Chapter 1

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AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE COLONIES OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA

In Two Volumes.

VOL. II.

By ALEXANDER HEWATT

CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME

CHAP. VII.

_The form of legal governments._ _Sir Alexander Cumming sent out to treat of peace with the Indians._ _Brings with him to England seven Cherokees._ _Who enter into a treaty of peace and alliance._ _Speech of a Cherokee warrior._ _Robert Johnson governor._ _Several indulgences granted the people._ _Happy effects of peace and security._ _A project formed for planting a new colony._ _James Oglethorpe carries a colony to Georgia._ _He treats with Indians for a share of their lands._ _Tomochichi's speech to the King._ _His Majesty's answer._ _Indians easiest managed by gentle and fair means._ _The colony of Switzers brought Carolina._ _Eleven townships marked out._ _A struggle about lands._ _State of the colony._ _The regulation of the Trustees._ _Their impolitical restrictions._ _Two colonies of Highlanders and Germans sent out._ _Thomas Broughton Lieut.-governor of Carolina._ _Oglethorpe fortifies Georgia._ _Which gives umbrage to the Spaniards._ _The brave Chickesaws defeat the French._ _Religious state of the colony._ _The association of Presbyterians._ _Remarks on paper currency._ _Small progress of Georgia._ _Hardships of the first settlers._ _An Irish colony planted._

CHAP. VIII.

_Trade obstructed by the Spaniards of Mexico._ _William Bull Lieutenant-governor._ _Oglethorpe's regiment sent to Georgia._ _The Spaniards try in vain to seduce the Creeks._ _Matters hastening to a rupture with Spain._ _Mutiny in Oglethorpe's camp._ _A negro insurrection in Carolina._ _A war with Spain._ _A project for invading Florida._ _Measures concerted for this purpose._ _General Oglethorpe marches against Florida._ _Invests Augustine._ _Raises the siege._ _A great fire at Charlestown._ _A petition in favour of the rice trade._ _Remarks on the treatment of slaves._ _The hardships of their situation._ _Oppressed with ignorance and superstition._ _James Glen governor._ _Lord Carteret's property divided from that of the Crown._ _The country much exposed to invasion._ _The Spaniards invade Georgia._ _A stratagem to get rid of the enemy._ _The Spaniards retreat to Augustine._ _Ill treatment of General Oglethorpe._ _His character cleared, and conduct vindicated._ _The Carolineans petition for three independent companies._ _The colony's advantages from Britain._ _Its advantage and importance to Britain._

CHAP. IX.

_All commotions and oppressions in Europe favourable to America._ _Cultivation attended with salutary effects._ _Mean heat in Carolina._ _The diseases of the country._ _Climate favourable to the culture of indigo._ _The manner of cultivating and making indigo._ _The common methods of judging of its quality._ _Nova Scotia settled._ _The great care of Britain for these colonies._ _Low state of Georgia._ _Complaint of the people._ _Troubles excited by Thomas Bosomworth._ _With difficulty settled._ _The charter surrendered to the King._ _George Whitfield's settlement._ _Whitfield's orphan-house._ _Sketch of his character._ _A congress with Creeks._ _The Governor's speech to them._ _Malatchee's answer._ _A hurricane at Charlestown._ _The advantages of poor settlers in the province._ _The advantages of money-lenders._ _And of the borrowers._ _Great benefits enjoyed by the colonists._ _Progress of the province._

CHAP. X.

_A dispute about the limits of British and French territories._ _A chain of forts raised by the French._ _The distracted state of the British colonies._ _General Braddock's defeat in Virginia._ _Colonel Johnson's success at Lake George._ _Governor Glen holds a congress with the Cherokees._ _And purchases a large tract of land from them._ _Forts built in defence of Carolina._ _Its excellent fruits and plants._ _Its minerals undiscovered._ _The British forces augmented._ _Their first success in America._ _The cause of the Cherokee war._ _Governor Lyttleton prepares to march against them._ _The Cherokees sue for peace._ _Governor Lyttleton marches against the Cherokees._ _Holds a congress at Fort Prince George._ _His speech to Attakullakulla._ _Attakullakulla's answer._ _A treaty concluded with six chiefs._ _The Governor returns to Charlestown._ _The treaty of peace broken._ _Occonostota's stratagem for killing the officer of the fort._ _The war becomes general._ _Colonel Montgomery arrives._ _And marches against the Cherokees._ _Chastises them near Etchoe._ _And returns to Fort Prince George._ _The consternation of the inhabitants from Indians._ _Great distress of the garrison at Fort Loudon._ _The terms obtained for the garrison._ _Treacherously broken by the savages._ _A proposal for attacking Fort Prince George._ _Captain Stuart escapes to Virginia._ _The war continues._ _The Highlanders return to Carolina._ _Colonel Grant marches against the Cherokees._ _Engages and defeats them._ _Destroys their towns._ _Peace with the Cherokees._ _A quarrel between the commanding officers._ _A whirlwind at Charlestown._ _Of the heat at Savanna._

CHAP. XI.

_A peace, and its happy effects respecting America._ _Boundaries of East and West Florida._ _The southern provinces left secure._ _Encouragement given to reduced officers and soldiers._ _Georgia begins to flourish._ _A plan adopted for encouraging emigrations to Carolina._ _A number of Palatines seduced into England._ _Sent into Carolina._ _And settled at Londonderry._ _Some emigrate from Britain, and multitudes from Ireland._ _And from the northern colonies, resort to Carolina._ _Regulations for securing the provinces against Indians._ _John Stuart made superintendant for Indian affairs._ _Decrease of Indians, and the causes of it._ _Present state of Indian nations in the southern district._ _Mr. Stuart's first speech to the Indians, at Mobile._ _A description of Charlestown._ _The number of its inhabitants._ _A general view of the manners, &c. of the people._ _And of their way of living._ _The arts and sciences only of late encouraged._ _The militia and internal strength of the province._ _Of its societies formed for mutual support and relief._ _Of its merchants and trade._ _Of its planters and agriculture._ _An interruption of the harmony between Britain and her colonies, and the causes of it._ _The new regulations made in the trade of the colonies give great offence._ _A vote passed for charging stamp-duties on the Americans._ _Upon which the people of New England discover their disaffection to government._ _An opportunity given the colonies to offer a compensation for the stamp-duty._ _The stamp-act passes in parliament._ _Violent measures taken to prevent its execution._ _The assembly of Carolina study ways and means of eluding the act._ _Their resolutions respecting the obedience due to the British parliament._ _The people become more violent in opposition to government._ _The merchants and manufacturers in England join in petitioning for relief._ _The stamp-act repealed._ _Which proves fatal to the jurisdiction of the British parliament in America._ _And gives occasion of triumph to the colonies._

THE HISTORY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHAP. VII.

[Sidenote] The form of legal governments.

From that period in which the right and title to the lands of Carolina were sold, and surrendered to the King, and he assumed the immediate care and government of the province, a new aera commences in the annals of that country, which may be called the aera of its freedom, security, and happiness. The Carolineans who had long laboured under innumerable hardships and troubles, from a weak proprietary establishment, at last obtained the great object of their desires, a royal government, the constitution of which depended on commissions issued by the crown to the Governor, and the instructions which attended those commissions. The form of all provincial governments was borrowed from that of their mother country, which was not a plan of systematic rules drawn before-hand by speculative men, but a constitution which was the result of many ages of wisdom and experience. Its great object is the public good, in promoting of which all are equally concerned. It is a constitution which has a remedy within itself for every political disorder, which, when properly applied, must ever contribute to its stability and duration. After the model of this British constitution the government of Carolina now assumed a form like the other regal ones on the continent, which were composed of three branches, of a Governor, a Council, and an Assembly. The crown having the appointment of the Governor, delegates to him; its constitutional powers, civil and military, the power of legislation as far as the King possesses it; its judicial and executive powers, together with those of chancery and admiralty jurisdiction, and also those of supreme ordinary: all these powers, as they exist in the crown, are known by the laws of the realm; as they are entrusted to Governors, they are declared and defined by their commissions patent. The council, though differing in many respects from the house of peers, are intended to represent that house, and are appointed by the King during pleasure, for supporting the prerogatives of the crown in the province. The Assembly consists of the representatives of the people, and are elected by them as the House of Commons in Great Britain, to be the guardians of their lives, liberties, and properties. Here also the constitution confides in the good behaviour of the representatives; for should they presume in any respect to betray their trust, it gives the people more frequent opportunities than even in Britain, of chusing others in their stead. The Governor convenes, prorogues, and dissolves these Assemblies, and has a negative on the bills of both houses. After bills have received his assent, they are sent to Great Britain for the royal approbation, in consequence of which they have the force of laws in the province. This is a general sketch of the royal governments, which are intended to resemble the constitution of Great Britain, as nearly as the local circumstances of the provinces will admit, and which, notwithstanding its imperfections, is certainly the best form of government upon earth. By the instructions which the Governor receives from time to time from England, his power no doubt is greatly circumscribed; but it is his duty to transmit authentic accounts of the state of his province, in order that the instructions given him may be proper, and calculated for promoting not only the good of the province, but also that of the British empire.

[Sidenote] Sir Alexander Cumming sent out to treat of peace with the Indians.

After the purchase of the province, the first object of the royal concern was, to establish the peace of the colony on the most firm and permanent foundation; and for this purpose treaties of union and alliance with Indian nations were judged to be essentially necessary. Domestic security being first established, the colonists might then apply themselves to industry with vigour and success, and while they enriched themselves, they would at the same time enlarge the commerce and trade of the mother-country. For this purpose Sir Alexander Cumming was appointed, and sent out to conclude a treaty of alliance with the Cherokees, at this time a warlike and formidable nation of savages. These Indians occupied the lands about the head of Savanna river, and backwards among the Apalachian mountains. The country they claimed as their hunting grounds was of immense extent; and its boundaries had never been clearly ascertained. The inhabitants of their different towns were computed to amount to more than twenty thousand, six thousand of whom were warriors, fit on any emergency to take the field. An alliance with such a nation was an object of the highest consequence to Carolina, and likewise to the mother-country, now engaged for its defence and protection.

[Sidenote] Brings with him to England seven Cherokees.

About the beginning of the year 1730, Sir Alexander arrived in Carolina, and made preparations for his journey to the distant hills. For his guides he procured some Indian traders, well acquainted with the woods, and an interpreter who understood the Cherokee language, to assist him in his negociations. When he reached Keowee, abort three hundred miles from Charlestown, the chiefs of the lower towns there met him, and received him with marks of great friendship and esteem. He immediately dispatched messengers to the middle, the valley, and over-hill settlements, and summoned a general meeting of all their chiefs, to hold a congress with him at Nequassee. Accordingly in the month of April the chief warriors of all the Cherokee towns assembled at the place appointed. After the various Indian ceremonies were over, Sir Alexander made a speech to them, acquainting them by whose authority he was sent, and representing the great power and goodness of his sovereign King George; how he, and all his other subjects, paid a cheerful obedience to his laws, and of course were protected by him from all harm: That he had come a great way to demand of Moytoy, and all the chieftains of the nation, to acknowledge themselves the subjects of his King, and to promise obedience to his authority: and as he loved them, and was answerable to his Sovereign for their good and peaceable behaviour, he hoped they would agree to what he should now require of them. Upon which the chiefs, falling on their knees, solemnly promised fidelity and obedience, calling upon all that was terrible to fall upon them if they violated their promise. Sir Alexander then, by their unanimous consent, nominated Moytoy commander and chief of the Cherokee nation, and enjoined all the warriors of the different tribes to acknowledge him for their King, to whom they were to be accountable for their conduct. To this they also agreed, provided Moytoy should be made answerable to Sir Alexander for his behaviour to them. After which many useful presents were made them, and the congress ended to the great satisfaction of both parties. The crown was brought from Tenassee, their chief town, which with five eagle tails, and four scalps of their enemies, Moytoy presented to Sir Alexander, requesting him, on his arrival at Britain, to lay them at his Majesty's feet. But Sir Alexander proposed to Moytoy, that he should depute some of their chiefs to accompany him to England, there to do homage in person to the great King. Accordingly six of them agreed, and accompanied Sir Alexander to Charlestown, where being joined by another, they embarked for England in the Fox man of war, and arrived at Dover in June 1730.

[Sidenote] Who enter into a treaty of peace and alliance.

We shall not pretend to describe their behaviour at the sight of London, or their wonder and astonishment at the greatness of the city, the number of the people, and the splendour of the army and court. Being admitted into the presence of the King, they, in the name of their nation, promised to continue for ever his Majesty's faithful and obedient subjects. A treaty was accordingly drawn up, and signed by Alured Popple, secretary to the Lords Commissioners of trade and plantations, on one side; and by the marks of the six chiefs, on the other. The preamble to this treaty recites, "That whereas the six Chiefs, with the consent of the whole nation of Cherokees, at a general meeting of their nation at Nequassee, were deputed by Moytoy, their chief warrior, to attend Sir Alexander Cumming to Great Britain, where they had seen the great King George: and Sir Alexander, by authority from Moytoy and all the Cherokees, had laid the crown of their nation, with the scalps of their enemies and feathers of glory, at his Majesty's feet, as a pledge of their loyalty: And whereas the great King had commanded the Lords Commissioners of trade and plantations to inform the Indians, that the English on all sides of the mountains and lakes were his people, their friends his friends, and their enemies his enemies; that he took it kindly the great nation of Cherokees had sent them so far, to brighten the chain of friendship between him and them, and between his people and their people; that the chain of friendship between him and the Cherokees is now like the sun, which shines both in Britain and also upon the great mountains where they live, and equally warms the hearts of Indians and Englishmen; that as there is no spots or blackness in the sun, so neither is there any rust or foulness on this chain. And as the King had fastened one end to his breast, he defied them to carry the other end of the chain and fasten it to the breast of Moytoy of Telliquo, and to the breasts of all their old wise men, their captains, and people, never more to be made loose or broken.

"The great King and the Cherokees being thus fastened together by a chain of friendship, he has ordered, and it is agreed, that his children in Carolina do trade with the Indians, and furnish them with all manner of goods they want, and to make haste to build houses and plant corn from Charlestown, towards the towns of Cherokees behind the great mountains: That he desires the English and Indians may live together as children of one family; that the Cherokees be always ready to fight against any nation, whether white men or Indians, who shall dare to molest or hurt the English; that the nation of Cherokees shall, on their part, take care to keep the trading path clean, that there be no blood on the path where the English tread, even though they should be accompanied with other people with whom the Cherokees may be at war: That the Cherokees shall not suffer their people to trade with white men of any other nation but the English, nor permit white men of any other nation to build any forts or cabins, or plant any corn among them, upon lands which belong to the great King: and if any such attempt shall be made, the Cherokees must acquaint the English Governor therewith, and do whatever he directs, in order to maintain and defend the great King's right to the country of Carolina: That if any negroes shall run away into the woods from their English masters, the Cherokees shall endeavour to apprehend them, and bring them to the plantation from whence they run away, or to the Governor, and for every slave so apprehended and brought back, the Indian that brings him shall receive a gun and a watch-coat: and if by any accident it shall happen, that an Englishman shall kill a Cherokee, the King or chief of the nation shall first complain to the English Governor, and the man who did the harm shall be punished by the English laws as if he had killed an Englishman; and in like manner, if any Indian happens to kill an Englishman, the Indian shall be delivered up to the Governor, to be punished by the same English laws as if he were an Englishman."

This was the substance of the first treaty between the King and the Cherokees, every article of which was accompanied with presents of different kinds, such as cloth, guns, shot, vermilion, flints, hatchets, knives. The Indians were given to understand, "That these were the words of the great King, whom they had seen, and as a token that his heart was open and true to his children the Cherokees, and to all their people, a belt was given the warriors, which they were told the King desired them to keep, and shew to all their people, to their children, and children's children, to confirm what was now spoken, and to bind this agreement of peace and friendship between the English and Cherokees, as long as the rivers shall run, the mountains shall last, or the sun shall shine."

[Sidenote] Speech of a Cherokee warrior.

This treaty, that it might be the easier understood, was drawn up in language as similar as possible to that of the Indians, which at this time was very little known in England, and given to them, certified and approved by Sir Alexander Cumming. In answer to which, Skijagustah, in name of the rest, made a speech to the following effect:--"We are come hither from a mountainous place, where nothing but darkness is to be found--but we are now in a place where there is light.--There was a person in our country--he gave us a yellow token of warlike honour, which is left with Moytoy of Telliquo,--and as warriors we received it.--He came to us like a warrior from you.--A man he is;--his talk is upright--and the token he left preserves his memory among us.--We look upon you as if the great King were present;--we love you as representing the great King;--we shall die in the same way of thinking.--The crown of our nation is different from that which the great King George wears, and from that we saw in the tower.--But to us it is all one.--The chain of friendship shall be carried to our people.--We look upon the great King George as the Sun, and as our father, and upon ourselves as his children.--For though we are red, and you are white, yet our hands and hearts are joined together.--When we shall have acquainted our people with what we have seen, our children from generation to generation will always remember it.--In war we shall always be one with you. The enemies of the great King shall be our enemies;--his people and ours shall be one, and shall die together.--We came hither naked and poor as the worms of the earth, but you have every thing,--and we that have nothing must love you, and will never break the chain of friendship which is between us.--Here stands the Governor of Carolina, whom we know.--This small rope we show you is all that we have to bind our slaves with, and it may be broken.--But you have iron chains for yours.--However, if we catch your slaves, we will bind them as well as we can, and deliver them to our friends, and take no pay for it.--We have looked round for the person that was in our country--he is not here;--however, we must say he talked uprightly to us, and we shall never forget him.--Your white people may very safely build houses near us;--we shall hurt nothing that belongs to them, for we are children of one father, the great King, and shall live and die together." Then laying down his feathers upon the table he added: "This is our way of talking, which is the same thing to us as your letters in the book are to you, and to you beloved men we deliver these feathers in confirmation of all we have said."