USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 14
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A dreadful storm was this year experienced in Vir- ginia, and the northern part of Carolina. "It seemed to reverse the order of nature."-It stopped some rivers, and, for others, it opened channels, that were ever navigable.
The king and queen assumed the government of the province of Pennsylvania in their own hands, and Bon- jamin Fletcher was appointed governor of this province,
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as well as that of New- York; The personal friendship of Penn for king James, and an intimacy at court du- ring his reign, rendered him suspected of disaffection to the present government. In the following year, he was permitted to resume the government of his province, and he sent over William Markham,
The French took fort Nelson, in Hudson's bay, and placed in it a garrison of sixty-eight Canadians, and six Indians. They named it fort Bourbon.
In the month of January, 1693, Sir Francis Wheeler sailed from Dartmouth, with three men of war, and some land forces, under the orders of colonel Foulkes. He reached the island of Barbadoes on the 4th of March, where preparations were made for an attack on Mar- tinique. The fleet arrived before this island on the first of April, the troops landed at Cul de sac marin, and de- stroyed the plantations in that quarter, among which were several fine ones. The troops landed a few days after at Diamond's point, where they laid the country waste. The fleet proceeded to the neighborhood of fort Royal, and fort St. Pierre, when they had several skirmishes with the inhabitants, and sat fire to several houses and plantations. On the 23d, the fleet set sail for the island of Dominico, when it was determined to attack that of Guadeloupe; but a malignant dis- ease, pervading the fleet, induced Sir Francis to make the best of his way for Boston. So terrible was the contagion, that before he reached the continent, he had lost thirteen hundred, out of twenty-one hundred, sailors, and eighteen hundred, out of twenty-four hun- dred, soldiers, He entered the port of Boston on the 12th of June, and endeavoured to prevail on governor Phips to raise men for the reduction of Canada. This
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could nor be effected, and the fleet sailed for New- foundland, where Sir Francis landed, and destroyed the settlement of St. Pierre de Miquelon.
Some Englishmen, with their families, removed to the Virgin islands, where they made considerable im- provements : their wants were few, and their govern- ment simple, and without expense. Their judicial powers were exercised by the governor, and by a council chosen among themselves. There were no taxes: money, when wanted for public purposes, was raised by voluntary contributions. Under such cir- cumstances, it could not be expected that the colony would rise to much importance.
Dissentions and disorder still prevailing in Carolina, the proprietors, anxious to prevent the destruction and ruin of their settlement, resolved to send one of their own number, with full power to redress grievances, and settle differences in the colony. Lord Ashley, the celebrated author of the "Characteristics," was chosen, but soon after declined the mission. The second choice of the proprietors fell on John Archdale, a Quaker, and a man of considerable knowledge and discretion. He reached the northern settlement of Carolina in the sum- mer, and assumed the government of the whole province. The planters received him with universal joy, and pri- vate animosities and civil discord seemed awhile bu- ried in oblivion. The legislature was called, and go- vernor Archdale, by the discrect use of his extensive powers, settled almost every matter of general concern, to the satisfaction of the colonists. The price of land, and the forms of conveyance, were settled by law. Three years rent was remitted to those who held land by grant, and four to such as held them by survey, and
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not by grant. Such lands, as had escheated to the lords proprietors, were ordered to be let out or sold. It was agreed to take the arrears of great tracts either in money or commodities, as should be most convenient to the planters. Magistrates were appointed, for trying all causes, and determining all differences, between the settlers and the Indians. Public roads were ordered to be made, and water passages to be cut, for the more easy conveyance of produce to the market. Some for- iner laws were altered; and such new statutes were made, as the good government and peace of the colony appeared to require. Public affairs assumed an agreea- ble aspect, and excited just hopes of the future progress and prosperity of the settlement.
Governor Archdale, in the beginning of the new year, proceeded to Charleston, where he met the legisla- ture of that part of the province, in the month of March.
The planting of rice was introduced about this time, in Carolina. A brig from Madagascar, on her way to England, came to anchor off Sullivan's island :--- Thomas Smith, a landgrave, going on board, received from the captain a bag of seed rice, with information of its culture in the east, its suitableness for food, and its incredible increase. The landgrave divided the seed among his friends, and an experiment being made in different soils, the success surpassed the expectation the captain of the brig had excited, and from this small beginning, arose the staple commodity of Carolina, which soon became the chief support of the colony, and the great source of its opulence.
This year, George, lord Carteret, died, and was suc- ceeded by his son, John, then five years of age, who, in
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1744, succeeded, on his mother's death, to the title of viscount and earl Granville. His mother, Grace Car- teret, was daughter to the late earl of Bath. She was (Dec. 17, 1714) created countess Granville, viscount- ess Carteret.
In the year 1695, king William granted a char- ter to the Scots, African and Indian Company, au- thorizing them to plant and maintain colonies, in any part of Asia, Africa and America, not the property of such European powers as wereat amity with his majesty: with an exemption for twenty-one years from all du- ties on the produce of such plantations. They were not only empowered to defend their colonies and trade by force of arms, but had the promise of the royal au- thority to do them right, if they were disturbed, at the public expense.
In the beginning of 1696, a fleet of seven men of war, and twelve transports, sailed from Plymouth, under the orders of Herbert Wolcott, for St. Kitts, from whence they proceeded to Hispaniola, in the hope of obtaining aid from the Spanish governor there, to attack the French. This being afforded, the allied powers pre- pared for battle, but such a misunderstanding prevailed among the officers of the two nations, that nothing could be effected. Disease made great havoc among the En- glish forces, and the commodore fell a victim to it, and the number of sailors was so naich reduced, that on the return, one of the ships was left at cape Florida, for want of hands to work her.
The French, in the following year, attacked and pos- sessed themselves of Fort Prince William, at Pema- quid, and destroyed all the English settlements in Nova Scotia, excepting those of St. Johns, Bonavista and Car-
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boniere harbor, and the English re-took Fort Bourbon (Nelson, ) in Hudson bay.
The small pox raged among the Pamplico Indians, and considerably reduced that tribe.
In the latter part of this year, governor Archdale returned home, leaving the administration of the north- ern part of the province, in the hands of Thomas Harvey, as deputy governor.
This year was established, in England, the board of the lord's commissioners of trade and plantations, the affairs of the colonies being at this time, too considera- ble and important to be managed, as part of the concerns of any of the departments. With this board, the go- vernors of the colonies were directed to hold a constant correspondence, and to transmit to it, the journals of their councils and assemblies, the accounts of the collec- tor of the customs and naval officers.
Parliament now laid additional restrictions on the trade of the colonists. By the statute 7 and 8, W. and M. c. 22, it was enacted, that no commodity should, af- ter the 28th of March, 1698, be exported to, or im- ported from, the plantations, to England, Wales cr Berwick-upon-Tweed, except in vessels built in Eng. land, Ireland or the plantations, owned by the king's subjects, and navigated by a master and crew, three- fourths of whom, at least, should be British subjects: an exception was made in favor of prize vessels. The execution of the revenue laws was enforced by very se- vere penalties. Persons, charged with any offence against them, were made liable to be tried in any part of the colonies, in which the officer or informer might allege it to have been committed, and they were depriv- ed of a trial de medietate lingua. Commodities of
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the growth and produce of the plantations, were forbid- den to be landed in Ireland or Scotland, till after they had been landed, and the duties thereon paid in England, Wales or Berwick-upon- Tweed. The appointments of - the governors of the proprietary provinces were re- quired to be proposed to, and approved by the king ; and the proprietors of these provinces were forbidden from selling land to any but the king's natural born subjects of England Ireland, Wales, or Berwick-upon- Tweed, without the king's license. The governors, in every colony, were specially charged to see the revenue laws carried into complete operation ; all laws, customs and usages, in practice in any of the plantations, were declared to be void and of no effect. Juries were re- quired to be composed of natural born subjects of Eng- land, Ireland, or the plantations, and the informer, or prosecutor, was permitted to allege the offence to have been committed in any colony, province, county, pre- einct or district, in the plantations.
Although no design, on the part of the ministry, of taxing any of the colonies, at so early a period as this, can be ascertained, about this time a pamphlet was pab- lished in England, recommending a parliamentary tax on one of them. This pamphlet was answered by two others, which totally denied the power of taxing the col- onies, because they had no representatives in parliament to give consent.
Preparations being made in France, for sending a col_ ony to the Mississippi, the king of Spain sent don An- dres de Ariola, to Pensacola, as first governor of the province. Don Andres built a fort, with four bastions ; he gave it the name of St. Charles, and erected a church and a few hovels.
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Early in the following year, a French fleet, under commodore de Pointiz, plundered Carthagena, de- stroved its forts, and carried off eight millions of crowns. A little before his landing, the people of fashion, and the ecclesiastics of both sexes, had retired into the country, with one hundred mules, laden with treasure.
On the 17th of April, vice admiral Nevil arrived at Barbadoes, with a fleet of English and Dutch men of war ; they were in quest of Pointiz, and fell in with him, but he escaped them. The fleet cast anchor at Cartha- gena, which had suffered so much from the visit of the French, that the inhabitants seriously spoke of abandon- ing it. From thence, the fleet proceeded to Hispaniola. Rear admiral Muse was sent with a small party to Petit Goave, which he surprised. The inhabitants flew into the woods, and the soldiers began to pillage the town, but soon grew intoxicated and set fire to it. The rear admiral having joined the fleet, they proceeded to Jamaica, in order to take the king's ships that were there, and proceed to Havana, in order to meet and convey the galleons home. The governor refused to allow the fleet to enter the port, even to permit them the purchase of some provisions they were in want of; and the gene- ral of the marines sent word to vice admiral Nevil, that his orders did not allow him to avail himself of the offer to convey the galleons. Rear admiral Muse and a num- ber of English captains fell victims to the diseases of the climate. The fleet proceeded to Virginia, where the vice admiral paid the last debt of nature; and Tho- mas Dicks, the only commander who survived, took the command. and conveyed hence the merchant ships that lay before Jamestown,
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On the 28th of September, peace was concluded between England and France. Louis XIV. acknow. ledged William III. king of England, and engaged not to trouble him, either directly or indirectly, in the enjoy -. ment of his three kingdoms, nor to favor in any degree any person that might pretend to have any claim thereto. Mutual restitution was agreed to be made, of all coun. tries, forts and colonies, taken by each party during the tvar.
Chalmers -- History of South Carolina ---- Marshall,
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CHAPTER XI.
THE peace of Riswick was scarcely published in America, before a misunderstanding began to manifest itself between the agents of both powers in the new world. The French claimed the exclusive property of the fisheries, and of every part of the country to the east- ward of Kennebeck. The English lay claim to all the country westward of St. Croix, as being within the bounds of the province of Massachusetts. Governor Villebon of Acadia informed lieutenant governor Slaughter of Massachusetts, that he was instructed to consider Kennebeck river, from its source to the sea, as the boundary between the two nations.
On the 25th of January, 1699, d'Iberville, ( with two frigates and two transports, ) sent by Louis XIV. to begin the settlement of Louisiana, arrived on the coast of Florida, and built a fort in the bay of Biloxi, between that of Mobile and the Mississippi : this was the first permanent establishment of the French on the gulf of Mexico : it continued, with steady but slow improve- ment, till the cession of the country to the Spaniards, seventy years after.
King William having, in the year 1695, at the request of the parliament of Scotland, incorporated a company in that kingdom, to trade to Africa and the East and West Indies, they projected a settlement at Darien; three ships
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and two tenders, with about twelve hundred colonists, sailed from the Frith, in Scotland ; they landed on the continent, within a league of an island now known as St. Catherine's island, treated with the natives, and with their leave, on the fourth of November, took possession of a tract of the country never before possessed by any European power, where they built a fort, and began to lay the foundation of a town, to be called New Edinburg, and they uamned the settlement Caledonia. It lay near Panama and had Portobello on one side, and Carthagena on the other. This situation, while it excited in Scotland the most sanguine hopes of treasures of gold, greatly alarmed the Spaniards and the French, and Louis XIV. offered to Charles II. a fleet to destroy the Scots. Both nations complained to king William, who too readily hearkened to their representations. Accordingly, the next spring, Sir William Bereton, governor of Jamaica, issued hi, proclamation, importing, that the king. con- sidering the settlement of Darien us a violation of his treaties with his allies, all the king's subjects were for- bidden to hold any correspondence with the Scots at Caledonia, or to give them any assistance. The go- vernors of Barbadoes, New-York and Massachusetts, issued similar proclamations, and the settlement was abandoned.
The administration of the government of the northern part of Carolina devolved on Henderson Walker, by the death of Thomas Harvey, in 1699, and a material alteration took place in the judiciary. Hitherto, the general court had been holden by the chief magistrate, the deputies of the lords proprietors, and two assistants : a commission was now issued, appointing five persons justices of the supreme court, two of whom were of the
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quorum, the presence of one of whom was necessary for constituting the court.
Government being informed, that captain Kidd, who had fitted out an armed vessel, called the Adventure Gally, and had obtained a commission, authorizing him to capture pirates and seize their vessels and goods, ex- ercised notorious piracies, rear admiral Benlow had par- ticular orders to look for him, and seize him and his crew, with his vessel and goods, in order that an ex- ample might be made. The history of this man was this : a number of confederated pirates, mostly English, infesting the East India seas, and having taken a ship of the great mogul, the company communicated to govern- ment their apprehensions, that this prince might grant letters of reprisals to his subjects, and it was determined to destroy these pirates, who took shelter in hidden creeks in the island of Madagascar. A ship was ac- cordingly fitted out, and the command of her given to Kidd, who knew the retreats of the pirates, and was supposed in all respects to be well qualified to attack them. Government appropriated, however, no fund for his armament; the king proposed to interest in it such individuals as might be willing to supply the means ; he offered to subscribe three hundred pounds himself, and charged his ministers to look for adventurers. Lord Somers, the earls of Oxford, Romney and Bella- mont and others, furnished, however, all the funds ; the king having found the means of avoiding to take any in- terest, by making an abandonment of the proceeds of all captures to the adventurers.
Kidd sailed, and news reached England some time after, that, instead of pursuing the pirates, he was himself engaged in piratical pursuits, committing great depreda-
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tions in the West Indies, and along the coast of the con- tinent. The ministers, and lord Somers principally, were highly blamed, and it was maliciously insinuated, - that Kidd would not have dared to engage in these pira- cies, if he had not depended on the protection of those, who had supplied the means for the expedition.
Rear admiral Benlow proceeded to Carthagena, with four men of war, where he compelled the governor to release several merchantmen, which the Spaniards had taken, on account of the settlement made by the Scotch at Darien. The rear admiral, having anchored at Ja- maica, was pressed by the governor and merchants to require from the Spanish admiral, some reparation for the injuries the commerce of the king's subjects had of late sustained in the West Indies, by frequent captures. For this purpose, he proceeded to Portobello: the Spanish admiral found an excuse for the excesses of his countrymen, in confounding the interest of the English with that of the Scotch. No satisfaction could be ob- tained. The rear admiral returned to Jamaica, where hearing that Kidd had lately been seen in those seas, he went in quest of him. In his cruize, he anchored at St. Thomas, to expostulate with the Danish governor, who was said to afford shelter to Kidd, and other pirates who infested the sea : he received a very unsatisfactory an- swer ; but as he had no order to proceed to extremities, ยท he was compelled to dissimulate. He next proceeded to New- York, where he was informed, that the earl of Bellamond, governor of that province, had sent Kidd to England, with a considerable part of his booty. At- tempts were made to induce this man to implicate the lords who had procured him the king's commission, but however irregular might have been his conduct, he
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had honesty enough to refrain from accusing innocent persons : he was tried at the old bailey, with several of his accomplices, convicted, executed, and hung in chains.
Dr. Cox, of New Jersey, proprietor of the province of Carolana, fitted out two ships, provided with twenty great guns, sixteen patereros, abundance of small arms, ammunition, stores and provisions of all sorts, not only for the use of those on board, and for discovery by sea, but also for building a fortification and settling a colony ; there being, in both vessels, besides sailors and common men, above thirty English and French volun- teers, "some noblemen and all gentlemen." One ship entered the Mississippi, and meeting a party of French- men, by whom they were pursued, the people on board were persuaded that they had mistaken the stream they were on, for the Mississippi : they returned to sea. The place in which they met the French was, from this circuinstance, called the English Turn.
The attention of the colonists, in some of the north- ern provinces, had been drawn to the raising of wool, and the manufacture of some coarse kinds of cloth : this sign of incipient prosperity was noticed in England with a jealous eye ; and with a view to depress the enterpri- sing spirit of the colonists, which tended not only to free them from their dependence on the manufactures of England, but to enable them, in course of time, to rival those in the West India market, and in order to compel the shipment of a greater quantity of the wool raised in America to the mother country, a statute was now passed (10 & 11 of W. & M. S) prohibiting the trans- portation of wool, or any article manufactured out of
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wool, from one of the American provinces to another, by land or water. These instructions were guanled by very severe penalties, made recoverable in the courts of Westminster ; and the governors were strictly charged to prevent the statute being eluded. By this mean, the industry of the colonists was confined to very narrow limits, and was prevented from extending beyond the manufacture of such coarse household goods, as a family might make for its own use, or that of some of its neighbors in the same province.
Complaints being made by the court of France, of irruptions by the Indians in alliance with England, on the back settlements of the French in Canada, orders were despatched to lord Bellamont, governor of New- York, to forbid any act of hostility against the French in Canada, and to prevent the recurrence of the circum- stances, which had caused the complaints of the court of France, that the Indians of the five nations should be disarmed, as far as he and the governor of Canada should deem proper, and his lordship was directed to live in good understanding with the French, till the commis- sioners, appointed under the treaty of Riswick, should agree on measures that would ensure a continuance of peace.
On the 21st of December, 1699, the board of trade reported to the king, that his attorney-general, upon the perusal of letters patent and conveyances, produced to him by doctor Coxe, had given it as his opinion, that the doctor had a good title to the province of Carolana, extending from the 31st to the 36th degree of north latitude, inclusive, on the continent of America, and several adjacent islands.
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By this report, the king and his council unanimously agreed, that the doctor's design of settling his province, should be speedily encouraged and promoted.
His majesty told the doctor's son, he would leap over . twenty stumbling blocks, rather than not to effect an English settlement on the Mississippi, and assured him, that he not only would receive public encouragement, but that six or eight hundred French refugees, or Van- dois, would be transported there, at the expense of the crown, to join such of his subjects as could be induced to remove and begin a settlement thither.
Lord Lonsdale, the lord privy seal, was among the most distinguished patrons of this undertaking ; he of- fered to assist the design with two thousand pounds sterling, or a ship of two hundred tons, with one hun- dred persons, of whatever trade or employment might be thought most convenient, and to provide them with provisions and necessary tools and instruments of agri- culture, for one year. The death of this nobleman soon after, and that of his sovereign within a short period, put an end to the hopes of the doctor.
The coast of the continent, particularly that of Caro- lina, continued to be infested with pirates, who commit- ted great depredations ; several vessels belonging to Charleston were taken, and kept as prizes, and the crews sent ashore. A ship had been fitted out at the Havana, to cruise on the coast of Carolina, the crew of which was composed of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Portuguese, and Indians; after a successful course of piracy, the motley crew quarrelled about the division of their booty, and the Englishmen, nine in number, being the weakest part of the crew, were turned adrift in the long-boat; they landed on Sewel bay, and proceeding thence to
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Charleston, were recognized by the master of a ship which they had captured, and were taken up, tried and executed.
With a view to purge the sea of these marauders, par. liament passed a statute (11 and 12 W. III. c. 7) au- thorizing commissioners appointed by the king, exclu- sively to take cognizance of piracies in proprietary go- vernments in America : a forfeiture of the charter was denounced, in all cases in which the governors should refuse their aid to the commissioners. By a statute of the same year, (c. 12,) governors of the colonies, guilty of oppression or any offence against the laws, within their own government, were directed to be tried in the court of king's bench, in England, or before commis- sioners appointed by the king in any county in it.
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