Chapter 8

The proprietors of Carolina had indeed instructed Governor Morton to take all Indians within four hundred miles of Charlestown under his protection, and to treat them with humanity and tenderness; but such instructions were very disagreeable to many of the people, especially to those members of the council who were concerned in the Indian trade, and therefore great opposition was raised to the execution of them. Maurice Mathews, James Moore, and Arthur Middleton, members of the council, warmly opposed the governor, while he proposed regulations for the peaceable management of Indians, and considered the proprietors as strangers to the interest of their colony by such impolitic restrictions. The people, who had lost some friends and relations by the savages were also greatly irritated against them, and breathed nothing but vengeance and implacable resentment. These members of the council were removed from it for their disobedience; nevertheless they had such influence among the people, as to occasion great trouble to the governor, and totally to subvert his authority; in consequence of which, Joseph West appeared again at the head of the colony, and gave his assent to several laws made in it. During which time the people followed their former practice, of inveigling and kidnapping Indians where-ever they found them, and shipped them off to the West Indies, without any restraint from government.

[Sidenote] The toleration of pirates in Carolina.

Soon after Governor West was superseded by Sir Richard Kirle, an Irish gentleman, who died six months after his arrival in the country. After his decease, Colonel Robert Quarry was chosen his successor. During the time of his government, a number of pirates put into Charlestown, and purchased provisions with their Spanish gold and silver. Those public robbers, instead of being taken and tried by the laws of England, were treated with great civility and friendship, in violation of the laws of nations. Whether the governor was ignorant of the treaty made with Spain, by which England had withdrawn her former toleration from these plunderers of the Spanish dominions; or whether he was afraid to bring them to trial from the notorious courage of their companions in the West Indies, we have not sufficient authority to affirm; but one thing is certain, that King Charles II. for several years after the restoration, winked at their depredations, and many or them performed such valiant actions as, in a good cause, had justly merited honours and rewards. Even as the case was, Charles, out of mere whim, knighted Henry Morgan, a Welshman, who had plundered Porto Bello and Panama, and carried off large treasures from them. For several years so formidable was this body of plunderers in the West Indies, that they struck a terror into every quarter of the Spanish dominions. Their gold and silver, which they lavishly spent in the colony, ensured to them a kind reception among the Carolineans, who opened their ports to them freely, and furnished them with necessaries. They could purchase the favour of the governor, and the friendship of the people, for what they deemed a trifling consideration. Leaving their gold and silver behind them, for clothes, arms, ammunition and provisions, they embarked in quest of more. However, the proprietors, having intelligence of the encouragement given to pirates by Governor Quarry, dismissed him from the office he held; and, in 1685, Landgrave Joseph Morton was reinstated in the government of the colony.

[Sidenote] Cause of migration from England.

During the reign of King James II. the hardships under which the people of Britain laboured, and the troubles they apprehended, brought much strength to the colonies. The unsuccessful or unfortunate part of mankind are easily induced to emigrate; but the oppressed and persecuted are driven from their country, however closely their affections may cleave to it. Such imprudent attempts were made by this prince against what the nation highly revered, that many Protestants deserted it, preferring the hardships of the first state of colonization abroad, to oppression at home. So far was he from concealing his attachment to the Popish religion, that he gloried in the open profession of it, and took every opportunity of transferring both the legal authority and military command into the hands of such men as were best affected to that religion, and would most readily contribute their assistance towards the accomplishment of his favourite design. The Protestants in general were alarmed, and filled with the most gloomy apprehensions from the bloody and persecuting spirit of the Popish faction. They foresaw the subversion of their religion and liberties, and fled over the Atlantic from the approaching rigours of persecution, being determined to submit to any hardships abroad, rather than to the establishment of Popery in England.

[Sidenote] Cause of migration from France.

The next acquisition America gained, was from the revocation of the edict of Nantz; in consequence of which the flames of persecution broke out in France, and drove many of its best subjects out of that kingdom. These Protestant refugees were beneficial in many respects to England and Holland, and served greatly to promote the trade and manufactures of these nations. Among the other colonies in America which reaped advantage from this impolitic measure of France, Carolina had a large share. Many of the Protestant refugees, having purchased lands from the proprietors, embarked with their families for that colony, and proved some of its best and most industrious inhabitants.

[Sidenote] The European animals increase.

Small was the progress in cultivation which the colonists of Carolina had yet made, and fatal had the heat of the climate and the labours of the field proved to many of them. Yet their cattle increased in an amazing manner, and thrived exceedingly well in their forest. Having little winter, the woods furnished them with both shelter and provisions all the year; neither houses nor attendants were provided for them, but each planter's cattle, distinguished only by his mark, every where grazed with freedom. Hogs still fared better, and increased faster. The woods abounded with acorns, and roots of different kinds, on which they fed and fattened, and were reckoned most excellent food. Stocks of cattle, at this period, were a great object with the planters, for several reasons. Little labour was requisite to raise and render them profitable. The planters were at no trouble in building houses for them, nor at any expence in feeding them. If either cattle or hogs were fed, it must only have been intended to accustom them to keep nigh their owner's abode, or to return under his eye every evening. Besides, a planter fond of hunting might supply his family with game through the year, with which the woods abounded, and save his stock. Horses were also bred in the same manner, and though they degenerated greatly, they multiplied fast. No part of the world could prove more favourable to poultry of all kinds. By the trade of the colony to the West Indies, they had rum and sugar in return for their lumber and provisions; and England supplied them with clothes, arms, ammunition, and utensils for building and cultivation, in exchange for their deer-skins, furs, and naval stores.

[Sidenote] The manner of obtaining turpentine in Carolina.

Turpentine is the gum in a liquid state of that species of the pine tree called Pitch-pine, extracted by incision and the heat of the sun, while the tree is growing. The common manner of obtaining it is as follows: about the first of January the persons employed in making turpentine begin to cut boxes in the trees, a little above the ground, and make them large or small in proportion to the size of the tree; the box of a large tree will hold two English quarts, of a middling tree one, and of a small one a pint. About the middle of March, when the weather becomes warm, they begin to bleed, which is done by cutting about an inch into the sap of the tree with a joiner's hatchet; these channels made in the green standing tree, are framed so as to meet in a point where the boxes are made to receive the gum; then the bark is peeled off that side of the tree which is exposed to the sun, that the heat may extract the turpentine. After bleeding, if rain should happen to fall, it not only condenses the sap, but also contracts the orifices of the vessels that discharge the gum, and therefore the trees must be bled afresh. About fourteen days after bleeding the boxes will be full of turpentine, and must be emptied into a barrel. When the boxes are full, an able hand will fill two barrels in a day. A thousand trees will yield at every gathering about two barrels and a half of turpentine, and it may be gathered once every fourteen days, till the frost comes, which chills the sap, and obliges the labourer to apply to some other employment, until the next season for boxing shall approach. The oil of turpentine is obtained by distillation; and rosin is the remainder of the turpentine, after the oil is distilled from it.

[Sidenote] And of making tar and pitch.

From the same pine trees tar and pitch are also made, but by a different mode of operation. "For extracting tar they prepare a circular floor of clay, declining a little towards the centre, from which there is laid a pipe of wood, extending almost horizontally two feet without the circumference, and so let into the ground, that its upper side may be level with the floor: at the outer end of this pipe they dig a hole large enough to hold the barrels of tar, which, when forced out of the wood, naturally runs to the centre of the floor as the lowest part, and from thence along the pipe into the barrels. Matters being thus prepared, they raise upon the clay floor a large pile of dry pine-wood split in pieces, and inclose the whole pile with a wall of earth, leaving only a little hole in the top, where the fire is to be kindled; when that is done, and the inclosed wood begins to burn, the whole is stopped up with earth, that there may be no flame, but only heat sufficient to force the tar out of the wood, and make it run down to the floor. They temper the heat as they think proper, by thrusting a stick through the wall of earth, and letting the air in at as many places as they judge necessary. As to Pitch, it is nothing more than the solid part of the tar separated from the liquid by boiling."

As Carolina abounds with this kind of pine trees, vast quantities of pitch, tar, and turpentine might have been made in it. At this early period the settlers, having little strength to fell the thick forest and clear the lands for cultivating grain, naturally applied themselves to such articles as were in demand in England, and for procuring which moderate labour was requisite. Lumber was a bulky article, and required a number of ships to export it. Naval stores were more valuable and less bulky, at the same time that the labour necessary to obtain them was easier, and more adapted to European constitutions. The province as yet could supply Britain with a very inconsiderable quantity of naval stores; but by encouraging the planters in preparing them, the expence of its vast importations from the Baltic might have been in some measure saved to the nation.

[Sidenote] A difference with the civil officers.

Though Governor Morton was possessed of a considerable share of wisdom, and was connected with several respectable families in the colony, yet so inconsistent were his instructions from England, with the prevailing views and interests of the people, that he was unable, without great trouble, to execute the duties of his trust. He was a man of a sober and religious temper of mind, and had married Mr. Blake's sister, lately arrived from England, by which alliance it was hoped the hands of government would be strengthened, and a check given to the more licentious and irregular party of the people. His council was composed of John Boone, Maurice Mathews, John Godfrey, Andrew Percival, Arthur Middleton, and James Moore, _&c._; some of whom differed widely from him in opinion with respect to public measures, and claimed greater indulgences for the people than he had authority to grant. Hence two parties arose in the colony: one in support of the prerogative and authority of the proprietors, the other in defence of the liberties of the people. The former contended, that the laws and regulations received from England respecting government ought to be strictly and implicitly observed: the latter kept in view their local circumstances, and maintained, that the freemen of the colony were under obligations to observe them only so far as they were consistent with the interest of individuals and the prosperity of the settlement. In this situation of affairs, no governor could long support his power among a number of bold adventurers, who improved every hour for advancing their interest, and could bear no restraints which had the least tendency to defeat their favourite views and designs: for whenever he attempted to interpose his feeble authority, they insulted his person and complained of his administration, till he was removed from his office.

[Sidenote] James Colleton made governor.

The proprietors also finding it prudent to change their governor so soon as he became obnoxious to the people, James Colleton at this time was appointed to supersede Joseph Morton. He was a brother to Sir Peter Colleton, one of the proprietors, but was possessed neither of his address nor abilities for the management of public affairs. He left Barbadoes and retired to Carolina, where he built an excellent house on Cooper River, in hopes of settling in that country, and long enjoying, by the influence of his brother, the emoluments of his office in tranquillity and happiness. To give him the greater weight, he was created a landgrave of the colony, to which dignity forty-eight thousand acres of land were unalienably annexed: but to his mortification he soon found, that the proprietary government had acquired but little firmness and stability, and, by his imprudence and rigour, fell into still greater disrespect and contempt.

[Sidenote] A.D. 1687.

About the year 1687, having called an assembly of the representatives, he proposed to make some new regulations respecting the government of the colony. Having examined the fundamental constitutions, and finding the people disposed to make many objections to them, he thought proper to nominate a committee, to consider wherein they were improper or defective, and to make such alterations and amendments in them as they judged might be conducive to the welfare of the country. This committee consisted of the Governor, Paul Grimball, the secretary, William Dunlop, Bernard Schinking, Thomas Smith, John Far, and Joseph Blake. Accordingly, by these men a new code of laws was framed, consisting of many articles different from the former, which they called _Standing Laws_, and transmitted to England for the approbation of the proprietors. These standing laws, however, the proprietors rejected, and insisted on the observance of the fundamental constitutions; and all the while the people treated both with equal indifference and neglect.

[Sidenote] His difference with the house of assembly.

At this early period a dissatisfaction with the proprietary government appeared, and began to gain ground among the people. A dispute having arisen between the governor and the house of assembly about the tenures of lands and the payment of quitrents, Landgrave Colleton determined to exert his authority, in compelling the people to pay up their arrears of quitrents, which, though very trifling and inconsiderable, were burdensome, as not one acre out of a thousand of these lands for which quitrents were demanded yielded them any profit. For this purpose, he wrote to the proprietors, requesting them to appoint such deputies as he knew to be most favourably disposed towards their government, and would most readily assist him in the execution of his office. Hence the interest of the proprietors and that of the people were placed in opposite scales, and the more rigorously the governor exerted his authority, the more turbulent and seditious the people became. At last they proceeded to avowed usurpation: they issued writs in their own name, and held assemblies in opposition to the governor and the authority of the proprietors. Letters from England, containing deputations to persons obnoxious to the people, they seized and suppressed, and appointed other men better affected to the popular cause. Paul Grimball, the secretary of the province, they imprisoned, and forcibly took possession of the public records. The militia act they refused to settle, because recommended by the governor, even though their own security depended on it. In short, the little community was turned into a scene of confusion, and every man acted as he thought proper, without any regard to legal authority, and in contempt of the governor and other officers of the proprietors.

Landgrave Colleton, mortified at the loss of power, and alarmed at the bold and seditious spirit of the people, was not a little perplexed what step to take in order to recal them to the obedience of legal authority. Gentle means he perceived would be vain and ineffectual. One expedient was suggested, which he and his council flattered themselves might be productive of the desired effect, and induce the people through fear to return to his standard, and stand by the person who alone had authority to punish mutiny and sedition, which was to proclaim the martial law, and try to maintain by force of arms the proprietary jurisdiction. Accordingly, without letting the people into his secret design, he caused the militia to be drawn up, as if some danger had threatened the country, and publicly proclaimed the martial law at their head. His design, however, did not long remain a secret, and, when discovered, served only to exasperate the more. The members of the assembly met, and taking this measure under their deliberation, resolved, that it was an encroachment upon their liberties, and an unwarrantable exertion of power, at a time when the colony was in no danger from any foreign enemy. The governor, however, insisted on the articles of war, and tried to carry the martial law into execution; but the disaffection was too general to admit of such a remedy. In the year 1690, at a meeting of the representatives, a bill was brought in and passed, for disabling Landgrave James Colleton from holding any office, or exercising any authority, civil or military, within the province: nay, so outrageous were they against him, that nothing less than banishment could appease them, and therefore gave notice to him, that, in a limited time, he must depart from the country.

[Sidenote] Seth Sothell chosen governor. [Sidenote] His oppression and expulsion.

During these public commotions Seth Sothell, pretending to be a proprietor by virtue of some regulations lately made in England, usurped the government of the colony. At first the people seemed disposed to acknowledge his authority, while the current of their enmity ran against Landgrave Colleton; and as he had stood forth as an active and leading man in opposition to that governor, and ratified the law for his exclusion and banishment: but afterwards, finding him to be void of every principle of honour and honesty, they persecuted him also with deserved and implacable enmity. Such was the insatiable avarice of this usurper that his popularity was of short duration. Every restraint of common justice and equity was trampled upon by him; and oppression, such as usually attends the exaltation of vulgar and ambitious scramblers for power, extended her rod of iron over the distracted colony. The fair traders from Barbadoes and Bermuda were seized as pirates by order of this popular governor, and confined until such fees as he was pleased to exact were paid him: bribes from felons and traitors were accepted to savour their escape from the hands of justice: plantations were forcibly taken possession of, upon pretences the most frivolous and unjust, and planters were compelled to give bonds for large sums of money, to procure from him liberty to remain in posession of their property. These, and many more acts of the like atrocious nature, did this rapacious governor commit, during the short time of his administration, to increase his fees as governor and proprietor. At length the people, weary of his grievous impositions and extortions, agreed to take him by force, and ship him off for England. Then, to his other ill qualities he added meanness of spirit, and humbly begged of them liberty to remain in the country, promising to submit his conduct to the trial of the assembly at their first meeting. When the assembly met, thirteen different charges were brought against him, and all supported by the strongest evidence: upon which, being found guilty, they compelled him to abjure the government and country for ever. An account of his infamous and wicked conduct was drawn up and sent to the proprietors, which filled them with astonishment and indignation. He was ordered to England, to answer the accusations brought against him before the palatine's court, and, in case of refusal, was given to understand it would be taken as a further evidence and confirmation of his guilt. The law for disabling Landgrave James Colleton from holding any authority civil or military in Carolina, was repealed, and strict orders were sent out to the grand council, to support the power and prerogative of the proprietors. To compose the minds of the people, they declared their detestation of such unwarrantable and wanton oppression, and protested that no governor should ever be permitted to grow rich on their ruins; enjoining them, at the same time, to return to the obedience of their magistrates, and subjection to legal authority.

Hitherto this little community has been a scene of continual contention and misery. The fundamental constitutions, which the proprietors thought the most excellent form of government upon earth, have been little regarded. The governors have been either ill qualified for their office, or the instructions given them have been unacceptable to the people. The inhabitants, far from living in friendship and harmony among themselves, have also been seditious and ungovernable. Indeed, while the proprietary government shall continue to be thus weak and unstable, its authority will be little respected; while the encouragement given to civil officers and magistrates is trifling and inconsiderable; men of judgment and ability will not throw away their time and pains for supporting the honour and authority of others, which might be otherwise employed to purposes more advantageous to themselves. The titles of Landgraves and Cassiques will not compensate for the loss of such time and labour, especially when they come only joined with large tracts of land which, for want of hands, must lie uncultivated. The money arising from quitrents and the sale of lands was inconsiderable, hard to be collected, and by no means adequate to the support of government. The proprietors were unwilling to involve their English estates for the improvement of American property; hence their government was feeble and ill supported in Carolina, and there is reason to fear it will become more so, in proportion as the colonists shall become richer and more independent, and the country shall advance to a more populous and better cultivated state.

CHAP. III.

[Sidenote] A revolution in England.