited by sickness, enfee»
bled by heat and fatigued ; his Indians grew trouble-
some, the navy was short of provisions, and the season
cf hurricanes was approaching. Any farther attempt
appearing hopeless, the siege was raised, and the gover-
nor reached Frederica on the 10th of July,
At the meeting of the legislature, on the 21st of Au-
gust, in the town of Edenton, governor Johnston com-
municated to the two houses the instructions which he
had lately received, to enlist men in the king's servicCp
and to apply to the legislature for aid, it being expect-
ed that the troops, thus raised, would be at the expense
of the province, transported to the West Indies, to join
other troops sent thitlier, on an intended expedition
against the Spaniards, and pressed them to manifest
their loyalty and duty to their sovereign, by a cheerful
compliance with his desire : he added, that in compli-
N. CARO. lu 5
34 CHAPTER [1740
ance with his instructions, he had already enlisted four
hundred men.
The lower house readily consented to the measure,
and early entered on the consideration of the means by
which a fund could be raised for this service. The po-
verty of the people and the great scarcity of a circula-
ting medium rendered it impossible to collect a sum of
m.oney, sufficient for this purpose : a levy in the com-
modities of the country appeared to be the only effec-
tual expedient : accordingly, a poll tax of three shillings
proclamation money was laid, to bfe paid in tobacco,
rice, Indian dressed skins, beeswax, tallow, pork and
beef: the inhabitants of that part of the province, hereto-
fore called Albemarle county^ were allowed to discharge
it at their option, in bills of credit, at the rate of seven
pounds ten shillings for one pound in proclamation
money.
As the extreme scarcity of money rendered it diffi-
cult to pay taxes, and as the bills of credit in circulation
were to cease to be current within four years, the facili-
ty of paying in the same commodities was extended to
the discharge of taxes, fines and forfeitures. Ware-
houses, for receiving the commodities were directed to
be built in each county.
With a view to give greater encouragement to settlers
in the American provinces, an act of parliament was this
year passed, extending all the privileges of natural sub-
jects, in the colonies, to such aliens, who, after a resi-
dence of seven years, should take the oaths of abjuration^
and fidelity and receive the sacrament, in some protest-
ant or reformed congregation. The statute excuses
Quakers and Jews from the last formalitv.
17411 , THE SECOND. 35
The statute, allowing bounties on the importation into
Great Britain of naval stores, masts, &c. from the Ame-
rican provinces, which was about to expire, was con-
tinued for the further period of ten years.
In April, 1740, the merchants of Great Britain,
trading to America, complained to the house of
commons, of the inconvenience and discouragement
brought on the British commerce, in America, by
the excessive quantities of paper money then issued,
and the depreciated condition thereof, for want of
proper funds to support its credit. The house, by
way of palliation, addressed the throne, to put a
temporary stop to the evil, by instructing the gover-
nors not to give their assent to any further laws of
that nature, without an express proviso, that it
should not take effect, until the king's approbation
was first obtained.
Early in the following year, the four hundred men en-
listed in the province were transported to Jamaica :
they were embarked there on board of the fleet, under
the orders of admiral Vernon. This expedition had not
the success w^hich was expected, and which the superi-
ority of the forces, employed, seemed to promise. In
the month of March, the British troops possessed them-
selves of near all the forts and batteries which defended
the harbor of Carthugena, and on the 9th of April, a
grand attack was made on fort St. Lazarus : it however
proved unsuccessful. This misfortune, being followed
by a great mortalitv among the officers and soldiers, the
siege was raised and the troops re -embarked on die 16th.
However, all the castles and forts which guarded the
harbor were demolished ; six ships of war, as many gal-
Icons, and all the other ships in the harbor, were burnt
m CHAPTER ' [174$
or destroyed, and many hundred guns carried away or
rendered useless.
The legislature met at Edenton early in the spring ;
its attention was taken up by objects of internal policy.
The county of Edgecombe, which had been erected by
an order of governor Burrington in council, was con-
firmed by law ; a town was established on Mittam point,
on the south side of New river, in the county of Ons-
low, to which, in compliment to the governor, the name
of Johnston was eiven ; an ecclesiastical division of the
province into fourteen parishes took place, and the elec-
tion of churchwardens and vestrymen was regulated ; pro-
vision was made for the erection of churches and procu-
ring ministers ; an act was passed, accurately defining
the rights and duties of master and servant, for the ap-
prehension of fugitives, and the trial and punishment of
slaves, and some restraint was laid on the emancipation
of them.
Few sessions of the legislature had ever been pro-
ductive of so many useful acts ; laws were made con-
cerning marriages ; to prevent usury ; to ascertain the
damages on foreign bills ; for the suppression of immo-
rality : jvthe improvement of roads and inland navigation ;
to prevent the stealing of cattle, boats and canoes ; the
regulation of weights and measures ; the speedy and
cheap trial of small causes ; the regulation of taverns
and restraint of tipphng houses ; and the relief of pri-
soners.
The setdements on Cape Fear river had become
so considerable, that in the latter part of this year,
the legislature was convened at Wilmington : the ses-
aon was but of short duration : the county of Bertie
was divided, and the upper part of it established as a
1742] THE SECOND. 37
new county, to which the name of North Hampton was
given ; an agt was passed for establishing ports, or places
of delivery and shipping of merchandize, imported or
exported; and to prevent the clandestine running of
goods, which was soon after repealed, experience having
shown, that its effect was to drive a considerable part of
the trade from the province to Virginia.
Disturbances occasioned, in Massachusetts, by the
abuses introduced by a banking company, in that pro-
vince, induced parliament to pass a statute, prohibiting
the establishment of banks, in the British colonies, on
the continent.
Although the territory granted, by the second charter
of Charles II., to the proprietors of Carolina, extended
far to the south west of the river Alatamaha, the Span-
iards had never relinquished 'heir claim to the province
of Georgia : their embassador at the British court, had
even declared, thai his master would as soon part with
Madrid. Admiral Vernon had so much occupied their
attention, in the West Indies, that they had not been
able to bestow much of it on the recovery of that pro-
vince. But, as soon as the admiral returned home, they
began their preparations for dislodging governor Ogle-
thorpe, With this view, don Antonio de Rodondo,
embarked at Havana, with two thousand men, under
the convoy of a strong squadron: the expedition reached
St. Augustine in the month of May.
Governor 0;^lethorpe, having had early information
of their approach, sent to governor Glen, of South Ca'*-
ollna : in the meanwhile, he made every preparation at
Frederica, for a vigorous defence; and his Indian allies,
who were greatly attached to him, soon crowded to his
camp ; and a com[any of Highlaiidcrs joined him, at the
38 CHAPTER [1742
first notice. The inhabitants of the southern part of
the province of South Carolina, deserted their habita-
tions, and, instead of joining the forces in North Car-
olina, flocked to Charleston, with their families,
slaves, and most valuable effects. It was then de-
termined to fortify the town, and abide in a posture of
defence. A want of confidence, in governor Ogle-
thorpe's military talents, produced by his unsuccessful
expedition against St. Augustine, recommended this
measure. It was not thought, that, on the event of the
governor being crushed, the reduction of Georgia would
open an easy access to the enemy, into the heart of South
Carulina, the force of the two provinces, becoming, by
its division, unequal to the defence of either.
In the latter part of June, thirty-two sail, under the
orders of do a Manuel de Montanio, brought don An-
tonio de Redondo, and his two thousand men, rein-
forced with one thousand more from St. Augustine.
The fleet anchored off" Simore's bar and came in with
the tide, into Jekyl sound. Governor Oglethorpe, who
was at Simore's Fort fired at them as they passed : they
returned his fire, and proceeded up the river Alatamaha,
out of the reach of his guns. Among their forces, was
a regiment of negroes, the officers of which, decked in
lace, bore the same rank as the white officers, and, with
equal freedom and familiarity, walked and conversed
with the commander in chief. This circumstance was
calculated to alarm the inhabitants of South Carolina,
where, there being so many negroes, this regiment would
soon have acquired such a force, as might have baffled
every opposition. Unable to stop the progress of the
enemy, the governor spiked the guns, burst the bombs
and cohorns, destroyed his stores, and retreated to Fred-
1742J THE SECOND, 39
erica. The enemy was too strong to warrant his acting
otherwise, than on the defensive. He sent out strolling
parties, to watch the motions of the Spaniards, while he
employed his main body on the fortifications. At night,
his Indians were employed, ranging through the woods,
and harrassing the Spanish outposts. They brought
him five prisoners, by whom, he became acquainted
with the extent of the force against him. Stiil expecting
assistance from South Carolina, he exerted all his ad-
dress in gaining time, and keeping up the spirits of his
garrison. For this purpose, the Highlanders were de-
spatched to reinforce the Indians, and assist them in ob-
structing the approach of the enemy. His principal
force did not amount to seven hundred men.
The enemy made several attempts to pierce through
the woods, but met with such opposition from deep mo-
rasses and dark thickets, lined with fierce Indians and
wild Highlanders, that they honestly confessed, the devil
himself could not pass through them, to Frederica.
Don Manuel, however, had no other prospect left : one
party was sent after another, to explore the thickets, and
occupy every advantageous situation. In two skir-
mishes, with the Highlanders and Indians, the enemy
had one captain and two lieutenants killed, and one hun-
dred men taken prisoners. The Spanish commander
now altered his plan, and, keeping his meii under cover
of his cannon, proceeded, with some galleys, up the river,
with the tide, to reconnoitre the fort, and draw the go-
vernor's attention elsewhere. A party of Indians was
sent to lie in ambuscade and prevent the landing of the
Spaniards. Governor Oglethorpe, having learned from
an English prisoner, who eflfected his escape, that differ-
ences had arisen to such a height in the Spanish army,
40 CHAPTER [1142
that the forces from Cuba, and those from St. Ausjus^
tine, encamped in different places, determined on a sur-
prise of one of the camps ; and, availing himself of his
knowledge of the woods, marched out in the night, with
three hundred chosen men, the Highland company and
some rangers : he halted at the distance of two miles,
and taking with him a small party, drew closer, to ob-
serve the position of the enemy. At this moment, while
every thing depended on the concealment of his ap-
proach, one of his party fired his musket, ran off
and alarmed the Spaniards. This treachery disconcert-
ing his plan, the governor brought back his party to
Fredt-rica. With a view to prevent any credit to the
report of the deserter, by whom he apprehended his
weakness would be made known to the Spanish com-
mander, he wrote a letter to this man, desiring him to
represent Frederica to the Spaniards, as a weak and de-
fenceless port, and induce them to come and attack it;
but, if he could not persuade them to this, to use every
possible artifice, to induce them to stay at least three
days more where they were, as advices were received,
that, within that time, two thousand men would arrive
to the refief orG:orgia, from South Carolina, with six
ships oi the line; and, above all, urged him to conceal
from the Spaniards, the approach of the British fleet to
St. Augustine,, promising him the highest reward, if he
acted his part well. This letter he gave to one of the
Spanish prisoners in his camp, who, for the sake of ob-
taining his liberty, undertook to give it to the deserter,
instead of which, agreeable to the governor's expecta-
tion, he placed it in the hands of his commander.
This letter gave rise to various conjectures: the
Spanish general had the deserter put in irons, and called
1742] THE SECOND. 41
a council of war, to determine on the proper steps to
be pursued. Some of the officers were of opinion, the
letter was written with a view to its being intercepted
and to prevent the attack on Frederica: others, on the
contrary, thought tlie contents of the letter very pro-
bable, and recommended the dropping of a plan, which
was attended with so many difficulties, and the issue of
which hazarded, not only the loss of the army and the
fleet, but that of the whole province of Florida. Du-
ring this deliberation, three ships of war, which gover-
nor Glen had sent out, came in sight. This accident,
corresponding with the letter, convinced the Spanish
commander that it was no fiction ; and the army was
struck with such a panic, that they immediately set fire
to their works, and embarked in great hurry and con-
fusion, leaving behind several cannon and a quantity of
military stores. The wind prevented the British ships
from beating up the river, and, before the morning, the
invaders passed them and escaped to St. Augustine.
This attack on a neighboring province, notwithstand-
ing its faikire, manifebttd the necessity which there was,
for the rest of the provinces to place themselves in a
situation to repel invasion. France could not be ex-
pected, much longer, to retain her neutrality. The
natural alliance, which subbisted between the princes
who filled the French and the Spanish thrones, forbade
the belief, that Great Britain micr^it lone; carrv on the
war against one of them, without his being openly
supported by the other. Indeed, Great Britain and
France observed each other, and each expected, ihat the
other would soon begin the contest. The northern
provinces were prepared to meet the foe. Every forti-
fied pluce had been repaired and improved: the militia
N. CARO. II. 6
42 , CHAPTER ^ [1743
were training, and no measures were neglected, to place
the country in a state of defence. In Europe, great pre-
parations were made every where. The arsenals of both
nations were full of workmen, and, although each sove-
reign held out, as the ostensible object of his move-
ments, the support of one of the personages, who was
contending for the imperial diadem, each contemplated
the probability of soon using the means, which were
providing, in a different undertaking.
In opening the next session of the legislature, on the
2d day of April, in the town of Edenton, governor
Johnston endeavored to impress upon the house the ne-
cessity of making preparations, against the impending
danger. His representations, however, were not of
much avail: they intended, only to procure an act for
erecting magazines, in the several counties.
The election of members of the legislature, was regu-
lated at this session: the qualifications, required from the
electors, were a freehold of fifty acres, and six months'
residence in the county. Those of the elected were a
freehold of one hundred acres, and twelve months' resi-
dence. The suffrages were to be given by ballot.
The statute, allowing a bounty on the importation of
naval stores, from the American provinces, being nearly
expired, was, this year, continued for the term of seven
years.
Tliree thousand families, at an immense charge to
government, were transported into Nova Scotia at once,
and three regiments stationed there, to protect them
from the Indians.
In the following year, John, lord Carteret, afterwards
earl of Granville, presented a petition to the king, pray-
ing that the eighth part of the original province of Caro-_
i744] THE SECOND. 4?5
lina, reserved to him by the act of parliament, establish-
ing an agreement with the other seven lords proprietors,
for the surrender of their interest to the crown, mip-ht
be set apart, offering to resign his interest in the govern-
ment and his title to the other seven eighths. The pro-
position being accepted by the crown, five commission-
ers were appointed by each party, for making the divi-
sion. The territory allotted to him was bounded on
the north, by the line separating the provinces of Virgi-
nia and North Carolina; on the east, by the Atlantic
ocean; and on the south, by a line, drawn westward,
to a point on the sea shore, in latitude thirty-five de-
grees and thirty -four minutes, and, agreeably to the
charter, on the west, by the Pacific ocean. Shortly
after, a grant of the eighth part of Carolina, together
with all yearly rents and profits arising from it, to John,
lord Carteret, and his heirs, passed the great seal ; but
the power of making laws, calling and holding assem-
blies, erecting courts of justice, appointing judges and
justices, pardoning criminals, granting titles of honor,
making ports and havens, taking customs and duties on
goods, executing martial law, exercising the royal
rights of a palatine, or any other prerogatives relating to
the administration of government, v/ere excepted, out
of the grant; the whole was to be holden on the payment
of thirty-three shillings, and four pence, yearly, forever,
with one fourth of all the gold and silver ore.
With a view to encourage the colonists, to fit out
privateers, the provincial courts of vice admiralty were
authorized to take cognizance of prize causes, and con-
demn vessels, by a statute of this year.
Chalmers — History of South Carolina — Records.
CHAPTER III
In the summer of 1744, account? were received
that France had formally declared war against
Great Britain. This was only the addition of a
ceremony, and the French governor, at cape Bre-
ton, having received previous information of the
intention of his sovereigii, look early measures to
attack the British fishery at Canseau. The island
was taken, and its garrison and in jabitants made
prisoners of war, on the 13th of May. This suc-
cess encouraged an attempt on A- napolis, but a
timely reinforcement, from the province of Massa-
chusetts, occasioned its failure.
An avowed state of war drew the attention of
the legislature to the unprotected and defenceless
condition of the ports. The river of Cape Fear,
from its known depth of water, seemed to invite
insult and invasion. This induced the legislature,
which sat in Nevvbern, on the 2d of April, 1745, to
order the erection of a fortification on the south
bank of that river, near its mouth, sufficiently large
to contain twenty-four pieces of cannon, with bar-
racks and other conveniencies. This was soon af-
ter effected, and the work was called Fort Johnston,
in honor of the chief magistrate, with whom the
proposition had originated.
1746] CH'APTER. 45
The protection thus aflfortled to this part of the
country, ami the trnde of the river, which consisted
chiefly in rice, naval stores and lumber, commodi-
ties of great bulk, requiring larger vessels than
could conveniently reach the wharves of Wilming-
ton, the village of Brunswick, which lay nearer to
the sea, was believed to be a spot, which in time,
would become the site of a an Important maritime
town; with the view to aid its further settlement, it
was by law, established as a town. The experi-
ence of nearly half a century has not added its
sanction, to the idea of its future sjrandeur.
In the meanwhile, prince Charles Edward, grand-
son of James II., made an attempt to ascend the
throne of his a?icestors. He embarked on the 12th
of June, on board of an eighteen gun frigate, with-
out hiving acquainted the court of France, with
his views, with no other preparations to conquer
three kingdoms, than seven officers, eighteen hun-
dr 'd sabres, twelve hundred firelocks and twelve
thousand louis d'or, which he had borrowed, and
not one private soldier. He landed in the south-
west of Scotland, where the inhabitants rose in his
favor, and a piece of laffeta, which he had brought
from France, serving for their royal standard, was
shortly surrounded by fifteen hundred men. He
led them to the town of Perth, of which he took
possession: here a fev/ Scotch lords joined him; and
the army, a few days after, entered Edinburgh;
from thence he proceeded to Pressonpans, where lie
obtained a signal victory over an army of English-
men and made as many prisoners as he had sol-
diers. Carrying all before him, as far as Carlisle.
46 CHAPTER [1745
he advanced within ninety miles of London, his
force being swollen to eight thousand: meeting a
second British army at Falkirk, he gained a second
victory, and a third on the next day: but at last he
received a total overtlirow at the battle of Cullo-
den, within a few leagues of Inverness, and his
whole army was dispersed. His subsequent adven-
tures resembled those of his great grand father,
Charles II. after his defeat at Worcester; wander-
ing from place to place, destitute of all succour,
skulking in forests, shifting from cavern to cavern,
flying to desert islands, distressed for want of food
and raiment, and closely pursued by those who
thirsted after hia blood, for the sake of a pecuniary
reward, offered by the person who occupied his
father's throne. He at last eluded their pursuits by
a flight which added to his ^lory.
In the spring of this year, a trader of New Eng-
land {>roposed to his countrymen, a plan for taking
Louisburg, the chief city of the island of cape Bre-
ton. Tne proposal was generally approved, and
money was raised by a lottery, for the purpose of
raising four thousand men. This force was armed,
provisions and transports were obtained by volun-
tary contributions; the command of it was given to
colonel Pepperel, a merchant of Boston. The ex-
pedition embarked on the 24th of March, and arriv-
ed at Canseau on the 4th of April, where they were
joined by a small reinforcement from JNew Hamp-
shire. On the 23d, commodore Warren arrived
with a small squadron; soon after, the troops em-
barked, and the naval force went to cruise off Lou-
isburg. The landing was effected with some loss,
1746] THE THIRD. 41;
and in the course of the night, Vaughan, with a bo-
dy of four hundred men, marched round to the
northwest part of the harbor, and set fire to a num-
ber of warehouses, containing spiritous liquors and
naval stores. The thick smoke, driven by the wind
on the principal battery, disabling the defenders of
it to distinguish objects, even at a small distance,
favored the idea which they entertained, of the
magnitude of the assailant force, induced them to
abandon the fort, and seek refuge in the town. In
the morning Vaughan, with thirteen men only, en-
tering the battery, defended it until a reinforcement
came to his support. While these approaches
were making by land, the ships cruised off the har-
bor, and captured a ship of war, having on board a
reinforcement of men and stores, for the besieged
garrison. Soon after, an unsuccessful attempt was
made on the island battery, in which sixty men were
killed and one hundred and sixteen made prisoners.
Works were erected on a high cliff, at the light-
house, which much annoyed the island battery:
preparation were making for a general assault,
w^hen the town surrendered on the forty- ninth day
of the siege. On the IGth of June, the whole island
was in the possession of the besiegers.
The legislature, in the course of this year, sat at
Ncwbern in June, and at Wilmington in December;
both sessions were short. Attempts were made to
put the militia in a situation to be of some service;
the counties of Craven and Edo'ecombe were divid-
ed, the western part of the former was erected into
a new county, to which the governor's name was
given, and the northern part of the latter, into ano-
48 CHAPTER [1746
ther, which, in compliment to the nobleman, owner
of the soil, was called Granville. Hitherto, the
northern counties had claimed and enjoyed the pri-
vilege of sending five members to the lower house
of assembly, while those of the other parts of the
province, all of which were much larger, and many
of them of a much greater population, sent but two.
This distinction was abolished; every county was
declared entitled to the latter number and no more.
The right of the towns of Edenton, Bath, Newbern
and Wilmington to one representative each, was re-
cognized. The speaker and fourteen members
were declared a quorum.
The extension of population, towards the south-
ern and weste n parts of the provincf, leaving the
town of Edenton at a considerable distance from
the center of the settled part of the province, the
supreme court of judicature, was removed from
thence to the town of Newhern. A new court law
was passed: the general court was comr osed of a
chief and three associate justices. Courts of oyer
and terminer, assizes and nisi prius were to be hol-
den at Edenton, Newbern, Wilmington and at the
court house of the county of Edgecombe. The
court of chancery was also directed to be holden
at Newbern, and the secretary of the province to
remove his office thither.
In the latter part of the year, the leaders of the
adherents of the unfortunate prince Charles Ed-
ward, having perished on the scaffold, a general
pardon passf d the great seal, exempting from trial
and punishment nineteen individuals out of twenty
among the rest, on their being transported to Ame-
17471 THE THIRD. 49
rica: th^y drew lots for this purpose. They were ac-
companied by a number of others, who, though they
had not taken up arms, favored the prince's cause,
and voluntarily shared the exile of their countrymen.
A cons derable number of them came to North Car-
olina, settled on Cape Fear river and formed the
settlement in the middle of which the present town
of Fayetteville now stands.
The provincial laws were in the hands of the in-
habitants, on loose manuscript sheets, forming a
chaos, from which information could only be obtain-
ed at the expense of much time and drudgery. To
remedy this evil, the legislature, at their next ses-
sion, appointed four commissioners to revise the
code and print such acts, as were in form and use.
This measure had been hitherto recommended in
vain by governor Johnston, since his arrival, and
had been long and earnestly desired by the friends
of order. The commissioners, appointed, were
chief justice Hall, Edward Moseley, Samuel Swann,
the speaker of assembly and Thomas Barker, an
eminent attorney. The contingent fund being in-
sufficient to meet the expense of this publication,
a duty of three pence was laid on every gallon of
wine and distilled liquor, and four pence on every
hundred weij,h of rice, imported from any place
out of Great Britain, and so scarce was the circu-
lating medium, that, although bills of credit were
receivable in payment of this duty, it was thought
necessary for the colh^clion of it, to authorize the
receipt of the articles on which it was laid, in pay
ment.
N. CARO. II. 7
/
50 CHAPTER [1747
The statute for the encouragement of the manu-
facture of British sail cloth, and that allowing the
direct exportation of rice from the Carolinas and
Georgia, to the ports to the southward of cape Finis-
terre, which were now expiring, were continued for
seven years longer.
The importation of tea into the American pro-
vince, without paying the inland duty, was allowed;
and it being judged, that the cultivation of indigo,
in the colonies, might be greatly advantageous to
the trade of the nation, as great quantities w^ere
used in dying the manufactures of the kingdom, the
supply of which, being obtained from foreign coun-
tries, was at all times uncertain and the price fre-
quently exorbitant, and the plant appearing to thrive
in the Carolinas, there was room to hope the raising
of it might, by proper encouragement, be increased
and improved to such a degree, as not only to an-
sw^er all the demands of the kins^'s subjects, but
considerable quantities might also be exported to
foreign markets; a bounty of six pence per pound
was granted on all indigo, exported therefrom to
Great Britain.
The attention of the legislature, at their next session,
on the 6th of April, at Newbern, was directed to some
depredations and insults, committed by the privateers of
the enemy, in the inlets and such ports of the province,
as were of easy access: sometimes cutting out vessels
and carryingjthem away, at others, running up the rivers,
landing and plundering the plantations. A law was
passed for erecting fortifications at Ocracock, Topsail
and Bear inletl and for finishing fort Johnston. To
defray the expenses of their construction, a grant of
:748] THE THIRD. 51
twenty-one thousand three hundred and fifty pounds was
made to the king, and an emission of bills of credit, to
the same amount, was directed. The paper currency
in circulation, denominated Old Proc. was so depreci-
ated, that it passed at the rate of seven and a half for one;
it was directed to be exchanged on these terms, and
the exchange between proclamation money and sterling-
was fixed at four for three. A poll tax of one shilling
was laid for the redemption of the bills issued, to con-
tinue until they were absorbed. Hitherto, the sheriffs
and ail collectors of the public money accounted and
paid the balances in their hands, to a committee of the
legislature: during the bustle of the session, there was
seldom time for a minute investigation of the accounts
of the officers who attended; never any to send for those
who kept away. The consequence of so loose a prac-
tice, caused the utmost confusion in the fiscal affairs of
of the colony; a remedy was now attempted to be ap-
plied to the growing evil. The province was divided
into two districts, treasurers were appointed, before
whom, it was made the duty of holders of public money,
semi-annually to appear, exhibit their vouchers and close
their accounts.
The casual emoluments of officers were fixed by a
new fee-bill.
With a view to give some encouragement to the tan-
ning of leather, which was attempted in several parts of
the province, a law was passed, proliibiting the exporta-
tion of raw hides and skins.
At the request of the Tuscarora Indians, who had re-
mained behind, when the mam body of the nation, early
in the century, emigrated towards the northern lakes,
the lands allotted them by the treaty of 1719 were laid
52 CHAPTER [1748
out and marked off. All persons were prohibited from
purchasing any part of them, and the enjoyment of the
rights of the white owners was postponed until the
lands were abandoned by the Lidiansj settlers were re-
moved and all persons inhibited from rangin;^ stock oq
these lands.
A rent roll was directed to be made of all the lands,
holden in the province : such persons, whose convey-
ances were not already recorded, were required to regis-
ter them within twelve months, in the office of lord
Granville, at Edenton, for the northern part of the pro-
vince, and in that of the auditor general, in the rest of the
province, or in the office of the register of the county in
which the land lay ; and all conveyances, in regard to
which this formality was neglected, wire declared void.
But all persons who had lost the evidence of their titles,
having had possession for twenty-one years, on due
proof, were declared to have a good title against the king
or earl, paying the highest quit rent in the country : in-
digo and tobacco were declared a tender, in payment of
quit rents.
The fate of the provincial laws, after copies of them
were transmitted by the governor to England, depending
much on the report of the king's counsel, appointed for
the special service of the board of the lords commis-
sioners of trade and plantation, and the opinion of this
gentleman being naturally much influenced by the idea
and information he received of the reasons, circumstances
and views, with which the act had been passed, most of
the provinces had found it their interest to have an agent
in London, whose duty it was to attend the reporting
council, make such explanations and give such in-
1748] , THE THIRD. 5S
formation, as would lead his opinion to a favorable re-
port, and wait on the board after it was delivered.
The success of the affairs of a province often materi-
ally depended on the ability and industry of this agent,
for the great officers of state would not take the vague
information of individuals, but transacted all business
with the provinces, by asking and knowino^ their senti-
ments, through the means of their agents. Without some
person of this character in England, their business
there slept : memorials, addresses and petitions passed
through his hands : it was his duty to improve every
opening for the encouragement of the trade of the pro-
vince that employed him, and to obviate any scheme
that might hurt it. For this purpose, he was to watch
the intentions of parliament and transmit early and accu-
rate information of them to his constituents. The pro-
vince havins: hitherto suffered from the want of an offi-
cer of this kind, the trust was now committed to James
Abercrombie of London.
Towards the middle of April, the preliminary articles
of a treaty for a general pacification were signed at Aix-
la-Chapelle, by the British, French and Dutch plenipo-
tentiaries ; m the following month, the empress queen,
king of Sardinia, and duke of Modena acceded to them,
and soon after, the king of Spain, the republic of Genoa^
and the rest of the contending powers. The definitive
treaty was signed in the month of October : by this in-
strument the island of cape Breton was restored to
France.
Early in November, a number of Spanish privateers
came up a considerable distance in Cape Fear river,
and committed great depredations ; one of them
was blown up, and a number of negroes and some valu-
64 CHAPTER [1749
able effects were taken out of the wreck : the proceeds
of the sales of this property were afterwards applied to
the building or repair of the churches in the towns of
Brunswick and Wilmington, in the neighborhood of
which the injury had been sustained.
The people, known by the appellation of the Unitas
Fratrum, or the United Brethren, obtained in the follow-
ing year, a statute of the British parliament, authorizing
them to establish settlements in the American pro-
vinces.
A printing press was this year imported into the pro-
vince and set up at Newbern, by James Davis, from
Virginia : this was a valuable acquisition, for, hitherto
the want of an establishment of this kind was severely
felt: the copies of the laws, being all manuscript, were
necessarily very scarce and it is likely faulty and inac-
curate.
With a view to offer employment and an asylum to
the great number of soldiers and seamen, who were
discharged from the king's service at the peace, and to
promote the settlement of the province of Nova jScotia,
the lords commissioners of trade and plantations offered
land to them, free from quit rent for ten years, and sub-
ject afterwards to a yearly rent of one shilling on every
fifty acres: those who availed themselves of this offer,
were offered their subsistence during the passage and one
year after their arrival. The same offers were also held
out to artificers, useful in building and husbandry. A
number of people, impelled by this encouragement, emi-
grated and the town of Halifax was established.
The legislature, which sat at Newbern this year, held
three sessions : the calm of peace was improved and
several important laws were passed : the revisal of the
IT49] THE THIRD. 55
acts of the general assembly, completed by Samuel
Svvann, was offered to the legislature, examined and ap-
proved. The judges having hitherto often differed in
opinion, w^ith regard to such acts of the parliament of
the mother country, which were in force in the colony,
the question was settled by the authority of the legisla-
ture, who passed an act containing the title of every
statute that was recognized as in force and use, and all
others were declared of no validity ; but, as the mother
country was not prepared to allow the colonies to shake
the authority of her parliament over them, the law re-
ceived the royal disallowance. Provision was made for
the relief of insolvent debtors, for docking entails of
small estates.
The counties of New Hanover and Bladen were di-
vided, and the western part of the former was erected'
into a new county by the name of Duplin, and that of
the latter into another called Ansa, in honor of the late
circumnavigator of the world.
A town was established on the north side of Roanoke
river, in the county of North Hampton, to which the
name of Hawns was given, from an English barony of
that name, owned by lord Granville ; the law, authori-
zing the first erection of a toll bridge, was passed this
session, and the bridge was soon after built over the
river Trent ; the grantee's interest was extended to
twenty -five years.
The culture of raw silk, in the British American colo-
nies, was encouraged by an exemption from duly on its
importation into Great Britain ; the same immunity was
extended to bar iron, imported into the port of London,
and pig iron into any port of Great Britain. These ad-
^ CHAPTER [1749
vantages were, however, far from being gratuitous ; they
were more than counterbalanced bv severe restrictions.
The erection of slit mills and iron furnaces, in any
part of the provinces, was strictly prohibited ; they were
declared public nuisances, and the governors were spe-
cially charged to cause them to be destroyed ; the colo-
nists were not suffered to extend their works in these
manufactures even for their own use ; slit mills and steel
furnaces, heretofore erected, were however permitted to
stand and be employed.
The boundary line between the provinces of Virginia
and North Carolina, had been run from the sea shore to
Peter's creek, which falls into Dan river, a little belt)W
the Saura towns : it was now continued, by commission-
ers appointed by the legislatures of the respective pro-
vinces, to Holstein river, directly opposite to a place
called the Steep Rock, a distance of ninety miles and two
hundred and eighty poles. The commissioners of Vir-
ginia were Joshua Fay and Peter Jefferson ; those of
North Carolina, William Churton and Daniel Weldon.
The greatest injury which France had sustained du-
ring the war, had fallen on her navy ; she applied herself
in the calm of peace to repair her loss ; her activity ex-
cited the apprehension of Great Britain for her com-
merce and her colonies. There existed, however, be-
tween these powers, differences in regard to their Ame-
rican possessions, to which the treaty of Aix la Chapelle
had not put an end : the boundaries of Nova Sco-
tia, which the British extended far into Canada, and
the French restricted to the peninsula between New-
foundland and New England, and the islands of St. Lu-
cia, Dominique, St. Vincent and Tobago, of which the
two nations claimed the property.
IK 50] THE THIRD. ^ 5*.
Commissioners were appointed on both sides, who
met at Paris in the latter part of September, 1750.
The Moravians or United Brethren, purchased from
lord Granville a tract of one hundred thousand acres,
between Dan and Yadkin river, about ten miles to the
east of the Gold mountain : they gave it the name of
Wachovia, after an estate of count Zizendorff, in
Austria.
The lep:islature met in the town of Newbern, in the
month of June. Objects of improvement, in the inter-
nal polity of the province, appear to have engrossed their
w^hole aitention : inspectors of commodities intended for
exportation, were now first appointed for the ports of
Brunswick and VVilminjiton : rice, beef, pork and naval
stores, were the articles made liable to inspection. The
pilotage of Cape Fear, which was not yet under any re-
gulation by law, .became this session an object of legis-
lative improvemvjnt.
A duty was laid on wine and spirituous liquor, im-
ported from South Carolina by land into the county of
Anson : this is the first instance that occurs, of an inland
duty ; the legislature were ii\duced to lay it, through the
desire of checking the growing trade of the province of
South Carolina with the western country, which dt priv-
ed the ports on Cape Fear river of almost all the produce
from the upper parts of the province.
By a statute of the parliameni, the new style was in-
troduced into all the king's dominions ; the old compu-
tation of time was declared to be abolished, aFterthe last
day of December of this year, and the new year to begin
on the first of January ; it hitherto began in March ;
the day following the 2d of September, 1752, was reck-
oned tht i4'h. omitting eleven days.
N, CARO. II, 8
5« CHAPTER [1751
The attention'of the British legislature was drawn to
the advantages which the nation was likely to reap, from
the importation of pot and pearl ashes from the Ameri-
can provinces : great quantities of these articles vi^ere
con=. limed at home, in making soap and other manufac-
tures ', the colonies were encouraged to supply the mo-
ther country with these articles, by their exemption from
duty.
The statutes, allowing a bounty on the importation of
naval stores, masts, &c. weie continued, and new regu-
lations introduced.
The provincial general assembly met in the town of
Bath,,on the first of March : this is tne only session of
the legislative body which appears to have been holden
ihcie.
A duty was laid on goods sold by pedlars. C(jnside-
rable injuries having arisen to vessels, from the bvidness
ol the channels, leading to the ports of Edenton, Bath
and Newbern, and the insufficiency and neglect of pilots .
commissioners were established in those ports, whose
duty it was made to examine and license pilots, to cause ,
the channels to be staked out and to suj^erintend the na-
vigation. Parts of the counties of Granville, Johnston
and Bladen, were erected into a new county, which was
called Orange ; and a town was established on the west
side of Cashie river, in the county of Bertie, to which
the name of Wimberly was given, from the owner of
the ground.
In the course of this year, was completed the printing
of the first revisal of the acts of assembly : the multipfi-
cation of the copies of them, by means of the press,
was a valuable advantage : it tended to introduce order
and uniformity in the decisions of courts, and by defi •
1752] THE THIRD. 59
nlng the rights of the people, in a degree, put an end to
the great anarchy and confusion which had hitherio pre-
vailed, from the ignorance of the people and the magis-
trates in this respect. The work was handsomely print-
ed and bound in a small folio volume : a yellowish hue
of the leather widi which it was covered, proceeding
from the unskilfulness of the tanner, procured it the
homely appellation of the Yellow Jacket, which it retains
to this day.
The trustees for the province of Georgia surrendered
their charter to the king on the second of July, in con-
sequence of which regal government was estabhshed in
that colony. The provinces of Pennsylvania and Ma-
ryland were nov/ the only remaining ones, in which a
proprietary government existed.
Governor Johnston now died, having presided over
the province during a period of nearly twenty years. Un-
der his administration, William Smith, Nathaniel Rice,
R )bertHolton, Matthew Rowan, Edward Moseley, Cul-
len Pollock, Edmund Porter, Eleazer Allen, James Mur-
ray and Roger Moore sat in council. The chief judi-
cial seat was successively filled by William Smith, John
Montgomery, PLdward Moseley, Enoch Hall, Eleazer
Allen and James Hasell.
The province increased considerably : the white popu-
k\tion, which, at the purchase of it by the crown did not
exceed thirteen thousand, was upwards of forty-five
thousand ; an increase of above three and one half for one,
during a period of twenty-three years.
The exports of the province were already considera-
ble : it appears, that in the following year there were ex-
ported 61,528 barrels of tar, 12,055 barrels of pitch,
10,429 barrels of turpentine, 762,000 staves, 61,580
60 ' CHAPTER [-1752
bushels of corn, 10,000 bushels of peas, 3,300 barrels
of pork and beef, 100 hogsheads of tobacco, 30,000
pounds of deer skins, besides wheat, rice, bread, pota-
toes, beeswax, tallow, bacon, lard, lumber, indigo,
and tanned leather.
Chalmers — Brickie — History of S, C-^Jiecordsy
CHAPTER IV.
On the death of governor Johnston, the administra-
tion of government devolved on Nathaniel Rice, the
councillor first named in the king's instructions.
In the month of September, 1752, a hurricane rava-
ged the southern provinces; the town of Charleston was
overflowed and the inhabitants took refuge in the upper
stories, or on the roofs of their houses; the impetuosity
of the wind was more severely felt in North Carolina;
the court house oi the county of Onslow, in the town of
Johnston, with the dwelling house of Edward Black, the
clerk, and almost every building, were blown down and
destroyed ; the county lost all its records, and the town
was so materially injured that it was abandoned.
On the 28th of January, president Rice died, at an
advanced age, and was succeeded by Mathew Rowan,
the next councillor.
This gentleman qualified, at Wilmington on, on the
first of February, and met the legislature, at Newbern,
on the 23d of March.
The calm of peace allowed them to bestow their un- ,
divided attention on the internal concerns of the pro-
vince : the trade of the most considerable part of it being
jTjreatly obstructed, by the large shoals that lie within
Ocracock inlet, so as to render small vessels necessary,
to lighten ships of burden over the bar ; the heavy ex-
pense, thus occasioned, and the great danger to whicli
m CHAPTER [1753
the ships and lighters were, in the mean while, exposed,
were sensible injuries to the commerce, to come into
Ocracock inlet, and commodiously, to ride at anchor
in the harbor of Core sound ; experience had shown,
that the merchants trading to Albemarle sound, Pam-
plico and Neuse rivers, were compelled to send to Oc-
racock inlet, or Core banks; somttimes the whole, and
almost always, one half of the cargoes of vessels, of any
burden, so as to require wharves and warehouses, near
the harbor or on the banks, for the reception and safe
keeping of the commodities, they were obliged to send
down. It was imagined that these evils would be reme-
died, by establishing a town on the Core banks : a law
was passed therefor, and the town was called Ports-
mouth ; but, as the spot on which it was to be erected,
was far distant from any inhabited part of the province and
open to the depredations of the enemy, in time of war,
even to the insults of pirates at all times, an appropria-
tion of two thousand ])ounds was made, for erecting a
fort for its protection, to which the name of fort Gran-
ville was given.
The upper part of the county of Anson, was erected
into a new and distinct county, which, in compliment to
the president, was called Rowan.
The French now began to carry into execution, their
long concerted plan of connecting, by a chain of forts
and continued settlem.ents, their possessions in Canada
and Louisiana, and as part of it, to endeavor to debar the
English from all trade and intercourse with the nations
of Indians, dwelling along the Mississippi, even those on
the back settlements of the British provinces. Early in
January, they had taken possession of an English truck-
house, in the Twigtees nation, and carried several of
1753] THE FOURTH. es
the traders prisoners into Canada, and soon after, they
sent down a party of their Indians from Louisbourg,
to harrass the province of Nova Scotia. On the receipt
of the information of these particulars, lord Holderness
addressed a circular letter to the governors of the south-
ern provinces, to require them, with the utmost dili-
gence, to put their respective provinces in the best pos-
ture of defence ; to watch the motion of the subjects of
France, and, in case any of them, or those of any other
foreign power, should presume to encroach on any part
of their governments, to erect forts or commit any act
of hostility, immediately to represent the injustice of
such proceedings and require them immediately to de-
sist, and, on refusal, to draw forth the strength of
the province, and repel force by force.
As circumstances required that the several pro-
vinces should assist each other, in case of invasion, the
governors were required to correspond together, and on
the first information of any hostile attempt, immediately
to convene the legislature, and lay before them the ne-
cessity of mutual assistance, and engage them to furnish
such supjilies as the circumstances might call for.
Lord Holderness concluded, by observing, that he
had the kingS express command, more strictly to en-
join, that no use might be made of the armed force, ex-
cept within the undoubted limits of the British domi-
nions. The misfortune w^as, that these undoubted lim-
its were far from being easily discernible. The French
minister of the marine, Monsieur Rcuille, to whose
department the concerns of the plantations belonged,
was at the same time writing to the marcjuis de Jon-
quiere, governor of Canada, with the same apparent de-
sire of justice, when he gave the orders, in consequence
64 CHAPTER [1753
of which, the British government conceived its rights
were invaded. " The king commands me," said he,
" to recal to your mind the instructions which have been
often given to you, in regard to your conduct towards
the British, particularly on the subject of the bounda-
ries of the dominions of the two crowns, until they be
finally ascertained. In supporting his rights against
any encroachment, you are not to undertake any thing
that may violate those of the British king. See that Jhe
officers whom you may station in the posts near the Bri-
tish colonies, act on the same principle ; avoid whatever
may give room to just ccmplaints against you."
Vainly were the officers of the two nations required
to act towards each other, with all the moderation, com-
patible with the honor of their respective nations, and
the security of their possessions ; neither could prevent
a rival power, with a different idea of its own rights and
possessions in America, from viewing even that mode-
ration, as an overt act of hostility.
On the 29th of October, the assembly of Jamaica re-
rolved, " That it is the interest and undoubted right of
the representatives of the people, to raise and appl v mo-
neys, for the services and exigencies of government;
and to appoint such person or persons, for the receiving
and issuing thereof, as they shall think proper; which
rights this house has exerted, and will always exert, in
such manner as they shall judge most conducive to the
service of his majesty and the interest of the people."
Early in January, an express from governor Din-^
widdie of Virginia reached president Rowan. The
governor, alarmed at a rumor of the movements of the
French on the Ohio, had sent thither major Washing-
ton (the man who, a few years after, became one of the
J 754] THE FOURTH. OS
most oonspicnoiis characters of his a^e) who reported
thai the French had taken post on one of the branches of
that river, and bnilt a fort, in which they had mounted
eiijht six pounders: they had materials in readiness
for other forts, which they declared their intention
of building on the river, and particularly at Logs-
town, the place destined for their future residence^
as soon as the season would permit them to embark*.
For this purpose, they had upwards of two hundred
canoes finished, besides a great number of others
blocked out. To the representations of the major, the
commanding officer at the post had answered, that the
country belonged to the French ; that no Englishman
had a right to trade upon those waters ; and he had
orders to make any of them prisoners, who attempted
it on the Ohio or its branches.
Governor Dinwiddle, in giving the information to
president R )wan, observed, that the force of the enemy
was far from being contemptible : they had already en-
gaged three nations of Indians, the Chippeways, Otta-
wavs and the Orendakes, to join them: they had four
other forts on the Mississippi, besides a garrison of one
thousand men at New Orleans. By the means of the
Wabash, they had a communication between Canada and
the Mississippi; and before they sent their troops into
w^inter quarters last fall, they had called the several tribes
of Indians together at the fort, and told them they might
rely on seeing them early in the spring, with a very con-
siderable reinforcement; that they would take posses-
sion of the Ohio, if they were not entirely passive. The
letter concluded, by soliciting an aid of men from the
province, to join the troops, that were raising in V irginia
and Maryland, and march against the French.
N. CARO. II. 9
66 CHAPTER ' [1754
President Rowan immediately issued his proclama-
tion, for the meeting of the legislature at Wilmington,
on the 19th of February.
In his speech, at the openin.sj of the session, he com-
municated to the houses, the despatches he had received
from lord Holderness and governor Dinwiddie, and
pressed them to improve the opportunity of manifesting
their loyalty to the king, their zeal for his service and
their affection for a sister province. The lower house
put a price on their compliance, and insisted, as a sine
qua nortj on obtaining the president's assent to a bill for
issuing a considerable sum in paper currency. This
was easier to be obtaintd from a temporary chief magis-
trate than from a governor, who, by yielding the point,
might incur the risk of losing his office. President
Rowan did not make much difficulty. Various plans
xvere accordingly introduced ; the most prominent of
which was a scheme for a .general loan office, to be
managed by four trustees, chosen by the chief magis-
trate out of tight persons named by the asembly, one
of whom should go out yearly, and be replaced by a
similar mode of re-appointment. A sum of eighty thou-
sand pounds was proposed to be emitted, in bills of dif-
ferent denominations, from fifty to one shilling, and pro-
clamation money, of the value of four shillings to three
shillings sterling. One half of the emission was to be
in bills of twenty shillings and under, and to be loaned
by the trustees on security, in sums from three hundred
to twelve hundred pounds, with a proviso, that on the in-
terest being paid within two months after the day of
payment yearly, five per cent, only should betaken, other-
wise six. The rest of the etuission, being in targe bills,
was to be loaned on the same terms; but, with a view to
1754] THE FOURTH. 6?
keep the credit of those bills in circulation, it was pro-
vided, that one per cent, interest should be allowed
thereon, from the time the bill was lent out till returned,
and paid into the office in discha^e of some money, there
borrowed. These bills were to be loaned in sums from
five hundrtd to twenty pounds. All the bills were to be
a tender in all payments. The friends of this plan con-
tended, that no beneficial commerce could be carried on,
without some kind of a circulating medium, and that the
mode hitherto pursut^d, when paper was emitted, to lay
a tax for the redemption of it, by instalments, within
a limited number of years, and cancelling and burning
yearly the produce of the tax, did not fully answer the
intended end; for, the circulating medium was thus gra-
dually lessened, the remainder being still sooner absorb-
ed by the tax, and, at the end of this operation, the ne-
nessity of a circulating medium, was as equally pressing
as before the emission: as a bufficient quantity of coin or
bulhon could not be brought into, and retained in the
province, without an increase of trade, and a proper econ-
omy to procure a balance in favor of the prov ince, bv in-
creasing the amount of exports and diminishing that of
imports, whi h couid not be eifectfd in an infant and
growing province, where all nt-cessaries are to be pro-
vided for, to improve the lands and purchase slaves;
that the circulating medium ought to be mther increased
than lessened, a^ the population of the province advan-
ced. Even if the president's assent could have been
had to this plan, it was not hkely a mtijority of the coun-
cil would have hazarded their seats by sanctioning the
measure: emissions of paper in the colonies being
highly disapproved of at home, and exciting the com-
plaints of the merchants, who, as the currency fell in
m CHAPTER [1754
value, by the accession of a greater quantity, were obli--
gtd to receive it in payrrent from the planters, or take
produce at the iidvanced price to which it naturally rose,
with the increase of the medium witli which it was to be
exchanged. The plan failed. The grant of supplies
and ihe emission of monev were made ihc object of one
bill.
The sum of one thousand pounds was appropriated
to the raising, subsisting and payinij: such troops at* the
president might see proper to st-nd to tlie assistance of
the provinc(' of Virginia. Two thousand were also
appropriated for the repairs of Fort Johnston, and a
like sum for those of Fort Granville. The inhabitants
of the frontier counties of Anson and Rowan, being
judged too poor to support, unaided, the expenses
attending the defence of the back settlements against the
Indians, one thousand poimds were appropriated to the
purchase of arms for thtir use.
Forty thousand pounds, in bills of credit, were emit-
ted to meet these expenditures, and another appropria-
tion was made of twenty thousand pounds, for the pur-
chase of a glebe in every county, for the establishment
of a public seminary and the repairs of the public build-
ings of the province. This last appropriation was made
under a suspending clause, till the king's pleasure was
signified. It does not appear that it ever was obtained.
An annual poll tax of one shilling and a duty of four
pence on every s^fallon of wine or spirituous liquors,
were the means provided for the redemption of the pa-
per ncyW emitted, and to continue till it was in this way
all bought in and cancelled. It will appear in the course
of this history, that the tax and duty were continued
until the abolition of the regal government. The appro-
1754] THE FOURTH. 69
priation for the seminary, which, however, proved inef-
fectual, is the first evidence of a desire to encourage
literature, manifcsttd by the legislature of the province:
it did not happen till nearly ninety years after the settle-
nient of the country.
The upper part of the county of Bladen was erected
into a distinct couiUy, and called Cumberland.
The town of Exeter, in the county of New Haven,
and that ot Gloucester, in the county of Anson, were
established.
President Rowan lost no time in raising the troops,
voted l^y the legiblature for the assistance of the province
of Virginia. Colonel James Imiis of New Hanover,
marched, at the head of this succour, and joined the
forces of Virginia, swelled by those of Maryland.
Without considering much the strength or composi-
tion of this small army, governor Dinwidie, following
the advice of the kmg's council, directed its march to
the Allegheny mountains, with directions either to dis-
possess the French of their forts or erect one in the
neighborhood. The who'e force was placed under the,
order of the officer who commanded the detachment of
North Carolina. The total number was not equal to
one half of that of the tnemv, and no care had been taken
to provide for the troops any of the necessary su[»|)lies
or convcniencies, which the season and the part of the
country for which they were intended required. In
giving orders for procuring recruits for the Virginia re-
giment, it had been unaccountably forgotten to pro-
vide any money for that purpose. The legislature of
that province soon after rose, and there being no provis*
ion made for the probcculion of the war, the expedition
70 CHAPTER [1754
was countermanded, and colonel Innis marched back his
men to North Carolina.
The provinces were much exposed to the depreda-
tions of the Indians, more particularly during a war be-
tween England and France, and, individually, either too
weak to take efficient measures for their own defence,
or unwilling to take upon themselves the charge of
erecting forts, and maintaining garrisons, while their
neighbors, who partook equally with them in the advan-
tage, contributed nothing. Some times also, the de-
fects which existed between the governor and the as-
semblies, prevented the adoption of measures of dif-
ference. To avoid the evils attending this immediate
difference of interest, and the better to combine the
forces of the provinces, it was recommended to them by
the lords commissioners of trade and plantations, to de-
vise a plan of union between the colonies, to regulate all
measures of general interest. To accomplish this end,
the former were invited to send commissioners to Al-
bany, in the province of New- York. All, however,
did not attend this call: commivssioners from the prov-
inces of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
New- Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, attended; a
plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin, one of the com-
missioners from Pennsylvania, a gentleman famous in
the republic of letters and in the American history,
was adopted, to be recommended, which has ever since
been known by the appellation of the * 'Albany plan of
union.'*
Application was proposed to be made for an act of
parliament to establish, in the American provinces, a
general government, to be administered by a president
1754] THE FOURTH. 71
general, appointed by the crown, on the nomination of a
grand council, chosen by the legislatures of the differ-
ent provinces. The number of members to be chosen
in each, to be in direct proportion to die sum paid by it
into the general treasury: but no province was to chose
more than seven, nor less than two members. At first,
the provinces of Massachusetts and Virginia were to
have seven members each; that of Pennsylvania six, that
of Connecticut five, those of New-York, North Caro-
lina and South Carolina four each, that of New- Jersey
three, and those of New-Hampshire and Rhode Island
two each. The whole executive power was vested in
the president general; the legislative power was vested
in the grand council and the president general; his assent
being necessary to the passage of a bill into a law. The
general legislature was empowered to declare war, con-
clude treaties and make peace with the different nations
of Indians; to regulate trade with, and make acquisitions
of land from, them; in the name of the king or of the
union, to settle new colonies, and make laws for their
government, till their erection into distinct provinces; to
raise troops, build forts, fit out and arm vessels and use
all other means for the general defence. To carry these
powers into effect, they were empowered to lay duties,
taxes and imposts. All laws were to be transmitted
over for the king's approbation, and, unless disapproved
within three years, were to remain in full force. Mili-
tary officers were to be nominated by the president gen-
eral and appointed by the council, and those in the civil
department were to be nominated by the council and
appointed by the president general.
The French, still persisting in their endeavors to oc-
cupy the borders of Ohio, the province of Virginia
n CHAPTER. [1754
raised a regiment to check their advances. Miijor
Wabhington, on whom the command of this corps hdd
devolved, on the death of colonel Frv, advanced towards
thi'.t river early in the sprinjj^. H^ met with, and defeat-
ed a small French party, under the orders of captain de
Jumonville, and directed his march to the confluence of
the Monoiigahela and Allegheny rivers, where the Ohio
company had sent a number of men to erect ^ fort.
But, on the 4th of July, he was attacked and defeated by
a party of French and Indians, with the loss of 150
killed and 70 wounded.
The plan proposed by the commissioners of the pro-
vince was submitted to their respective legislatures and
rejected by all, as giving the president general, the rep-
resentative of the crown, an influence greater than ap-
peared to them proper, in a plain government formed for
freemen. The British ministry disapproved of it; be-
cause it gave too much power to tlie representatives of
the people. Perhaps these objections, from each party,
are the strongest proof that can be adduced of its excel*
lence, as directed to the situation of Great Britain and
America, at that time. It appears to have steered, ex-
actly in the middle, between the interest of both.
ChalmerS'-'Marshall — Records.
CHAPTER V.
In the fall of 1754, Arthur Dobbs, who had been ap-
pointed governor of the province, arrivjed at Nevvbern^
This gentleman was an Irishman, and had been a
member of the Irish parliament: he was a man of letters
and enterprise. It was[at his solicitation, that the board
of admiralty, in England, had been prevailed upon, in
1741, to cause a new attempt to be made, under the
orders of Christopher Middleton, a captain of the Hud-
son bay company, to find a northwest passage to
Japan, China, and India. The expedition sailed in the
month of May, of that year; but it was unsuccessful.
The plan of governor Dobbs was complained of by
Monsieur Durand, one of the French commissioners,
(1742) as tending to encroach upon the trade which the
French carried on with the Indians towards the north of
Canada, and to extend the British settlementss in these
parts to the prejudice of those of the French^
Governor Dobbs brought a few pieces of cannon and
one thousand firelocks, a present from the crown to the
province. He was accompanied by a number of his re-
lations and countrymen, who had followed him with the
hope of being promoted to lucrative offices, and the in-
habitants of the province were not long without com-
plaining of his too great fidelity in gratifying the desires
of his followers,
N. CARO. II. 10
14 CHAPTER [1754
He qualified at Newbern, on the 1st of November,
and met the legislature six weeks after, in that town.
He recommended the fixing" of a permanent and adequate
revenue on the crown, to meet the expenses of govern-
ment, and a ] 'roper salary for the governor for the time
being: he drew the attention of the lower house to the
necessity of making an early appropriation for the repairs
of fort Johnston and the other fortifications, and the sup-
port of a few soldiers; and ofmakuig provision for the
support of a minister of the established church, in each
county; for the regulation of trade, and the preser-
vation of a good understanding, with the neighboring
Indian tribes. The revision of the court svstem and
m
the inspection laws were mentioned by him, as proper
objects for the deliberation of the legislature, and he de-
sired that some remedy might be applied to an alarming
and sjrowinf^ evil, the great circulation of counterfeited
bills of credit.
The assembly were ready to enter on the business re-
commended, if we except the allowance of a salary for
the chief magistrate. An aid of eight thousand pounds
was granted to the king for the defence of the province:
a duty was laid on every ton of shipping of one fourth
of a pound of powder and one pound of lead, and a
bounty was allowed for facilitating enlistments. Means
of defence being thus provided, the legislature turned
their attention to the internal concerns of the province,
A new judicial system was formed; a supreme court
was established in different districts of the province; and
provision was made for holding courts of oyer and ter-
miner and general jail delivery, defining the jurisdiction
of county courts and settling the mode of proceeding
therein. Inspections of tobacco were established and
n55] THE FIFTH. -5^
the exportation of that article, before it had been sub-
mitted to home test, was forbidden. Inspectors' notes
were made a tender at the public treasury, at the rate of
one penny a pound. The cultivation of this commo-
dity, it seems, was as yet confined to the northern part of
"the province, the act making no provision for the in-
spection of it, to the southward of Tar river.
In their address to the governor, the lower house la-
mented the repeal of the act, establishing several towns
and counties.
The ministry, judging that the provincial forces were
unequal to a conflict against the French, despatched
commodore Reppel, with a squadron of ships of war,
conveying major general Braddock and a reputable
body of troops.
After a long and tedious passage, general] Braddock
reached Williamsburg, early in the following year. In
the letter, announcing his arrival to Henry Fox, the
secretary of war, on the 4th of February, he said, *'I
have found every thing in great confusion, as I expected:
much money has already been spent, though very little
is done. The governor here is of opinion, th .t the peo-
ple of the province are well inclined to give all the
assistance in thtir power, to an affair that concerns them
so nearly. Governor Dobbs is well enough satisfied
with those of his province, and hopes to be more so
hereafter; Pennsyivania will do nothing, and supplies
the French with every thing they want."
His first step was to address a circular Iplter to
the governors of the several provinces, to prevail on
them to exert themselves in their respective gov-
ernments, to obtain supplies of men and money;
he recommended them to lock up their ports, so aa
l^S CHAPTER ino5
to render it impossible for the enemy lo draw any
provisions from the provinces, and expressed a
wish tliat a common fund might be establishe«l out
of the money, granted by the several legislatures.
In a letter of the 18th of March, to Sir Thomas Ro-
binson, secretary of state, he complained of the dif-
ficalties he had to encounter, in the following terms:
"The jealousy of the people and the disunion of
many of the colonies are such, that I almost despair
of succeeding. I am indeed very sorry to teli you^
that in all appearance, I shall meet with great diffi-
culties in obtaining from those colonies, the Fupplies
v^^hich the king expects from them and the general
interest requires. Governor Dinwiddie has already
obtained from his province twenty thousand pounds
currency, and he hopes to obtain a still larger sunj,
North Carolina had granted eight thousand pounds
and Maryland six thousand, each of the current coin
of their respective governments. Although Penn-
sylvania is, without contradiction, the richest and
the most concerned in this expedition; yet, it has
supplied nothing hitherto." And in a letter of a
later date to the earl of Halifax, the general writes:
"I am sorry to have been under the necessity of
saying, that the inhabitants of these colonies have
all shown a great indifference for the king's service,
and their own interests. However, they do not all
fall under this censure, and particularly those of the
province I am now in, (Virginia,) are not to be
compared with their neighbors, and may not have
deserved reproaches. But I cannot sufficiently ex^
press my indignation against the provinces of Pcnn-
1755] THE FIFTH. 77
sylvania and Maryland, which, being qu'te as much
concerned in this expedition as their neighbors, and
much more so than any other on this continent, re-
fuse to contribute in any shape towards the support
of this project, and even what they propose, they
do only on such terms, as are entirely contrary to
the prerogative of the king and his instructions to
the governors."
Early in April, governor Dobbs left the province
in order to attend a meeting of the governors of the
provinces, which general Braddock had requested,
with a view of consulting them on the most proper
mode of operation. They met him at Alexandria,
on the 14th of April. The result of their delibera-
tions was a recommendation of three expeditions.
The object of the first and principal one, was the
reduction of fort Duquesne, which stood on the
spot on which the present town of Pittsburg now
stands, in the state of Pennsylvania. General Brad-
dock was to command it in person, and his forces
were to consist of the troops he had brought from
England, and such reinforcements, as might be ob-
tained from the southern provinces.
The second, which was to be under the com-
mand of governor Sliirley of the province of Mas-
sacltusetts, was intended against Niagara and fort
Frontignac. Two regiments raised in that colony,
were to be the main force employed in it.
The lust had Crownpoint f r its object. For this,
provincial troojis were to be raised from the pro-
vince of New-York, and those of New England;
major g«*neral William Johnston of New-York, was
designated as the leader of it.
75 CHAPTER [1755
General Braddock lost no time in making the ne-
cessary arrangements for the expedition which he
was to head. He formed two companies of carpen-
ters, each composed of a captain, two subalterns,
two, sergeants and thirty men. One of them was
to be employed in making roads and boats, and the
other in repairing carriages: he also raised a com-
pany of guides, composed of a captain, two aids and
ten men. He established forts from the head quar*
lers to Philadelphia, Annapolis and Williamsburg,
His difficulties were increased by the great num-
ber of horses, waggons and batteaux, necessary for
transporting the artillery, baggage and provisions,
and the scarcity oi laborers and the excessive price
they required; the provisions were to be drawn
from many provinces, distant from each other; the
want of fora^^e was severely felt, and the expedition
w as detained a considerable time waiting for the ar-
tillery. He set off! on the 20th of April, on his way
to tort Frederick, in order to go by the way of Wills
creek, where a post was established, on the spot
since known as fort Cumberland, near the source
of tlie Potomac, then the most western post, held
in those parts by the English.
, General Braddock was detained on the road at this
post, by a coincidence of untoward circumstances,
until the middle of June, when apprehensions were en-
tertained, that this inauspicious delay would afford the
enemy the opportunity of strengthening the post against
which the expedition was aimed, so as to occasion its
miscarriage. It was thought of the utmost importance
to guard against this contingency, and the general, ta-
king with him a chosen corps of twelve hundred men,
1755] THE FIFTH. 7^
began a rapid march : the baggage of the detachment
was packed on horses, and as few waggons were taken
with it as were sufficient for the removal of the military
stores. Colonel Dunbar was left with the rest of the
army, and directed to follow by slower and easier
marches.
General Braddock was not, however, able to reach the
Monongahela till the eighth of July ; the rugged state of
the country did not allow a speedier progress, though the
corps was disencumbered from every article that could
be left behind.
After having crossed the stream, the general disposed
his forces for battle : he placed in front three hundred
British regulars, among whom were his grenadiers and
light infintry, and followed, at some distance, with the ar-
tillery and the main body of the army, divided into small
columns. This was a most unfortunate arrangement,
and the general had determined on it, notwithstanding
the representations of all the American officers near him,
who recommended, that the provincial companies should
be made to advance in front, scour the woods, discover,
and give alarm in case of any ambuscade. This recom-
mendation was disregarded, the general having too con-
temptuous an opinion of the enemy against whom he
was advancing, and of the capacity of American soldiers.
In the midst of a wide, open piece of ground, covered
with grass to a man's height, the unseen foe fired on,
and threw into confusion, the unsuspecting ranks in the
van of the British forces : but the prompt advance of the
main body, and the fall of the French commanding offi-
cer, put a momentary stop to the attack : but the assail-
ants soon resumed it with great fury» and the van falling
back on the main body, a general confusion followed.
8« CHAPTER, [1755
Every officer on horseback, except George Washing,
ton, who was near the general as one of his aids, was
killed or wounded, and the commander himself received
a deadlv wound : at this moment, his dismayed British
soldiers ran in various directions, in disorder and confu-
sion : the provincial forces kept the field a considerable
time longer. Great was the carnage that ensued, till the
Indians, who constituted a good portion of the enemy's
army, diverted by the hope of plunder, gave up the pur-
suit. Sixty-four out of eighty-five officers, and one half
of the men were either killed or wounded ; the artillery,
stores and baggage were all taken. The portion of the
army that escaped, reached colonel Dunbar's camp,
where the general breathed his last. The colonel, alarm-
ed for the safety of his men, sought their safety in a pre-
cipitate retreat, and, after burning most of his stores,
marched to Philadelphia.
By the unfortunate issue of this expedition, the west-
ern settlements of the southern provinces were left open
to the attacks of the Indians, and most of the planters
sought an asylum in the more thickly inhabited parts of
the country.
The expeditions, under governor Shirley and general
Johnston, were not so disastrous, but neither of them
was successful. The army of the latter, during the
summer, lay on the eastern bank of the Hudson, a little
south of the city of Albany. In the early part of June,
the troops of the eastern provinces began to pour in,
company after company, and such a motley assemblage
of men never before thronged together, on such an occa-
sion, unless an example may be found in the ragged re-
giment of Sir John Falstaff. It would have relaxed the
gravity of an anachorite, to have seen the descendants of
1755] THE FIFTH. gl
the Puritans, marching through the streets of our an-
cient city, take their situation to the left of the British
army, some with long coats, some with short coats, and
others with no coat at all, with colors as varied as the
rainbow ; some with their hair cropped like the army of
Cromwell, and others with wig-, the locks of which
floated with grace around their shoulders. Their march,
their accoutrements and the whole arrangement of the
troops, furnished matter of amusement to the rest of the
British army. The music played the airs of two centu-
ries ago, and the tout ensemble ^ upon the whole, exhi-
bited a sight to the wondering strangers, to which they
had been unaccustomed. Among the club of wits that
belonged to the British army, there was a Doctor Shack-
burg, attached to the staff, who combined with the
science of a surgeon the skill and talents of a musician :
to please the new comers, he composed a tune, and with
much gravity recommended it to the officers as one of
the most celebrated airs of martial music. The joke
took, to the no ^mall amusement of the British : brother
Jonathan exclaimed it was nation fine^ and in a few days
nothing was heard in the provincial camp, but the air of
Yankee Doodle. Little did the author, in his composi-
tions, then suppose, that an air made for the purpose of
levity and ridicule, should ever be marked for such high
destinies. In twenty years from that time, the national
march inspired the heroes of Bunker's hill, and in less
than thirty, lord Cornwallis and his army marched into
the American lines to the tune of Yankee Doodle.
Governor Dobbs, in the course of the summer, visit-
ed the western counties of the province, and the towns
on the sea shore, with a view to ascertain on what spots
fortifications might be erected with the greatest pros-
N. CARO. II. 11
B2 CHAPTER [1755
pect of utility. He met the legislature on the 25th of
September, at Newbern : in addressing the houses, he
observed, that the situation of aiFairs in the province,
being much altered since their last meeting, and the dan-
ger increased of the French being able to accomplish
the scheme they had formed, of confining the British
provinces to the eastern side of the mountains, by a
chain of forts from Canada to Louisiana ; of gaining
most of the nations of Indians to their alliance, and of
preventing those who were friendly to the En;;lish from
appearing in their defence, he was compelled to solicit
them, in the king's name, to grant as large supplies as
the situation of the province could allow, not only to
defend the frontier counties, but also to co-operate ia
offensive measures ^vith the other provinces, against the
common enemy : he recommended the erection of a
fort, between Third and Fourth creeks, near the South
Yadkin, in the county of Rowan, near that of Iredell, a
central spot between the northern and southern bounda-
ries oi" the province.
T!ie legislature granted a supply of ten thousand
pounds, for the erection of this fort and for raising,
equipping and paying three companies of fifty men each,
exclusive of commissioned officers ; and with a view to
facilitate the approvisionment of the king's forces, an
act was passed prohibiting the exportation of provisions
or live stock, to any of the enemy's or neutral ports.
Pork, beet, rice, indigo, naval stores and lumber,
were this year made subjects of the laws of inspection,
winch hitherto related to tobacco only.
The people known by the appellation of Unitas Fra-
trum or United Brethren, though more generally by that
of the Moravians, having formed considerable settle-
1756] THE FIFTH. 83
ments in Wachovia, a large tract of land, which they
owned in the county of Rowan, now in that of Stokes,
xvere erected into a separate parish, that they mipjht dis-
charge their parochial duties with more convenience and
case : the new parish was called Dobbs' Parish.
To the distresses of the war, was now added the ca-
lamity of one of those epidemical diseases, which at dif-
ferent periods have scoured the continental provinces, in
autumnal visitations.
In the following year, the fortification which the gover-
nor had recommended, was raised : it was an oblong
square, fifty- three feet long and forty- three wide : the
opposite angles were twenty-two by twenty. four : it
was twenty-four feet higii, and had three floors, from
each of which above one hundred muskets might be
discharged at the same time.
The British now began to retaliate on their rivals, by
captures at st-a, and early in the following year, on the
application of the French court for restitution of the ves-
sels seized, the British cabinet required a previous satis-
faction for the invasion of the king's territories and the
hostilities committed on his American subjects. On
receiving this cUiswer, the French king granted letters of
marque and reprisals. On the 18th of May, war was
formally declared by the court of Great Britain ; an ex-
ample which was followed by France on the 18th of
June.
The earl of Loudon, who had been appointed com-
mander in chief of the king's troops in America, and
governor of the province of Virginia, came over in the
spring. Nothing of importance was, however, attempt-
e-d during the year.
i-/
84 > CHAPTER [175^
In the month of September, the marquis of Mont-
calm made himself master of the important post of
Oswego, on lake Ontario : the British garrison, con-
sisting of sixteen hundred men, were made prisoners of
war. This fortification, having been erected in the
country of the Five Nations, was not viewed bv them
without jealousy : the marquis wisely destroj^ed it in
presence of the Indians, telling them that the French
wished to enable their red brethren to preserve their neu-
trality, and would not make any other use of victory
than to demolish the forts built by tlie English on the
lands of the Indians, with the design of overawing and
keeping them in subjection.
The general assembly of the province sat at Newbern
on the last dav of December. The attention of the
houses was drawn by governor Dobbs to the change
which had taken place since their last session : he said
that the measures which the king had taken to preserve
the rights and possessions of his American provinces,
and compel the French to restore the territories they had
taken possession of, had encouraged the hope of a speedy
determination of all differences ; but it now appeared^
that the king of France, not only persisted in the deter-
mination of hemming in the British colonies, securing
the Indian trade, engaging the Indian tribes on the fron-
tiers in his cause, and with their assistance expelling the
English from the continent of America, but had invaded,
previous to any declaration of war, the king's domin-
ions in that of Europe, and threatened an invasion and
the total destruction of the British empire, outrages
which had compelled the king to declare war against
France.
17561 THE FIFTH. S5
After observing that the whole British empire, ia
America, was at a stake, and the religion, liberties and
possessions of the nation in the utmost danger, unless
her whole, united strength was exerted to repel those
faithless neighbors and merciless enemies, he added, that
the great weight of a war against the exorbitant power
of France, without the assistance of any ally, under the
pressure of a heavy debt, contracted for securing the in-
tegrity of the territory of the American provinces, re-
quired, that they should yield assistance to the mother
country to the utmost of their ability, and recommended
that, by an efficient aid, the province might be prevented
from becoming th*e seat of war.
He informed the houses, he had received the king's
instructions to recommend to them the passage of a bill
for preventing desertions, and to encourage the recruit-
ing service, and to request, that such sums as might
be raised for the public service of the colonies, might be
placed under the directions of his commander in chief,
over all the colonies, and in compliance with the address
of the assembly, at their last session, to re-enact the
twelve laws, which had been repealed by the king in
council, in 1754. for erecting counties and towns, re-
serving to the king his right to create members to serve
in the assembly, and also to agree to the repeal of such
subie-iuent laws for erecting counties which had not
been laid before the kin^ in council, before the month
of April, 1754, and to re-enact them with the same
rest-rvaliou.
He recommended the passage of a militia law, and the
revision r.f those for the support of the clergy and for
the inspection uf conimodiiies.
UQ CHAPTER [1756
The legislature granted a small aid only of three thou-
sand four hundred pounds, which were appropriated to
the defence of the western country; and, in compliance
with the recommendation of the governor, passed a
law to prevent desertion. The acts establishing
the counties of Orange, Rowan and Cumberland,
and those allowing the towns of Wilmington and
Brunswick, the right of being represented in the lower
house, were repealed, as containing clauses injurious to
the prerogative of the crown, and acts were passed, for
re-establishing those three counties, and all those, the
erection of which had been disallowed by the king in
council, by his orders of the 8th of April, 1754. A
clause was inserted, declaring t*iat the establishment of
these counties was not to be construed as alhjwinij the
royal prerogative of granting letters of incorporation,
ordering and regulating elections, and establishing fairs
and markets.
More extensive regulations were made for the im-
provement and establishment of roads and ferries. Pro-
per amendments were introduced in the inspection laws,
and measures were taken to secure the collection of the
powder duty.
The governor now informed the upper house, that
the fortifications on Cape Fear river, at Core sound and
Topsail inlet, would soon be in a state of defence, and
that he had information, that the artillery and ordnance
for Fort Johnston would soon arrive, and that he had
applied for artillery and ordnance stores for the other
forts, and for a company of one hundred and twenty
men, to be fixed on the British establishment; where-
upon the house, at his recommendation, addressed the
king, imploring his protection for the province, and resol-
1756] THE FIFTH". ST
I
ved, that they would cheerfully concur with the other
house, in making provision for the support of such men
as he might send to garrison the forts.
The governor communicated the instructions he had
received from the king, to fix on a proper spot for the
seat of government, and the representations of the lords
commissioners of trade and plantations ; that it should
be in a healthy situation, the most central,, and their in-
tention to advise the king, that it should be somewhere
on the river Neuse ; a committee of both houses was
appointed, to view the country and report the most
advantageous spot.
A post, established between Suffolk and Wilming-
ton (once a fortnight) was continued for one year.
The governor was authorized to apply the surplus of
the sum of twelve thousand pounds, appropriated at the
September session of the legislature, in 1754, to the
raising and subsistence of the troops, destined for the
service of the province of Virginia, and out of the sum
of eight thousand pounds, granted at the follow^ing ses-
sion, for the defence of the frontiers, to make up any de-
ficiency that might happen in the sum of ten thosand
pounds, granted at the last session, and promised to
make further provision, at the next meeting, if necessary.
Governor Glen, of South Carolina, began to establish
forts in the country lately acquired from the Cherokees,
On the banks of the river Savannah, and at the distance
of about three hundred miles from Charleston, he erect-
ed Fort Prince George, within gun shot of an Indian
town called Keoovee. It was square, and had an earth-
en rampart about six feet high, on which stockades were
fixed, a ditch and a natural glacis on two sides, with
bastions at the angles, on each of which four cannons
S8 CHAPTER [175a
were mounted : It contained barracks for four hundred
men. About one hundred and seventy miles down the
river, was built Fort Moore, on a much smaller scale.
Andrew Lewis was sent, by the earl of Loudon, to build
another fort on Tennessee river, on the southern bank,
at the highest point of the navigation, opposite to the
spot, on which Tellico block house has since been pla-
ced, about thirty miles from the present town of Knox-
ville: the fort was called Fort Loudon. These strong
holds, with those of Frederica and Augusta, formed a
strong barrier against the Indians, and the protection
they afforded, induced the inhabitants to advance to-
wards the western parts of the provinces of North and
Souti) Carolina.
Andrew Lewis informed governor Dobbs that, on his
arrival at Chota, he had received the kindest usage from
Old Hop, the little carpenter, and that the Indians in
general expressed their readiness to comply with the
late treaty with the Virginia commissioners (Byrd and
Randolph). They manifested these disposition while
the fort was building ; but, when it was finished, and
they were pressed to fulfil their engagements and send
warriors to Virginia, they equivocated. Andrew Lewis
observed, that the French and their Indian allies, the
Savannahs, kept a regular correspondence with the
Cherokees, especially those of the great town of Tellico.
He expressed his opinion, that some scheme was on
foot for the distress of the English back settlers, and that
the Cherokees greatly inclined to join the French.
While he was at Chota, messages had come to the little
carpenter, from the Nantovves, the Savannahs, and the
' French, at the Alabama Fort. He took notice that the
ebjects of the communications were industriously con-
1 757 J THE FIFTH. 89
cealed from him, and diat a great alteration, in that chief's
behaviour towards him, had ensueil. In return, towards
the latter part of September, a Frenchman who had lived
for a considerable time among the Cherokees, accompa-
nied by a Cherokee wench who understood the Shawa-
nees tongue, went from Chota to the Alabama Fort, and
to the Savannah Indians. The object of his visit to the
French, was to press them for the accomplishment of a
promise the commander of the fort had made, to send
and have a fort built among the Cherokees, near the town
oi Great Tellico. The communication concluded by-
observing, that the Indians had expressed a wish that
captain Dennie, sent by the earl of Loudon, with a corps
of two hundred men to garrison the fort, might return
to Virginia, the Indians being displeased at seeing such
a large number of white people, well armed, among
them, expressing a belief, that their intention was to de-
stroy any small force that might be sent, in order to take
the fort and surrender it to the French.
On this information, captain Hugh Waddle was sent
with a small force to reinforce captain Dennie.
In the month of January, governor Dobbs went to
Philadelphia to attend a council, composed of the gover-
nors of the southern provinces, called thither by the earl
of Loudon, in order to concert measures for their pro-
tection while the commander in chief would carry on.
more important operations in the northern provinces.
Preparations had been early made, for an expedition
against Louisbourg. A general embargo was laid in
the beginning of March, on all vessels throughout the
provinces, from Nova Scotia to North Carolina : it con-
tinued until June. The object of it was to procure
shipping for the transportation of soldiers, provisions,
N. CARO. II. 12
go CHAPTER [ITot
stores, artillery, &c. Four hundred and fifty men, of
of the first battalion of Amtrican royalists, were ordered
to South Carolina, under colonel Bouquet.
In the latter part of June, the transports sailed from
the different provinces to Halifax : they carried about
six hundred regular troops. In their passage, they es-
caped bL'ing taken by a French fleet, which had been
cruising about five days before, near the mouth of the
harbor. Five weeks were spent, at Halifax, in holding
councils. The result of these deiibt rations was the
determination of laying aside the expedition against
Louisbourg. In the meanwhile, the marquis de Mont-
calm, availing himself of lord London's absf^nce, pro-
ceeded to Crown Point, with about ten thousand men,
consisting of regular troops, Canadians and Indians,
from whence he marched to Fort William. Having,
after a siege of five or six days, taken and demolished it,
he made the garrison, which consisted of about two
thousand men, prisoners of war, made himself master of
a large quantity of provisions and stores, and secured
the entire possession of the lakes.
Some time after his return from Philadelphia, gover-
nor Dobbs received an application for succour, from the
province of South Carolina. Governor Lyttleton in-
formed him that the neighboring Indians, excited by
the French, grew daily more troublesome, and the colo-
ny found itself unable to resist them without aid. The
legislature was, thereupon, convened : they held their
fourth session at Newbern, on the 16th of Ma v. An aid
was granted to the king, for the relief of the sister pro-
vinces and for the defence of the frontiers.
Parliament, this year, at the king's recommendation,
granted a s-um of fifty thousand pounds sterling, to the
1757] THE FIFTH. 9j
provinces of Virginia, North and South Carolina, as an
indemnification from the expenses of war. The pro-
portion of North Carolina was three fourths of fifteen,
thon.^and dollars.
The general assembly held its fifth session at New-
bern, on the 20th of November. Governor Dobbs ob-
served, that the affairs of Europe, Great Britain and the
American provinces, were now in a most critical situa-
tion, by means of a most unnatural alliance, entered into
between the houses of Austria and France, into which
they had drawn the empress of Russia, against the only
protestant power of Germany, who could support its
civil and religious liberties ; he said the king's German
dominions were overrun by a superior French army,
and, consequently, the protestant interest of Germany
and the rest of Europe was in the greatest danger; and
all the forces the king had been able to spare, for
the relief of his American provinces, had not been suffi-
cient to dislodge the French, from their encroachments
on the frontiers of the British dominions, in America,
He informed the houses of the late parliamentary
grant, and of the arrival of the artillery and ordnance
stores for Fort Johnston, and hoped that these instances
of the king's paternal goodness might animate them to
contribute with zeal, to the support of the expenses of
the war.
He drew their attention to an evasion of the clergy
law, common in many counties. The inhabitants
combining to elect such vestrymen as they knew would
refuse to act; he noticed the great defects in the inspec-
tion laws.
An act was passed, granting an aid to the king, for the
subsistence of the troops, necessary to be kept for the
Chapter [1758
defence of the province, and for keeping up the fortifi-
cations on the sea shore. Authority was ^iven to Ed-
mund Atkins, who had lately been appointed by the
king, superintendant of Indian aiTairs, to regulate the In-
dian trade, with a view to unite the tribes in alliance with
the British, and strengthen their attachment, some trif-
ling amendments were made in the inspection laws ; but
the governor's recommendations in regard to the vestry
act was entirely disregarded.
At the close of this year, the affairs of Great Britain
in America, bore a gloomier aspect than at any other pe-
riod. The siiccess of the French arms on the lakes,
and the untoward issue of the late ex[)edition against
Fort Duquesne, left them the almost undisturbed
possession of the Indian country, and consequently, an
absolute influence over most of the tribes. The British,
on the contrary, were confined to a relatively nar-
row slip of land, between the Allegheny and the
Atlantic.
Early in the following year, a circular letter from the
new minister, William Pitt, assured the governors of
the American provinces, that, in order to repair the
losses and disappointments of tlie late inactive campaign,
it had been determined to send a formidable force, by
sea and land, against the French in America ; and he
called on them to raise and procure as large bodies of
men, within their respective governments, as the num-
ber of inhabitants might allow. Arms, ammunition,
tents, provisions and boats, would, he said, be furnished
by the crown; but it was expected the provinces would
clothe and pay their men. Assurances were held
out of a recommendation to parliament, to indemnify
the colonies.
i758j THE FIFTH. 93
Accordingly, admiral Bopcawen arrived early in
the spring at Halifax, with a formidable fleet and
about twelve thousand chosen troops, under the or-
der of Sir Jeffrey Amherst. The command of the
Britisl> forces in America, on the departure of lord
Loudon, had devolved on general Abercrombie,
who when joined by Sir Jeffrey, found himself at
the head of the most powerful army ever seen in
the new world. His whole number, comprehend-
ir)g troops of every description, was fifty-two thou-
sand, two thirds of whom were Americans.
Three expeditions were proposed for this year,
one a£;ainst Louisburg, another against Ticondero-
ga and the last against fort Duquesne.
This was the one in which the southern provin-
ces felt a principal, because of a more immediate
interest. Their exertions were commensurate
with it.
The legislature that sat at Newbern on the
28th of April, granted an aid to the king, for aug-
menting the troops, then in the pay of the province,
to he sent to reinforce the army which was under
the command of general Forbes, to march against
fort Duquesne, to pay them while in that service, and
for placing garrisons in the forts of the province.
The town of Hartford, in the county of Perqui-
mans, was established this year.
The season requiring the labors of the husband-
man, the legislature rose soon after passing the aid
bilL
On the 8th of July, general Abercrombie attack-
ed the French entrenchment at Ticonderoga, near
lake George, but after a desperate push, he was
94 CHAPTER [1758
obliged to retire with great loss to bis old camp on
lake George, to avoid a total defeat.
Admiral BoRcawen and Sir Jeffrey Amberst were
more fortunate, and about tbe same time reduced
the fortress of Louisbourg and soon after conquered
the whole island of Cape Breton.
On tbe 27th of August, colonel Bradstreet took
fort Frontenac and destroyed provisions and am-
munition to a vast amount. He sunk seven vessels
on the lake, took two and burnt the fort to the
ground.
The general assembly beld its seventb session in
tbe town of Edenton, on the 23d of November.
After acquainting them with tbe late successes of
the king's arms, governor Dobbs impressed on their
attention tbe necessity of protecting tbe sea coast;
privateers often coming in, cutting out vessels from
their moorings and sometimes even insulting the
plantations near the shore; be also recommended
objects of domestic concerns.
In compliance with the 2:overnor's recommenda-
tion, an aid was granted to the king for tbe support
of the establishments of fort Johnson and fort Gran-
ville.
On tbe report of a committee of tbe two bouses,
appointed to view the country near Neuse riven
and report the most elligiblespot for tbe seat of the
government of the province, an act was passed for
establishing a city to be called Tower Hill, on a
plantation belonging to governor Dobbs, on Coten-
ney creek, near the spot on which the court house
of the county of Greene now stands. A governor's
bouse and such buildings as the service of the pro-
1758] THE FIFTH. 95
vince required were directed to be built there.
The new city was declared the seat of the govern-
ment of the province; but the operation of the act
was suspended till the king's pleasure was known.
The superior court for the couiities of Edge-
combe. Granvilleand North Hampton was removed
from Enfield to the town of Halifax.
The counties of Ldgecombe and Johnston were di-
vided, and the western part of the latter was erected
into a new county, which, in honor of the governor,
was called Dobbs; and the northern part of the for-
mer into another, to which the name of Halifax was
given; and a town was erected on the east side of
Little river, in the county of Pasquotank, which was
named Nixonton, after the owner of the soil.
Soon after the rise of the legislative body, ac-
counts reached the province from general Forbes,
to whom the conduct of the expedition against fort
Duquesne had been entrusted, that he had march-
ed as early as the month of July, with the main bo-
dy of his army. The delays in procuring the rein-
forcements from the different provicices, and the dif-
ficulties, opposed by the ruggedness of the country,
were so great, that the general did not reach fort
Duquesne untill the month of November. His force
was eight thousand men. Alarmed at the ap-
proacii of so formidable an army, t!ie garrison, de-
serted by the Indians, abandoned the fort the even-
ing before the general reached it, and escaped
down the Ohio.
The British changed its name, calling it fort Pitt,
in honor of a tavorite minister. Tiie occupation of
this post was an object of vast moment to the Brit-
96 CHAPTER [1755
ish, and the southern provinces contemplated in it
the guarantee of their future security. It had ena-
bled the enemy to command the numerous nations
of Indians, dweUing along the Mississippi, and with
them they made frequent incursions on the western
settlements of the colonies. The Indians, who gen-
erally side with the stronger party, observing the
defection of their former allies, were found ready to
accept the protection of the combined forces; the
opportunity was improved and a treaty entered into
with the nations between the Ohio and the lakes.
The joy, which the reduction of fort Duquesne
excited in North Carolina, was not. however, of long
duration: the flight of the French southwardly dis-
appointed the hopes of security, which the success
of general Forbes had created. The scene of ac-
tion was only changed and brought nearer; and
while danger ceased to be apprehended from the
northern Indians, theCherokeesand their neighbors
began to excite the fears of the inhabitants of the
western counties.
These Indians had uniformly assisted the British
in their different attempts against the French, in
compliance with the stipulations of treaties. The
horses, in this part of America, running wild in the
woods, were considered as the property of the first
captor: and while the Cherokees returned home, af-
ter having left the army of general Forbes, a num-
ber of them, having been dismounted, seized such of
those animals as they found on their way through
the back settlements of Virginia. The injury was
vindicated by arms, before any attempt was made to
redress it bv less violent means. Twelve or four-
!758] THE FIFTH. - 97
teen of the Indian warriors were killed and a greater
number made prisoners. It is not surprising that the-
Cherokees, among whom rules of property are not very
accurately defined, should liave bten greatly provoked by
a treatment which, cruel as it would have been under
different circumstances, was aggravated by that of its
being committed against men, mnny of whom had suf-
fered, b 'en wounded, and lost several of their relations
and friends in the defence of the aggressors. Some of
the Indiana reached their towns, besmeared with blood,
and when they informed their friends they had been
wounded by their white allies, who had murdered their
companions, indignation rose to its highest pitch. The
relations of the dead and the wounded ran furiously
about, supplicating their countrymen to follow and as-
sist them in avenging their wrongs. In vain the aged
chiefs endeavored to prevail on the young warriors to
delay the hour of satisfaction, till it could be ascertained
whether the governor of Virginia would not afford it, at
their solicitation. The nation excited to hostihty by the
arrival of a number of French soldiers, who were plen-
tifully supplied with spirituous liquors and who eagerly
iniproved this golden op|)ortunity of spurring on the In-
dians to vengeance, prevented the old chiefs' advice
from being listened to; supplied with arms and ammu-
nition by their new guests, scattered parties of Indians
marched 10 the frontiers of Virginia, North and South
Carolina.
The first blow was struck in the neighborhood of fort
Loudon. Soldiers of thdt garrison, who had been se-
curely huntini>; in the Wf)ods around the fort, were found
murdered. The unrelenting foe proceeded along the
border of the back settlements of the whites, dealing,
N. CARO. II. 13
98 CHAPTER. ftTS^
indiscriminately, destruction and death among the old
and young, the softer sex, the innocent and p:uilty.
Scenes of disorder, though of a less bloody kind, dis-
turbed the interior part of North Carolina. Some of
the inliabitants of that portion of the province, the lands
of which had been allotted to lord Granville, believing
themselves injured by the conduct of Francis Corbin^
his agent, embodied themselves, and marched in great
disorder and tumult through several counties, ill treat-
ing those who refused to join or supply them with pro-
visions, came to the town of Edenton and forcibly took
the man from his house, and, in spite of the representa-
tions of the decent and orderly part of their fellow -citi-
zens, triunrphanlly led their prisoner away. After a
march of about sevent}^ miles, they permitted him to re-
turn, on his giviug bond for his future better behavior.
On the 8th of May, the legislature met at Newbern:
no business of a public nature was completed, and the
houses were prorogued after passing two private acts.
In the month of July, Sir William Johnston took the
fort at Niagara, having defeated a large body of French
troops, who had came to its relief, and soon after Sir
Jeffrey Amherst possessed himself of Ticonderoga; the
enemy having abandoned their lines on bis approach
and set fire to the fort. Crown Point also fell into his
hands.
On the 17th of September, the city of Quebec surren-
dered to the British arms, after a very obstinate siege,
during which, \general Wolfe and Monsieur de Mont-
calm, the commanders of the two armies, lost their
lives.
In the month of August, the court laws, passed in
December 1754, were repealed by proclamation.
i759] THE FIFTH. ^2>
The ninth session of the assembly, called by governor
Dobbs on his arrival in the province, was held in the
town of Wilmington, on the 20th of November. la
meeting the houses governor Dobbs observed, that the
late success of the king's arms rendered any supply for
the aid of the northern provinces unnecessary, but as
the war would probably be continued, until a safe and
honorable peace was obtained, by driving the French^
from the continent and ruining their marine, forces
were necessary to check the unruly behaviour of the
Cherokees; he recommended that the two companies of
foot, in p ly of the province, should be placed in the ser-
vice of the fortifications.
He lamented the great deprecietion of the currency,
which was received at a nominal discount of 33 1-3 per
cent, while the real one wis from 70 to 90 per cent, in
stcrlinj2: money. This evil, if not early remedied, he
said, would soon put an end to the credit of the province
and be the ruin of its trade.
He recommended the passage of a court law; those
which had be«^^n in force since his arrival in the pro-
vince having lately been repealed by order of the king
in council.
By a subsequent message, he drew their attention to
a defect in the militia law, which had lately proved of
great inconvenience: the detachment of the militiar
which had been ordered against the Cherokees, unde,
colonel Waddle, having refused to proceed against them,
on the pretext that the colonel was leading them out of
the limits of the province.
A new court system was introduced : it provided for
the establishment of a court of kino-'s bench and com-
mon pleas : the bill passed the lower house, on its third
100 CHAPTER ^ [1759
reading : in the upper, several amendments were insist-
ed on ; it was required, that a clause, which forbade
the chief justice to receive any part of the fees of the
clerks, be expunged, as derogatory of the honor of that
officer, as well as a clause for borrowing from the sink-
ing fund a sufficient sum to discharge the salaries of the
associate justices and attorney general. This produced a
message from the lower house, in which they observed
that the practice which had hitherto prevailed, of the chief
justice exacting from the clerks a considerable propor-
tion of their legal fees, had been the cause of their being
guilty of great extortions, whereby the superior courts
had become scenes of oppression, and the conduct of
the chief justice and clerks a subject of universal com-
plaint : they admitted, that the late chief justice, Peter
Henly (whose death was lamented by all who wished
to see the hand of government strengthened, the laws
duly executed, and justice impartially administered)
from a pious sc^nse of the obligations ox his oath, had con-
formed to the act of 1748, for regulating officers' fees,
but they thought themselves bound in duty to their con-
stituents to provide against the pernicious effects of a
contrary conduct: they expressed their hope, that the
new chief justice (Charles Berry) would think his pre-
decessor's laudable conduct in this respect worthy of
imitation, arid, in that expectation, were willing to leave
him, in this regard, in the same situation as chief justice
Henly had been. As to the money proposed to be bor-
rowed out of the sinking fund, they observed, that the
contingent fund was upwards of two tl.ousand pounds
in arrears, and as no method appeared more eligible,
they offered to advance the sum upon the tax by which
the money was to be replaced. The upper house per-
1759] THE FIFTH. ,501
sisted in their proposition to strike out the clause for the
loan, and that the salaries should be paid by a tax, to
commence in the following year. The lower house re-
plied, that the salaries were not the only object of the
loan ; that to oblige the creditors of the province to
wait until money was -collected by a tax, would be an
injurious treatment, which would sensibly affect its
credit : they added, that the measure was adopted in
conformity to several precedents on similar occasions, par-
ticularly the one first proposed and afterwards insisted on
by the upper house, where two thousand eight hundred
pounds were applied to the chief justice's salary, that of
the attorney general and other contingencies, to be re-
placed in four years by a tax, when the very law under
whicb the money was signed, expressly provided it
should not circulate for any use whatever, until the
king's pleasure was known : notwithstanding which,
the lower house had been so careful, to avoid every valid
objection against a bill of such importance to the pro-
vince, that they had forborne to insert the clause, rela-
ting to the application from the sinking fund, until they
had ascertained, that it was not contrary to the king's in-
structions. They lamented being reduced to the disa-
greeable necessity of framing bills to supply the place of
the valuable laws which had been lately repealed, through
misrepresentations, originating in interested views, ever
incompatible with the public good : they reminded the
upper house, that the salaries of the chief justice and
attorney general were at first intended by the legislature,
as matters of meie compliment, at a time, when the pro-
vince was in a prosperous situation : they added, that as
no other expedient could be found at ihe present junc-^
202 CHAPTER [1759
ture to defray that expense, should the upper house re-
ject the bill on that account, care must be taken in fra-
ming another court bill, not to insert any clause, how-
ever necessary, that may introduce the least charge on
the province ; and concluded with a hope, that if the bill
miscarried, the most sincere endeavors of the lower
house would be accepted, by their unhappy constituents,
in lieu of the^ valuable advantages which the bill was
calculated to produce.
The upper house continued to insist on the clause be-
ing struck out, as the breaking in upon the sinking fund
would give a deadly blow to public faith, and pressed
the assembly to weigh the fatal consequences that would
attend the rejection of the bill. •
In their second message, tfie lower house admitted the
impropriety of an application from the sinking fund,
which necessity did not imperiously call for, but they de-
clared it impracticable, without it, to pay the debts of the
province, or to attain the valuable ends, intended by the
bill. As the sum, intended to be borrowed, did not ex-
ceed two thousand five hundred poimds, and was to be
replaced by a tax which would commence in 1763, the
currency of the province would not be depreciated, nor
any individual prejudiced. They concluded by observ-
ing, that on the most mature consideration of the mes-
sage of the upper house, such were the sentiments of
the lower, from which they could not depart, and refer-
red it to the consideration of that body, whether the pub-
lic good would not be better promoted by the passage,
than by the rejection of the bill.
The upper house voted that the bill be rejected, un-
less the lower house would on the next day signify their
consent, that the clause should be stricken ouU
17591 THE FIFTH. 103
On being informed of the provisional fate of the bill,
the lower house replied, that rather than to see the pro-
vince reduced to the confusion and disorder which the
want of courts must necessarily introduce, they would
agree to expunge the clause, and with it such parts of
the bill as allowed salaries to the chief justice, his asso-
ciates and the attorney general, which appeared to them
a necessary consequence of the clause, objected to.
On reading this last message, the upper house reject-
ed the bill absolutely.
An attempt was m^de in the lower house to pass a
bill for an emission of paper money, but the governor
communicated to them an article of his instructions,
which required him to withhold his assent from any bill
for the emission of paper money, unless it contained a
clause, that neither the bills proposed to be emitted, nor
those hitherto issued, should be a legal tender.
An aid was granted to the king for the subsistence of
the troops and militia now in the pay of the province ; it
was directed to be paid out of the fund, heretofore appro-
priated for the purchase of glebes and the establishment
of schools, the king not having signified his pleasure on
that appropriation.
Parts of the counties of North Hampton and Chowan
were erected into a separate county, to which the name
of Hereford was given.
The province rapidly increased in population, and al-
though its prosperity was considerably checked by the
great exertions which were required from it for the sup-
port of the war ; yet, as it was exempt from the ravages
of the enemy within its own limits, except on its west-
ern border, it extended its agriculture and i.icreased its
trade. The culture^of tobacco had been successfully at-
i04 CHAPTER [1759
f
tended to in the middle counties, and inspection and
ware houses for that commodity were now established
on the river Neuse and its branches.
The commerce of the ports on Neuse and Pamplico,
having more to apprehend from the difficult navigation
of those rivers, than from any immediate attack from the
enemy, against which it was protected by a kind of natu-
ral fortification, the powder and lead duty, hitherto col-
lected in kind, was directed to be received in money,
and the proceeds of it applied to the erection of beacons
and the stak-^age of the channels of those streams. A
similar provision was soon after made for the improve-
ment of the navigation from Howard's bay to Bear in-
let, in the county of Onslow. Extensive new roads
were laid out in the interior part of the province, and at-
tention paid to the erection and improvement of the
public buildings in the counties.
A tract of land, in the county of Orange, one of the
westermost, had been laid off by an individual, W.
Churton, on Enoe, one of the branches of Neuse river,
on which a number of houses had been built. The
healthiness of the spot and its convenient situation for
an inland trade, induced the legislature to give to the
establishment, the saction of its authority. It was call-
ed Childsburg, in honor of Thomas Childs, the attorney
general of the province, a gentleman of considerable
ability and influence. The name was afterwards altered
to Hillsborough, either from the hilliness of the ground,
or in compliment to Wells, earl of Hillsborough, the
secretary of state for America.
A bill passed both houses for the appointment of an
agent, to solicit the affairs of the province in England;
the governor withheld his assent from it.
neOj THE FIFTH. 105
On the 9th of January, governor Dobbs dissolved the
assembly, complaining, in a speech of which a copy was
refused to the speaker of the lower house, of their back-
wardness in framing an acceptable court system, and
laws to compel sheriffs to account for public moneys,
und assisrninsj: as one of the causes of the dissolution,
the long time the assembly had existed; nearly six
vears.
•I
Governor Lyttleton, of South Carolina, on the first
account of the irruptions of the Cherokees, on the bor-
ders of the southern provinces, had embodied a con-
siderable portion of the militia of his province, and de-
termined on marching into the Indian towns and chas-
tising the savages. While he was making his prepara-
tions for that purpose, thirty-two Cherokee chiefs came
to Charleston, with a view to represent to the governor,
that the nation did not support the warriors who had
committt'd acts of violence upon the whites ; that the
chiefs had in vain attempted to restrain their young men,
and were willing that satisfaction should be made, for
these outrages, which the body of their nation reproved.
The governor refused to listen to these overtures of
peace and set out for Congaree, a place at the distance
of about forty miles from Charleston, which he had ap-
pointed for the general rendezvous of the militia. The
Cherokee chiefs were induced to accompany the gover-
nor thither. He had represented to them, that, although
he was determined on marching into their country, as
they had come to him as embassadors of peace, he would
see that they returned unhurt, into their towns ; but,
as the whites were much exasperated, he could not an-
swer for the treatment the chiefs might receive, if they
exposed themselves alone to their resentment. The
N. CARO. n. 14 \
IG^ CHAPTER it1lB9
Indians marched to Congaree, apparently satisfied ; but
in reality, chagrined and vexed, at the manner in which
their unfeigned attempts to conciliate differences, had
been received. On his arrival at Congaree, governor
Lyttleton confined the thirty-two Indian chiefs, as pris-
oners of war; and when the army marched, a cap-
tain's guard was mounted over them, on the way ;
they were made to accompany the army to Fort Prince
George, and on their arrival there, were confined in a
miserable hut, scarcely sufficient for the accommodation
of six soldiers. Shortly after, the governor concluded
a treaty of peace, with six of the headmen of the Chero-
kee nation, by which it was agreed, that the Indians, in
his possession, should be kept as hostages, confined in
the fort, until an equal number of the Indians, guilty
of murder, should be delivered up to him; that trade
should, in the meanwhile, be opened and carried on as
usual: that the Cherokees should kill or make every
Frenchman prisoner, who should presume to come into
their nation, during the continuance of the war ; and
that they should hold no intercourse with any of the en-
emies of Great Britain, but should apprehend any per-
son, white or red, found among them, that might be en-
deavoring to set the English and Cherokees at variance.
Early in the year, governor Dobbs received de-
spatches from Mr. Pitt, informing him, that the king
had resolved to exert the whole force of Great Britain
and her colonies, to finish the war in the ensuing cam-
paign, and instructing him to use his utmost influence
with the legislature, to induce them to raise, with the
utmost despatch, as many men as the province could
spare.
Writs of election were accordingly issued, and the
legislative body was summoned to meet at Newbern,
neOj THE FIFTH. 107
on the 24th of April. In the county of Orange, a num-
ber of disorderly persons rose in arms, and, in a violent
and riotous manner, prevented the sheriff from holding
an election. The inhabitants of the town of Halifax,
claiming the right of being represented in the lower
house, under the act of 1715, and governor Dobbs re-
fusing to grant them a charter, prevailed on the sheriff of
the county to hold an election, and to return Stephen
Dewey, the person whom they chose. He was suffered
to take his seat.
In opening the session, the governor expressed the
pleasure he felt in meeting a new assembly, and his
hope, that the great and surprising success of the king's
arms, and the distress and ruin of the trade and marine
of France, in which the assistance of Divine Providence,
was eminently dis[)layed in the defence of the Protestant
religion and the cause of liberty, would induce them to
use their utmost power, in coiij unction with the king's
forces from Europe, to drive the French from all unjust
acquisitions on the continent, and procure ample secu-
rity, from the invasions and depredations of the French
and Indians;
He recommended the earliest attention to a court sys-
tem, and the appointment of an agent in England, by a
special bill.
The lower house, in their answer, animadverted on
the speeches of the governor to th^' last assembly, at the
prorogation and dissolution. They observed, that the
bill framed by the house had no other object, than the
grant of an aid to the king, and the appointment of an
agent, as recommended by Mr. Pitt; and in no other
instance, had he, or any of his prcd»ccssors, taken
any exception at the manner in which a bill of supplies
103 CHAPTER [1760
was framed. In reply to the speech at the dissolution,
they took notice, that the treasurers were, by law. to ac-
count wiih the assembly : and the constant practice had
been, for them to do so before a committee appointed by
the house, who re-examined the accDunts on the report
of their committee. With regard to the sheriffs, they
admitted that they had observed several deficiencies in
their collections; but, they added, that, in the con-
fused state of the province, from the turbulent disposi-
tion of factions, cabals and dangerous insurrections, it
could not, with reason, be supposed, that sheriffs, more
than magistrates or other officers, could fully discharge
their functions; an inconvenience which they hoped
would be removed, by the establishment of courts of
justice on a respectable footing. They concluded, by
assuring him, that those observations were dictated by
their duty to their constituents, and not by a desire of
raising disputes with him.
The governor replied, that he had laid before the
house the accounts lately forwarded from New York, of
the sums, issued for the troops sent to that province,
and ihe officers who served on the Ohio were ready to
account for the sums they had received. He said no
money had passed through his hands ; he had only is-
sued orders, which the persons in whose favor they were
had to account for.
He said the loss of the aid bill was to be attributed to
the clause, foreign to the object of it, which the house had
insisted on inserting.
. He added, that in regard to the accounts of the trea-
surers, he had strictly pursued his instructions, which
required him to see them properly audited, laid before
the legislature, and afterwards transmitted to England :
1760] THE FIFTH. 109
that, if the king thought proper to withdraw his instruc-
tion, he would gladly acquiesce : but he had thought it
liis duty to inform the house, that the accounts were ir-
regular, as no list of taxables were produced by the
treasurer for the northern district, nor any arrcar return-
ed, so that it could not appear what was the amount of
the tax, nor whether the deficiency was occasioned by
the sheriffs, or the neglect of the treasurers.
The house passed a resolve, asserting their indubita-
ble right to frame and model every bill wherein an aid is
granted to the king, in such a manner, as they believe
most conducive to his service, honor and interest, and
declaring every attempt to deprive them of the enjoy-
ment of that right, an infringement on their rights and
privileges.
By another resolution, they declared the mode, ob-
served by the treasurers in statins: the accounts exhi-
bited at the last session, agreeable to the laws of the pro-
vince and conformable lo constant and uninterrupted
usage, and the method proposed by the governor, unpre-
cedented and repugnant to law.
The houses gave their first attention to the passage of
bills for establishing courts of law, which had three
readings in each.
By these acts, the courts of judicature, constituted
and the regulations made for the administration of jus-
tice, by the acts of 1754-5, which were repealed by the
late order of the king in council, were re-established with
some alterations and additions, in respect to the qualifi-
cations of the judges of the superior court, the duration
of their commissions and the jurisdiction of the inferior
or county court.
no CHAPTER [1760
The superior court act divided the province into five
districts, and apponited courts to be held in each of them
semi-annually, by the chief justice and his associate
judges, to whom j urisdiction was given in all civil cases,
where the demand exceeded ten pounds, and also in all
criminal cases, from the highest treason to the lowest
trespass.
It was provided, that no person should be appointed
an associate justice of the superior court, unless he had
been regularly called to the degree of an outer barrister,
in some of the English inns of courts, be of five
years' standing, and had practiced law in the princi-
pal courts of judicature of the province: the commis-
sions of the judges were to be during good behaviour.
The county court act gave the justices jurisdiction of
all civil actions to the extent of fifry pounds, and in cases
of filial portion, legacies, distribution of intestates' estates,
guardianship, the care of orphans and their estates, to
any amount.
The acts varied in so little a degree from those which
had lately been repealed, that the lower house were un-
der just apprehensions, that the governor's assent to
them would not be easily obtained : they therefore re-
presented to him in an address, that as the bills for re-
storing the courts of judicature, and, through them, life
to government and the rights and liberties of the people,
appeared to be of such vast importance, they had thought
it their duty to give them the preference over all other
objects, and they had been despatched with unex-
ampled unanimity and concurrence in both houses, and
hoped their operation and excellence would distinguish
the wisdom and justice of the legislature.
1760] THE FIFTH. Ill
They urged, that the extreme solicitude of the people-
for such laws, and their own experience of the great
mischiefs which had resulted from a long interval of li-
centiousness, called on them to beseech him to give the
acts his immediate assent, not only that a proper founda-
tion might be laid for rendering so great a satisfaction to
the people, but to warrant the house in proceeding to the
despatch of other important matters.
They added, they were thus eager to obtain his early
assent to those laws, from a desire to proceed to frame a
further remonstrance to the king, to show the expedien-
cy of their deviation, in some articles, from what may
have been considered his directions in framing the bills.
The house strengthened their importunity by an as-
surance, that they would exert every practicable endea-
vour to demonstrate the strictness of their attention to
the general objects which he had, so powerfully, recom-
mended at the opening of tlie session.
When this address v/as presented to the governor, he
replied, that it was of an unusual and unprecedented na-
ture, and he would consult gentlemen more con-
versant than himself in those affairs.
The governor discovered, by the manner in which he
was pressed to give his assent to these bills, that the
house intended to regulate their conduct by his, and if
he rejected the bills, there was little probability of their
paying much attention to his other recommendations.
The bills were liable to all the objections, which had
caused the repeal of those they were intended to replace ;
nay, they were more at variance with the instructions
of the crown.
The clause, defining the qualifications of the judges,
was an unconstitutional^ restraint on the king's preroga-
i!2 CHAPTER [1760
tive, almost precluding the appointment of any person
from England ; and he had reason to believe, it was in-
tended to compel him to appoint three particular per-
sons, to whom the qualifications were peculiarly adapted.
The clause, defining the nature of the tenure by which
the associate judges were to hold their offices, consider-
ed abstractl}^ was at variance with the principle of keep-
ing all great colonial officers under a strict subordination
to and dependence on the crown : but the irregularity
of it was the more striking, in relation to the tenure by
which the chief justice, who was to preside in those
courts, held his office ; this officer, chosen by the king,
being only appointed during the king's pleasure.
The jurisdiction of the county courts was extended
to fifty pounds, while it had been complained, that in the
repealed bill it had been raised to forty. When the
ability of the colonists was considered, causes of that
value were viewed in England as of too great conse-
quence and importance to be determined in those courts,
in regard to the qualification and abilities of the persons
who composed them. There was a still greater absurdi-
ty, in restraining the jurisdiction of these courts, in
common actions at law to a limited value, and giving
them unlimited jurisdiction in cases of a more delicate
nature.
The governors of the American provinces, by a stand-
ing article of their instructions, were inhibited from giv-
ing their assent to any bill of an extraordinary nature,
affecting the property of the king's subjects or the trade
and commerce of the colonies, without having first trans-
mitted a copy of it for the king's consideration, unless
with a clause, suspending the operation of the bill till the
king's pleasure was known : and the ministers in Eng-
neo] , THE FIFTH. 118
land were inclined to extend, rather than restrain, the
sense of this instruction.
Perplexed at his situation, governor Dobbs sought a
cloak for his conduct, in procuring the sanction of the
advice of the chief justice and attorney general, who
were required to declare in writing, whether it was ex-
pedient to assent to these bills.
Chief justice Berry, who was in England and had
been spoken to, when the repealed laws were before the
king's council, answered, that as the superior court bill
provided competent salaries for the associate justices,
so as to make it worth the attention of persons of skilland
learning in the law to accept the offices, whereby, not-
withstanding the expettsiveness of the circuits, the causes
depending in the superior courts might now, without
delay, receive proper determinations, the chief reason
for repealing the superior court act, passed in 1754,
was thereby obviated ; and the attorney general, Tho-
mas Childs, contented himself with observing, that the
desperate situation of affairs required the governor's
assent.
The general expressions, in which those gentlemen
couched their advice, did not authorize the belief that
it would sanction the step, and the governor determined
on temporising, at least till the passage of the aid bill.
In a message to the lower house, on the following
day, he expressed the greatest concern that, at any time,
he should be compelled to resist the request of the
house, and more particularly, at the present important
juncture, when they were summoned to meet, by the
king's order, to give him an aid of men. He lamented,
that the consideration of the king's request, which
ought to have been the first object of the attention of
N. CARO. !!• 15
114 CHAPTER [1160
the legislature, had been postponed for above three
weeks, to give way to laws relating only to the interior
concerns of the province.
He observed that it was his duty, in common decen-
cy and respect to the crown, to give the precedency to
an aid bill, over any other; that it had been the uninter-
rupted usage of the houses of commons of Great Britain
and Ireland, since the happy establishment of their con-
stitutions and liberties, by the revolution in 1688, to
offer the aid bill to the royal assent before any other;
and he found this to be the practice in the province,
where all the bills were offered together, except in a single
instance, at the last session, in passing the militia bill,
which might be considered as an aid bill, since it author-
ized the king to march the militia out of the province.
He concludtd by saying, it could not be very material
if the bills, now waiting for his assent, were postponed
for a day or more, and expressed his hope, from the
zeal which the house had always manifested to enable
the king to drive a cruel enemy from the continent; that
if the aid bill was not passed before, it would at least go
hand in hand with the others, especially as a delay in
raising and discipUning the forces might defeat the king's
views.
The house replied, that they could not concur with
him in the idea that the court bills, though relating to
the interior concerns of the province, were of so light
importance. When they considered how many licen-
tious, disaffected and evil disposed persons had, for ma-
ny months past, assembled in different parts of the
country, entered into mutinous and dangerous conspira-
cies, broken open the jails, and while they forcibly rescu-
ed malefactors, restrained the liberty of innocent persons,
1760] THE FIFTH. 115
without any measure being taken to suppress these out-
rages; they deemed it a matter of the utmost impor-
tance, that couri laws might be immediately passed, to
su'engthen tim hands of government and enable it to
check these disorders.
They added, that they apprehended that, according to
the usage and custom of the British parliament, the
commons were at liberty to ofter the bills they passed
for the royal assent, at any time they thought proper,
and were governed in this respect by particular circum-
stances and the emergency of the times.
Having at all periods manifested their loyalty to
the kin^ and their zeal for his service, by granting
every aid of money and men which the governor
had asked, even to the impoverishment of their con-
stituents, and being still ready to risk their lives and
properties, to join in defence of the king's rights
and possessions, they had now an aid bill before
them, which, as well as several others under con-
sideration, had such an intimate connexion with,
and dependence on, the court bills, that they could
not operate ti'l the latter were passed into laws,
they felt it their indispensable duty to give them the
precedency.
They concluded with a hope, that the governor
would immediately give his assent, and thereby af-
ford protection and security to the lives and pro-
perty of their constituents.
The governor replied, that finding the house, mis-
led by some of the king's servants, were determin-
ed to proceed on no business until they knew the
fate of the court bills, it became his duty to inform
lie CHAPTER Lneo
them, that those self interested gentlemen, who had
procured the repeal of the former court laws and
had carried the present bills through the houses,
were the cause of the delay in their passage, as well
as that of the aid bill; having procured to be insert-
ed, an unnecessary clause, diminishing the king's
prerogative, and, with a view to. serve their own
ends, placed the chief magistpate in the unpleasant
dilemma of betraying his trust and disobeying the
king's orders and instructions, by granting his assent,
or seeing a flame raised against his administration,
if he withheld k: a flame which, one of those gen-
tlemen had already raised, contrary to his duty t©
the crown, in order to throw off" the merited blame
of having procured the repeal of the former bills, by
his artful recommendations and representations;
while he now sought to have them re-enacted with
supplementary clauses, contrary to the king's in-
structions.
As to the great tumults and riots, which w^re
mentioned, as causes for the immediate passage of
the bills, he observed, that during the period of
eight months, since which, the repeal of the court
laws had been promulgated, no application had
been made to him for a commission of oyer and
terminer, which would have answered the pre-
tended purpose; if the court laws were indis-
pensable, unexceptionable bills should have been
offered him; and the house might have known on
application in what parts they were repugnant to
the king's orders and instructions, which might
have been done, and the bills ratified early in the
•it »'
session.
J 7601 THE FIFTH. 117
He informed the house that he could not pass the
bills, unless the exceptionable clauses were expung-
ed, or a clause was inserted suspending the opera-
tions of the laws until the king's pleasure was known.
He laid before them the clauses in the king's in-
structions which forbade his assent, in their present
shape, to the bills, and concluded by observing, that
after the aid bill and such other bills as were ready,
were passed, he would prorogue the legislature for
a day, to give them the opportunity, in a new ses-
sion, to model the bills in such a manner, as might
allow him to pass them into laws.
The house went into a committee of the whole
on the distressed state of the province and the
governor's last message. They closed their doors
and laid themselves under an injunction* of secresy,
under pain of expulsion. The committee reported
a string of resolutions, containing thei'r complaints
against governor Dobbs; they were recapitulated
in an address to the king, which the house approv-
ed of.
After the usual expressions of loyalty and fidelity
to the person' and family of the king, this paper
states, that no consideration less than the prospect
of total ruin, from undue exertions of power and in-
ternal commotion in his distressed province, could
have induced the house to trouble his royal ear:
but that, when by the injudicious and partial a^p-
pointment of justices, unqualified for the trust, and
the removal of others, liable to no objection, magis-
tracy had fallen into contempt, and courts lost their
influence and dignity; when rioters were permitted
to assemble in several parts of the province, erect
118 CHAPTER [176^
sham judicatures, imprison the peacable subjects of
the king, break open jails, release malefactors with
impunity; when the authors of these outrages were
countenanced by the governor and honored with
commissions as justices and militia officers; when
citizens had received corporal punishment by the
arbitrary mandates and private orders of judges still
continued in office; when illegal and arbitrary pe-
cuniary claims were enforced for the use of the gov-
ernor and secretary; when the forms of writs of
elections had been arbitrarily altered and diversi-
fied, to have particular men chosen and defeat the
elections of others: some writs directing the freehol-
ders, other the inhabitants generally, to choose; by
which last form, servants and even convicts might
be admitted to the polls, whereas, by king Charles'
charter, laws were directed to be made by the as-
sent of freemen and their delegates; when a writ
had been issued to one county for fewer members,
than they had used and ought to send, and to an-
other none at all, till several bills had passed: by
which practices it remained no longer a secret, that
the governor intended to model the assembly for
his own particular purposes, as he had before re-
formed the council b}' suspensions and new appoint-
ments; when insulted by blood thirsty savages on
the exterior settlements, and in no less danger of
falling a prey to niternal enemies, the people of the
province could only resort to their sovereign for
succour, as the fountain from whence justice and
protection flow to his most distant subjects.
The facts thus enumerated, are represented as far
from forming a complete catalogue of the sufferings
J
1760] THE FIFTH. 119
of the inhabitants of the province, who, nevertheless,
have, vi'ith great cheerfulness and alacrity, embrac-
ed every opportunity of testifying their zeal and
loyalty to the king, and exerted their utmost efforts
in the maintenance of his rights.
The house expressed their concern, that in the ap-
plication of the several aids, which had been under
the governors directions, less regard had been paid
to the usef ]1 purposes, intended by the legislature,
than to enriching his particular friends and favor-
ites; military commissions having been granted to
persons of little or no weight in the province,
whereby the raising of recruits had been delayed
and the service injured.
They lamented, that it had been the particular mis-
fortune of the province, that, by the governor's decisive
influence on the council, the assembly had hitherto been
prevented from appointing an agent, to represent their
dutiful affection to the king and solicit the provincial
affairs at the public boards in England ; and that, at the
session of the legislature, in May, 1759, provision had
been made for such an appointment ; but the bill was
peremptorily rejected by the upper house, who assigned
no reason ; and the governor, thereupon, prorogued
the legislature, bitterly reproving the lower house, for
presuming to insert a clause for the appointment of an
agent, in an aid bill, although such bills, with clauses
as little analagous to the aid, had, without the least ex-
ception, been before passed in his administration ; and it
was notorious, that the trne reason for the rejection of the
bill by the upper house, and the governor's displeasure,
Avas, the agency had not been given, by the lower house, to
one Smith; his attorney m London. So that the aid^
120 CHAPTER (1760
intended by the king's dutiful subjects, recommended
by the minister, had been postponed to gratify partial
views and private interest, while the motive was veiled
with feigned objections and subtile refinement, never
before offered to an assembly.
In concluding, the house observed, that they refrained
from mentioning many abuses of power and acts of
oppression, other than those which, constrained by the
necessity of the times and the despondent situation of
the province, they had related ; and that nothing less,
, than the impending prospect of desolation and ruin,
could have induced them to remonstrate against the
conduct of a governor, to the ease and happiness of
whose administration, they had vainly endeavored to
contribute ; that, for some time, they had remained pas-
sive, under the yoke of oppression, unwilling to inter-
rupt the important avocations which necessarily engage
their sovereign's attention ; but, perceiving themselves
on the brink of anarchy and ruin, they, with humility
and duty, supplicated his justice for relief.
They charged Anthony Bacon to deliver the address
to Mr. Pitt, to be presented to the king, and the spea-
ker was requested to write and send copies of it, to the
earls of Granville and Halifax, and the secretary of
state.
The thanks of the house were given to the attorney
general, for the candid advice he had given the governor
to pass the bills.
The house addressed the governor again : they be-
wailed, that he had suffered his ear to be assailed by de-
signing men, and the evils that flowed from the incom-
petency of some of the judges he had appointed ; and
added, that the delays, occasioned by advisari's ^ in
1760] THE FIFTH. 121
causes plain and easy to be understood by lawyers, and
the erroneous judgments given by those lay judges,
abundantly showed, the necessity of the qualifications
required by the upper court bill : they observed, that,
not to mention other instances, the corporal punishment,
inflicted by order of his nephew, Richard Spaight, one
of the judges, on an innocent person, without a trial by
jury, contrary to all law, and in violation of the great
charter of English liberties, was an unanswerable argu-
ment in favor of the proposed amendment, and the per-
tinacious adherence to the letter of an instruction, in a
matter that could not have been in contemplation, at the
time it was given, manifested an unreasonable desire to
retain the power of appointing judges, for private views
and partial ends.
They expressed their concern, that they should differ
in sentiment from him, having made it their study to
render him easy and happy, and, when their best endea-
vors for the king's service, and the interest of his sub-
jects, were represented in the most disagreeable light,
they could only say, they had the comfort of a good
conscience.
In regard to the commissions of oyer and terminer,
for the trial of the licentious rioters, who, by their dan-
gerous practices, had disturbed, with impunity, the
tranquility of the province, the house apprehended,
that, from the general defection in the part of the
country in which they committed their outrages, the
commissions would have no other effect, than to
bring the rage of unruly mobs on those who should
act under them ; and they expressed their concern,
that these mobs increased in number and influence,
N. CARO. II. 16
122 CHAPTER n [nm
by several of their ringleaders being countenanced by
the governor, and honored with commissions, as justices
of the peace and militia officers.
They concluded, by lamenting, that the chief justice
and attorney general should have incurred his displea-
sure, by giving their candid sentiments, in consequence
of his command, on some insnaring questions proposed
on extracts of his instructions.
The governor rejected the superior court bill.
An act was passed, establishing county courts, and
provision was made for the support of an orthodox
clergy.
On the 23d of May, the the legislature was prorogued
by proclamation, till the 26th of the same month.
On opening the second session, governor Dobbs in-
formed the houses he had called them together with the
view of affording them the opportunity of re- consider-
ing the superior court bill, and determining whether any
aid was to be granted to the king.
The su{)erior court bill being offered to the governor,
with a clause providing, that, if the king did not con-
firm it within two years from the 10th of November fol-
lowing, it should, from thenceforth, be null and void,
received his assent.
The upper house having made an amendment to the
aid bill, on its second reading, the lower house resolved,
that this was an invasion of their privileges, and an evi
dence of an intention to disturb the harmony, which ought
to subsist between the two branches of the legislature,
tending to dcieai their dutiful endeavors in granting the
aid ; but, protesting that the amendment should not,
he rcaftf r, be drawn into a precedent, they resolved, that
desirous of evincing their loyalty to the king, they would
1760] THE FIFTH. 123
not reject the bill, and would proceed on it, notwith-
standing the unparliamentary proceeiling of the upper
house.
On the third reading of the bill for appointing an
agent, the upper house opposed the appointment of
Anthony Bacon, and insisted on the name of some other
person being inserted. On the disagreement of the
lower house, t^ie bill was rejected.
The lower house then, by a resolve appointed this
gentleman, agent of the province for two years, with a
salary of two hundred pounds sterling, per year.
The aid bill passed both houses, with a clause, pro-
viding for the emission of paper money: it was re-
jected by the governor, and the legislative body was
prorogued.
Chalmers-^ Marshall — Records.
CHAPTER VI.
The tranquility which followed the treaty con-
cluded by governor l.yttleton with theCberokees^ w^as
of very short duration : the Indians had been awed
into it by the presence of a large force in the middle
of their country: the effect subsided with the cause.
The treatment which their embassadors of peace had
received in Charleston, their cruel imprisonment in
fort Prince George and their subsequent detention,
unauthorized by the late tieaiy, were circumstances
whicli the spirit of the nation could not brook Oco-
noota, an influential chief, heading a small party of
choice warrior?;, advanced towards fort Prince George
to create or improve an Oi)portunity of relieving his
companions from bondage, or wreaking his revenge on
those who detained them. Governor Lyttleton, at his
departure, had left the command of the fort to captain
Coytmere, an officer who was peculiarly obnoxious
to Oconoota. This circumstance contributed greatly
to inflame the mind of the Indian, offering the double
incitement of succouring his friends and destroying
his enemy. For a Lumber of days, his endeavours
had no other effect, than to compel the gariison to
keep within their fort. Stratagem soon effected
what the force Oconoota could command was unable
to execute : he withdrew his men for a few days, to
1760] CHAPTER. 125
create the de«ultory hope of security, and some time
after brought them back, placing them iti a dark
thicket by the river side : this bping effected, he sent
a sq jaw to Coytmere to inform him, h ^ had a mes '
sage to deliver him f om the chiefs of his nation, de-
sir ng lie wo ild com^* and speak to him on the oppo-
site side of the river ; in the mean Vhile, he crossed
the stream. Coytmere, accompanied by his two lieu-
tenants, walked to the river, and the Indian from the
opposite sliore toM him, that, being on his way to
Charles-on to procure the release of the chiefs, he
wished one of the soldiers might accompany him as a
safeguard ; he held a bridle in one of his hands and
pretended he was going to look for a horse» Coyt-
mere answered in the aflBrmativ^e ; some desultory con-
vers tion followed, and Oconoota, turning towards
the woods, swung the bridle twice over his head, the
concerted signal, at which the Indians in ambush
rose from the thickets, and tiring, killed Coytmere
and wounded his two officers. On hearins: the re-
port, the officer in command at the fort ordered the
chiefs in his possession to b*. put in irons ; the
Indian on whom this order was first attempted to be
executed, stabbed the soldier who took hold of him,
and wounded two others ; the garriso i, exasperated,
fell on the others and slaughtered them.
The chieftains in every town alarmed their coun-
trymen and called on them to revenge the spirits of
their murdt red brethren, hovering around their huts :
the song of war was begun, and the yoiths of the na-
tion, impatient of vengeance, rushed on the innocent,
defenceless and lyisuspecting families of the planters
126 CHAPTER [1760
on the back settlements of the whites^ and regardless
of the claim of age, childhood, or the softer sex,
spread death, desolation and waste; few escaped the
knife, many of those few perished with hunger and
distress in the wilderness, others were carried off
for more cruel, because more protracted torments.
The bearers of the first tidings of this massacre found
the city of Charleston desolated by the small pox,
which raged with so much violence, that few of the
militia could be prevailed on to leave their sickening
or frightened families, to march to the relief of the
frontiers. The distress of the province was however
relieved, by the arrival of colonel Montgomery with a
detachment of regular troops : his force beiug in-
creased by as many of the militia of South Carolina
as could be raised, and a part of that of North Caro-
lina under the orders of Hugh Waddle. Colonel
Montgomery marched towards the Cherokee towns ;
he destroyed all the lower ones, but approaching that
of Etchoe, the first of the middle settlements, he met
in a thick wood a considerable body of Indians, and
in the battle which followed, an equal slaughter left
victory undecided ; and the leader of the whites, from
this specimen of Indian t ictics, apprehending danger
in penetrating farther into the country of the enemy,
marched back to fort Prince George.
In the latter part of the month of May, lieutenant
governor Bull, on whom the government of the pro-
vince of South Carolina devolved, at the departure
of governor Lyttleton, received information from the
officer commanding at Augusta, that on the 14th the
uppper Creeks had murdered above twenty English
1760] THE SIXTH. 127
traders, the rest having, on previous notice by their
women, fled to Pensacola. The lower Creeks, ou
receiving the information, doubted of its correctness,
and despatched runners, who brought the confirma-
tion of it : they told the English traders among them,
that the upper Creeks would soon be down, with the
intention of acting the same tragedy on them; that
they could not fight against their own countrymen,
and therefore, supplying the English with arms, ad-
vised them to unite in one of their towns and make
the best defence they could. On the next morning,
however, the Indians escorted them to Savannah.
Lieutenant governor Bull, on this occasion, solicit-
ed assistance from governor Dobbs : he represented
to him, that there was much room to believe, that the
French had excited the upper Creeks to war, a cir-
cumstance which would render the united efforts of
the southern provinces necessary ; he stated the for-
midable number of warriors which the Indians might
bring into the field ; according to his accounts, the
Cherokees and Creeks had two thousand each, and
the Choctaws five thousand, and there were other na-
tions under the influence of the French, towards the
Mississippi; the Chickasaws could not be well count-
ed in the number of Knglish allies, as their situation
and small number were likely to make them either
join, or be cut off by the general alliance against the
English.
In consequence of this information, the legislative
body held its third session at Wilmington, on the 30th
of June. The letter of the executive of South Caro-
lina was laid before them, and governor Dobbs soli-
128 CHAPTER [1760
cited them to grant a proper aid to the king, and
make such amendments to the militia law, as the
emergency required.
The lower house, in whom the feelings excited by
the violent altercations between them and the gover-
nor, at the last session, did not appear to have sub-
sided, were at first unwilling to proceed to business,
a majority of the members not being present, many
having declined coming, on account of a rumor of
the small pox raging in the town of \V ilmington.
They began their address, by bewailing the thin-
ness of their house, and observed, that nothing but
the particular and critical situation of the country
could have induced them to depart from the establish-
ed rule, and proceed on business with a less number
than a full majority of all the members.
They next animadverted on the governor's speech,
at the prorogation, and observed, that the aid bill,
which he h^sd been pleased to reject, greatly varied
from that on which his observations had been found-
ed. They said, the slow progress in levying the
forces, to serve under general Forbes, was, in their
apprehension, occasioned by the unlucky choice of
oificers, made by the governor, who were strangers
to the generality of the peop.e; a misfortune against
which the last aid bill was attempted to be guarded.
They admitted, that the bounty was small, but a re-
ward of five pounds was offered for every scalp, and
the Indians taken alive were to become the property
of the captors, inducements, which, in the judgment
of the house, were likely to be equal to that of a
larger bounty.
1760] THE SIXTH. 129
^ With regard to the disposition made of the twelve
thousand pounds proposed to be emitted, thev observed,
the treasurers could have derived little advantage from
it, the province being six thousand pounds in arrears,
and the bill made application of the greatest part of what
might rem jn, after the men were raised ; and that if the
house had acted as the governor suggested they ought
to do, and invested him and the council with the power of
applying the money, their conduct would have been in-
consistent with their duty, and contrary to the constant
and approved method.
They expressed their desire of joining him 'in every
measure that mij^ht redound to the king's honor and ad-
vantage and the true interest of the province.
The governor, after the customary expressions of
thanks, replic d, that he must inform the house, that their
quorum to proceed to business was by the king's in-
structions fixed at fifteen, to which number the house
must now adhere.
He added, he would not enter into any disquisition in
regard to former bills ; but, he had to inform them, that
as to future bills, he would pass none that restrained the
executive power, which was the king's prerogative ; the
only power, delegated to the assembly, being as to the
quantum of the supply, the mode of raising it, and the
pay of the troops, all other considerations being incon-
sistent with the prerogative of the crown.
A bill for the appointment of an agent passed the
lower, but was laid over in the upper house.
Two bills only were offered for the governor's assent,
the militia and aid bills: both received it. Seven thou-
sand pounds were granted to the king, for the protection
of the province and the relief of that of South Carolina,
N. CARO. IT. 17
150 CHAPTER. [176^
and an emission of paper money, to the amount of twelve
thousand pounds, was directed ; the surplus was order-
ed to be applied to the contingent charges of govern-
ment already, or that might be allowed by the general
assembly. A poll tax of one shilling per annum was
laid, to commence in the year 1763 and continue till
the money emitted was collected and burnt.
A. premium of five pounds for the scalp of every In-
dian killed in the war was allowed, and the soldiers were
allowed to retain all Indians taken alive as slaves, with all
the plunder that might be taken from the enemy.
The distant garrison of fort Loudon, found itself this
summer reduced to tlie dreadful alternative of perishing
with hunger, or throwing themselves on the mercy of
the Cherokees ; for a whole month they had subsisted
on the flesh of lean horses and dogs, and a small supply
of Indian beans, which friendly squaws procured for
them. In this deplorable situation, it was determined
to surrender the fort : captain Stewart was therefore
sent to Chota, one of the principal Indian towns in the
neighborhood, where he met the chiefs of the Cherokees,
and agreed on the outlines of a capitulation, which were
afterwaids confirmed and signed by the commandant.
The men were allowed their arms, and as much ammu-
nition as the officers should think they wanted on their
return ; the garrison was permitted to proceed to Vir-
ginia, or fort Prince George, and Indians were to be al-
lowed to escort them and search for provisions ; the sick
and lame were to be received into the Indian towns and
protected until they recovered ; horses were to be fur-
nished to the garrison, at a fair price ; the heavy artillery,
powder, ball and spare arms, were to be delivered to the
i760] THE SIXTH. 131
Indians, on the day appointed for the march of the
troops.
When they abandoned the fort, the British troops
were escorted by a number of Indians, headed by Oco-
nootota ; they marched on that day fifteen miles, towards
fort Prince George. At night, they encamped on a
plain, about two miles from Tellico, an Indian town,
where the Indians, one after another, disappeared ; they
remained the whole night ujimolested ; but, at the break
of day, a soldier from one of the outposts ran in and in-
formed, that he saw a vast number of Indians, armed
and painted, creeping among the bushes and advancing
to surround the English. Time \vas hardly given for
the soldiers to stand to their arms, when the Indians
poured in a heavy fire, from different quarters, accom-
panied with horrid yells and screams. Captain Dennie,
three of his officers and twenty- six men fell ; the rest
fied into the woods, were soon overtaken and led
captives to the towns of the valley.
These disastrous events in the southern part of
the British empire in America, were, however, great-
ly counterbalanced by the great success of the
king's arms in the north; the whole province of
Canada having been conquered in the course of the
summer.
The fourth session of the legislature was held at
Wilmington, in the month of November. On the
seventh of that month a majority of the whole lower
house not appearing, those on the floor refused to
proceed with the number of members present, con-
stituting a quorum by the king's instructions, and
came to a resolution, that, in the opinion of the mem-
im CHAPTER [17G0
bers present, thej could not consistently with the
charter of Charles IL and the usages and approved
customs of the assemblies of the province, proceed
to business, unless a majority of the representatives
of the people were present. The warrant of the
speaker was directed to the sergeant at arms, to
compel the attendance of the absent members, by
taking them into his custody. By this means a ma-
jority was procured a few days after.
Governor Dobbs began his speech by congratula-
ting the houses on the reduction of Canada, and
added he had great reason to hope, that the Che-
rokees, intimidated by the great success of the
king's forces, and the opportunity it woukl afford to
the commander in chief to detach a considerable
number of men to chastise them, appeared inclined
to accept the overtures of peace, lately made them
by governor Fauquier of Virginia, and lieutenant
governor Bull.
He recommended the continuance of the forces
already in the pay of the province, until peace was
finally concluded with the Cherokees, and as both
the neighboring provinces had determined on exert-
ing their whole forces to reduce the enemy to such
terms as would, for the future, avert the dread of an
Indian war; he expressed his hope that North Car-
olina would act in conjunction with them.
After expressing his reluctance to load the peo-
with taxes, or to depreciate the currency by issuing
paper money, he declares his readiness to enter into
any reasonable measure, so that so much of the mo-
ney paid to the agent of the province in London.
1760J THE SIXTH. 13S
from the parliamentary grant, of which he had re-
ceived a part, might be employed to pay the forces
hitherto raised, as well as those that might be levi-
ed, ■ y drawing bills on the agent, until peace was
obtained or the Indian commotions subsided.
He recommended, that they would think of the
propriety of allowing a premium to encourage the
culture and exportation of hemp and flax: and, as
flour and tobacco had of late become considerable
articles of export from the river Cape Fear, that
the inspection laws, relating to those commodities,
migiit be extended to the southern part of the pro-
vince.
The lower house in their address observed, that,
although the province was one of the least in trade
and riches, it had already emulated the most opu-
lent in their zeal for the king's service, having, du-
ring the war, granted in several aids for the support
of the common cause, not less than £80,001, and^
thereby anticipated their funds and contracted a
large debt; yet, they would at this crisis, hoping it
might be the last, join with the forces of Virginia
and South Carolina as many men, as the indigent
and almost exhausted circumstances of the province
would allow.
They praised the governor's moderation and
wish to avoid burdening their constituents, but ex-
pressed their inability to conceive, that the propos-
ed plan of drawing bills co'dd be executed, as the
money already, allotted to the province out of the
first parliamerUary grant, was by law appropriated
towards erecting public building and the residue lo
i34 CHAPTER [1760
other purposes, by various orders and resolves.
They flattered themselves, that had they been so
fortunate, as to have had the concurrence of the
other branches of the legislature, in passing a law,
more than once attempted, for appointing an agent,
in London, who might have produced proper docu-
ments of the disbursements of the province, and
represented the duty and loyalty of the people,
considering their circumstances, in their true and
proper lights to the king's ministers, the province
might have participated in the first grant of £200,-
000 to the American provinces, out of which, the
province of Virginia had received £20,546, exclu-
sive of £32,268 19, her proportion of the second
grant of £50,000, while the whole sum, coming to
the province, was no more than £7,789 11, and
even out of this sum the house was now informed of
a demand of one thousand pound sterling, advanc-
ed by lord Loudon and governor Shirley, to pay the
troops of the province, at New-York, notwithstand-
ing the assembly had raised a fund, sufficient for
that service: the house could not therefore withhold
their opinion that the small part of the royal bounty,
coming to the province, was apparently owing to
the absence of an agent to represent their dutiful
behavior to the king and his ministers.
They lamented the indispensable necessity in which
they found themselves, the extraordinary charges of the
war having exhausted the resources of the province, to
postpone the consideration of premiums on hemp and
flax, to a more favorable day.
They declared their conviction, that the prerogative of
the crown and the just rights of the assembly could
1760] THE SIXTH. ' 135
well, and ought to subsist, inseparably together, and that
whoever would attempt to divide them ought to be
deemed an enemy to both, the prerogative of the crown
being, in thdr apprehension, exerted solely for the ease
and benefit of the people; they were unconscious of hav-
ing ever attempted to invade it, although the governor
in his speech, at the last sessions, and his reference to the
resolution of parliament, which he had sent to them,
seemed to charge the house with it. They were sorry
to say that, they had been unfairly and unkindly repre-
sented at home, as the assembly had never arrogated
to themselves the powers, stated in the resolution of
parliament to have been claimed by the assembly of
Jamaica.
In his answer to this address, governor Dobbs saidj
he must differ from the house, either as to the province
having no proper agents in London, the lords of the
treasury having accepted of the nomination both of the
council and assembly, though of a distinct person, or
as to the disposal of the balance of the £7,000, after
Mr. Abercrombie had paid himself the sum that the
house had allowed him, and they had it in their power
to have a proper aid bill to repeal any former application
and to apply it, for the future, to the use of the province,
when no part had been applied in pursuance of their
former resolutions.
He expressed his hope that the house, adhering to their
loyal professions of uniting the king's prerogatives and
the rights of the assemby, would put no tack to the aid
bill, as had been formerly attempted, and thus disabhng
him from the power of assenting to it.
An act was passed to regulate the elections of mem-
bers of assembly. The freeholders, to whom the right
13G CHAPTER [1760
of suffrage was exclusively granted, were required to
exercise it viva voce.
The county of Beaufort was divided, and the upper
part of it was erected into a separate county, to which
the name of Pitt was given, in compliment to a minister,
dear to the x\merican people. The late division of the
county of Edgecombe having left Enfield the place at
which the public business of that county was transacted,
in a remote corner of it, a more central spot was cho-
sen and a town erected on it, to which the name of Tar-
borough was given, from the river which washts it.
With a view to forward the erection of churches in the
towns of Wilmin^^ton and Brunswick, th • legislature at
this session, first countenanced the mode of raising mo-
ney by a lottery.
In framing the aid bill, the lower house again inserted
a clause, appointing Anthony Bacon agent of the pro-
vince, for the purpose of representing to the king and
his ministers their dutiful and loyal behavior, and to lay
before them proper documents of the expenses the
province had been at in carrying on the war ag'iinst the
king's enemies in America, the upper house, on read-
ing the bill for the third time, made an unsuccessful
attempt to obtain the striking of that clause out of the
bill. As soon as it had passed the houses, the i s embly
addressed the governor for his assent, representing the
bill as of the utmost consequence to the province and
the adjacent ones, in the reduction of the Cherokees,
whom they had reason to believe were encouraged in
their depredations by the artful insinuations of the
French, who, drove out of their possessions in Canada,
were, as their last efiijrt, making an attempt on the sou-
1760] THE SIXTH. 137
thern provinces, the most vulnerable part of the British
empire in America.
No answer was given to this address; the governor re-
jected the bill and prorogued the legislature for a day.
In meeting them again, the governor addressed him»
self to the lower house only. He said he had prorogu-
ed the legislature with a view of giving the house an op-
port unity, in a new session to reconsider the rejccied
aid bill, that, if they chose to rid it from the exceptiona-
ble and foreign clause, they might perfect and render it
serviceable to their king and country; but, in case they
persisted, he might put an end to their further attend-
ance, and their constituents might see, that their real in-
tention was not to pass an aid bill, but to force an agent
upon him and the upper house, whom that body had
twice rt-jected, after he had publicly declared he would
concur in the appointment of any other person.
The house, on their return, entered into resolutions,
asserting their inherent and undoubted right, to no-
minate an agent for the province: and that the ap-
pointment is not inconsistent with the king's service,
although made in an aid bill.
In their address they bewailed, that the king's service,
in the intended expedition against the Cherokees, should
be frustrated, by what appeared to be only some private
resentment of the governor against Anthony Bacon:
they observed, it was a matter of small concern to the
king or his ministers, whether Anthony Bacon, or any
other man, was appointed agent of the province, provi*
ded the house granted such assistance to the common
cause, as the indigent circumstances of their constitu-
ents admitted. This had been attempted to be done, by
the bill which he hud rejected. Five hundred men, the
N. CARO. II. 18
138 CHAPTER [1760
largest number during his administration, had been
granted, and the pecuniary aid exceeded, also, an}^ voted
during the war, because the house conceived the present
the most critical juncture.
They concluded by assuring the governor, that ^their
adherence to the person they had chosen, proceeded only
from a desire of avoiding inconsistency : having, hith-
erto, displaced James Abercormbe, on the intimation,
that he was not pleasing to the other house, and, if
they now abandoned Anthony Bacon, who had been
nominated by the solemn resolution of the fullest house
ever known in the province, no gentleman of charac-
ter would ever accept an appointment from a body of
men, so inconsistent and trifling.
The house next came to a resolution, that, on the fai-
lure of the aid, the governor might have power to raise a
company, for the garrisoning of the forts of the pro-
vince, and made provision for their enlistment , pay and
support.
Governor Dobbs received the address of the house,
in sullen silence.
A curious expedient was resortedto, with a view of
holding out to the governor the o]>portunity of accept-
ing the aid, with some appearance of persisting in his
determination of rejecting an aid bill, with any clause
not strictly relating to the aid. A bill was framed for
the appointment of an agent, and to it, a clause was
tacked, granting an aid. The old bill was inverted, and
in this form passed both houses, and the upper house
concurred with the provisional resolve.
The governor, as soon as he heard of the bill having
passed both houses, issued his proclamation dissolving
the assembly.
1760] THE SIXTH. 139
Apprehensive that this exercise of the royal preroga-
tive, might be attributed to a desire of revenge, excited
by the complaints against his administration, which the
assembly had transmitted to their agent, in order to
their being laid at the foot of the throne, governor
Dobbs entered, on the journal of the council, the mo-
tives that had governed, or the pretences by which he
wished to palliate, his conduct.
These were, the admission of a member to sit and
vote, without his having been chosen in pursuance of
the king's writ; the expulsion of another without a
hearing ; the refusal of opening the door of the house to
receive a message from him, while tho committee of se-
crecy was sitting ; the concealment, for several days, of
the proceedings of that committee ; the appointment of
Anthony Bacon as agent, with a salary, by the lower
house ; their refusal to proceed to business, with the
number of members prescribed by the king's instruc-
tions ; the great influence of the speaker, S. Swann,
improperly exerted, in debating, from the chair, often?
after a division, putting the question again, in a different
manner, and thus, sometimes obtaining a different deter-
mination.
Stephen Dewey, the member of the town of Halifax,
was the person alluded to in the first motive. His towns-
men claimed the right of being represented, under the
act of 1715, and insisted that they needed not the gover-
nor's writ to exercise it. Francis Brown, one of the
members of the county of Perquimans, was the person
alluded to as expelled, without a hearing. The house,
on the report of the committee of elections, had deter-
mined that he was inelisrible.
140 CHAPTER [11 GO
The conduct of governor Dobbs, in rejecting the aid
bill, was highly disapproved of, and the lords commis-
sioners of trade and plantations, expressed to him the
great concern which they felt, that the king's ser-
vice had been so greatly obstructed, and the province
of South Carolina deprived of the assistance which, in
her distressful sit ua- ion, she had a right to expect from
her neighbors, by unfortunate and ill-timed dispute*^, be-
tween the branches of the legislature, upon questions of
mere speculative polity, too taivial, at almost any time,
to deserve consideration, and improj)erly drawn into
discussion, at a time when the unitf^d efforts of the kijig's
subjects were so essential to their own security, and
the general interest of the community.
They said it was not the part of the crown, either in
point of right or propriety, to interfere in the nomina-
tion of an agent, su far as to t^^e choice of the person; and
the representatives were free to choose whom they
thought fit, to act in what concerns the affairs of the pro-
vince, with whom they and the council alone could cor-
respond; the governor being restri.ined by his instruc-
tions, from cortesponding upon matters of a public na-
ture, relating to his government, with any other persons
than the servants of the crown, in whose department
the affairs of America were placed.
They added, that the only point in which a governor
might interfere with propriety, was on the mode of the
appointment, and although they deemed the attempt of
the lower house, to name the agent in the aid bill, was
irregular and improper; yet, considering the necessity
there was of some supply to answer jhe exigency of the
service, in the calamitous state of the southern provinces,
1760] THE SIXTH. 141
the objection appeared too trivial, to have been admitted
as a reason for rejecting the supply ; and, at the same
time, rejecting the mutual benefit, which both the
crown and the subject in North Carolina, would derive
from the province, having an agent in England, duly
authorized to answer upon all such matters as might
occur, relative to her affairs.
The refusal of the lower house to proceed, without a
majority of the whole, was considered, in England, as
an unreasonable and indecent opposition to the will of
the crown, communicated, in the king's instructions, to
the governor. The practice was considered as incon-
sistent, with that which prevailed in the mother coun-
try, and as affording a favorable opportunity to design-
ing men, to obstruct the king's service; audit was deem-
ed preposterous to defend it, on principles laid down
in charters, granted in times to which, of all others, one
would least of all appeal for their constitutional principles.
The pretentions of the house, as to the mode of pass-
ing the public accounts, was deemed, not only highly
derogatory to the honor of the crown, but subversive of
every principle of policy which the wisdom of parlia-
ment, at home, had prescribed, by numberless laws, for
the security of the subject. The king's instructions,
by which the mode of passing public accounts was di-
rected, were said to be founded upon the principles and
practice of the mother country, to which the constitu-
tions of the colonies were to assimilate, as nearly as their
different circumstances would admit ; and no part of the
British constitution, was thought more closely adapted
to the situation of the colonies, than those forms which
took place in granting and issuing public money, and
passing the public accounts ; under the observance of
142 CHAPTER [1761
which, the subject was deemed to have that security,
which he could not have under any other, that the taxes
levied upon him by the authority of the legislature, were
equally and justly laid, and the money fluthfully ap-
plied 10 the service for which it was granted ; while, if
forms and checks attendant upon them, were set aside,
that security would cease, and a door would be opened
to every species of fraud and corruption, in the persons
intrusted with public money.
It was said to be a subject of concern, that the colo-
nies had been so long indulged in methods of granting,
issuing and accounting for public money, very different
from the practice of the mother country ; and, it was
hoped, that the lower house, convinced of the unreason-
ableness of their claim in these two instances, might, in
future, show more proper regard to those determinations
of the royal will, so apparently founded on considerations
of public benefit and convenience, and the tenderest re-
gard to the rights, interest and welfare of the subject.
In the beginning of February, accounts reached the
province of the demise of the king, which had happened
at Kensington, on the 5th of October. On the 6th of
that month, George III. was proclaimed at Brunswick,
in presence of governor Dobbs, the members of the
council, and a number of the principal inhabitants and
planters, as ''the person to whom the supreme dominion
and the sovereign right of the province of North Caro-
lina, and all the other provinces of his late majesty, in
America, were solely and rightfully come."
The assembly, which had been elected soon after the
dissolution of the legislative body, being itself dissolved
by the king's demise, new writs of election were issued
immediately after the proclamation of the new sovereign.
17611 THE SIXTH. 143
Governor Dobbs received information from Sir JefFry
Amherst, that the minister had apprised him of the
king's intention of continuing the war vi^ith vigour
in America, to drive the French from the continent, and
that he had room to believe the governor would
soon receive orders, as well as the chief magistrates of
the other provinces, to raise forces to finish the plan of
the war.
The legislature met at Wilmington, on the last day
of March. After announcing to the houses the demise
of their late monarch, the accession of his grandson,
and the object for which they were called together, the
governor informed them he had not received any des-
patch from the minister, but he had within a few hours
been apprised, that Sir Jtffry had received orders about
the operations intended to be undertaken during the
next campaign ; and as it was then too late to raise any
forces to march against the Cherokees, he had only to
recommend to their attention the internal concerns and
improvement of the province, and would communicate
any order he might receive during the session.
After the complimentary expressions of condolence
and congratulation which circumstances called for, the
lower house observed, that the aid for which they were
likely to be called upon, would have been happily anti-
cipated, had the aid bill which the two houses had passed
at the last session, been honored with his assent, as the
forces then granted might have contributed to the more
speedy reduction of the enemy.
They added, that if he had been obliging enough to
have called them together to a more central part of the
province, he would htivc saved a considerable expense to
the public, and greatly contributed to the ease of the
144 CHAPTER [1761
greatest part of the members and saved himself the
trouble of frequent prorogations ; they expressed them-
selves fully aware of the prerogative of the crown, in
fixing the time and place of meeting of the legislature ;
but they could only hope for some indulgence and at-
tention to the ease and conveniency of the subject.
The governor replied, that since the house were
pleased to take notice of the transactions of another as-
sembly, he was under a necessity of informing them,
that if the aid bill they had offered had not been clogged
with clauses inconsistent with the king's prerogative, he
would heartily have given his assent to it ; he informed
them, that on the contingency of an aid being required,
he would not pass the bill granting it, if the house per-
sisted in clogging it with clauses foreign to the aid.
He added, that a former assembly had voted, that the
town of Newbern, the most central in the province,
was not a proper place for the meetings of the legisla-
ture, and he thought Wilmington was the most proper
place, while the operations of the war were carried on
in the south, to obtain early intelligence of occurrences
that might require immediate attention ; and no proro-
gation would have been necessary, if the members had
thought fit to obey the king's instructions, as to the
quorum.
On the 10th of April, the governor communicated
letters from Sir Jeffry Amherst, and governor Fauquier
of Virginia, mentioning their expectation of an aid from
the province ; and although he had not yet received the
king's command, for the raising of any particular number
of men, or any requisition in money, he was advised by
the council to lay the letters before the houses, and re-
commend that they might consider of the most proper
1761] "JHE SIXTH. 14.5
fund to answer the immediate call, so that, on the arri-
val of the king's orders, which were hourly looked for,
no time might be lost and the bill be perfected with
expedition.
The house came to a resolution, that it was too late
to raise any force to march against the Cherokees.
They informed the governor, that the provincial funds
were exhausted, and a large debt had been incurred by
the zeal the colony had already manifested for the king's
service, and the only means of affording further aid,
would be to issue bills of credit, to be sunk by a poll
tax.
The governor replied, that there were several sums of
money unappropriated, in the hands of the collectors of
the powder duty, which might be applied to present con-
tingencies, and be replaced by a tax to be laid to answer
future contingencies ; but the house informed him, that
the moneys arising from the powder duty, had been
appropriated to the finishing of forts Johnston and
Granville, and the improvement of the navigation of the
ports of Beaufort, Bath, Roanoke, Currituck and Bruns-
wick ; that the receivers had been directed to account
with the commissioners of navigation, and it appear-
ed, from the returns of the commissioners, tbtt there
will remain but a trifling sum, after the intended pur-
posey are answered.
A bill was introduced, for granting an aid to the king
of sixteen thousand four hundred and ninety-four
pounds, for raising clothing and pay for five hundred
men, exclusive of officers, and for appointing an agent
for the province ; after its second reading, the governor
informed the house, by message, that he could not assent
to any aid bill to which any clause, foreign to it, was
N. CARD. II, 19
146 ^ CHAPTER. (1761
tacked, such bills being unconstitutional ; that it was
contrary to his insti actions, derogatory to the preroga-
tive of the crown and indecent in the assembly, to
oblige the king to withhold his negative from a clause
disagreeable to him, or lose the benefit of the proffered
offer of an aid.
He added, that as he had often declared that he never
had any objection to the house appointing an agent, in
concurrence with the council, whom he could approve
of, so he never would allow of any person to be imposed
upon him or the council, after repeated refusals ; but as
he had no objection to the person named in the bill,
Couchet Jouveniel, if they would make the appointment,
by a separate bill, and the council concurred, he would
pass it immediately after the aid bill, to which he would
always give the preference.
He recommended, for the good of the province and
the batihfaction of their constituents, that a poll tax be
kid for the redemption of the bills intended to be emitted,
to commence as early as possible, to avoid a further de-
preciation of the currency.
The house, in answer, declared themselves unable to
comprehend how the appointment of an agent, in the
mode intended by the house, was unconstitutional, or
at variance with the prerogative of the crown, or any
instruction of the king of which they had any know-
ledge, or that it could be either disagreeable to the king
or take away his negative on bills. They added, that in
the present case, the appointment was far from being
absolutely foreign to the object of the bill ; that even if
the purpose of the clause to which the governor ob-
jected, was not specially stated in it, the passage
of the bill could not be fairly construed to be forbidden
1761] THE SIXTH. 147
by any of the king's instructions against passing bills
with clauses foreign to the title.
After the third reading of the bill, the house, with a
view to avoid any appearance of inconsistency in re-
moving Anthrny Bacon, resolved, that their principal
motive was a sincere desire to show their zeal and loy-
alty to the king, in granting an aid, so forcibly and ear-
nestly recommended by the commander in chief of his
forces in America, which they deemed their bounden
duty to do, as the governor had declared his determina-
tion to pass no bill with the name of Anthony Bacon in
it, but would assent to the appointment of any other
person.
It was thought necessary to borrow the remainder of
the glebe and school moneys, after the payment of the
judges, to meet the expenses of the legislature, the claims
of scouting parties on the frontier and other public de-
mands : this was done by a resolve of the houses, di-
recting the reimbursement of the loan out of the tax for
the contingent fund.
The aid bill, besides the appointment of the agent,
provided for an emission of twelve thousand pounds of
bills of credit, made a tender in all payments ; the In-
dians, taken in the war, were declared the absolute pro-
perty of the captors ; rewards were offered for the scalps
of those killed in battle ; a poll tax of two shillings was
laid, for the redemption of the paper emitted, to com-
mence in the year 1764 and continue till the whole
emission was thus paid in and burnt.
A lottery was granted for the improvement of New
river, in the county of Onslow ; and the powder duty,
in the port of Currituck, was converted into a pecuniary
14^ CHAPTER [1761
levy for the improvement of navigation between the inlet
of that name and Albemarle sound.
In assenting to the aid bill, the governor testified his
gratitude for a supply, in the critical state of affairs and
distressed state of the province, as large as the most san-
guine expectation could have anticipated, but added, it
w'ould have given him a double pleasure, if the house
had allowed him the satisfaction of signing it, unmixed
with the regret of departing from the instructions of his
sovereign, and becoming an accomplice in the encroach-
ment upon the prerogative of the crow^n, of which the
house had been guilty ; he said he would not have
yielded, if a combination of circumstances had not con-
tributed to influence his mind ; a majority of his consti-
tutional advisers had recommended his compliance, and
when sitting as an upper house, had relaxed from their,
undoubted right ; the assembly had formally disclaimed
that of adding clauses to an aid bill, that might encroach
on the prerogative of the crown, or place the king in the
humiliating dilemma to lose his negative voice in the prof-
fered aid ; and he had agreed to concur with the appoint-
ment of the houses in a separate bill ; to these all pow-
erful considerations was added the pressing one to pre-
vent w^asting in debate the precious time, which every
thing demanded to be employed in a co-operation with
the king's forces, securing the possessions of France,
and ensuring the peace and safety of those of Great Bri-
tain in America.
On his return from the council chamber, he issued
his proclamation for the dissolution of the legislative
body.
The reduction of Canada having enabled Sir Jeffry
Amherst to send back the Highlanders to the relief of
1761] THE SIXTH, 14^
the southern provinces, colonel James Grant, who had
succeeded coloaei Montgomery in the command of
his corps, had arrived with it in Charleston, early in the
year. The legislature of South Carolina, had determin-
ed to exert the strength of the province to the utmost, be-
lieving that, in conjunction with the regular troops, and
aided by the neighboring provinces, so severe a blow
mi8:ht be struck, as would deter the Cherokees from anv
further attempt to molesi the white people on the frontiers.
Several parties of the Chickasaws were engaged as aux-
ilaries; and, although messengers were sent among the
Creeks to induce them to co-operate with the British,
no aid could be procured from that quarter, the warri-
ors playing an artful game, and exciting, alternately, the
hopes of the inhabitants of South Carolina, and those of
the French, on the Mobile and Mii-sissippi.
Early in the spring, colonel G i ant had begun his march
towards the Cherokees : his force in regulars, provin-
cials and Indians, was about two thousand six hundred
men.
He reached Fort Prince George, on the 27th of May.
A fortnight after he began his march, a party of ninety
Indians and thirty woodsmen, painted like savages, ad-
vanced in front to scour the woods. One hundred and
fifty light infantry and fifty rangers, preceded the main
body. The army had provisions for one month.
Forced marches were made during the three first days,
with a view to meet the open country. On the fourth
day, on the occasional appearance of Indians on different
sides, orders were given, for the first time, to load and
prepare for action, and the guards were directed to march
slowly on, and to double their vigilance and circumspec-
tion. The more frequent meetings of Indians, an-
150 CHAPTER [1761
nounced the approach of a decisive moment, as the
army reached the spot on which colonel Montgomery
had been attacked, the preceding year. The Indians in
the van, about eight in the morning, spied a large body^
of Cherokees, posted on a hill, on the right flank of the
armv: thev hardly had time to ffive the alarm, when the
enemy rushed down and fired on the advanced guard ;
but, the main body rapidly advancing to their support,
the Cherokees retreated to the hill. The army had to
march for a considerable distance, between the hill and
a river, from the opposite side of which, another party
of the enemy kept up a brisk fire: sending a detachment to
divide the party on the hill, colonel Grant made his army
face about, and fire across the river : the engagement
soon became general, and the Indinns over the stream,
keeping their ground and pouring in a heavy fire, the
party on the hill, who retreated into the woods on the
approach of the detachment sent to dislodge them, soon
returned with increased numbers ; and colonel Grant's
troops, exhausted by fatigue, soon found themselves
surrounded by the foe, ;2jaUing them with a scattered fire.
The Indians, when pressed, kept aloof, and rallying
elsewhere, returned to the charge, always in a different
direction. The battle continued in this desultory mode
of w^arfare for two hours, when the van of the army
was attacked by a fresh body of Indians, boldly en-
deavoring to seize on the provisions. Colonel Grant, at
this distressful moment, was obliged to detach a part of
his men to this vulnerable point. The apparent oppor-
tunity, which this division of the forces gave to the Che-
rokees, of reducing the main body, redoubled their fury:
they made the woods resound with their yells and
screams ; but, the troops keeping close and continuing
1761] THE SIXTH. 151
their steady fire, the savages, towards eleven, gave way:
they were pursued for some time; but towards two
o'clock not an Indian was to be seen. Colonel Grant
had sixty of his men killed or wounded : he could not
ascertain the loss of the enemy. After sinking the bo-
dies of the dead in the river, to prevent their being dug
up and scalped, and destroying several bags of flour to
procure horses for the wounded, the army proceeded to
Etchoe, a large Indian town, which they reached about
midnight. On the following day, they reduced it to
ashes ; and, proceeding into the middle settlements,
fourteen other towns shared the same fate. Their pro-
visions were destroyed, and corn fields laid waste ; and
after remaining thirty days in the neighborhood, spread-
ing desolation and fire, the troops marched back to Fort
Prince George, leaving the Indians to seek shelter and
food on the barren mountains.
Soon after the troops returned to the fort, a number
of Cherokee chiefs came and sued for peace. Colonel
Grant, willing they should believe it was not to be ob-
tained on any terms, insisted on, as one of the stipula-
tions of the treaty, that four Cherokee Indians should
be delivered up at Fort George, to be put to death in
front of his camp, or that four green scalps should be
brought to him within twelve nights. The chiefs de-
clared their inability to assent to this stipulation, not be-
ing authorized by their nation, to accept peace on such
terms as these; and the colonel sent them to Charleston,
to see, whether lieutenant governor Bull would mitigate
the rigor of it : a safeguard was given them. The chiefs
met that officer at Ashley ferry, where he came to meet
them, accompanied by the council of the province, and
in a short time, a treaty of peace was concluded,
J 5^ CHAPTER [1761
In the month of December, the lords commissioners
of trade and plantations laid the court laws, passed in
May, 1760, before the king and council, for the royal
disallowance and repeal : they severely animadverted on
governor Dobbs' conduct, in suffering these laws to
have immediate operation, before the king's pleasure
was known, thereby setting aside one of the fundamen-
tal privileges of the constitution of the British colonies :
they stated, that the governor alleged in his justification,
that he had given his assent to the iavvs upon the advice
of the chief justice and the attorney general, and had pro-
cured a clause to be inserted in one of them, that, if the
king did not confirm it withia a certain time, it should,
thenceforth, be null and void. The lords observed, that
the measure itself, independent of the mode, was, in their
opinion, so far from alleviating the governor's improper
conduct, that it was a heavy aggravation of it. In cases
of this nature, they added, it was the duty of every go-
vernor to act upon his own judgment, and if it were ad-
mitted that he could be absolved by the opinion of others
from the obligations of obedience, to the instructions of
the crown, by which the negative voice in the passing of
lav/s, was regulated and restrained, the interest of the
crown and mother country would depend solely, for
security, upon the uncertain wills, interest and opinions,
of any person the governor might think proper to
consult.
The clause mentioned by the governor, to have been
inserted at his instance, in one of the laws, was consider-
ed as so far from answering the intention of the suspend-
ing clause, that it was deemed, in construction and ef-
fect, the very reverse.
1762] # THE SIXTH. 153
The representation of the lords commissioners con-
cluded by suggesting, that, if the governors of ihe colo-
nies were suffered to go on in such repeated acts of dis-
obedience to the king's instructions, upon points, so es-
sential to the constitution, the dependence of the colo-
nies upon the authority of the crown and the just gov-
ernment of the mother country, already too much re-
laxed, would stand on a very precarious footing.
The laws were repealed by the king in council, and
the lords commissioners of trade and plantations were
directed to signify, to governor Dobbs, the king's high
displeasure at his conduct, and to request him, for the
future, to adhere more strictly to the king's instruc-
tions, relative to the passage of laws.
A stage, at this time, began to ply between Ports-
mouth and Charlestown, (Mass.) which is supposed to
have been the first established in the British provinces.
' Early in 1762, governor Dobbs received a circular
letter from lord Egremont, acquainting him, that the
king, having nothing so much at heart as to secure and
improve the ^reat and important advantages gained since
the commencement of the war in North America, and
having seen his good disposition, to restore the public
tranquility, entirely frustrated by the insincerity and
chicane of the court of Versailles, in a late negociation,
and as nothing could so effectually contribute to the
great and essential object of reducing the enemy to the
necessity of accepting a peace, on terms of glory and ad-
vantage to the king's crown and beneficial, in particular,
to his subjects in America, as the king being enabled
to employ, as early as possible, such part of the re-
gular troops in North America, as might be equal to a
N. CARO. II. 20
T54 CHAPTER. "^ [1762^
great and important enterprise, he was directed to signl=
fy to him the king's pleasure, that the better to provide
for the full and entire security of the American provin-
ces, and particularly of the territories lately conquered,
during the absence of part of the regular forces, he
would use his utmost endeavors and influence with the
council and assembly, to induce them to raise, with all
possible despatch, as large a body of men as the popu-
lation of the province might allow; as far as should be
found convenient, to form them into regiments and direct
them to hold themselves in readiness, as much ear-
lier than in former years as might be, to march to
such places in North Anicrica, as the commander in
chief, or such ofiicer as might be appointed to the com-
mand of the king's forces there, would direct; and the
better to facilitate this important service, the king was
pleased to leave it to him, to issue commissions to such
gentlemen, in North Carolina, as he might judge, from
their weight and credit with the people and their zeal for
the public service, to be best disposed and enabled to
quicken and effectuate the speedy levying of the greatest
number of men.
The men, to be thus raised, were to be supplied by the
crown with arms, ammunition and tents, and provis'
ions were to be issued by the commissary of the troops,
in the same proportion and manner, as to the rest of the
king's forces. All that was required from the pro°
vince was to levy, clothe and pay the men; and, in or-
der that no encouragement might be wanting to the
fullest exertion of their strength, lord Egremont men-
tioned, that the king had permitted him to acquaint the
governor, that strong recommendation would be made
1762] THE SIXTH. 155
at the next session of parliament, to grant a compensa-
tion proportionate to the active vigor and strenuous ef-
forts of the respective provinces.
The governor was directed to collect and put into the
best condition, all the arms, issued during the last cam-
paign, which could, by any means, be rendered ser-
viceable.
Similar orders were given to the governors of Penn-
sylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.
Sir JefFry Amherst, having been directed to complete
the regular corps serving in America, by recruits to be
raised by the several provinces, made application to go-
vernor Dobbs for the quota to be furnished by North
CaroUna, which, agreeably to the proportions of the
other provinces, was fixed at one hundred and thirty-
four. Sir Jeffry added, with a view to render the ser-
vice effectual, it would be required, that each province
should provide for replacing such of their men as would
desert, a circumstance which, when known, would pre-
vent any of them from leaving their corps, since they
could expect no protection at home.
Governor Dobbs lost no time in summoning the
legislative body. It held its first session at Wil-
mington, on the 13th of April. After announcing
the late nuptials of the sovereign, the success of the
British arms in the West Indies and the capture of
the island of Martinico, and laying before them, the
despatches*, which had induced him to issue his
proclamation for an early session, he recommended
to the lower house, as Ihey should answer it to their
constituents and posterity, to testify their zeal^
with unanimity and despatch, by raising as large a
quota of troops as the province could bear, and as-
156 CHAPTER < [1762
sist the king to terminate with honor, a war under-
taken at great expense, to defend, and procure a
lasting peace and future safety to, his American
provinces.
He expressed his hope, that the supply might be
levied without a heavy tax, or issuing notes to de-
preciate the currency, and advised that a loan might
be raised by subscription, and that the people might
not be more burdened than by a small tax, sufficient
to discharge such reasonable interest, as might in-
sure the loan, till the money, arising from the late
or future parliamentary grant, might discharge it.
He recommended a strict ifjvestigation of all
public accounts, a revision of the inspection laws
and the allowance of premiums on valuable objects
of imports; and as the distresses of the time had re-
tarded the establishment of public schools, he pro-
posed, that the vestry in each parish might be au-
thorized to raise a limited sum, sufficient to pay a
parish clerk and register, qualified to act as a
schoolmaster and reader, where clergymen could
not be had, to prevent the increase of sectaries,
idleness and profaneness.
The lower house replied, that they should ever look,
upon the interest of their constituents, as the object of
their unwearied attention, and would always have the
most tender regard for the welfare of their posterity ; but
they were obliged to acquaint him, that they thought the
raising of troops, further than for the defence of the sea
coast, a measure in nowise calculated to please the one,
or benefit the other : for, although they had the greatest
veneration for the best of kings, and trusted the province
1762] THE SIXTH. 157
had already given the most convincing proofs of attach-
ment, to the honor and dignity of the crown, during the
prosecution of the war; yet, they were sorry to observe,
they could not, without reducing the people to the ut-
most distress, add to the accumulated and intolerable
load of tax they groaned under : they added, that the
statement of this circumstance, singly and of itself,
would justify them in declining a compliance with
his requisition; but, with concern, they were obliged
to say, that, if they might form a judgment from
Mie past, they had but little encouragement to hope,
that any supply they might grant would much contri-
bute to the service of the king, or the advantage of the
province.
For these reasons, they flattered themselves with the
hope of his concurrence in the belief, that to raise troops
under the actual debility of the province, would have
fatal effects, and drive the people, already impatient of
their sufferings, to the brink of despair, and hoped he
would have so good an opinion of them, as to attribute
their refusal, to these and no other motives.
They said they had been sensible of the necessity, at
all times, to take care that the public accounts should
be critically examined, and assured him nothing in their
power would be wanting, that might tend to give the
utmost satisfaction on that head ; and that nothing
could add to the sense they had, of the necessity of sup-
porting schools, and giving every possible encourage-
ment to trade.
Soon after receiving this address, the governor issued
his proclamation, for proroguing the legislature to the
following day.
158 CHAPTER [1762
His speech, at this meeting, was directed to the lower
house only, the upper house having, in their address,
promised to concur with the other branch of the legis-
lature, in a bill for carrying the intentions of the king
into effect.
He observed, that the house had gone too far in the
expressions of their sentiments, to allow him to hope,
that they might retract them easily, at the same meeting;
and he had prorogued them, with the view of affording
them a better opportunity of re-considering them in a
second.
He laid before them two authentic gazettes, from
' Virginia, by which it appeared, that the legislature of
that province had complied with the requisitions of
lord Egrement and Sir JefFry Amherst, with unanim-
ity, alacrity and despatch. He added, that, as he
found all the other provinces willingly submitted
to the king's demand, it grieved him, and it would
every loyal breast in the province, that they alone should
prove refractory.
He hoped, that when they would seriously consider
the situation of affairs, in Europe and America, and that
a powerful enemy, the king of Spain, was raised against
Great Britain, who endeavored not only to prevent the
king's further acquisitions, from a deceitful and per-
fidious enemy, but also to deprive him of all the
conquests he had made, and of the laurels and tro-
phies, gained by his armies, with an expense of eighty
millions, they would think, that their obstinacy would
lessen them in the eyes of all the king's subjects, and
they would forfeit the honor they had already obtained,
in hitherto assisting their sovereign, to the utmost of
their abilities.
1762J THE SIXTH. 159
He corxluded, by conjuring them to preserve the
good opinion and esteem, the king had for them, and,
forthwith, to repair to their house, and reconsidering the
letters and papers laid before them, come to an imme-
diate resolution, whether they would comply with the
king's request, so that they might proceed to other bu-
siness with despatch, or, in case they refused, that he
might dismiss them to their private affairs, which, in
that case, they would seem to have more at heart, than
the public service.
The house resolved itself into a committee of the
whole, and, after sitting a considerable time, the com-
mittee reported, and the house voted, that, the province
being already burdened with u heavy debt, incurred by
several grants for the king's service, during the war, and
the inhabitants impoverished thereby, it was impossible
to comply with the demands on them, communicated in
the governor's speech.
The committee, appointed to correspond with the
agent of the province, communicated letters from that
gentleman, announcing the repeal of several late laws of
the general assembly : among others, the court laws
and those for improving the navigation of the province.
This information excited considerable uneasiness ; and
governor Dobbs improved the opportunity, which he
thought this dissatisfaction would create, to impress on
the house, with some success, the necessity of avoiding
to excite the resentment of the crown, by persisting in
the determination of refusing the required aid. He ac-
cordingly, issued a proclamation for proroguing the as-
sembly to the next day. He again addressed the lower
house only, telling them he had once more, by a short
prorogation, afforded them the opportunity of re-con-
160 CHAPTER [1762
sidcring, in a third meeting, the king's demand of an aid
of men, since the house might be sensible, from the late
communication from the agent in London, that the king
could and would confer, or withhold favors from them,
as they refused or complied with his requests.
The house expressed their sorrow at the the trouble
the governor had twice taken, of giving them the oppor-
tunity of re-considering the requisitions he had made,
when he first met them. They begged his leave to as-
sure him, that what he had then said, had been most
maturely considered, and the consequent determination
taken, after great deliberation ; and they were to ac-
quaint him, that the motives, which induced that de-
term/mation, still prevailed with them, to adhere to it.
They declared themselves sensible, that the king
could, and no doubt would, confer favors on those who,
to the utmost of their ability, supported his government;
and ility entertained no doubt, that he would hear of the
many and large grants made by the province, particu-
larly, of the last twenty thousand pounds, and of the im-
poverished state of the inhabitants of the province, and
would think that they, in some measure, merited his
favor.
The governor was authorized, by a resolve of the two
houses, to raise twenty -five men, including officers, for
each of the forts at Ocracock and Cape Fear, and to
draw warrants on the treasurer for the expenses attend-
ing their service, payable out of the fund apprJ(|Driated
to founding schools, and to be replaced by a tax to be
laid for that purpose.
The upper house manifested a disposition to show
their displeasure against the lower house. Contrary to
their accustomed practice, they appointed committees
1762] THE SIXTH. 161
of claims and accounts, of their own house, instead of
appointing gentlemen, out of their body to form these
committees with those appointed by the lower house.
The lower house complained of this innovation, and,
were informed by message, that the upper house looked
upon it as their undoubted and constitutional right, to
pass upon public accounts and claims, and to appoint
committees on their behalf; it was observed, that although
it had been customary, and found convenient, for the
ease and despatch of public business, for their commit-
tees to sit at the same rime and place, and with the com-
mittees of the lower house, it couid not be, hence
inferred, that their committees were not separate from,
nor equal in rights to, those of the other house, and
bad not authority to meet, debate, and report sepa-
rately. This message and another that followed it, were
signed by the clerk of the upper house, instead of bfing
signed by the president, and countersigned by the clerk.
The lower house desired, that for the future, all mes-
sages from the other house to them might be signed by
the president, agreeable to the old accustomed practice,
otherwise they could not receive them ; they said, the
separate committees were not only new and unconstitu-
tional, but impracticable ; for neither the money paid in
to be burnt, nor the vouchers of accountants could with
safety be transmitted from the committee of one house
to that of the other.
The upper house forbore sending any further mes-
sage to the other, during the rest of the meeting.
The upper house, the other, although invited, decli-
ning to join or say they would not, addressed the king*
They began by expressing their joy at the remarka-
ble success of the king's arms, and giving assurance of
N. CARO. II. 21
162 CHAPTER [176^
their firm and loyal attachment to the sovereign, his fami-
ly and government ; they begged leave to represent, that
the inhabitants of the province had, for several years past,
been subjected to great difficulty and distress, for want
of a proper place established as the seat of government.
They observed, that Tower Hill, the place chosen for
that purpose in 1758, was found of difficult access to
several of the inhabitants of the province, and no proba-
bility appeared of its being inhabited by a sufficient num-
ber of families to accommodate, with any degree of con-
veniency, the officers of government, the members of the
legislature, or the persons who had business to transact
with them.
Receiving it in charge from their constituents, to use
their endeavours to obtain a redress of this inconve-
nience, and having examined the situation and extent of
the province, and the people who were settled in the dif-
ferent counties, they suggested the propriety of fixing
the seat of government in the town of Newbern, and im-
plored the king to repeal the act for fixing it at Tower
Hill, and signify his approb^ition of its being fixed at
Newbern, promising to erect a governor's house there,
and such suitable public buildings as the king's service
might require.
On the 29th of April, governor Dobbs addressed the
two houses ; he thanked the upper one, for the zeal
thev had manifested, and their readiness to concur in
every measure calculated to promote the king's service.
He expressed to the other the great concern he felt in
being obliged to represent to the king, the little regard
they had shown for his warm and pressing demand for an
aid ; he added, he should animadvert on^his irregular
conduct, and on the little attention ihey had paid to his
1762] THE SIXTH. 163
recommendation of passing laws to promote trade and
the education, of youth, and he would then leave it to
their constituents to determine, whether they had acted
for the welfare, safety and honor of the province.
He observed, that on their first meeting, when no
time was to be lost in taking the king's orders into con-
sideration, they had acted in opposition to his preroga-
tive and instructions, by refusing to proceed to business,
until a mcjjority of the whole appeared, thus not only de-
nying the king's right, but putting it in the power of a
few members combining together to dissolve the as-
sembly.
He said, that by the great opposition they had made,
and refusing the aid to the king, they had, as far as was
in their power, delayed and prevented their country from
having a speedy and honorable peace, and well deserved,
by their ill judged parsimony, the censure of their con-
stituents.
He took notice of the letters of the committee of cor-
respondence to the agent and his answers, about which,
it appeared, that the members named by the upper
house had not been consulted, and from which it
seemed, that the principal object was to complain against
him, for the frequent meetings, prorogations and disso
lutions of the assembly, which had exhausted the public
chest, in the payment of the members and officers of the
legislature.
He complained that, contrary to the accustomed
usage, the agent had been onlered to direct his letters
to the late speaker, instead of addressing them to the
committee of correspondence, enclosed under cover to
the governor, so that the speaker might suppress any
164 CHAPTER ' [n6S>
letter disagreeable to him, and thus become the sole di-
rector of the committee.
He said, that it became his duty, that he might avert
^ny future cause of complaint, to forbear passing any
bill, and put an end to their meeting, without making it
a session, which would save to the piiblic the expense of
their attendance, so much complained of.
He concluded, that on account of the disrespect they
had shown to the king, and the little care they had taken
to defend their country, he could not think of meeting
them again, but must appeal to their constituents to
judge of and censure their behaviour; he accordingly
dissolved the assembly. *
The governor, in the mean time, directed the one
hundred recruits, required by Sir Jeffrey, to be raised
and marched to New York. To meet the necessary
expense of this service, he drew on the agents for
two hundred pounds sterling.
In the latter part of the summer, official accounts of
the repeal of the court laws reached the province, passed
in 1760, and of the act for the improvement of the navi-
gation from Currituck inlet ; the causes of the repeal
of the former laws have been already stated ; the latter
was objected to, as it altered and repealed, as far as re-
garded the port of Currituck, an act passed in 1754,
laying a tonnage duty of powder and lead, for the de-
fence of the province, on every vessel entering any of its
ports, to which it substituted a duty of two shillings and
six pence per ton, in money ; the alteration was deemed
not only improper and impolitic in itself, but inconsist-
ent with the instructions, given from time to time to the
governors of the several colonies in America, requiring
1762r] THE SIXTH. 165
them to endeavour to procure laws for imposing a ton-
nage duty in powder, on all vessels trading there, paya-
ble in kind, without any commutation.
The lords commissioners of trade and plantation, ex-
pressed their disapprobation of an act, which had been
assented to by the governor, and had already had its ef-
fect, authorizing a lottery for the improvement of the
navigation of New river ; a mode of raising money,
which, they observed, ought never to be countenanced
nor admitted in the British colonies, where the nature of
the constitution did not embrace the regulations and
checks, necessary to prevent fraud and abuse, in a matter
so peculiarly liable to them. The lords also expressed
the great concern they felt, in observing, that the lower
house had availed themselves of the necessity of raising
money, in the month of April, 1761, for the public
service, to tack a clause, for the appointment of an
agent, to the aid bill ; they said, the irregularity of this
practice, and the many evils and inconveniencies which
must necessarily flow from it, were too obvious to need
any-animadversion, and they desired governor Dobbs,
when the appointment of CouchetJouvencel should ex-
pire, to recommend to the houses to pass a separate bill
for the appointment of an agent, and not to consent,
upon any pretence whatever, to an appointment made
in any other manner.
The necessity there was for the immediate establish-
ment of courts of justice, induced the governor to issue
WTits of election, and the legislative body was convened
at Newbern in the first days of November.
The governor congratulated the houses on the late
success of the British forces in the West Indies, by the
capture of the islands of Cuba and Grenada, which in-
166 CHAPTER [1762
sured to the king all the trade of the northern coast of
Spanish America, and was the earnest of a speedy and
honorable peace. He observed, that the immediate ob-
ject he had in view, in calling them together, was to lay-
before them the repeal of the court laws, which he
was about promulgating by proclamation, and of the
other minor acts, which had also received the royal
disallowance.
He said, he would lay before them the reasons which
had induced this exertion of the prerogative of the
crown, and he hoped they would be convinced, they
could not promise to themselves any advantage, by an
opposition to the king's just rights and a disobedience
to his instructions ; he alluded to the severe reprimand,
his too ready compliance with their solicitations had
brought on him, and assured them, that for the future, if
any clause contrary to any of the king's instructions was
introduced in any bill, he should certainly reject it, how-
ever important and proper it might appear in other
respects.
He besou2:ht them to bestow their immediate atten-
tion on theestablishmentof courts .of justice, to promote
the establishment of schools, amend the inspection laws,
and allow premiums on the exportation of hemp and
flax.
He concluded by observing, that as he had not the
king's command to require any aid, it v/ould suffice to
lay a small tax, to meet the contingent expenses of the
province, and support the garrisons or forts, for the
security of commerce and the protection of the king's
stores, at the approaching end of the war.
A bill was introduced in the lower house, dividing
the province into five districts, Edenton, Newbern,
1762] THE SIXTH. 167
Wilmington, Halifax and Salisbury, establishing a su-
perior court of law in each, to be held in the four first
districts by the chief justice, and in the latter by an as-
sistant judge.
The upper house, on the second reading, expunged
the clause for the appointment of the assistant judge for
the district of Salisbury, and introduced one for that of
two associate justices for the whole province; and ano-
ther, providing for courts of oyer and terminer, to be
held by such commissioners as the governor might from
time to lime appoint. These alterations were nega-
tived in the lower house. On the third reading, the
upper house insisted on their amendments ; they ob-
served, it was highly improbable, that the chief justice
could attend the courts of four districts with regularity,
even if no accident happened that might detain him at
home ; that the moderate provision made for the assistant
judge of the district of Salisbury, and the hberty allowed
him to practice as an attorney in the courts of other dis-
tricts, were liable lo many and palpable objections ; that
the king had, by his prerogative, the right to appoint
at pleasure courts of oyer and terminer, and direct
commissions to any person he pleased ; a right which
had never been contested as productive of any bad effect
to the subject, and although he needed not the authority
of an act to exercise this prerogative, it was doubted
wlK:ther such courts could enforce the attendance of
jurors.
The lower house admitted the advantage which the
province would derive from having associate justices,
and would rejoice to obtain such officers, if it could be
done on a footing that would allow the probability of
their answering the end of theii' appointment ; but they
168 CHAPTER . [1762
believed it better to submit to all the inconveniences
mentioned in the message of the upper house, than to
run the risk of having men obtruded upon them,
strangers to their laws, holding their offices on the pre-
carious tenure of the pleasure of the commander in chief.
They offered to concur with the amendment relating to
courts of oyer and terminer, provided the governor
should be authorized to grant commissions for holding
those courts to the chief justice and assistant judge ;
they declared themselves willing to increase the salary of
the assistant judge, and saw no inconveniency in allow-
ing him to act as an attorney out of his court, a practice
not uncommon in the mother country.
The upper house next proposed to pass the bill, if
to the clause appointing the assistant judge of the dis-
trict of Salisbury, one was substituted, providing for the
appointment of an associate justice for the whole pro-
vince, with as handsome salary and equal powers as those
of the chief justice ; and on the refusal of the upper house
to concur with this proposition, the bill was rejected.
Another was then introduced, passed both houses
and received tiie governor's assent, establishing a
court, to be stiled the superior court of justice, in
the districts of Edenton, Newbern, Wilmington, Hal-
ifax and Salisbury, to be composed, in the first four
districts, of the chief justice and one associate,
appointed for each district, and in the latter dis-
trict, of the chief justice and an assistant judge.
The sessions of the court were to be semi-annual;
the chief justice was allowed twenty-six pounds for
each court he held, besides fees, and the assistant
judge twenty-five pounds, the associate justices
were to receive neither salary nor fees, except
1762] THE SIXTH. 169
when holding the court in the absense of the
chief justice, when they were to receive twenty-six
pounds. No suit was allowed to be brought in the
superior court in cases in which the sum in dispute
was less than ten pounds. The act was to be in
force for two years.
An inferior court was establishmed in each coun-
ty, composed of justices of the peace; it was to
be held quarterly, and its jurisdiction was confined
to personal actions, wherein the sum claimed was
more than four and less than twenty pounds. The
act establishing it was limited in its duration to the
same period as the superior court act.
While the bill was on its second reading in the
upper house, it was amended by the insertion of a
, clause, providing, that a part of it, inflicting apenal-
ty, in a certain case, shouldn ot be construed to ex-
tend to persons, qualifying under a general commis-
sion of the peace. This amendment was stricken
out in the lower house, and when it was on the third
reading in the upper, the reinstatement of the
amendment \vas insisted on. The lower house re-
plied, that the amendment was unnecessary, as they
knew of no such commissions in use in the pro-
vince, the introduction of them could have perni-
cious consequences, and they were of opinion, that
they were against law.
The upper house, in a second message said, they,
saw, with surprise and concern, a manifest want of
decorum and decency in the language of the lower
house, in taxing them, as a branch of the legislature,
with insisting upon the introduction of commissions
N. CAKO. II. 22
170 CHAPTER' [1762
unknown, contrary to law and pernicious in their
consequences, charges, which they could not pass
over in silence, while they were convinced, that the
house could not be ignorant, that general commis-
sions, to enable the members of the king's council
and the officers of the crown, to act as conservators
of the peace, in the several counties of the province-
were neither unknown, contrary to law nor pernicious
in their consequences: they insisted on their amend-
ment.
The lower house expressed their sorrow, that
their message should have been so misunderstood,
as to be thought void of decency and decorum; and
if the mode of expression alone v. as to justify the
singular complexion of the message of the upper
house, they despaired of ever being able to avoid the
imputation of a want of decency or decorum.
They expressed their full satisfaction, that gen-
eral commissions, to enable the members of the
king's council and the officers of the crown to sit
as judges of the inferior courts, were not only alto-
gether unnecessary, but as they could be of little
benefit, and might be prejudicial to the public; they
thought the introduction of them ought to he avoid-
ed. It was needless to make it a question, whether
they were against law, no part of the bill tending to
invalidate them, and, if they should be against the
constitution (and the house thought they were) it
would be improper to give a sanction to them: they
therefore, declined reinstating the clause.
The upper house disclaimed any intention of ob-
taining any sanction for general commissions, or of
1762] THE SIXTH. 171
sitting as judges of any inferior court, without first
qualifying in the mode prescribed by the bill; they
said, that such commissions had been in use in the
province as well as in many others, and required
no sanction, but that of the prerogative from which
they flowed: they only insisted that the persons, act-
ing under them, should not be liable to the penalty.
They proposed, that the expression should be vari-
ed and the clause declared not to be construed to
extend to members of the king's council, secretary,
attorney general, &c., qualifying in council under a
general commission of the peace.
They added, that they had been induced to send
this second message, solely from a consideration of
the utility of the bill, and, if the house did not choose
to concur, after this explanation, they hoped they
would not, in the judgment of unprejudiced persons,
be blamed for the fatal efTects that might flow from
an ill judged obstinacy.
The lower house proposed, that, the section, to
which the clause was proposed to be added, should
be wholly stricken out, or be confined to justices of
the inferior courts, or justices of the peace for any
county in the province.
They observed, that, as either of these alterna-
tives would clearly and fully exempt general com-
missioners of the peace, when properly established,
from the penalty to which ordinary justices of the
peace, misbehaving themselves might be subjected;
they hoped the upper house, if they did not accede
to one of the propositions, would offer some other
mode, M'hich did not obliquely ratify a commis-
172 CHAPTER [1762
sion, which, it was believed, had not, and for any
thing that was known, would never have an exis-
tence.
They concluded, that whatever might be the con-
sequence of the dispute, they would have the satis-
faction to think it had not its rise with them, and
doubted not, that, if the bill miscarried, every unpre-
judiced person would easily distinguish between
abetting and opposing a measure, that must be con.
fessed a novelty in the constitution.
The altercation ended by an acceptance, on the
part of the upper house, of the second alternative.
Provision was made for the establishment of an
orthodox clergy, and encouragement held out to
pious and learned ministers to settle in the pro-
vince. An act was passed, introducing valuable
improvements in the management of the estates of
orphans and the care of their persons; the negocia-
bility of promissory notes, the relief of poor debtors,
the extension of public roads and the destruction of
vermin.
The county of Anson was divided, and the upper
part of it erected into a distinct county, to which the
name of Mecklenburg was given, in honor of the
new queen.
A number of stores had been established at a
commodious landing, on the north side of Neuse
river, in the lower part of the county of Dobbs; and,
at the request of individuals who had removed
thither, a town was established on this convenient
spot; it was called Kingston, a name which, after
the revolution, was imagined would be rendered
1762] THE SIXTH. 17
more agreeable, by being deprived of its fourth
letter.
The trade of the counties of Anson and Rowan,
which began to increase, was observed to center
in Charleston, with a view to prevent a division of
the wealth of this part of the province, and cause it
to flow down towards Wihnington, a town was es-
tahhshed on the north west side of Cape Fear riverj
it was called Campbelton. This is one of the very
few instances, in which the expectations of the legis-
lature, in establishing a town, were not deceived.
The spot afforded a convenient landing, the stores,
however, were chiefly built at the distance of one
milfc from the river, at a place called Cross creek.
In the year 1784, the place was called Fayetteville,
in compliment to a French nobleman, who distin-
guished himself by his zeal for the American cause,
during the revolutionary war.
The houses united in an address to the king, for
the removal of the seat of government from Tower
Hill to Newbern, a measure in which, however,
they were far from being unanimous. In the upper
house John Rutherford, Lewis Henry, de Rosset and
John Sampson, protested against the resolution for
concurring with the other house.
The protest admitted the propriety of removing
the seat of government from Tower Hill; but deni-
ed the expediency of fixing it, for the present, at
any place, more particularly at Newbern; for, the
southern boundary of the province being, as ye\,
unascertained, and the territorial controversy with
South Carolina not likely to be soon terminated, the
174 CHAPTER [1763
step appeared precipitate, and perhaps indecent,
"while the contested points were soon to be laid be-
fore the throne, for the royal determination. The
impropriety of fixing the seat of government was in
their judgment giaring, the town of Newbern, being
neither central nor on the best navigation, and de \
ficientin good water.
The measure was carried in the lower house by
a very small majority, and in the other by the cast-
ing vote of the president, James Hasel. The mem-
bers who voted for it, were Richard Spaight, Henry
E. M'CuUough and Alexander M'Cullough.
The definitive treatv between their Britannic,
most Christian and Catholic majesties, was signed at
Paris, on the 10th of February.
On the 5th of March, a charter was granted to the
town of Wilmington, its precincts and liberties, con-
stituting a borough, with a mayor and aldermen's
court, having a limited jurisdiction of suits between
the inhabitants and transient persons, not residing in
the province, with other privileges. The same favor
was afterwards granted to the towns of Newbern, Eden-
ton and Halifax.
As the removal of the French and Spaniards from
the vast extent of country which extended between
the province of Georgia and the river Mississippi, which
were now ceded to Great Britain, caused an alarm and in-
creased the jealousy of the neighboring tribes of Indians,
the ministry thought it indispensably necessary to take
the earliest steps to prevent their receiving any unfavora-
ble impression, to gain their confidence and good will,
without which, it would be impossible for the nation to
reap the full benefit of its acquisitions in that part of the
1763] THE SIXTH. 175
world. It was believed the French and Spaniards, in
Louisiana and Florida, had long, and too successfull}^,
inculcated an idea among the Indians, that the English
entertained a settled design of extirpating the whole In-
dian race, with a view to possess their lands; and that the
first step towards carrying this design into execution,
would be to expel the French and Spaniards, the real
friends and protectors of the Indians. With a view of
preventing the ill effects of those suggestions, the gov-
ernors of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, were di-
rected, without loss of time, to invite the chiefs of the
Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees and Cataw-
bas, to a meeting with them and the superintendant of
Indian affaires, for the southern department at Augusta,
in the province of Georgia, to apprise the Indians, in the
most prudent and delicate manner, of the change which
was about to take place. It was recommended in doing
this, not only to avoid every expression which might
awake the fears, or point out the dependence of the In-
dians upon the British, but to use every means to quiet
their apprehensions and gain their good opinion.
For this purpose, the governors were directed to recur
to the original causes of the war with the French, to
mention and dwell upon the several cruelties they exer-
cised during the course of it, the arts they employed, the
groundless stories they propagated among the Indians,
in order to excite their jealousies, to alienate their affec-
tions from the English and to provoke them to commit
such violences, as the king was at last compelled to re-
sent: that, by the same insidious arts, they had so far
wrought upon the credulity of the Spaniards, as to in-
volve them in their quarrel and its consequences; that,
through the special favor of providence, the wisdom of
1 70 CHAPTER [1763
the king and the courage of his troops, all their mischiev-
ous practices had been discovered and defeated.
They were advised to impress on the minds of the In-
dians, that in order to prevent the revival of such distur-
bances and troubles, by repetitions of the same danger-
ous proceedings, the king had found himself obliged to
insist, in the treaty of peace, that the French and Span-
iards sh< )kid be removed beyond the river Mississippi, to
the end, that the Indians and his people might, hereafter,
live in peace and brotherly friendship together; and that
the English felt a particular satisfaction in the opportu-
nity, which their successes afforded them, of giving to
the Indians the most uncontrovertible and substantial
proofs of their good intentions and cordial desire to
maintain a sincere and friendly correspondence with
them: that those proofs would consist, first, of a total
forgiveness and oblivion of all past offences, fully per-
suaded that they were entirely owing to the deceiving
arts of the French and no ways to be attributed to any
ill will in them ; secondly, of opening and carrying on
as large a traffic with them as would supply all their
wants: thirdly, of a constant attention to their interests
and a readiness, upon all occasions, to do them com-
plete justice, and lastly, of the most solemn assurances,
that those forte, now ceded to the king, by means of
which the French really did intend to subvert their lib-
erty, and accomplish these evil designs which they
imputed to the English, should never be employed, but
to protect and assist them and to serve for the better
convenience of commerce and Jhe cultivation of friend-
ship and good will between them and the king's sub-
jects.
n€3J THE SIXTH. ' 177
The minister added, that should the Indians retain any
jealousy or suspicion, that the forts, situated in the heart
of their country, such as Alabama, Tombigbee and fort
Loudon, might be made use of for purposes unfavora-
ble to them, and expressed a desire, that they should be
demolished, he made no doubt, but that their represen-
tations, on that head would be most graciously received
- and that the king would readily comply with any rea-
sonable request of theirs, in order to give the most satis-
factory proofs of his intention to fulfil the friendly de-
clarations which his governors were instructed to make,
in his name, to the Indians, of the sincerity of which, it
was highly important, they should be convinced, in or-
der to prevent those evils, which would necessarily
happen, if their thorough confidence in the king's go-
vernment was not established on a solid and secure
footing.
In order to try every possible method which might
contribute towards this object, goods, to the amount
of five thousand pounds sterling, were purchased and
shipped towards Charleston, to be distributed in pre-
sents among the Indians, at the intended meeting at
Augusta.
In the latter part of the spring, the king's proclama-
tion was published in America, for the establishment
of the provinces of Quebec, East and West Florida.
On the 5th of April, a resolution was introduced into
parliament, fo^ a stamp act in America. The minister,
however, withdrew tl.e resolution, to allow time for the
colonists to petition against it, when brought forward at
the next session.
On the 9th of July, lord Egremont addressed a cir-
cular letter to the governors of the American provinces,
N. CARO. H. 23
178 CHAPTER [1763
informing them, that it appearing, that the public reve-
nue had been greatly diminished and the fair trader
much prejudiced, by the fraudulent method, used to
introduce, into the king's dominions, on the continent
of America, contrary to several statutes of the British
parliament, commodities of foreign growth, in national
as well as foreign bottoms, by means of small vessels,
hovering on the coast, and that this iniquitous practice
had been carried on to such an extent in America, it
had been found necessary, at the last session of parlia-
ment, to pass a statute for the improvement of the
king's customs, the encouragement of officers making
seizures and the prevention of the contraband trade,
by which the former statutes, on these subjects, were
enforced and extended to the British dominions in all
parts of the world, and the king having it extremely at
heart to put an end to all practices of this nature, by a
punctual and vigorous execution of the laws, made for
this salutary purpose, and having ordered, that the most
effectual steps should be taken for obtaining that end,
the commanders of his ships, stationed in America,
would be vested, for the future, with the necessary and
legal powers, from the commissioners of the customs,
to carry into execution the several statutes, relating to
the seizure and condemnation of any ship that should
be found transgressing against them. The governors
were requested, not only to co-operate with, and assist
to the utmost of their power, the commanders of the
king's ships, in the execution of the powers and in-
structions^ given them by the commissioners of the cus-
toms, but to use their utmost endeavors, by the most
assiduous and impartial execution of the laws, to put
17631 THE SIXTH. 179
an effectual stop to the clandestine running of goods
into any part of their respective governments.
In the conclusion of this circular, lord Egremont ob-
served, that it was incumbent on him to say, that the
king would not pass over, unnoticed, any negligence or
relaxation, on the part of any person employed in his
service, on a matter on which he laid so much stress,
and in which the fair trade of all his subjects was so es-
pecially entrusted.
After the peace, the Reverend Joseph Alexander, D.
D., a minister of the presbyterian church, removed from
Pennsylvania to South Ca^'olina, and was eminently in-
strumental in planting churches, both in this province
and in North Carolina, at that early period of the settle-
ment of the back country, when both provinces were
in a ver\^ destitute condition, with respect to religious
instruction.
In the fall, governor Dobbs sat off for Augusta, in
order to attend a congress of the governors of the south-
ern provinces. During his absence, the government of
the province devolved on James Hasell, the counsellor
first named in the king's instructions. This gentleman
qualified as commander in chief, on the 15th of October.
The Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Upper and Lower
Creek, and Catawba nations of Indians, sent some of
their chiefs to Augusta, where a treaty was concluded,
and their respective territorial claims adjusted, the boun-
daries of their lands ascertained, and regulations adopted
to secure the trade and good understanding, between
the red and white people.
Governor Dobbs, on his return to the province, met
a new legislative body, on the 3d of February, at Wil-
mington. After communicating to the houses, the
180 CHAPTER [1764
success of his journey to the province of Georgia, he in-
formed thena, that having no orders to require any aid,
he had only to recommend, that the men raised for Fort
Johnston and Fort Granville, might be kept in pay, to
take care of the forts and stores, until the king gave or-
ders for tlieir being garrisoned by regular troops. He
drew the attention of the legislature, to the great quantity
of worn out, defaced and counterfeited bills in circulation:
and recommended an emission of paper money, by which
the former bills might be taken out of circulation and
replaced. He deplored the great want of clergy-
men in the parishes; twenty-four out of thirty, be-
ing without a minister, and recommended, that the
salary of clergymen might be levied in all, even those
that were unprovided with one, in which the money thus
raised, might be appropriated to the purchase of glebes
and the erection of churches. He again urged the al-
lowance of a bounty, on the exportation of hemp and
flax.
The lower house replied, that an emission of paper
money would be attended with a considerable expense,
and it would suffice, if the sheriffs and treasurers were to
exchange such ragged and torn bills as might be offered
to them, and these were burnt at the meeting of
the legislature. They admitted the great want of cler-
gymen; but added, sufficient provision was already
made, in proportion to the ability of the people ; and
there v^ere large sums appropriated for the purchase of
glebes and the establishment of schools, under a sus-
pending clause, until the king's pleasure was known,
which had been borrowed for the service of the late war,
and since, in part, for contingencies.
1764] THE SIXTH. ^ 181
The governor laid before the house a letter from lord
Egremont, of the 27th of November, 1762, directing
him to express to the assembly, his high disapprobation
of their conduct, and undutiful behaviour in obstinately
persisting to refuse any aid, or to raise men for recruit-
ing the troops, whereby they had incurred the king's
displeasure. The letter concluded, by communicating
the king's approbation of governor Dobbs' resolution,
to raise the one hundred and thirty-four recruits requi-
red by Sir JefFry Amherst, notwithstanding the assembly
had refused to concur in any measure for that purpose.
In the message, by which this letter was communica-
ted, the governor expressed his hope, the house would
approve of his having advanced his money, for a service
which was so agreeable to the king, and the drafts for
four hundred pounds sterling, which he had drawn upon
the asfents in London, for his own reimbursment. The
house resolved, viva voce^ that they could not approve
of the governor's drafts.
On the third reading of a bill, for defraying the expen-
ses of the members of the legislature, the lower house
substituted the word board, for the word housCy
as applied to the upper house. The members of
the latter were much nettled at the alteration, and a
preliminary message was sent, to know whether the
house would adhere to it. It was answered, that the
words board and house, appeared, on examination, to
have been indiscriminately used in reference to the upper
house; but, to prevent misunderstanding, the lower
house were willing, if the word board was disagreeable
to the members of the other, to sul)stitute for it, the
word council.
182 CHAPTER [1764
The upper house replied, that to debate about words
would be frivolous, if they did not tend to introduce a
dispute about things and powers, and as the house was
determined to maintain and support firmly, the powers
and authorities with which the king had invested them,
they should not permit the lower house to call them by
any other name, less respectable than that of house; and
if the bill was not amended by reinstating that word, they
would not pass that, or any other bill, nor act on any re-
solve or estimate.
The lower house expressed their concern, that a
name, in every respect dignified and honorable, imply-
ing wisdom and defiberation, and which his majesty had
been pleased to confer, should become so strangely dis-
agreeable, as to produce a message threatening destruc-
tion to all bills, however serviceable they might be to the
public, unless the lower house agreed to the alteration of
the name so anxiouslv desired to be rid of. Thev add-
ed, they could not help considering the message as in-
flammatory in its tendency, and obstructive of the public
service in its consequences, and quite inconsistent with
those professions of regard to the public, made on seve-
ral other occasions, and the duty of each branch of the
legislature, to the king's subjects inhabiting the pro-
vince. They observed, it was very immaterial to the
king or his subjects, whether laws were enacted by the
governor, council and assembly, or by the governor,
the upper and lower houses : the advantages derived
from them, being always in proportion to the wisdom of
their formation : they concluded that, more attentive to
the interest of the public than to things and powers,
which, they persuaded themselves, would neither be
changed nor increased, by the proposed alteration, than
1764] THE SIXTH. 18.1
to sounds, they would, for the sake of peace and har-
mony, readily agree to the word house.
' The upper house rejoined, that if they were to con-
sider their feelings, in preference to the desire they had of
preferring the public good to all other considerations,
they should think themselves well justified in animad-
verting on the spirit of aggravation manifested by the
lower house ; but, as they had received that public satis-
faction, which they were unanimously of opinion, their
duty to the crown, the public and themselves, laid them
under the necessity of insisting upon, they would pro-
ceed to give the bill all the despatch in their power. But,
at the same time, they were to observe, that their ob-
jection to the word council^ did not proceed from an
opinion, that it was in the power of the lower house, to
give them a more honorable appellation; but, from a
resolution of being addressed in their different capacities
by proper and adequate titles. They flattered them-
selves the resolution they had taken upon this dispute,
would never appear improper in the eyes of unprejudi-
ced persons; and their proceedings would evince, that
their desire of promoting the public good was as sin-
cere, as that of those wlio were clothed with the spe-
cious title of representatives of the people.
A bill having been introduced, and passed the lower
house, for appointing Couchet Jouvencel agent of the
province, the upper house insisted on a proviso, making
one of the members of that body one of the quorum of
the committee of correspondence, and the lower house
refusing to concur, the bill was rejected : whereupon,
the lower house, by a resolve, appointed that gentleman
agent of the province for eighteen months, with a salary
184 CHAPTER [1764
of two hundred pounds sterling per annum, and ap-
pointed five of their members a committee of corres-
pondence.
A chart of the sea coast, having been made by Daniel
Dunbibbin, was this year pubhshed by his widow, to
whom the legislature allowed a small premium.
The distance of Newbern, where the only printing of-
fice in the province was established, from Wilmington,
which had become the seat of government, impeding
public business, a committee of the legislature were di-
rected to procure a printer to settle at Wilmington.
One commissioned officer and ten men, and one offi-
cer and four men, were kept in pay for fort Johnston and
fort Granville.
A bounty of sixteen shillings and four pence on eve-
ry hundred weight of hemp raised in, and exported out
of, the province, and of thirteen shillings and four pence
on every hundred weight of flax, were allowed. The
militia and vestry acts were revised; in the former,
Presbyterian ministers were exempted from militia duty,
which is the first instance of any indulgence granted by
law to 
