USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 20
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1721]
appear to have been enacted by the authority of the lords proprietors.
Governor Nicholson arrived in Charleston early in the following year, and soon after convened the legisla- ture : they recognized king George as their immediate lord, and proceeded with cheerfulness and harmony to the regulation of the affairs of the colony. Before go- vernor Nicholson left England, a suspension of arms between Great Britain and Spain had taken place, and by the treaty of peace which succeeded, it was agreed that all subjects and Indians, living under these different ju- risdictions, should cease all acts of hostility : orders were sent out to the governor of St. Augustine, to for- bear molesting the people of Carolina, and governor Nicholson was instructed to cultivate the friendship and good will of the Spanish subjects and Indians in Florida. In conformity with these instructions, governor Nichol- son gave his first attention to fix the limits of the hunt- ing grounds of the Indians, and forbid any encroach- ments on their hunting grounds. With this view, he sent a message to the Cherokees, inviting their chiefs to a general congress : he met them, smoked the calu- met with them, marked the boundaries of their lands, and appointed an agent to regulate their affairs. He then held a treaty with the Creeks, appointed an agent to reside among them, and fixed on Savannah river, as the boundary of their hunting grounds, beyond which no settlement was to extend.
By a statute passed this year, (8 Geo. I. c. 12:) the premium on the importation of hemp from America, was continued : wood, plank and timber, wrought or unwrought, were allowed to be imported from the colo- nies in America, free from duty : restrictions were im-
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posed on the cutting or falling of any white pine trees in the northern colonies.
By the articles of the treaty of peace, ratified this year between France and Spain, Pensacola, which the French had taken a second time, was restored to his Catholic majesty. The seat of government of the province of Louisiana was removed from Biloxi to New Orleans, which had been laid out since 1717, but which did not take any consistency till after this removal. The pro- vince was reduced to such a distressed state, that many of the colonists came over to Charleston : the number of these people was so great, that governor Nicholson ad- vised monsieur de Bienville, governor of Louisiana, to take measures to prevent the further desertion of his people.
The endeavours of the French, to confine the Eng- lish colonies to narrow limits along the sea coast, by a chain of forts, on the great passes from Canada to Lou- isiana, were now so apparent, that governor Burnett, of New York, concluded it to be of the utmost importance to get the command of Lake Ontario, to secure the trade and friendship of the six nations, and frustrate the de- signs of the French : he therefore began the erection of a trading house at Oswego, in the country of the Senekas.
Daniel Coxe, the son of the proprietor of the province of Carolana, who had attempted, during the reign of queen Anne, to induce the ministry to yield to the set- tlement of his province the aid which had been promised him in the former reign, without success, owing to the war, which occupied their attention, now made a new effort to draw the public attention to his views, by the publication of a description of Carolana, and an ex- tract of his memorial to king William.
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THE FOURTEENTH.
1799]
The king this year granted to John, duke of Mon- tague, his letters patent, constituting him captain gene- ral of St. Lucia and St. Vincent, with liberty to settle those islands with British subjects. The duke's at- tempt being opposed by the French, miscarried. Three years before, monsieur D'Estree had obtained from the regent of France a grant of St. Lucia, and sent a colony to possess and settle it : but on a remonstrance of the British ambassador at Paris, he had orders to dis- continue his settlement, and withdraw the people from that island. St. Lucia was at this time evacuated by both French and English, and together with St. Vincent remained a neutral island, until the treaty of 1763.
Ou the 26th of March, governor Eden died : his tomb stone at Eden house, on Salmon creek, in the county of Chowan, informs posterity, that he " govern- ed the province eight years, to the greatest satisfaction of the lords proprietors, and the ease and happiness of the people; that he brought the country into a flourish- ing condition, and died much lamented, in the forty- ninth year of his life."
During the war between France and Spain, under the regency of the duke of Orleans, the French of Louisiana attacked the Spanish mission in Texas, from Natchi- toches : the Spaniards retreated as far as San Antonio de Bexar. In 1719, the marquis de Valero advanced with a considerable force, and drove the French back to Natchitoches.
Chalmers-History of South Carolina -- Records.
CHAPTER XV.
ON the 30th of March, 1722, Thomas Pollock, the deputy of lord Carteret, qualified as president and commander in chief, under a commission from the lords proprietors.
On the 8th of August, the precinct of Craven was divided, by an order of the president and council. The eastern part, including all the land lying on Core sound, Bogue sound, the rivers and creeks running into them, and all the settlements to the south, was erected into a new precinct, which, in compliment to one of the lords proprietors, was called Carteret. Craven precinct, consisted of all the settlements on Neuse and Trent rivers, and their branches, including Bear river.
Nearly about this time the Reverend Mr. Newman, whom, at the repeated solicitations of governor Eden, the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, had sent to North Carolina, arrived, and entered on the duties of his appointment. Like those of his pre- decessors, his reports to the society deplored the poverty and ignorance, and sometimes, the profligacy of his flock, the remote situation of the individuals of it, and the consequent hardships and fatigue, he had to endure. These brought on a severe illness, to which he soon after fell a victim.
On the 30th of August, the president died; and on the 7th of September, William Reed entered on the du-
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ties of the office of president and commander in chief. This gentleman met the legislature, in the new town of Edenton, a few weeks after his election. The country was in the calm moment of peace. The settlements on Neuse, around the town of Newbern, had considerably increased; but they were not accessible, with facility by land, from those around the town of Bath, on Pamplico river ; the communication by water was tedious, and at times, dangerous : a law was now passed, to open a road from Core point, between the two settlements. A sum of twelve thousand pounds, in bills of credit, was emitted, for the purpose of exchanging those which were afloat. The measure was not considered as de- structive of the credit of the currency, or a new Hege- torides encountered the penalties denounced by the act of 1715. It does not appear that any was exacted.
Owing to the great charges government had been at, during the late Indian war, the preceding legislature had not taken care of establishing the precinct courts, in any fixed or certain places ; but they had hitherto been held at private houses, liabble to be removed at the plea- sure of the owner. This inconvenience was now reme- died; and the justices were ordered to have a court house erected in every precinct, except those of Hyde and Beaufort, for which, it was imagined, one would suffice. The court house of the precinct of Carteret was directed to be built in a town which, about this time, began to be erected, which, in the following year, was etablished by law in that precinct, and in honor of the Duke of Beaufort, one of the lords proprietorss, was called Beaufort. Those of the precincts of Craven and Chowan, were directed to be built in the towns of Newbern and Edenton ; that of the precincts of Beaufort and Hyde, in
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the town of Bath; that of the precinct of Perquimans, at Felps point, at the mouth of the Narrows : those of the precincts of Currituck and Pasquotank, at the choice of the justices.
That part of the county of Albemarle, lying to the westward of Chowan river, was erected into a new pre- cinct, which was called Bertie, in honor of James Bertie, who, on the death of Seth Sothel, had purchased the share in the province, which had originally been held by the earl of Clarendon, or Henry Bertie, who held, afterwards, that of Sir William Berkelv. The court house of this precinct was directed to be built at Abotskey.
Settlements on Cape Fear river began, it is said, to be made this year; since the retreat of the planters brought there by Sir John Yeamans, no attempt had been made at agriculture on that river. There are, how- ever, no documents extant, from which the exact time,. when the permanent settlement on that river began, can be ascertained; it is, however, probable, that it hap- pened about this time. By the erection of the precinct of Carteret, the lands on Cape Fear river, at least, on the eastern side of that stream, were taken in as part of the new precinct, and regular government was extended thereto.
In the following year, a fort was built high up on Connecticut river, which took the name of lieutenant Dummer, under whose direction it was built. Around it, a settlement began soon after, which was the origin of the present state of Vermont.
President Reed met the legislature at Edenton, on the 23d of November. Peace continued to prevail, and the legislature thought themselves justifiable, in giving
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THE FIFTEENTH.
1724]
another direction to the tonnage duty, which had been imposed on all vessels, for the purpose of obtaining; powder and ammunition, in 1715. The duty was now to be paid in money, to be employed for beaconing out the channels of Roanoke and Ocracock inlets. Provi- sion was made for obtaining impartial jurymen, for regulating elections, and settling the bounds and titles of land, for destroying vermin, and restraining the too great number of horses and mares, and improving the breed.
George Burrington, who had been appointed to suc- ceed governor Eden, arrived carly in the following year, and opened his commission at Edenton, on the 15th of January.
According to his instructions, twelve counsellors were to compose his council, and the upper house of the legislature. He was authorized to fill vacancies in that body, by a provisional appointment ; and with the majority of the council, empowered to suspend any member of it. He was authorized to assent to laws not repugnant to those of England, and containing a clause, that they should not go into execution, until approved by the lords proprietors. This was a sesious restric- tion, when we consider the paucity of opportunities, which the colonists had, of transmitting their laws to England. He was particularly ordered to redeem and cancel the paper currency, and to enforce the execution of the statute, passed in the sixth year of the late queen's reign, for regulating the value of foreign coins, in the American plantations.
The officers of government, besides governor Bur- rington, were Christopher Gale, chief justice, James Stanway, attorney general, John Lovick, secretary
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of the province, Edward Moseley, surveyor general, Arthur Goffe, receiver general, John Dunstan, naval officer, and Henry Clayton, provost marshal.
The expenses of government, which were not covered by the receipts, were only six hundred pounds sterling; three hundred were paid to the governor, sixty to the chief justice, and the same sum to the secretary of the .board of the lords proprietors, in England : forty pounds each, to the attorney general, secretary, surveyor general, and naval officer, and twenty pounds to the receiver general.
The utmost tranquility continued to prevail in the settlement. A tract of land, containing eleven thousand three hundred and sixty acres, was laid out for the Chowan Indians, on Bennet and Catherine creeks.
In the fall, Thomas Pollock, a son of the late presi- dent, was appointed chief justice; and William Dun- ning Cullen Pollock, Isaac Hill, John Alston, and Robert Lloyd, associate justices.
William Little, succeeded James Stanway, as attorney general.
In the month of October, governor Burrington went to visit the incipient settlements on Cape Fear river, Considering this journey as almost an absence from his government, he devolved the power of chief magistrate, on Edward Moseley, as president and commander in chief.
Governor Burrington presided but fifteen months over the settlement. If any legislature was in session, during his administration, no record of any of their pro- ceedings has been preserved. By an order of council, of the 24th of April, 1724, lands are directed to be grant- ad, in the county of Bath, on the petition of the lower
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house of the legislature, which sat under president Reed, in the month of November, 1723.
On the 7th of April, 1725, the lords proprietors ap. pointed Sir Richard Everard, as successor to governor Burrington; he qualified at Edenton, on the 17th of July. With him, arrived the Reverend W. Back. nall, a missionary, sent over by the soci ty for propagat- ing the gospel, in foreign parts. The tranquility, in which he found the northern part of the province, did not prevail in the southern. No final agreement having yet been concluded, with respect to the limits of Florida and Carolina, the Indians, who were in alliance with Spain, particularly the Yamassees. continued to harrass the British settlements. Colonel Palmer, at length, to make reprisals, collected a party of militia and friendly Indians, to the number of about three hundred; he marched into Florida, as far as the gates of St. Augus- tine, and compelled the inhabitants to take refuge in the castle. He destroyed their provisions in the fields, drove off their cattle, killed some Indians, and made others prisoners; burning almost every house in the colony, and leaving the Spaniards but little property, besides what was protected by the guns of the fort.
Richard Fitzwilliams, surveyor general of the cus- toms, for the southern district of North America, vis- iting the settlement, took his seat in the council next to the governor.
The bishop of London, as patriarch of England, ex- tended his jurisdiction to the British American colonies.
The expenses of government exceeded the receipts, by the sum of two hundred and thirteen pounds nine- teen shilings and seven pence, in 1726; and two hun- dred and fifty-one pounds, nine shillings, in 1727.
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The lords proprietors required that every tract of land granted should be improved, by having thereon a house built, fifteen feet by ten, tight and habitable, of clap boards, or squared logs, with a roof, chimney and door place, a whole acre cleared, and the major part broken up and planted with fruit trees and grain.
In 1726, the unhappy contest, began under Charles II., (1678) between the parent state and the island of Jamaica, ended. Matters were compromised, by agree- ment on the part of the assembly, to settle on the crown a perpetual revenue of eight thousand pounds a year, on condition that the quit rents, then estimated at one thousand four hundred and sixty pounds, per annum, should form a part of that sum. 2d. That the body of their laws should receive the royal assent. 3d. That all such laws and statutes of England, as had been at any time esteemed, introduced, used, accepted or received, as laws of the island, should be and continue, laws of Jamaica, forever. This was implicitly to admit that the others were not, and a tacit renunciation of the power of parliament over the island.
During the fall of the following year, accounts reach- ed the province of the demise of George I., which had occurred on the 20th of May, and George II. was pro- claimed.
Sir Richard Everard met the legislature, at Edenton. on the 6th of November. The acts of this session are few and unimportant. Provision was made for prevent- ing suits of little moment being brought in the general court; for obtaining different jurymen ; for regulating towns and the election of members of assembly ; for regulating trade and facilitating navigation ; for the destruction of vermin and the tanning of leather.
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THE FIFTEENTH.
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1727]
The house of commons, in 1728, addressed the king praying him to contract with the lords proprietors of Carolina, for the purchase and surrender of their title to the province. promising to make the expense good, out of the next aid granted by parliament. An unanimous address was also presented, besecching the king to use his utmost endeavors to prevent the depredations on the English trade in America; to procure satisfaction for past ones, and secure a free commerce and navigation, to and from the British provinces in that quarter of the world.
This year, the boundary line was run, between the provinces of Virginia and Carolina, by the commission- ers of both, from the sea shore to Peters creek, which falls into Dan river, a little below the Saura towns, in the present county of Rockingham. The commission- ers, on the part of Virginia, were William Byrd, William Dandrige and Richard Fitzwilliams : those on the part of Carolina were Christopher Gale, Edward Moseley and Samuel Swann.
The commissioners met on the 5th of March, 1727, near Old Curriruck inlet, which was then so shallow that the breakers beat over it with a horrible noise. On the north side, the land terminated in a bluff point, from which a spit of land extended, towards the south east fall, half a mile. The inlet was between that spit and another on the south, leaving an opening of not quite a mile, then impracticable for any vessel whatever.
At two o'clock next morning, the variation was tried by a meridian taken from the north star, and found to be somewhat less than three degrees west.
The commissioners from Virginia, in their diary, ob- serve, that their associates from Carolina, "brought not
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above two men with them, that would put their hands to any thing but the kettle or frying pan; and they spent so much of their industry that way, that they had but little spirit or inclination for any other work.
" The women and children of the borderers came to stare at the commissioners, with as much curiosity as if they had lately landed from Canton or Morocco. The men appeared all to dread, that the line should pass to the south of their land, as in that case they must sub- mit to some kind of order and government, while in Car- olina, every one did what was best in his own eyes; and none paid any tribute to God or to Cæsar. A justice of the peace, in the precinct of Currituck having, about this time, ordered a fellow into the stocks, for being dis- orderly in his drink, was, for his intemperate zeal, car. ried thither, and narrowly escaped being whipped by the rabble."
Many women brought their children to the chaplain of the commissioners of Virginia, to be baptized; but the gentleman who kept their dairy adds, "they brought no capon along with them to make the solemnity cheerful."
Although the reverend gentleman of Virginia christen- ed upwards of one hundred children, during the running of the line, he did not marry a single couple. None were attracted by the novelty of having their hands joined by a man in holy order: they considered mar- riage as a civil contract only, and its knot as firmly tied by a justice, as by an archbishop.
On the 6th of April, the weather growing warm, and the rattle snakes beginning to crawl out of their winter quarters, a stop was put to the running of the line. During one month, the line was run from Currituck to
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THE FIFTEENTH.
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1728}
the plantation of a Mr. Kinchen, a gentleman of res- pectability and note, who dwelt on the south side of the Meherrin, in the present county of Hertfort, a distance of seventy-three miles and thirteen chains. This place is the only one at which the commissioners saw an orchard. They resumed their labor on the 20th of September.
This year is remarkable, in the annals of agriculture, for the first appearance of the weavel; an insect hitherto unknown in British America. They were first seen in North Carolina, from whence these mischievous flies extended gradually to Virginia, Maryland, and Dela- ware.
The last legislature, which sat under the authority of the lords proprietors, met in Edenton, on the 27th of November of the following year. They emitted bills of credit to the amount of forty thousand pounds. The precinct of Hyde was separated from that of Beaufort, and the court house directed to be built on the spot on which the present town of Woodstock stands. A new precinct was formed, from parts of those of Currituck, Pasquotank, Chowan and Bertie, which was called Tyrell, in memory of Sir John Tyrell, a gentleman who now owned that part of the province, which had been originally granted to lord Ashley ; and the precinct of Carteret was divided, and the lower part of it erected into a new precinct, which was called New Hanover, in honor of the reigning family.
Seven of the lords proprietors, finding that the ex- penses which had attended the settlement of Carolina were hardly productive of any advantage; the frequent wars which they had to sustain against the Indians
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absorbing the revenues of the province, and disabling the settlers from paying the quit rents on their lands, the arrears of which now amounted to above ten thou- sand pounds, applied to the new monarch, and offered to surrender the government of the province, and all the franchises secured to them by the charter of Charles II. as well as their property in the soil. The king entered into an agreement with them, which was this year rati- fied by parliament, (2 Geo. II. c. -. ) Each of them received from the crown the sum of two thousand five hundred pounds sterling, as the consideration of the surrender, and a further sum was allowed him, for his share of the quit rents due by the planters.
The share of lord Clarendon, under the original char- ter, was, at the time of the surrender, the property of James Bertie; that of the duke of Albemarle, the pro- perty of Henry duke of Beaufort and Charies Noel Somerset, his brother ; that of the earl of Craven was still in the holder of that title; that of lord Ashley was held in trust by A. Hutchinson, for John Cotton; that of Sir John Colleton by one of his descendants of the same name; that of Sir William Berkley, was claimed by three persons, Henry Bertie, Mary Dawson, and Elizabeth Moore.
John, lord Carteret, baron of Hawnes, as heir of his father, who died in 1696, was in possession of the share of Sir George Carteret. He declined parting with it.
Thus ended the proprietary government in Carolina, sixty-six years after the charter, by which it had been - established.
At its close the whole population did not exceed twen- ty-five thousand persons, of all sexes and colours, i. e. ten
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thousand in the northern, and fifteen thousand in the southern part of the province.
The primary division of the northern part was into three counties; Albemarle, Bath and Clarendon,
Albemarle was subdivided into six precincts, Curri. tuck, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan, Bertie and Tyrrel; its population about seven thousand.
Bath, into four precincts, Beaufort, Hyde, Craven and Carteret; its population two thousand five hundred.
Clarendon had but one precinct, New Hanover ; its population not exceeding five hundred.
Four towns only, had a legal establishment: Eden- ton, in the precinct of Chowan; Bath, in that of Beau- fort; Newbern, in that of Craven, and Beaufort, in that of Carteret : they were all extremely small.
The legislative power, resided in the lords proprietors and the general assembly: the former acted by their go- vernor, and a deputy from each of their lordships : the general assembly was composed of members from the precincts and towns.
The sessions of the legislative body were biennial : Edenton was the only town in which it sat.
The executive power resided in the governor, ap- pointed by the lords proprietors.
The judicial power, resided in a general and precinct courts and justices of the peace.
The general court held semi-annual sessions, and Edenton was the only town in which it sat. The pre- cinct courts held quarterly sessions : they were com- posed of the justices of the peace of each precinct; but every lord proprietor's deputy, the secretary and recei- ver of the province, were named in the commission of the peace of each precinct: these courts sat at the town
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in each precinct, that had one ward at Felps' point, at the mouth of the Narrows ; and the place of sitting, in the precincts of Currituck, Pasquotank, Hyde, Bertie and Tyrrel, was left to the choice of the justices.
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