USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina V. I, Pt. 1 > Part 12
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1663
1660
II3
THE NAVIGATION ACTS BURDENSOME
virtually enacted that the colonies could obtain foreign goods only from them. Still there was unrestrained trade between the colonies themselves. The Englishmen in New England could freely barter with their fellow-subjects of Albemarle, and that, indeed, was the chief source of supply for that colony. And it may be that the New England merchants evaded the navigation acts, and that a part of the European commodities brought to Albemarle had not come by way of London. At any rate, the growing mercantile importance of New England attracted attention, and in 1672 a blow was aimed to cripple it. An act was passed abridging the free- dom of inter-colonial traffic.
A duty was imposed on tobacco and certain other enų- merated articles when exported from one colony to another. And tobacco was the staple in which payments were made. It was the basis of bills of credit. The duty imposed was a penny a pound, and to that extent the tax lessened the value of tobacco as a debt-paying commodity in the inter-colonial trade. Indeed, tobacco from the first had been the subject of particular regulation. Its culture in England was for- bidden, and Charles I had taken to himself the entire pro- duction of the English colonies, at a price fixed by himself, and it paid a duty on being brought into England. If any obtained at Albemarle by the New England merchants was shipped to the continent, the king lost his taxes and New England obtained funds from abroad to pay for European commodities to be clandestinely brought into the colonies. To stifle this trade and to secure more funds for the deplen- ished purse of a needy sovereign this export tax was im- posed, and it was to be collected by officers of the Crown. Indeed, the entire regulation of colonial affairs, being claimed as a royal prerogative, had on the Restoration been com- mitted to the king's Privy Council. When Ashley became chancellor of the exchequer, in 1668, ever active in pro- moting national advancement, he procured the appointment of a Council of Commerce, to whom was assigned special charge of the colonies. In 1672 Ashley became lord high
1572
Tobacco shipped to New England taxed
F
E
I14
JENKINS AND MILLER, 1673-78
1672
chancellor and was created Earl of Shaftesbury, and in the same year this export tax was laid on tobacco.
The Board of Trade
Origin
But the Council of Commerce was inefficient, and later it was dissolved and its functions were transferred to a new board appointed to take charge of all matters relative to trade and the foreign plantations ; and the immediate care of these affairs was committed to a few selected members, among them being Shaftesbury, Craven, Berkeley, and Col- leton, four of the Proprietors of Carolina, while Landgrave Locke was their secretary. Such was the origin of this board that continued until the Revolution to manage the affairs of the American colonies. At the time of its creation the colonies were free to export their products, except tobacco and some other enumerated articles, in English ships, to the West Indies and elsewhere, and to import rum and salt and produce in return ; and European commodities im- ported by one colony from England could be reshipped to another; tobacco could be exported from one colony to another on the payment of the export tax, and upon its importation into England an import duty was to be paid. But while these were the regulations, they had not been enforced. No customs officers had been appointed for Albemarle, and there had been no interference with the trade that enterprising New Englanders had established with Albemarle. Now there was to be a change ; but Shaftesbury was no longer on the board.
1673
Shaftesbury
His zealous efforts to arrest the advance of Catholic influ- ences had, in 1673, separated him from the other great officers of state, and in September of that year, having been dismissed from the office of lord chancellor, he became the popular leader and the central figure in the contest against the measures of the court. Having carried through Par- liament a bill forbidding Catholics to come within ten miles of London, the king, who was largely under Catholic influ-
115
THE NAVIGATION ACTS ENFORCED
ences, dismissed him from the Privy Council and ordered 1675 him to leave London.
The people murmur
It was fifteen years after the axe of the first settlers had rung in the clearings of Albemarle before any order "by the king's command" was heard in Carolina. Then came com- missions for one Copeley and one Birch to be the king's collector of customs and his surveyor of customs; and in C. R., I, 291 case these appointees should not be in the colony, the gov- ernor was directed to fill the offices by his own appointment. Copeley and Birch did not appear and claim their commis- sions, so the duty of appointment devolved on John Jenkins, then president of the council and acting governor. Oppo- - sition was at once manifested to this first step toward putting in force the navigation acts and trade regulations that had not been previously observed in Albemarle. But Jenkins and the other deputies managed to reconcile the people to it, and the appointments were made. Timothy C. R., I, 292 Biggs, the deputy of Earl Craven, who had married the widow of Speaker Catchmaid, was appointed surveyor of customs, and Valentine Byrd, the collector. Byrd was a man of consequence and of wealth, and lived in style, as the inventory of his estate filed on his death a few years later indicates .* He entered on his duties, but probably was not exacting or thorough in their performance. It was said that many hogsheads of tobacco went out tax free marked as "bait for the New England fishermen," and European com-
*In 1680 we have the inventory of Captain Valentine Byrd, who was one of the grandees of the time, and here we come upon "fine Holland sheets," and "diaper napkins." and "table cloaths," and "silver tankards and spoons," "dressing boxes," "mirrors." "books." "a coach." and "lignum-vitæ punch bowl." with a rich account of household articles in the shape of "warming pans." "beds and bed- ding," "chairs and tables." clearly demonstrating that Captain Valen- tine Byrd was a man well-to-do in this world; and if not very comfortable, had no one to blame but himself. for he had men servants and maid servants, negroes, Indians, and white convicts, and lands well stocked and good tenements thereon, all of which he left to his wife, who afterward gave both it and herself to the first leader of rebellion, and became Madame Culpepper.
Hawks, II, 578
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JENKINS AND MILLER, 1673-78
1675
modities were allowed to be landed that did not come under a London manifest. Still ostensibly the law was observed in Albemarle, but it was a constant cause of irritation.
In the meantime other circumstances led to discontent and apprehension among the inhabitants. There were rumors that the rents were to be raised, and also that the province was to be divided among the Proprietors, and that Albemarle was to be allotted to Sir William Berkeley. It would have been repugnant to the freemen of Albemarle to be cast under the dominion of any single Proprietor ; but when their ruler was to be Berkeley, whose tyranny in Vir- ginia was drawing the inhabitants into revolt, the suggestion was abhorrent to them, and the Assembly in November, 1675. adopted a remonstrance to the Lords Proprietors on the subject.
The Re- monstrance
An Indian war C. R., I, 658
In addition to these troubles an Indian war now set in. Some of the savages who had been waging a murderous warfare on the northern borders of Virginia fled to the Meherrins and stirred them up to hostilities, and they began to roam in the wilderness between Albemarle and Nanse- mond, and committed several murders that aroused the people. Fortunately, just when needed, Captain Zack Gilliam came into port from London with his armed ship, the Carolina, bringing a cargo among which was a supply of arms and ammunition, and a force was organized to suppress the Indians. In the prosecution of this war, which lasted for more than a year, as the council said later, "by God's assistance, though not without the loss of many men," the Meherrins were wholly subdued, and were removed from their territory on the south side of the Meherrin River, which they had occupied under a treaty made by commissioners appointed by King Charles II, to a reservation at the mouth of the Meherrin River, and on the north side, although after that some of them planted corn and built cabins on old fields of the Chowanoak Indians on the south side of the river.
Meherrins subdued, 1676-77
The tobacco duty resisted
On the return of the force from this campaign against the Meherrins the people, with arms in their hands, demanded
II7
NAVIGATION ACTS RESISTED
that the export tax on tobacco shipped to another colony should not be collected. Here was incipient rebellion. The grievance to be redressed was not because of the Proprietary government, but it arose under the laws of England. The purpose of the English statesmen was to build up England's greatness by constraining the colonies to trade at London and by preventing inter-colonial trade in tobacco. The New England traders, it was alleged, were adept in evading these regulations. Vessels leaving England would stop at Ire- land and obtain a quantity of linen; others would call by the Canary Islands and take in wine. There was nothing immoral in the act itself. It had always been proper and lawful, but now it was sinful because prohibited in the inter- est of the London merchant. And so with tobacco. It was entirely proper to export it from Albemarle direct to London without any export duty, but if used to pay a debt in New England it was burdened with an export tax. Its value as a debt-paying medium, if used in the New England trade, was lessened a penny a pound in the interest of the London merchant. The coast trade was natural, but it was not helpful to London, therefore it must be stifled. Such was the argument of the English statesmen. The men of Albemarle were not of that mind. They preferred to consult the advan- tage of Albemarle. The law they objected to was not of their making. It was not for their benefit. It was disad- vantageous to their community. It was imposed on them without their consent by men across the Atlantic to pro- mote their own selfish interests. It was not submitted to with complacency. Oppressive and unjust legislation bears the same fruit in every age. There are evasions by artifice and then revolt. Hogsheads of tobacco were clandestinely ex- ported, and then the people with arms in their hands took an open stand against the enforcement of the law. Chief among those who led the opposition was George Durant, who had become one of the most influential men in Albe- marle, and who had a considerable quantity of tobacco for shipment to New England; and in alliance with him were
1677
Tobacco export laws
.
Armed rebellion
118
JENKINS AND MILLER, 1673-78
1676
Richard Foster, one of the council; Patrick White, William Crawford, and Valentine Byrd himself.
The administration compromises
C. R., I, 292
The few councillors and officials who felt constrained to support the law were unable to cope with a determined com- munity. They therefore effected a compromise. Without authority, they offered to reduce the export tax to a farthing the pound. That was assented to, and Byrd was allowed thereafter to peacefully discharge his duties, but even then probably he used no great vigilance as the king's officer. And. indeed, it was afterward alleged against him that he allowed much tobacco to be exported without the payment of any duty, and even winked at the importation of European manufactures that had not come by way of England.
The law evaded
And now came some episodes that in the uncertain and unsteady light thrown upon them and the shifting relations of the actors cannot be certainly accounted for, and the causes can only be surmised.
Thomas Miller, an apothecary, but a person of some con- sideration, was often in drink. There seems to have been bad blood between him and Jenkins, the president of the council. It is said a conspiracy was formed by Jenkins and John Culpepper, who had once been the surveyor-general of Carolina, to charge him with uttering treasonable words against the king's person and the monarchy, as well as blas- phemy. Early in 1676 he was arrested by Jenkins and the council and held under a guard of soldiers, put in irons and thrown into prison. Then, doubtless on their application to Berkeley, that rank Royalist issued a mandate for Miller's removal to Virginia to be tried before him and his council. The Albemarle Assembly, however, was no party to this proceeding, and it heard evidence in opposition to the charges. Miller, on being carried to Virginia, was acquitted by Berkeley and his council, and he caused his attorney. Henry Hudson, to institute an action for damages against Culpepper, and then in May Miller took shipping for London,
Miller arrested
C. R., I, 269, 314
119
CONFLICT WITH GOVERNOR JENKINS
bearing with him a remonstrance to the Proprietors adopted by the Assembly in the preceding November, and also a subsequent address adopted in March, relative to the depo- sition of Jenkins, and assuring the Proprietors of their fidelity to them.
About the same time Thomas Eastchurch, speaker of the Assembly, also sailed for London. He had had a case in one of the courts, of which Captain John Willoughby was a member, in which the court decided adversely to him, and on his proposing to appeal to the Lords Proprietors Willoughby denied the appeal, declaring that his. "court was the court of courts and the jury of juries." Willoughby is alleged to have been a great tyrant. For his tyrannical conduct and oppression he was cited before the Palatine's Court, but he beat the officer of that court and refused to attend : thereupon he was declared in contempt and out- lawed, and the succeeding General Assembly put a price on his head. and he fled to Virginia and remained there until the government of Albemarle subsequently became unsettled.
It would seem that Jenkins's course toward Miller, and perhaps his willingness to have the custom duty on tobacco collected, led to charges of misdemeanor against him, and the General Assembly deposed him from his office as presi- dent of the council and imprisoned him and sent by Miller to the Proprietors for instructions. There was a conflict be- tween the Assembly and Governor Jenkins, who was never- theless sustained by a majority of the council. Nor were the Proprietors satisfied with the conduct of their own deputies, who in several particulars had disregarded their wishes and in some instances had thwarted them. The Pro- prietors had directed that towns should be laid off and built at Roanoke Island and elsewhere, so that trade could be centred at certain points instead of being carried on in a desultory way at the landing places of the planters. They had also directed that a way by land should be opened to the settlement on the Ashley ; and they had particularly enjoined that plantations should be settled on the south side of the
1676
Eastchurch goes to England
Governor Jenkins deposed, May, 1676 .
2
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JENKINS AND MILLER, 1673-78
1675 - sound. None of these instructions had been obeyed, and the councillors had prevented any settlement on the south side of the sound, because that would have interfered with their individual trade with the Indians in that direction. which they had engrossed. Indeed. Thomas Cullen, one of the deputies, was accused of furnishing the Indians with pistols and with arms and ammunition, and because of that charge he fled from the colony.
Eastchurch appointed governor
C. R., I, 228-233
In the fall of 1676 Eastchurch and Miller arrived in London, and the Proprietors at once took their matters into consideration. Eastchurch was not merely a gentleman of good fame, but was related to Lord Treasurer Clifford, one of the Board of Trade, who had solicited his appointment as governor. The Proprietors finding that he was a very dis- creet and worthy man, was speaker of the Assembly and much interested in the prosperity of the colony, Novem- ber 21, 1676, appointed him governor. They also, in a letter to the Assembly. approved its action in regard to Jenkins, and expressed their appreciation of the respect shown for themselves by the Assembly.
Difficult indeed was the situation of those Proprietors who were members of the Board of Trade and in duty bound to see his Majesty's customs collected, and were yet interested in preserving quiet in their province, where the people were evad- ing the payment of that tax in defiance of the royal authority, and, emboldened by the progress of Bacon's revolution in Virginia, were likewise manifesting a purpose to govern themselves .*
*In May, 1676, because of Berkeley's supineness in not checking Indian hostilities, many of the Virginians embodied under the leader- ship of Nathaniel Bacon and marched against the Indians; this pro- ceeding being in defiance of Governor Berkeley's wishes. on the 29th of the month he proclaimed them rebels. The next month an Assembly met, and Berkeley having promised to issue a commission to Bacon as commander of the forces against the Indians, all differ- ences were quieted. But later the governor refused to abide by the agreement, and withheld the promised commission. Bacon hurriedly marched his troops to Jamestown, surrounded Berkeley and de-
The spirit of self-gov- ernment
121
EFFORTS FOR COMPROMISE
If any one could reconcile the conflicting elements in Albe- marle, Shaftesbury wisely surmised that he must be found among those who were in favor with the Assembly. So having appointed Speaker Eastchurch governor, he procured Miller's appointment as collector of customs, for Miller's cause had been espoused by the Assembly, and he had borne their letters to the Proprietors, and on his account they had imprisoned and deposed John Jenkins, the president of the council.
A year had elapsed since the Assembly had by the deposi- tion of Jenkins taken the administration into its own hands, and still the Proprietors did not hasten to interfere. Shaftes- bury, now grown to be the greatest of all subjects, had persistently declined the overtures of the king, and had resolutely agitated to secure safeguards for Protestantism and liberty. In 1677 a mismove led to his arrest and im- prisonment in the Tower, and all his applications for a habeas corpus being denied, he was only released by the king's order the following year.
Eastchurch deputizes Miller
The new governor dallied in England, and it was not until toward June, 1677, that Eastchurch and Miller departed for Albemarle. And even then, instead of sailing direct for Virginia, they embarked in a vessel bound for the island of Nevis, in the Caribbean Sea. There Eastchurch fell in with a lady of attractive person and with a considerable
manded the fulfilment of the promise. The governor complied; but shortly afterward revoked the commission as being obtained under compulsion. and raised an army to take Bacon, who was again pro- claimed a rebel. In September the contending forces met at James- town, and Berkeley was routed and fled. Bacon thereupon called a new Assembly. But on the first day of October he fell a victim to fever contracted in the trenches of Jamestown. After his death Berkeley soon re-established his authority and terrorized the Vir- ginians by his unsparing cruelties and excessive executions. On 1677 January 29th, however. Herbert Jeffreys arrived from England. bringing a commission as lieutenant-governor, and accompanied by a regiment of soldiers. Berkeley sailed for England in April, and starting under the king's disapprobation, soon after his arrival died of a broken heart.
1677
Government by the people
Eastchurch stops at Nevis
122
JENKINS AND MILLER, 1673-78
1677
fortune, and, remaining to pay his addresses, commissioned Miller, who had been appointed deputy, to be president of the council, and despatched him in advance to settle affair, by the time of his own arrival.
C. R., I, 278, 292 Miller arrives July, 1677
In July Miller reached Albemarle, and having exhibited his commissions, was quietly admitted into his various offices and assumed the reins of government. All the inhabitants again took the oath, or, being Quakers, subscribed it, of allegiance to the king, fidelity to the Proprietors and sub- mission to the established government. The Indians being still hostile, Miller during the summer carried on a cam- paign against them, and eventually they were overcome.
As collector of customs Miller appointed deputies in every precinct, among them Timothy Biggs, who were very active in collecting the export tax on tobacco and in seizing any European commodities that had not come from England : and, indeed, the ship Patience was seized for unlawfully bringing in such goods.
Opposition to the navigation laws
This zealous enforcement of these odious laws again occasioned discontent among the inhabitants, who had acqui- esced in Valentine Byrd's easier administration. And then it began to be rumored that Byrd was to be held accountable for great sums and much tobacco that he ought to have had in possession, as well because of what he had collected as because of what he had failed to collect. Such demands interested not merely Byrd, but all exporters of tobacco who had profited by the reduction of the tax to a farthing the pound.
Durant resolves to revolt
C. R., I, 258, 286
Perhaps it was because of this probable demand that the idea of revolt had suggested itself to Durant, whose interest lay in not disturbing the existing situation. He being in London subsequent to the appointment of Eastchurch and Miller, had plainly told the Proprietors that Eastchurch should never be governor, and rather than that he would revolt. Bold, self-reliant, and masterful must have been that
123
DURANT BEGINS THE REVOLT
untitled woodsman when standing face to face with the great earl and the other powerful noblemen who owned Carolina he had warned them that Eastchurch should never be governor, but that he would keep him out by force and arms. Whatever principle had been settled in England by the Restoration, in Albemarle Durant still held that govern- ment should be by consent of the governed. And his purpose to revolt against Eastchurch's administration was openly declared in Albemarle.
Of this Miller doubtless had timely information, and his arbitrary measures while acting as governor may have been taken because of it. He made limitations on the choice of assemblymen, and succeeded in having himself invested with the power of imposing fines at his own pleasure. Armed with this authority, he issued warrants to have some of the most considerable men in the colony brought before him dead or alive, setting a price upon their heads, and for his own protection he surrounded himself with a guard of soldiers. Such desperate measures indicate apprehension of trouble; and, indeed, as they were reasonably calculated to excite a conflict, Miller must have considered that revolt was imminent and that the better way to meet it was by resolution and a show of force rather than by temporizing. Forewarned, he doubtless thought to overawe those who had not already attached themselves to the leaders of the opposite faction by a show of determined conduct.
On December 1, 1677, the Carolina came into port from London with George Durant on board, who found Gilliam a willing ally in his plans. Gilliam himself had a grievance against some of the Proprietors, who had turned him out of a considerable employment in Hudson's Bay, and wished them evil. His son also seems to have had a vessel plying from Albemarle to New England, and while the Carolina and her consorts took in cargoes for London, there may have been illicit traffic to which all the shipmasters were parties. Dec., 1677 A person described as the New England ambassador had been in Albemarle, and rumors were set afloat to inflame the
1677
Miller acts resolutely C. R .. I, 249, 287
Durant returns to Albemarle C. R., I, 292
.
12.4
JENKINS AND MILLER, 1673-78
1677
Purpose of the rebellion
people. It does not appear that there was harbored a design to throw off allegiance to the king or to deny the authority of the Lords Proprietors, but rather to impede the enforce- ment of the navigation acts and the collection of the tax on tobacco shipped to New England. The laws relating to trade bore hard upon them. and the Revolutionists proposed to prevent their operation. If necessary to that end, they would subvert the administration and set up a government of their own, and thus at least for a time escape from the rule of those who would enforce the regulations that bore so heavily upon their trade. Such appears to have been the purpose of the confederates, who drew into their meas- ures nearly all the leading inhabitants, except alone the deputies and those holding employment under Miller. The occasion for the outbreak followed swift upon the arrival of the Carolina. That ship was well armed, "a pretty vessel," carrying several cannon, and could defy any force Miller could bring against her. She now brought in a cargo com- posed in part, as the year before, of arms and ammunition, swords and pistols for sale to the farmers of Albemarle.
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