USA > North Carolina > Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I > Part 3
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In 1663, Sir William Berkley, Governor of the Colony of Vir- ginia, visited the province, and appointed WILLIAM DRUMMOND Governor of the Colony of Carolina. Drummond was from Scot- land, and inheriting the national characteristics of that people, he was prudent, cautious, and deeply impressed with a love of liberty.
Such was the settlement, and such was the first Governor of North Carolina. The lake in the centre of the Dismal Swamp pre- serves his name.
It was called the county of Albemarle from Gen. Geo. Monk, after- wards Duke of Albemarle, one of the proprietors, which included the country between Virginia and the Cape Fear River. The county of Clarendon spread over the region from Cape Fear to Florida.
Drummond,* at his death in 1667, was succeeded by Stevens as governor.
At this time the colony contained about four thousand inhabit- ants, a few fat cattle, and eight hundred hogsheads of tobacco.t
The first assembly that made laws for Carolina, assembled in the fall of 1669.1
No freer country was ever organized by man. Freedom of con- science, security from taxation except by their own consent, were their first objects. No one could recover a debt, the cause of action of which arose out of the colony, within five years ; the emigrant was exempted from taxation for a year ; every emigrant received a bounty of land. These simple laws suited a simple people, who were as free as the air of their mountains ; and when oppressed were as rough as the billows of the ocean. They submitted to no unjust laws, they bowed their knee to no earthly monarch.
" Are there any," says Bancroft,§ "who doubt man's capacity for self government ? Let them study the history of North Caro- lina ; the inhabitants were restless and turbulent in their imperfect submission to a government imposed on them from abroad; the administration of the colony was firm, humane, and tranquil when left to themselves. Any government but their own was oppres- sive."
March, 1669. At this time, a form of government, magnificent in design, and labored in detail, called " The fundamental constitutions of Carolina," were drawn up by the celebrated author of the Essay on the Human Understanding, John Locke. These are preserved in the second volume of Revised Statutes (1837), 449.
On the death of Governor Stevens, who died in the colony full of years and wealth, the assembly chose Carteret for their governor, and on his return to England soon after, Eastchurch, who then was in England, was appointed governor, and Miller secretary.
* Williamson, i. 93.
į Chalmers, 525.
+ Chalmers, 533. Bancroft, ii. 157.
¿ Bancroft, ii. 158.
-
·
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The governor being detained, Miller proceeded to North Carolina, " holding the triple office of governor, secretary, and collector."
The conduct of this man, " dressed up in his brief authority," was oppressive. The spirit of the people was aroused by his extortion and tyranny .. Led on by John Culpepper, who had been surveyor-gene- ral of South Carolina, they seized the president and six members of the council, and put them in prison. They called a legislature, appointed courts of justice, and exercised all the rights and powers of government for two years .* The imbecile hand that then held the English sceptre (Charles II.) was too fond of pleasure "to take much trouble with a distant and disordered colony."
The colonists declared, that "excessive taxation, abridgment of po- litical liberty, with a denial of a free election of an assembly, the unwise interruptions of the natural channels of commerce were the threefold grievances of the colony."
This was the germ of the great principles that ripened more than one hundred years after, into our glorious revolution of 1776, and its rich fruits were our national independence and liberty.
When Governor Eastchurch arrived, his authority was derided. He applied to the Governor of Virginia for aid to restore his authority. But he died before troops could be raised.
Culpepper was tried in England in 1680 for these offences, defended by Shaftesbury ; he was acquitted, even by an English jury.
In 1680, John Harvey, as president of the council, took charge of the colony of North Carolina, and in June of that year, John Jenkins was appointed governor by the proprietors ; who was suc- ceeded on his death (December 1681), by Henry Wilkinson.
That the insurrection of Culpepper was not considered treasona- ble, or even unpopular with the Proprietors themselves, is proved by the fact that one of his associates under Governor Harvey, was the Receiver General, and another (George Durant) a judge of the court.
Such, however, was the free spirit of the people, that it was ex- pedient to send one of the proprietors as governor.
In 1683, Seth Sothel, who had purchased the rights of Lord Clarendon, arrived as Governor in North Carolina.
The character of Sothel presents every vice that can degrade man or disgrace his nature. "During the six years that he mis- ruled the people of North Carolina, the dark shades of his charac- ter were not relieved by a single ray of virtue."} Profligate in his habits, licentious in his tastes, sordid and avaricious in his conduct ; his administration is marked by every kind of extortion. He was not fit to rule over a people that were impatient of any tyranny or oppression. He was impeached, imprisoned by the people, and sen- tenced by the colony to twelve months exile, and a perpetual incapacity for the office of governor. He returned to South Carolina, where he afterwards became governor ; from this colony also his
* Williamson, i. 132.
+ Ibid. i. 140.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
vices expelled him, and he died in North Carolina in 1692 without issue.
For the will of Seth Sothel, from the records now on file in Se- cretary of State's Office at Raleigh, see chap. xix., Chowan county, in the following pages.
PHILIP LUDWELL succeeded as governor, 1693. He continued but a short time in the colony, and although four years governor, resided the greater part of that time in Virginia .*
Governor Ludwell had been a collector of customs in Virginia, an adherent of Berkley, and a complainant in England against Effingham as Governor of Virginia. After some time spent in vain efforts to carry out the wishes of the lords proprietors, consistent with the prosperity of the colonists, he gladly retired to Virginia, and Alexander Lillington was appointed deputy governor ; two years aftert Thomas Harvey succeeded as deputy governor.
The fundamental constitutions so sagely devised by the philoso- phic Locke, were abrogated at this time.
The portion of the province north of the Santee, was called North Carolina; and the four southern counties, South Carolina.
A dreadful storm was in this year experienced in North Carolina ;} it reversed the order of nature. It stopped some rivers, and opened others.
Thomas Smith, on the abrogations of the constitutions of Locke, was appointed governor by the Proprietors ; but his political opi- nions were so different from those of the colonists, that he gladly advised that one of the Proprietors should visit North Carolina, to inquire into their grievances and redress their wrongs.
Following this salutary counsel, Lord Ashley, the grandson of Shaftesbury, the pupil and antagonist of Locke, and the celebrated author of the Characteristics, was appointed. He declined the mis- sion, and JOHN ARCHDALE, a member of the peaceful society of Friends, received the appointment. Until his arrival, Joseph Black was deputy governor of the province.
The selection of Governor Archdale was most fortunate. Im- bued with the peaceful and wise tenets of his religious belief, and the true principles of democracy that it inculcated, like his great predecessor in Pennsylvania who landed only twelve years before, at New Castle (27th Oct., 1682), his administration of the colony was prudent, wise, and salutary.
In the month of March, 1695, he met the Legislature in Charles- ton.§ He purchased lands in Albemarle, and one of his daughters married in Pasquotank, where some of his descendants live to this day. The wife of William Hill, Esq., the present Secretary of State of North Carolina, is a descendant of Governor Archdale, through his daughter Ann, who married (July, 1688) Emmanuel
* Williamson, i. 147.
¿ Marten, i. 195.
+ Ibid. i. 143.
¿ Williamson, i. 158.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
Lowe, whose daughter Anne married Pendleton, whose daughter Mary married Dempsy Conner, the father of Mrs. Hill."
· An advocate for the freedom of conscience, he wisely avoided the religious disputes between the zeal of the high church party, and the great body of the people, which had much excited the colony. He quieted the jarrings between the colonists and their feudal sovereigns, by remitting quit rents for three and four years, regu- lating the prices of lands, and allowing the payment in produce in lieu of money. To cultivate the friendship of the Indians, he es- tablished a Board to decide all contests between them and the whites. Although surrounded by dangerous and savage tribes, no conflict was apprehended, because no offence was committed.
Penn's treaty with the Indians in Pennsylvania has received the plaudits of all ages. Made, unlike other treaties, without any formality of oaths; and, unlike others, was never violated. So Archdale acted. He established in our jurisprudence the great principle that those, who, from conscientious scruples, refused to bear arms, should be exempted therefrom on a certificate from the Governor .*
Roads were made under skillful surveys. The course of his con- duct was such that the representatives of the freemen of the colony declared that, "by his wisdom, patience, and labor, Governor Arch- dale had laid a foundation for a most glorious superstructure."t
His character deserves to be held in grateful remembrance by the people of North Carolina. The effects of his sagacity introduced sys- tem and union into the colony, and his name should be perpetuated by a more enduring monument than it has hitherto received.
During his administration, a brig from Madagascar, on her way to England, anchored off Sullivan's Island. . Thomas Smith, a land- grave, on going on board, received a bag of Rice, with descriptions of its culture, its suitableness for food, and its incredible increase. From this small beginning arose that which soon became the chief support of the colony, and is now one of its staple commodities and a source of wealth.}
When Governor Archdale returned to England, the government of the Colony of North Carolina devolved on Thomas Harvey, as Deputy Governor, who had already (1695) exercised that office; and, on his death, the administration devolved on Henderson Walker, who was President of the Council.§ He was a lawyer, and for some time a judge of the Supreme Court.
Under his administration, an important change took place in the judiciary. Hitherto the general court had been held by the chief magistrate, the deputies of the lords proprietors, and two assistants. A commission now issued appointing five persons Justices of the Supreme Court.
* See Militia Laws of North Carolina, quoted in note to vol. i. William- son, 272.
+ Archdale, 21. Bancroft, iii. 16. Martin, i. 198. į Martin, i. 198. ¿ See Martin, i. 265. Williamson, i. 189. Bancroft, iii. 20.
3
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The piracies of the famous Captain Kidd occurred at this time, who was taken, and tried in England and executed.
Under the mild rule of Gov. Walker, the inhabitants of North Carolina increased in the enjoyment of the highest personal liberty. " Five miles below Edenton, just a hundred yards from the sound, beneath the shade of a large cedar, is the grave of Henderson Walker. The stone that marks the spot keeps the record that North Carolina, during his administration, enjoyed tranquillity.'" I copy from the tomb-stone the following :-.
"Here lyes ye body of HENDERSON WALKER, EsQ.,
President of the Council and Commander-in-Chief of North Carolina, during whose Administration the Province enjoyed that tranquillity which it is to be wished it may never want. He departed this life, 14 April, 1704, aged 44 years."
On the north side of this tomb
"Lyes ye body of . GEORGE LILLINGTON, Son of Major Alexander Lillington, who died in ye 15 year of his age, Anno 1706."
Over the other side is the following inscription :-
"Here lyes ye body of MADAM ANN MOSELY, Wife of Edward Mosely, Esq. She was ye daughter of Maj. Alex. Lillington, Esq., and ye Widow of the Hon. Henderson Walker, Esq., Late President of His Majesty's Council of No. Carolina. She departed this life, Nov. the 18th, A. D. 1712, aged 55 years & 5 months."
On the death of Governor Walker, Robert Daniel, a landgrave, was made President of the Council. He had distinguished himself in arms at the late attack on St. Augustine, and was appointed by Sir Nathaniel Johnson, whose commission now extended over the whole Province as Deputy Governor of the Northern part of Carolina.
Lord Granville, who was still Palatine, had instructed Sir Na- thaniel Moore to establish the religion of the Church of England in the colony by legal authority.
In 1704; by arts and intrigue in the General Assembly, a law was passed by a majority of one, disfranchising all dissenters from any office of trust, honor, or profit.
A previous assembly had passed a law (1702) by which thirty pounds should be raised in each precinct to support a minister of the church of England.
This produced tumults and insurrections among the people. A large majority of the colonists had no religion ; many who professed religion were Quakers, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Independents.
In the year 1705, the first church in North Carolina was built
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
in Chowan County .* . Quakers were not allowed to give evidence in any criminal case, or serve on a jury, or hold any office.
The Governor (Daniel) and the people, immediately opposed these laws. A petition was introduced into Parliament, and, on hearing the evidence, the House of Lordst declared that these "acts were repugnant to the laws of England, contrary to the charter of the proprietors; an encouragement to atheism; detrimental to trade; and tended to the depopulation and ruin of the province."
Thus was first asserted, in North Carolina, by her simple and patriotic people, the great principle of divorce of church and state.
This year (1705) was printed the first American newspaper, called the Boston News Letter.
In this year, so severe was the cold, that Albemarle Sound, at Edenton, was frozen over.}
Peacefully as was this important principle (separation of church and state) maintained and established, North Carolina was not free from tumult. The succession of a governor (like that of the sceptre of the mother country) was often the scene of confusion and insurrection. In the language of a cotemporaneous writer,§ "it was the common practice of the people in North Carolina to resist and imprison their governors, until they looked upon that as lawful which had been so long tolerated."
Thomas Cary was appointed Deputy Governor by Sir Nathaniel Johnston. The Lords Proprietors disapproved of the choice, and directed their deputies to select one of their own number as Governor of North Carolina. The deputies selected William Glover. Cary, who was selected as deputy governor, had been collector of. the rents of the Lords Proprietors, and had 'neglected to settle his ac- counts. For awhile he seemed to yield to the sway of Glover; but, aided by his friends, he seized the records of the province, and proclaimed himself governor. 1146187
The colony now was a scene of anarchy ; the laws were suspended, and justice fled. The respectable portion of the colony adhered to Glover; while Cary possessed the force. A general assembly was called, which met at Captain Heckelfield's, on Little River, to de- cide this vexed question. Members appeared under writs of election issued by President Glover; while another set appeared under writs of election issued by President Cary. Glover and Cary sat in separate rooms with their respective councils. Great confusion prevailed, and the partisans of Glover, irritated by the persecutions from Cary and his adherents, sought refuge in Virginia. Thus was the Colony of North Carolina, for a time, again under a domin- ion contrary to the proprietary government.
At this period, Edward Hyde arrived with the commission of Lieutenant Governor ; but Cary refused to yield. With an armed brig and a smaller vessel he made an attempt upon Edenton, but
* Williamson, i. 169.
# Williamson, i. 177.
+ Martin, i. 223.
¿ Spotswood MSS.
36
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
was repulsed and retired to Bath. Governor Hyde made a requi- sition upon the Governor of Virginia, ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD, who sent a party of marines from the ships that lay in Hampton Roads.
The finale of this insurrection is detailed by the following letter from Governor Spotswood, which I copy from a document on file in the archives of the Historical Society of the University of North Carolina .*
"KEQUOTAN, July 31, 1711.
" To the Proprietors of Carolina :
"MY LORDS-Since my writing this, the marines are returned, after having frighted the rebellious party so as to lay down their arms and disperse; and I with joy tell your Lordships that there is now some prospect of tranquillity in your Government; and that I have brought this about without effusion of blood or disorders committed. And, upon my arrival at this place, I found Colonels Cary, Levy, and Truit, and company, blustering, and pretending to have taken a passage in the fleet for their going for England, in order to justify their actions. Whereupon I had them brought before me ; but plainly discovered they intended nothing less than a fair trial at your Lordships' Board. Wherefore, seeing they would give me no security for such appearance, I have sent them home in the Reserve and Tyger men-of-war; believing the greatest justice I can do them is to leave them to your Lordships' examination. "A. SPOTSWOOD."
Edward Hyde, who was appointed Governor the next year, issued his proclamation January, 1712, granting pardon to all the late in- surgents, except Thomas Cary, John Porter, and three others.
The Lords Proprietors granted, in 1709, to Christopher, Baron de Graaffenreidt, ten thousand acres of land, on the Neuse and Cape Fear rivers, at the rate of ten pounds sterling for every thousand acres, and five shillings quit rent. , A great number of Palatines, and fifteen hundred Swiss, followed the Baron, and settled at the confluence of the Trent and Neuse. The town was called New Bern, after Bern in Switzerland, the birth-place of Graaffenreidt.
It had been the boast of one of the earliest historianst of North Carolina, that this colony was the only instance of a nation planted in peace, and located without bloodshed of the natives. This was true at this time. While Massachusetts, Virginia, and others were laying the foundation of their colony on the bones of the aborigi- nes, and cementing their structure with blood, North Carolina was quietly pursuing her course, unmolested by the Indians, and respect- ing their rights.
* Extracts from "Letters of the Hon. Alexander Spotswood, late Governor of Virginia, respecting the affairs of North Carolina, addressed to the Ministry of the late Queen Anne, extracted from the letter book in MS. and deposited in the Secretary's Office of North Carolina by Alexander Martin, late Gover- nor, to serve as materials for some future historian of said State."
+ Lawson's History of North Carolina.
37
4
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The Indians viewed with jealousy the increasing numbers of the whites. The first blow was struck by them. The Tuscaroras, a powerful tribe, formed a conspiracy with the Pamplico Indians, to attack the planters on the Roanoake. The Cothechneys, who lived in the present county of Greene, engaged to come down and join the Cores, and attack the planters on the Neuse and Trent rivers. Bath was to be attacked by the Mattamuskeets and Matchepungoes.
On the 11th of September, 1711, one hundred and twelve per- sons, principally settlers on the Roanoake and Chowan, fell under the murderous tomahawk. The carnage was continued for three · days, until fatigue only disabled the savage foe:
The utmost cruelty marked the inroad of the savages. From a letter of C. Gale, who was then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, written a short time after, this horrid massacre has been trans- mitted to us in all its fearful truth. Old men and infants, young men and maidens, all shared the same awful fate. "The family of Neville," says Gale, "was treated after this manner. The old man was found, after being shot dead, laid out on the floor, with a clean pillow under his head, his stockings turned over his shoes, and his body covered with fine linen. His wife, after being murdered, was set upon her kness in the chimney corner, and her hands raised up on a chair, as if at prayer. A son was laid out in the yard, with a pillow under his head, and a bunch of rosemary laid to his nose. At the next house, the owner was shot, and laid on his wife's grave; women were laid on the floor, and great sharp stakes run up through their bodies. Women with child, were murdered, and the unborn ripped out and hung on trees."*
Lawson and Graaffenriedt were taken while exploring the Neuse. Lawson, the Surveyor-General of the province, and its earliest historian, was murdered by the savages; De Graaffenreidt only escaped by humiliating stipulations. Such, was the effect upon Graaffenreidt, that he sold his interest to Thomas Pollock for eight hundred pounds, and returned to Switzerland, This conduct of the Indians, met with severe chastisement. Governor Hyde called out the militia of North Carolina. The Legislature of South Carolina, with alacrity raised six hundred militia, and three hundred and sixty Indians, under Col. Barnwell; who, with great expedition crossed the wilderness that then separated North from South Carolina, and was joined on the Neuse by such portions of the North Carolina militia, as could be spared from guarding the inhabitants. The Indians were fortified on the banks of the Neuse, in the present County of Craven, about eighteen miles west of Newbern. Here they received the attack of the whites. They were defeated with great slaughter (1712); more than three hundred savages were killed, and one hundred made prisoners.
* I am indebted for this letter to the excellent address of Professor Hub- bard, of the University, at the last commencement, on the " Early Historians of North Carolina."
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
In the summer, to the horrors of war, the ravages of the yellow fever were added to the misfortunes of the colonists, and the Governor fell a victim (September 8th, 1712).
The Deputies of the Lords Proprietors selected George Pollock, the Deputy of Lord Carteret, as President and Commander in Chief to succeed him.
To liquidate the heavy debts* of the colony, in consequence. of the Indian wars, eight thousand pounds of bills of credit were issued by the colony.
This was the first emission of paper money in the State of North Carolina. .
CHAPTER V.
FROM 1712 TO 1729.
Charles Eden governor (1713)-Tuscarora Indians humbled, and make a treaty-Black Beard, the pirate ; his life and death-Edenton established -Eden's death (1722)-Copy of his tombstone-Thomas Pollock succeeds as governor ; and, in 1724, on his death, William Reed, as President of the Council, is governor-In 1724 Governor Burrington arrives-His character -His opinion of the people of North Carolina-Sir Richard Everhard appointed governor, 1725-Dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina, 1727-The lords proprietors surrender to the crown, July 1729,- except Lord Granville-Population and divisions of the colony at this time -Portion of Lord Granville. 1
ON the 13th of July, 1713, Charles Eden was appointed Gover- nor of North Carolina ..
From 1693 to January 1712, the northern part of the province (Albemarle), was ruled either by deputy governors appointed by the Governor of Carolina at Charleston, or by the President of the Council, elected by the deputies of the lords proprietors. In all other respects the two governments, North and South Carolina, were independent, separated by a wilderness, and a well defined boundary, the Santee River.
The Tuscarora Indians, now humbled, entered into a treaty (June 1718), and a tract of land on the Roanoake, in the present county of Bertie, was granted to them by Governor Eden. Finally, this tribe joined the nations in New York, holding, until a few years past, the fee simple in a portion of the soil of Bertie County.
In the administration of Governor Eden, a character notorious for his crimes as a pirate, Edward Teach, commonly called Black Beard, lived in North Carolina. So daring were his adventures, that he defied the government; he had a ship of forty guns well armed, and spread terror along the coast. The colonial govern- ment finding itself unable to resist his power, it was deemed proper
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