USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 21
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The general court was composed of a chief and four associate justices.
The governor held a court of admiralty, and with the lords deputies, one of chancery.
Edward Moseley, John B. Ashe and William Swann, are the only persons, who filled the chair of the general assembly, whose names appear on record.
R. Chevin, Francis Foster, Christopher Gale, Ed- mund Gale, Thomas Lovick, Maurice Moore, John Palin, Thomas Pollock, William Reed, Richard San- derson, Robert West, J. Worley and Tobias Knight, are the proprietors' deputies, whose names have reached us.
The tanning of leather, is the only species of manufac- ture which appears to have obtained the notice of the legislature.
An act for the preservation of a library, the gift of Doctor Bray, was the only help afforded to literature. Nothing else appears to have been thought of, to promote education.
Acts had been passed, for the election of vestrymen, and church wardens; but it is not known, that more than two houses of worship had been erected.
Quit rents, poll and land taxes, with a small duty on exports, and, originally, one on tobacco exported, were the means resorted to, to fill the coffers of the province.
Though the congress at Soissons proved abortive, conferences were begun at Seville, between the pleni. potentiaries of England, France and Spain, and a treaty
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was concluded, on the ninth day of November, not only without the concurrence of the emperor, but even con- trary to his right, as established by the quadruple alliance.
The lords in the opposition excepted to the article by which the merchants were to make proof of their losses at the court of Spain.
At the time the crown purchased seven eighths of the province of Carolina, the French, the Spanish and the British, were the only European powers that had colonial establishments on that part of the northern continent of America, which is washed by the Atlantic ocean. The French possessed Canada and Louisiana, and the Spanish Florida. The British possessions were divided into eleven provinces : Nova Scotia, New Ham shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the counties on the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Carolina.
With regard to their internal policy, the governments of the provinces were of three sorts: 1. Provincial go- vernments, the constitutions of which depended on the respective commissions, issued by the crown to the governors, and the instructions which usually accom- panied these commissions ; under the authority of which, provincial assemblies were constituted, with the power of making laws, not repugnant to those of England ; as in the provinces of Nova Scotia,* New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. 2. Proprietary governments, granted out by the crown to individuals, in the nature of feudatory principalities, with all the in-
* Nova Scotia was, however, so thinly settled, that no legislature had as yet been called in it.
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ferior powers of legislation, which formerly belonged to the owners of English counties palatine ; yet still with the express condition, that the ends for which the grant was made be substantially pursued, and that no- thing be attempted, which might derogate from the sovereignty of the mother country ; as in the provinces of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and hitherto those of New Jersey and Carolina. 3. Charter governments, in the nature of civil corporations, with the power of making by-laws, for their own interior governments, not repugnant to the laws of England, and with such rights and authorities as were specially given them, in their several charters of incorporation ; as in the provinces of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In the first of these, the constitution was of a mixed nature : the power seemed divided between the king and the people, but the latter had, by far, the greatest share : for, they chose the assembly, and the assembly, the council; and the governor depended upon the assembly for his annual support, which frequently laid this officer under the temptation of giving up the prerogative of the crown and the interest of Great Britain. In the two other provinces, almost the whole power of the crown was delegated to the people : for they chose the assembly, the council and the governor; and held little or no correspondence with any officer in the mother country,
The forms of government in the eleven provinces, were borrowed from that of England. Each had a governor, named by the King, the proprietor or the people ; they had courts of justice of their own, from whose decisions an appeal, in certain cases, lay to the king and council in England. Their general assemblies, composed of a house of representatives and the council
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as an upper house, made laws suited to their own emergencies, with the concurrence of the king, or his representative, the governor. In all the provinces, except those of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Mary- land, copies of the acts of assembly were forwarded by the governor. immediately after the rise of each session, to the secretary of state for America, by whom they were laid before the board of the lords commissioners of trade and plantations. One of the king's counsel, spe- cially appointed for the service of that board, (called the reporting counsel) tock them under consideration, and reported his opinion on each act, whether the king should be advised to approve or repeal it. On the report of this gentleman, the board laid the act, with their own observations, before the lords of the king's council, on whose report the fate of the act chiefly depended.
The crown was confined in the exercise of its right in repealing the laws of the province of Massachusetts, to a period of three years, from the 'time they had been presented to the king, and those of Pennsylvania within six months.
The principal objections to a provincial law, which induced its repeal, by the authority of the crown, were, that it lessened the prerogative of the king, or the de- pendence of the province en the mother country, was repugnant to the laws of England, unnecessarily at variance with the laws and usages of the neighboring provinces, or affected the trade, manufactures or other real or fancied right of the king's English subjects.
The members of the lower house were more fairly and equally chosen by their constituents, than those of the British house of commons, by the people of Great Britain. The other two branches of the legislature
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were necessarily less perfect than the corresponding ones of the British parliament, being absolutely dependent.
The advantages, which resulted to the mother country from her intercourse with the American colonies, were already considerable. Sir William Keith, who had resided a long time on the continent, in some observa- tions, which he submitted to George II. on his coming to the crown, and which were referred in council to the lords commissioners of trade and .plantations, states, that they took off, and consumed, about one filth part of the woollen m mufactures, exported from Britain, the chief staple of England and the main support of her landed interest. They took off and consumed more that double the value of these woollen commodities, in linen and calico, partly the product of Britain and Ire- land, and partly the profitable return made for that pro- duct, when carried to foreign countries. The luxury of the colonies, which increased daily, consumed great quantities of English manufactured silks, haberdasherv, household furniture, and trinkets of all sorts, as also, a very considerable quantity of East India goods. A great revenue was raised to the crown, by returns made in the produce of the colonies, especially tobacco, which, at the same time, enabled England to bring nearer to a balance her unprofitable trade with France. The colo- nies promoted the interest and trade of the mother country, by a vast increase of shipping and seamen, which enabled her to carry great quantities of fish to Spain, Portugal, Leghorn, and other places; furs, logwood and rice, to
Holland; and eminently contributed in keeping the
balance of trade with these countries in favor of Eng- land. If reasonably encouraged, the American provinces were now in a condition to furnish Britain with as much
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of the following commodities as it could demand : masts for the navy, all sorts of lumber. hemp, flax, pitch, tar, oil, rosin, copper ore, and pig and bar iron, whereby the balance of trade with Russia and the Baltic might be very much reduced in favor of Great Britain. The profits arising to the colonies by trade were returned in bullion, or other objects useful to the mother country, where the superfluous cash, and other riches acquired in America continued, which was one of the best securities of the due subjection of the colonies.
The province of Nova Scoua, had been an important acquisition, as a barrier against the French of Canada, On the score of agriculture and commerce, it was of no value; the former was insufficient for the subsistence of the inhabitants and the latter was confined to the ex- portation of timber to the West Indies; the quantity was inconsiderable, and the quality much inferior to that of the timber in the southern provinces.
The trade of the province of New Hampshire princi- pally consisted in lumber, fish and naval stores : coarse woollen cloths were manufactured at home, by some of the colonists, for the use of their own families, and small quantities of linen were made by a few emigrants, who had lately arrived from Ireland : iron works had been set up in different parts of the province, and it was an object of complaint in England, that, with a view to en- courage those establishments, the provincial legislature had prohibited the exportation of iron ore.
The trade of the province of Massachusetts, differed from that of New Hampshire only in its extent, being by far more considerable; the colonists were also exten- sively engaged in ship building and supplied the French
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and Spanish with vessels, in return for rum, molasses, wines and silk, which were clandestinely introduced. They had already some East India trade, enjoying an advantage over the English ports, in the drawback for all India and other goods exported, which paid a duty in Great Britain, while no duty was paid upon importing them into the plantations. In some parts of the pro- vince, the inhabitants worked up their wool ard flax, and made an ordinary coarse cloth for their own use; small quantities of cloth were also made of linen and cotton, for ordinary shirting and sheeting. A paper mill had lately been set up, nineteen forges for making bar iron, and six furnaces for cast iron or hollow ware, and one slitting mill, (the owner of which carried on a manu- facture of nails) were counted in the province. Great quantities of hats were made, and some were exported to Spain, Portugal and the West India islands, and there were some rum distilleries and sugar refineries. Copper mines had been discovered, but so distant from water carriage, and the ore so poor, that they were not thought worth the digging. The greater part of the leather used in the province, was of its own manufacture. Brown hollands, duck, and sail cloth, began to be made, and the provincial legislature had passed laws for allowing a bounty on every piece of duck or canvass made, and for encouraging the erection of paper mills.
The province of Connecticut exported horses and lumber to the West India islands, and received in return, salt, rum and molasses ; their manufactures were incon- siderable ; the inhabitants who were not engaged in tillage, employed their time in tanning, shoemaking and other handicraft works.
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Considerable iron works were carried on in the pro-, vince of Rhode Island, but the other manufactures, and the commerce of this colony, were insignificant.
The trade of the province of New York, consisted chiefly in furs, whalebone, oil, pitch, tar, provisions, horses and lumber : they exported these last articles to the West India islands : there were hardly any manu- factures in this colony ; some hats and coarse cloths were however made, and there were a few distilleries and sugar refineries.
The trade of the province of New Jersey, consisted chiefly in the same articles with that of New York, through the principal port of which it was almost exclu- sively carried. This province did not carry on any manufacture,
In the province of Pennsylvania, brigantines and sloops were built, which were sold to the people of the West India islands, with whom the trade of the colony was chiefly carried on : its exports, consisting of pro- visions, principally grain and lumber : some coarse woollens being all the articles it manufactured, none of which were exported, and a few only for sale, in a small Indian town, where a German palatine had lately settled.
In the southern provinces, Maryland, Virginia and Carolina, tobacco, naval stores and rice, were the great- est articles of exportation, chiefly for the European markets : large quantities of provisions and lumber were shipped to the West Indies. There were no manufac- tures; a few hats, however, and cotton cloth, were made, but none for exportation.
It is not to be wondered at, that more trades were car- ried on, and more manufactories set up, in the northern provinces, especially in New England, than in the rest :
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for, their soil, climate and produce, being nearly the same with that of England, they had no staple commodiues to exchange for British manufactures, which laid them under greater temptations of providing for themselves. at home. In the chartered governments, the little de- pendence on the mother country, and consequently the small restraints they were under, all measures detri- mental to her interest, were additional inducements.
Chalmers-History of South Carolina-Records.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I .- FROM 1512 TO 1586.
DISCOVERY of Florida; Cabot's voyage; Ponce de Leon's second voyage; Veranzzani's voyages; French navigators' voyages to Newfoundland and St. Lawrence; first British statute relating to the colonies; the French invade Carthagena; Louis de Beluastro's voyage to Florida; Jean Ribaud takes possession of Caroline; Laudoniere transports a colony thither; the Spaniards destroy it; De Gourgues revenges it; Armidas and Barlow come to Ocracock; Granganameo; Wingina; Wingado- cea; Indians; Roanoke island; the English entertained by Gran- ganameo's wife; return to England; country called Virginia; sir Richard Grenville's voyage; colony left in Virginia; go- vernor Lane; journey up Roanoke; Granganameo's death; Ensenore; Wingina's hatred of the English; King of Chowa- nocks visits governor Lane; recognizes the authority of the queen of England; distress of the colonists; they are relieved by Sir Francis Drake, and taken back to England; description of the aborigines and of the country; notice of European set- tlements on the main.
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CHAPTER II .- FROM 1536 TO 1603.
Succour sent to governor Lane; Sir Richard Grenville's sc- cond voyage; a colony sent under governor White; they N. CARO. 40
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reach Virginia; settle on Roanoke island; Indians kill George Howe; expedition to cape Look Out; Governor Lane goes to revenge Howe's death; kills by mistake some friendly Indians; first child of British parentage born in America; Governor White returns to England; his efforts to procure relief for the colony; Spanish armament; governor White sets sail and is obliged to return; Sir Walter Raleigh disposes of his claim to Virginia; governor White sets sail again; arrives at cape Hat- teras; vainly seeks for the colonists, wanders in search of in- formation about them and returns to England; Newport and Drake's voyages; Sylvester Wyatt's; Sir Walter Raleigh sends a ship, to South America; attack on Trinidad; Guiana; Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins' voyages to South Ame- rica; British take the island of Portorico; voyage to Cape Breton; the French attempt to settle Canada; Bartholomew Gos- nold's voyage to the northern part of the continent; Sir Walter Raleigh's frequent attempts to discover and relieve governor White's colonists; notice of European settlements in America-
CHAPTER III .- FROM 1603 TO 1610.
Martin Pring's voyage to North Virginia; Bartholomew Gil- bert's attempt to seek and relieve the Virginia colony; Henry IV.'s patent to Dumontz; Champlain's voyage; Port Royal; river St. Croix; Peace with Spain; Weymouth's voyage; Sir Richard Hackluyt; first Virginia charter; instructions; colo- nial councils; their powers; king's council for Virginia, in England; Christopher Newport carries over a colony; they reach cape Hatteras; cape Charles; cape Henry; bay of Chesapeake; they land; president Wingfield; his council; Jamestown; party sent to reconnoitre the bay; security of the colonists; Indians kill some of them; sickness; distress of the colony; President Radcliffe; John Smith; provisions ob-
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gained from the Indians; conflagration; colonists and succour from England; low state of the colony; agriculture; severe winter; Indians; Raleigh Gilbert's voyage to North Virginia; John Smith's services to the colony; he is called to the coun- cil; further migration; pitch; tar; potash; French in Canada; Hudson's voyage; Samuel Argal; second charter; lord Dela- ware, governor of Virginia; sir Thomas Gates, lieutenant ge- neral; sir George Somers, admiral; their departure; storm; shipwreck; Bermudas; fleet reaches Jamestown; provisional government; Powhatan; John Smith; distress of the colony; arrival of sir Thomas Gates and sir George Somers at James- town; dearth of provisions; determination to abandon the colony; colonists re-embark; notice of European settlements in America.
CHAPTER IV .- FROM 1610 TO 1625.
Lord Delaware arrives in James river; induces the colonists to return; his authority and administration; the colony thrives; vessel sent to Bermudas for hogs; earl of Northumberland's patent; lord Delaware's return; president Percy; governor Dale; governor Gates; Henrico; Bermuda Hundred; third charter; first hostilities between French and English in Ame- rica; captain Argal; Port Royal destroyed; Dutch settlement on Manhattan reduced; industry of the Virginians encouraged; division of lands; Bermudas; governor Dale; Dutch resume possession of New Netherlands: John Smith's voyage to the northward; grant of land to colonists; governor Yardley; Chickahomini Indians; culture of tobacco; neglect of provi- sions; Indians; governor Argal; lord Delaware sails for Vir- ginia; dies on his passage; governor Argal's rigorous conduct; governor Yardley; great mortality; Puritans; they migrate to Holland; arrive at Cape Cod; New England patent; great
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migrations to Virginia; girls sent thither; convicts; iron works; first importation of slaves; governor Wyatt; college; Ferdinando Gorges; sir William Alexander's patent; lord Baltimore's patent for Newfoundland; prosperity of Virginia; Indians massacre the whites; legislature; quo warranto; char- ter annulled; king James's demise; state of the English and other European settlements on the continent.
CHAPTER V .- FROM 1625 TO 1649.
Charles I .; governor Yardley; despotic government; bill to secure navigation and fishery; Swedish colony on the Dela- ware; province of Carliola, in the West Indies; governor Harvey; company of Massachusetts bay; capture of Quebec; Boston; Nova Scotia; grant of Carolana to sir Robert Heath; peace with Spain; Connecticut patent; license to Clayborne; treaty of St. Germain enlarged; Canada; Acadia and New France restored; grant of Maryland; Virginia complaint against it; lord Baltimore's arrival; commission to govern the colo- nies; mutiny in Boston; determination to resist council of Plymouth; surrender their charter; quo warranto against that of Massachusetts; settlement of Connecticut; French colony at Cayenal; Providence; Virginians send governor Harvey to England; the king orders him back; sir William Berkeley; migration to America restrained; Plan of one colonial govern- ment; sir Ferdinando Gorges; Martinico; proclamation against emigration; province of Maine; first printing press in British America; change of government resisted; Surinam; Virginia required to aid the settlement of Carolana; Clayborne; Indian war; New England union; earl of Warwick; Provi- dence charter; St. Lucia; rebellion in Maryland; ordinance restraining the transportation of colonial produce; Iroquois; negotiations with Canada: peace of Westphalia; grant to
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Culpepper and others; Charles I. beheaded; condition of the colonies at this period.
CHAPTER VI .- FROM 16-19 TO 1656.
[ Charles II.'s commission to sir William Berkely; Grenada and Anguilla; house of commons assume government; procla- mation for the reduction of the colonies; navigation act; sir George Askew reduces Barbades; sends a squadron to Vir- ginia; preparation for defence; capitulation and surrender; go- vernor Bennet; tobacco prohibited being planted in England; Maine added to Massachusetts; government of Maryland ta- ken from lord Baltimore; that of Rhode Island suspended; mint at Boston; sir William Berkely; governor Digges; Western country; Ohio river; preparation for the conquest of Canada; admiral Penn's attack on Hispaniola; Jamaica taken; the Dutch drive the Swedes from the Delaware; add their settle- ment to New Netherlands; New Amsterdam; governor Mat- thews, settlement on Cape Fear; Nova Scotia; insurrection in Maryland; peace with France and Spain; treaty of the Py- renees; situation of the colonies at the end of the protectorate.
CHAPTER VII .- FROM 1660 TO 1664.
Navigation act; governor Berkely; legislature under Charles II.'s authority; common law and statute of England introduced; society for propagating the gospel; Massachusetts; Connecticut charter; lord Baltimore resumes his province; church of England established in Virginia; great earthquake in Canada; first charter of Carolina to the lords proprietors; Indians; proposals to settlers; county of Albemarle; gover- nor Berkely's visit to it; expedition from Barbadoes to Cape Fear; its journal; government of Albemarle; governor Drum-
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mond; charter of Rhode Island; grant to the duke of York; New Netherlands possessed by the English, and called New York; St. Lucia; the French claim the land on the back of the British settlements in America.
CHAPTER VIII .- FROM 1664 TO 1673.
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Second charter; lords proprietors publish proposals for the settlement of their province; sir John Yeamans leads a colony from Barbadoes to Cape Fear; Charleston; county of Claren- don; legislature of Barbadoes forbid emigrations; William Sayle sent to survey the coast of Carolina; is shipwrecked on the Bahamas; makes a chart of the sea coast of Carolina; grant of the Bahamas to the lords proprietors of Carolina; peace of Breda; treaty of commerce with Spain; transporta- tion of convicts; governor Stephens; great deed of grant; legislature; peace with France; St. Vincent and Dominico; charter of Hudson's bay; Locke's fundamental constitution; lord Albemarle; palatine; people of Albemarle county averse to the new system; William Sayle, governor of South Carolina; he leads a colony to Port Royal; Indian wars; treaty of Ma- drid; transportation of convicts; temporary agrarian laws; sir John Yeamans removes his colony southerly; made gover- nor of South Carolina; settlement of old Charleston; division of South Carolina into counties; county of Albemarle divided into precincts; Quaker missionary's visit ; Spanish Schedule; Campeachy wood; complaints in parliament of the trade of the colonists; statute to retrieve it; war against the Dutch; Spanish party invades South Carolina; insurrection in New Jersey; West India British islands divided into two govern- ments; the Dutch take New York; discovery of the Mississippi by the French from Canada.
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CHAPTER IX .- FROM 1673 TO 1685.
Sir John Yeamans returns to Barbadoes: Governor West's parliament in South Carolina; Governor Cartright; culture of the vine; peace with the States General; New Jersey; Indian war; jealousies in England of the trade of the colonies: in- structions to colonial governors; insurrection in Virginia; af- fairs in the county of Albemarle; governor Eastchurch; presi- dent Miller; Culpepper's insurrection; manifesto; new system of colonial administration; lord Carlisle sent to enforce it in Jamaica; his ineffectual attempt; Culpepper's mission to Eng- land; Miller arrested there, tried and acquitted; governor Harvey; settlement of the present town of Charleston; New Hampshire separated from Massachusetts; Lasalle sails up the Mississippi; Spaniards invade the Bahama islands; logwood cutters; Henry Wilkinson, governor of North Carolina; Penn- sylvania charter; migration thereto; proprietor's arrival; La- salle floats down the Mississippi to the gulf of Mexico; lord Cardross leads a colony to Port Royal; Governor Sothel; col- lection of duties resisted in Massachusetts; quo warranto against the charter; judgment for the king; Kirk appointed governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Ply- mouth; Lord Effingham, governor of Virginia; parliament of Carolina raises the value of foreign coins; act approved, but afterwards disapproved; demise of Charles II .; notice of European settlements in America.
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