USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina V. I, Pt. 1 > Part 21
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216
BURRINGTON AND EVERARD, 1724-31
1728 C. R., II, 733
1728
Swann passes the Dismal Swamp. C. R .. 11,755
The dividing line
After years of delay, in 1728 the dividing line between Virginia and Carolina was established. Governor Eden and Governor Spotswood had agreed on a compromise of the vexed questions involved, which had been accepted by the authorities in England, but the king delayed authorizing the actual survey to be made, so the matter lay in abeyance until, in 1727. the governor of Virginia informed Sir Rich- ard that he had received instructions to appoint surveyors on the part of the Crown. The line was to run from the north shore of Currituck Inlet due west to the Chowan ; if it struck the Chowan between the mouths of Nottoway and Wiccons Creek it was to continue west to the mountains. But if it struck to the south of Wiccons Creek it was to follow the Chowan to that creek and then due west; and if that line struck the Blackwater River to the northward of Nottoway River it was to come down the Blackwater to the Nottoway and then west to the mountains. On the part of North Carolina. Christopher Gale, John Smith, Edward Moseley, and William Little were appointed the commissioners, and William Byrd, Richard Fitzwilliam, and W. Dandridge were to act for Virginia, representing the interest of the Crown. On March 7th a cedar post was fixed on the seashore as the beginning of the line. Four days later they struck the land "formerly belonging to Governor Gibbs," now to Mr. Bladen, one of the Lords of Trade, which was found to lie in North Carolina. The line cut the Blackwater above the mouth of the Nottoway, and so the surveyors followed the stream down to the point. the report saying that the former Virginia commissioners had been in error twenty-one and one-half miles. So there were thrown into Carolina a great quantity of land and many families that had formerly been claimed by Virginia, com- puted at a hundred thousand acres of land and three hun- dred tithables. It is also noted that when the surveyors strick Dismal Swamp the Virginia surveyors went around it, but the North Carolina surveyors boldly essaved the attempt and passed through it. The first one to come out on the west side was young Sam Swann, a nephew of Moseley, whose vigor, energy and learning subsequently
217
THE KING PURCHASES CAROLINA
led to his taking a prominent part in the affairs of the colony. On April 5th the commissioners suspended the work, which was resumed on September 25th, and a week later the Roanoke was reached.
On October 6th, when Hycootte Creek was reached, one hundred and sixty-eight miles from the inlet and forty-five miles west of the Roanoke River, the North Carolina com- missioners resolved that they had gone far enough for the present, it being fifty miles beyond any inhabitants. The C. R., II, Virginia surveyors, however, preferred going on, and ran 815 the line about seventy-two miles farther west, being alto- gether a distance of two hundred and forty-one miles from the sea, reaching the hills of the present county of Stokes.
Purchase by the Crown
There had been some movement looking to the purchase of the Carolinas by the Crown, which perhaps was inter- rupted by the sudden death of the king in 1727, but in January, 1728, a number of the Lords Proprietors united in a memorial offering to surrender their interests; and an agreement for the surrender being reached. an act of Par- liament was prepared authorizing and establishing the agree- ment, and the conveyance was made. At that time the eight shares were held and owned by the following Proprietors : That of Clarendon by James Bertie : that of Albemarle by the Duke of Beaufort ; that of Craven by Lord Craven : that of Colleton by Sir John Colleton ; that of Carteret by Lord John Carteret : that of Ashley by a minor, John Cotton; that of Sir John Berkeley by Joseph Blake, and that of Sir William Berkeley by Mary Dawson, widow of John Dawson, or Elizabeth Moore or Henry Bertie, there being a legal controversy to determine their rights.
All joined in the conveyance except Lord John Carteret, who was at that time lieutenant-general and governor of the Kingdom of Ireland, and his share was reserved to him.
By the agreement. each of the seven shares was to be purchased at the price of £2,500, being £17,500 in all; and the payment was to be made and the conveyance executed in June, 1729. There was, however, a considerable amount
1728 -
C. R .. II.776
C. R., III.33 The last Proprietors
Sale com- pleted, June, 1729
218
BURRINGTON AND EVERARD, 1724-3I
1728
Carteret retains his share
of quit rents due to the Proprietors, and to satisfy their claim for rents the king allowed them an additional sum of £5.000.
Everard breaks with Gale
C. R., III, 2
Notice of the proposed sale was, in December, 1728. con- veyed to the governor and council, and the council addressed a memorial to the king manifesting their happiness in the transfer of the province to the protection of the Crown, and then they continued: "That it was with the greatest sorrow that they felt obliged to make remonstrance against the character of Sir Richard Everard, whose incapacity, weakness, disregard of law, wickedness, and violence" they proceeded to set out with great particularity.
C. R., III, 5
On the other hand, some three weeks later Sir Richard published a declaration to convince mankind, and in par- ticular the inhabitants of the province, that all the unhappy misunderstandings and dissensions between him and the Assembly and other gentlemen of good note were owing to the calumnies and false information given him by Chief Justice Gale, John Lovick and William Little, who he de- clared were the only enemies to the repose and quiet of the people.
The Lords of Trade
C. R., III,63
Burrington appears to have been at that time at his plantation on the Cape Fear, but he soon departed for Lon- don. There, in August, he had the satisfaction of presenting to the authorities this declaration of Sir Richard's, which was a tardy vindication of his own character from the former representations of both Gale and the governor. The Board of Trade, to whom was committed the affairs of the colony. now had before them the statement of the council reflecting on Everard and the proclamation of Everard denouncing Gale and Little : while another paper was received by them, ostensibly the remonstrance of the inhabitants of North Carolina against the appointment of Burrington as gov- ernor. In the meanwhile, the administration of the province was not interfered with, and Everard, Gale and their associ- ates remained in undisturbed possession of their respective offices.
The currency act C. R., III, 145
After the execution of the deed transferring the province, and probably with information of it, but before official noti- fication, at its session of 1729 the Assembly passed a very
210
THE CURRENCY ACT
important act relating to the currency, making Sir Richard a present of £500 in consideration of his assenting to it. Dr. Hawks, with a copy of the act before him, says that it was passed in 1727, and was to go into effect in 1728: but in that he was mistaken : perhaps such a bill was prepared for the Assembly of 1727, and the copy he saw was a bill drawn up two years before it was enacted into a law.
By that act five commissioners were appointed to prepare The and issue bills to the amount of £40,000. One-fourth was to be delivered to the treasurer to redeem the old bills, which if not redeemed were to become valueless within a fixed time. A treasurer was appointed for each precinct, and the residue of the bills was to be apportioned among the pre- cincts according to their several needs and lent out by the precinct treasurers to citizens on mortgages of unencumbered 1729 real estate of twice the value of the loan. The loans were to be repaid in fifteen years, one-fifteenth and the interest being paid each year, the rate of interest being 614 per cent. The loan feature of the act had been in use in South Caro- lina and in other colonies and had proved a beneficent gov- ernmental operation, and doubtless was of much advantage to the people of North Carolina. While it was provided that twenty shillings of the bills were to be held as being worth fifteen pennyworth of silver as current in Virginia, yet as they might alter in value, it was provided that each suc- ceeding legislature should periodically revise this arrange- ment and declare the value in silver of twenty shillings in bills according to the then situation. Contracts specifi- cally made to be paid in sterling money or in gold and silver were not at all affected by this act.
This law took effect, and there being about £10,000 of the former issue of bills outstanding, they were retired ; and the currency of the province was this new paper money when the king's officers came into authority, and so continued for many years, for although the validity of the act was ques- tioned, it was never repealed.
The end of the proprietary government had now come, End of and with it passed away the distinctive features of admin- istration founded on the Fundamental Constitutions. Until then the office of Palatine had survived, and landgraves and
1729 -
currency act
proprietary government
220
BURRINGTON AND EVER.IRD, 1724-31
1729
caciques-the orders of Carolina nobility. With the end of the proprietary system these all necessarily fell. But other than that the transfer to the Crown worked but little change in the general system of government.
Influence of the transfer
For two-thirds of a century the colony had been under the general management of the Proprietors ; but left largely to itself. it had developed on its own lines. The grant to Charles's courtiers of an immense territory in the wilds of an unsettled continent could not have been expected to bring them speedy fortune. It entailed some considerable outlay at first, and the development being slow, no riches had been amassed at the expense of the settlers. Still, one- eighth of Carolina was a noble patrimony, and had the Pro- prietors been able to retain their shares for another gen- eration, and had acceptable agents to represent their inter- ests after population had thickened, they would have en- joyed a princely inheritance.
Conditions in North Carolina
Naturally the growth of North Carolina had been par- ticularly slow. The situation was much less favorable than in the settlements to the north, or even in South Carolina. To the first plantations, situated on Albemarle Sound. access was difficult and dangerous. Roanoke Inlet was not only shallow. but beset with treacherous and shifting shoals ; and Ocracoke, though bolder, was not well known, while the storms of Hatteras were a perpetual menace to adventurous merchantmen. The absence of a good port and harbor tended to stifle the growth of the colony, while more favored and attractive localities drew elsewhere the enterprising emi- grants from Europe who sought new homes in America.
Education
Life was easy and pleasant, but the population was so sparsely seated that social advantages and the benefits that attend the gathering together of many families into a com- pact community were deplorably lacking. There were no public schools. There were doubtless some schools and also some tutors employed on the plantations, but no academies for the improvement of the young had been established in the colony. But notwithstanding the absence of schools, edu- cation was not entirely neglected. A will of that period con-
Growth slow
221
EDUCATION IN THE PROVINCE
tains this direction: "I will that my slaves be kept at work on my lands, that my estate may be managed to the best advantage, so as my sons may have as liberal an education as the profits thereof will afford. And in their education I pray my executors to observe this method: Let them be Ashe's will, Off. Sec. State taught to read and write, and be introduced into the prac- tical part of arithmetic, not too hastily hurrying them to Latin or grammar: but after they are pretty well versed in these, let them be taught Latin and Greek. I propose this may be done in Virginia, after which let them learn French. Perhaps some Frenchman at Santee will under- take this. When they are arrived to years of discretion let them study the mathematics. I will that my daughter be taught to write and read and some feminine accomplish- ment which may render her agreeable, and that she be not kept ignorant as to what appertains to a good housewife in the management of household affairs."
There was but little organized religion among the inhab- Few ministers itants, except alone the Society of Friends. Efforts to build churches and engage pastors of the established Church of England had not been effective. There was generally a missionary or two in the vicinity of Edenton, but sometimes not one was resident in the whole province. An effort had been made to found a library at Bath, and Edward Moseley, whose liberal views had thrown him on the side of the Quakers in what was known as the "troublesome time" of Libraries. 1708 to 1711, and who was ever among the foremost in patriotic works, had presented a well-selected library to be kept at Edenton, setting an excellent example of practical philanthropy, which, however, neither Pollock nor Eden nor Gale nor any of his wealthy antagonists was inclined to follow.
Dr. Brickell, writing in 1731, says : "The want of Protes- Denomina- tant clergy is generally supplied by some schoolmaster, who tions reads the liturgy and then a sermon. Next to the Quakers the Presbyterians are the most numerous. They have had a minister of their own for many years, chiefly along the Neuse": while still earlier there had been some independent preachers, who claimed neither holy orders nor affiliation
1729
C.R., II, 533
222
BURRINGTON AND EVERARD, 1724-31
1720
with any organized church. Mostly around Bath clustered the Roman Catholics, who had a clergyman of their own.
The Baptists N. C. Bapt. Hist. Papers
The first Baptist congregation was organized about the time when the proprietary rule was drawing to its close. "In 1727 the Baptists organized a single church, now known as Shiloh, in Camden County." Two years later Everard. writing to the Bishop of London, said that when he first came over, in 1725, there were no dissenters except Quakers in the government; but now Paul Palmer, the Baptist teacher, had gained hundreds: and he asserted that the Quakers and Baptists were then flourishing among the North Carolinians. He mentions that there was at that time not a single clergyman in the province, meaning of the Church of England, while the Quakers and Baptists were very busy making proselytes and holding meetings daily in every part of the government. There was no ground for any friction among the people on the score of religious differences .*
C. R., III, 48
Industries
The industries were very limited. Besides farm work. there was some shipbuilding. for early in the settlement a colony from the Bermudas had begun that as an occupation, and it had been continued without interruption. Mention was made of a young man being brought from Virginia to be apprenticed in Albemarle to learn the shipbuilding trade, and Matthew Rowan came from Ireland to build a ship or two for some persons in Dublin. The building of ships was one of the established industries of the colony.
C. R., II,241
Population C. R., III, 433
In the whole province there were in 1729 about 30,000 inhabitants ; for four years later. in 1733. allowing for about 1000 immigrants coming in subsequent to his own arrival. Governor Burrington estimated the whites at 30,000, the negroes at 6000 and the Indians at 800.
Social conditions
With such a small population, many very poor and ex- pending their energies in clearing fields and in building cabins for temporary abode, each family measurably depen- dent on its own labor and resources, as hired help must necessarily have been scarce, there could be but little expec- tation of those social conditions that are developed in a
*In 1729 an act was passed that apparently gave to the freeholders in each parish the right of electing the vestrymen.
1
223
SOCI.IL CONDITIONS
long-settled and concentrated community. But the colony was on the eve of a fuller development at the very time that the Proprietors conveyed their interest to the Crown. The opening of the Cape Fear River to settlement, giving a very fair port to the colony. was followed by a considerable immigration to that section, which soon became of greater importance commercially and industrially than the more northern portion of the province.
Dr. Brickell. in his "Natural History of North Carolina," written about 1731, mentions incidentally that New Bern "has but few houses or inhabitants; Hancock Town, on the northwest branch of Neuse River, about two hundred miles from its mouth, formerly an Indian town, and where they had a fort in time of war; Beaufort is small and thinly in- habited ; Brunswick has a great trade, a number of mer- chants and rich planters." Of the Indians he gives some account. Those that lived near the settlement numbered not over fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred, including women and children. There were three kings-King Blount, King Durant, King Highter. "They pay tribute once or twice a year. The women make the corn, the men hunt. They live in wigwams, except the civilized kings, who have houses. The Indians, being of several nations, have different cus- toms. Some are civilized and are very serviceable to the planters, hunt and fowl for them, make weirs. assist in plant- ing corn, etc. Many also speak English. There was formerly a nation called the Pasquotanks, who kept cattle and made butter, but at present none have cattle." He mentions that there were "no Muchapungoes or Coranines to be met with at this day. 1731. The Saponas live on the west branch of the Cape Fear; the Toteros are neighbors to them; the Keyawees live on a branch of the Cape Fear that lies to the northwest." He also states that "the Indians have a great aversion to the negroes. and kill them when they find them in the woods." He made an extended journey to the western part of North Carolina on an embassy to the Indians inhabit- ing there. Two or three years later Burrington mentioned that the smaller tribes, who had resided near the settlements, had entirely disappeared.
1731
The Indians
THE FOURTH EPOCH-1729-65 NORTH CAROLINA AS A ROYAL PROVINCE
CHAPTER XVIII
BURRINGTON'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 1731-34
The Board of Trade .-- The seal .- Everard's enemies .- Burrington appointed governor .- The province during the interim .- Burrington arrives .- Opposition to the royal instructions .- The first royal Assembly .- Matters of controversy .-- Currency act declared void .- The quit rents .- Fees of officers .- The Assembly affronted .- The basis of political action .- Burrington's instructions .- He dispenses with the Assembly .- Appoints new councillors .- Schoolmasters .--- The general court .- The governor erects new precincts .- His
action disregarded .- New conflicts .- Burrington's arbitrary conduct. -He is removed .- The second Assembly .- Chief Justice Little arraigned .- The governor addresses the house .- The third
Assembly .- Burrington attempts to vindicate himself .- He rules without council or Assembly .- The difficulties of the situation .- Altered patents .- His opinion of the people .- Controversial docu- ments .- His progressive action .- Dividing line between the Caro- linas .- Landgrave Smith's grant .- Questions settled and unsettled .--- The province grows .- Religious conditions .- The last Assembly to meet Burrington .- No act passed during his administration.
The Board of Trade
South Carolina had been a royal province several years when, upon the transfer of seven of the proprietary shares of Carolina to the king, the administration of public affairs in North Carolina was likewise assumed by the Crown. The management of the province now fell to the care of the commissioners for trade and plantations, a board of the Privy Council restored, after a lapse of twenty years, in 1696, and at this time composed of the Earl of Westmore- land, P. Dominique. Thomas Pelham. Edward Ashe, Martin Bladen, W. Cary, Sir Oliver Bridgman, and Sir Thomas Frankland. To this board was committed the determina- tion of all administrative questions relating to the colonies,
I729
C. R., III, 20, 25
225
EVERARD FAILS OF REAPPOINTMENT
the governors being appointed on its recommendation by the king and council. and the chief officers, although desig- nated by it, also being commissioned by the Crown.
The original seal of the county of Albemarle had been continued in use as the seal of North Carolina, while the Lords Proprietors had the great seal of their province of Carolina at London. This seal, adopted shortly after the royal grant was made, bore on one side of it a scroll, on which were sketched two well-filled cornucopias supported by two Indians, together with legends and heraldic orna- mentation. Upon the transfer of dominion to the Crown, a new seal becoming necessary, the commissioners adopted one similar to that of the Lords Proprietors ; the two figures and the cornucopias were preserved, but now the devices represented Liberty presenting Plenty to the king; and this seal, with some slight alterations, has continued to be the great seal of the State of North Carolina.
Notwithstanding the sale, Sir Richard Everard might have been retained as governor; but if there was a dis- position to continue him in the administration his enemies succeeded in rendering it impossible. The contest between them was a bitter one. Everard, perhaps in view of the change, had broken with Gale and his son-in-law, William Little, and throwing himself into the arms of the popular party, had ascribed all of his delinquencies to the bad advice of those men, his former friends, whom he now denounced in unmeasured terms. They, on the other hand, hastened to make representations and prefer charges against him that destroyed the possibility of his retention. They alleged that he was a party to frauds in the issuing of land grants to the disadvantage of the king ; that he was arbitrary, tyran- nical and violent in his conduct ; and, moreover, that he was disaffected toward the reigning house-that he had hailed the death of George I in 1727 with joy, declaring, "Now farewell to the house of Hanover"; and especially that he had been concerned in the Preston rebellion, the rising at Preston in favor of the Pretender in 1715. Before this last allegation was made public in the colony, Edmond Porter, who had returned to North Carolina in 1725 and was now judge of admiralty, was industrious in befriending
1729
The seal C. R., III, 79, 119
Everard's enemies C. R., III, 5
C. R., III, 2-4, 31
226 BURRINGTON'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 1731-34
1720 Everard: and particularly he represented to the Secretary of State. the Duke of Newcastle, that Everard, upon learn- ing of the purchase by the Crown, had given written orders that no more patents for land should be issued until new C. R., III, 18, 49 instructions should be received : but that Lovick, the secre- tary, and Moseley, the surveyor, were disobedient and had utterly disregarded the governor's positive orders. But Porter himself had been accused of having participated in the same rising, after he had fled from Albemarle on the suppression of Cary's adherents, and when this charge was made against the governor Porter quickly withdrew his support. Indeed, as soon as Everard's loyalty was called in question every friend fell away from him, and the charge proved fatal to his hopes.
Burrington appointed governor
C. R., III, 66
Burrington, who had continued to reside on his Cape Fear plantations, now hastened to England to press his own claim : and with all the documents with him, he was able to clear himself of the defamatory allegations Gale and his party had formerly made against him, and he succeeded in securing the prize. In the fall of 1729 it was decided that he should be appointed governor, and the next Jan- uary his commission was signed; but his instructions were not finally prepared until December, 1730, when he took his departure for Carolina.
C. R., III, 85
Being directed to recommend officers, he desired that the following persons should be of his council : James Jenoure, surveyor : Robert Halton, Edmond Porter, John Baptista Ashe, Eleazar Allen, Matthew Rowan, Cornelius Harnett, and John Porter : also James Stallard and Richard Evans, who, however, never came to Carolina. Burrington would make no recommendation for chief justice and secretary, leaving their selection to Colonel Bladen, who designated for chief justice Willian Smith, a young barrister of Lon- don ; and for secretary. Nathaniel Rice, his own son-in-law ; while John Montgomery was later appointed attorney- general.
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