USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina under the proprietary government, 1670-1719, V.1 > Part 11
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"Though we are (att pr'sent) under some straight for want of provision (incident to the best of new plantations) yet we doubt not (through the goodness of God) of remits from sundry places to w'ch we have sent. But there is one thing which lyes very heavy upon us, the want of a Godly and orthodox minist'r w'ch I and many others of us have ever lived under as the greatest of o'r Mercys. May it please your Lords'p in my late country of Bermudas there are divers Minstr's of whom there is one Mr Sampson Bond heretofore of long standing in Exeter Colledge in Oxford and ordaigned by the late Bishop of Exeter the ole Do'r Joseph Hall. And by a commission from the Earl of Manchester and company for the Sumer Islands sent theere in the veere 1662 for the term of three yeeres under whose powerfull and soul-edefying Ministry I have lived eight yeeres last past. There was nothing in all this world soe grievous to my spirit as the thought of parting with his Godly society and faithfull min- istry. But I did a little comfort myself that it might please y'r' Lord by some good measure or other to enclyne his heart to come after us, who hath little respect from some who are now in authority in Ber-
1 Hewatt. Hist. of So. Ca., vol. I, 51.
? Probably should be ye.
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mudas w'ch is a great discouragm'nt to him, w'ch is taken notice of in other places. and he is invited to Boston in New England and to New York by the Govern'r there tenders of large encouragement if he will come to ye one or other place. I have likewise writt most earnestly to hit desiring that he would come and sitt downe with us, assuring him that it is not only my urgent request, but withall the most hearty request of ye colony in generall, who were exceedingly affected with him and his ministry all the tyme they were in Ber- mudas." 1
Again in a letter of 9th September, in which Florence O'Sullivan, Stephen Bull, Joseph West. William Scrivener, Ralph Marshall, Paul Smith, Samuel West. and Joseph Dalton join, he urges the great want of an able minister by whose means corrupted youth might be reclaimed and the people instructed. The Israelites' prosperity decayed when their prophets were wanting, for where the ark of God is, he says, there is peace and tranquillity.
The Lords Proprietors authorized an offer to be made to Mr. Bond of 500 acres of land and £40 per annum to come to Carolina, but they declared that though allowed to be a preacher among the colonists, they gave neither him nor Sayle authority to compel any one in matters of re- ligion, having in their Fundamental Constitutions granted a freedom which they resolved to keep inviolable. Mr. Bond did not come, but remained at Bermuda many years afterwards. 2
While Sayle and other leaders of the colony were doubtless men of strong religious character, the com- pany generally was composed of adventurers of the ordi- nary type ; men no doubt of irreligious and reckless lives. So we read that on the 4th of July. the Governor and Council, having been informed how much the Sab-
1 Shaftesbury Papers : Calendar State Papers, Colonial (Sainsbury), 1889, 202, 480 ; Year Book City of Charleston ( Courtenay), 1883, 374.
& Anderson's Hist, of the Colonial Church, vol. II, 336.
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bath day was profanely violated, and of divers grand abuses practised by the people to the great dishonor of God Almighty and the destruction of good neighbor- hood. took seriously into consideration by what means these evils might be redressed. And here at once the absurdity of the grand model of government with which they had come encumbered. and the inadequacy and unsuitableness of their powers even under the instruc- tions to the Governor and Council, became apparent. By the latter, the Governor, with the five deputies of the Proprietors and the five " freemen " elected at Port Royal, were to govern according to the limitations and instruc- tions of the Fundamental Constitutions as far as was practicable : but they were required also to summon the " freeholders " to choose twenty persons who, with the deputies. were to form a Parliament. Now it was found that the number of freeholders in the colony were "nott neere sufficient to elect a Parliam't." The Gov- ernor, thereupon, with the consent of his Council made such orders as were thought convenient to suppress the abuses.1 Such temporary orders were expressly provided for under the provisions of the charter, but had not been either under the constitutions or the instructions brought out by Governor Sayle. Nor was there found wanting in the colony one astute enough to perceive the dilemma, though there was no lawyer among these people, who by the constitutions were to attend each to his own law business. The Governor summoned all the people to hear the orders he had determined upon. Mr. William Owen, the same
who had "censured the legality " of the election held at Port Royal, and who is now described as one " willing to doe any thing though ever so ill in itselfe. rather than
1 Shaftesbury Papers; Calendar State Papers. Colonial (Sainsbury), London, 1889, 181; Year Book City of Charleston (Courtenay), 1883.
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not to appeare to be a man of accion," persuaded the peo- ple that without a Parliament no such orders could pass. In this he was supported by Dr. William Scrivener, deputy of Lord Berkeley. While the Governor and Council were discussing this new point and other matters, Owen, con- stituting himself manager and returning officer, held elec- tion on the 4th of July and took down the names of those elected. The Governor and Council, in their account of the matter, say that two of the Parliament men returned were servants - " Mich Moran a laboring Irishman and Rich Crossley set free by his master for idleness "; but among the Shaftesbury papers is one entitled " Mr. Owen's Parliament's Return," which gives the names of those elected ; viz. Maurice Mathews, Henry Hughes, John Jones, Thomas Smith, Henry Symons, Henry Woodward, Hugh Carteret, James Marschall, Anthony Churne, Will- iam Kennis, George Beadon, Jonathan Baker, Thomas Ingram, Thomas Norris, and Will Owen. The names of the two servants. Moran and Crossley, do not appear. Though "Mr. Owen's Parliament's Return" recites that the election was held by the Governor's orders and sum- mons, the Governor and Council took no notice of it. and the Governor's orders were published and received without further question.
Owen and Scrivener were not, however, so easily sub- dued. The Governor and Council complain to the Lords Proprietors that Owen, finding himself "swallowed up in a general consent," fell upon a new stratagem, and per- suaded the people, especially the new-comers, that as there was no great seal in the province, unless a Parlia- ment were forthwith chosen to prevent it. their lands and all their improvements might be taken away at pleasure. " Now," says the Governor. " Owen hath hit the mark. he is what he would be, the leader of a company of people
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upon any terms, the people's prolocutor, and therefore must have room in the council to show himself and the people's grievances." The Governor and Council patiently heard, they declare, Owen's argument upon the inter- pretation of their Lordship's instructions, after which the Governor made a speech to the people, giving them to understand his power and authority to assure them their lands until their great seal arrived, and that he intended to summon a Parliament when opportunity served or necessity required ; whereupon, he says, all or most of the freemen were fully satisfied. Scrivener, however, he goes on to say, perceiving that Owen and himself were likely to lose reputation as men of understanding, rose up, and with more than ordinary heat desired the people to take notice that he conceived their proposals - that is, that it was necessary to have a Parliament called to secure their lands from forfeiture - very just and reasonable, and that those who would not support them were dis- turbers of the peace and infringers of the people's lib- erties. This was more than the Governor and Council could stand, and they report that for such speeches, tend- ing to the slighting and utter destruction of the present government, and inciting the people to sedition and mutiny and consequently to the ruin of the settlement. it was that same day ordered that from thenceforth Scrivener be suspended from the Council, and that both he and Owen be incapable of bearing any public office or employment in the colony until further orders.1 Seriv- ener was, however, soon back in the Council. In Novem- ber Braine writes to Lord Ashley that there are but five men in the Council that have any reason, - Captain West,
1 Shaftesbury Papers ; Calendar State Papers, Colonial, London, 1889, 219, 820, 471, 478; Year Book City of Charleston (Courtenay), 1853, 373.
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Messrs. Bull. Scrivener, Dun, and Dalton.1 And Owen, too, whose election to Parliament by the people in July, 1670 the Governor would not allow. some time after took his seat in the Council itself, as the deputy of Sir Peter Colleton.2 In the meanwhile he is in correspondence with Lord Ashley, who thanks him for his letters, which indeed are among the ablest written from the colony.3 Writing to Robert Blaney, secretary to Lord Ashley. he speaks not unkindly of the Governor. He cannot believe but that the Governor is honest. but whether of parts sufficiently qualified in judging civil rights he can- not tell. A man for this place must be of parts, learning. and policy, and of a moderate zeal : not strict Episcopal. nor yet licentious nor rigid " Presbyterian nor yet hypocritical. but saving himself in an even balance be- tween all opinions, but especially turning his fore to the church of England." #
The Carolina. under command of Captain Henry Braine, which had been sent to Virginia in May. 1670. returned, as we have seen, to Kiawha on the 22d of August with sup- plies. Florence O'Sullivan had written to Lord Ashley by her, by the way of Virginia. and he wrote again on the 10th of September, that the country proves good beyond expectation. abounding in all things, as good oak. ash. deer, turkeys, partridges. rabbits, turtle, and fish, and the land produces anything that is put into it : for they had tried it with corn, cotton, tobacco, and other provisions. which did well. the lateness of the season considered. He had made discoveries in the country, and found it good. with many pleasant rivers.
The Carolina had returned from Virginia in good time;
1 Calendar Site Papers. 329. 473.
2 Ibid. 721 ; Dalcho's Ch. Hist., 11.
3 Calendar Stora Papers, 261, 491.
+ Shaftesbury Papers ; Calendar State Papers, 473.
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for all the provisions were gone, and the colonists forced to live upon the friendly Indians, some of whom were very kind to them. She then sailed again for Barbadoes, seeking emigrants and fresh supplies. O'Sullivan was evidently not a Puritan, as Sayle was, nor did he believe in the doctrine of the Fundamental Constitutions. that the colony could get along without lawyers. He writes : -
" Wee expect from yo' hono" a shipp from England w" more peo- ple, you wold doe well to grant free passage to passengers for some small tyme for many would be willing to come y' are not able to pay their passage, pray send us a minister quallined according to the Church of England, and an able councellor to end controversies amongst us and put us in the right way of the managem' of yo' coll - we hope now the worst is past if you please to stand by us " etc.1
Dr. Henry Woodward, who had been found at Nevis and was with the expedition when Sir John Yeamans left it at Bermuda, writes to Sir John on the same day that O'Sullivan writes to Lord Ashley (10th of September). excusing himself for not having written since his Honor left Bermuda for Barbadoes, and he with the others set forward for the main, and tells of a country he had dis- covered, so delicious, pleasant, and fruitful, that. were it cultivated, it doubtless would prove a second paradise. He describes it as lving west by north fourteen days' travel after the Indian manner of marching.2 He had formed a league with the Emperor of this land of Chufytachygs and of all the petty . cassiks " between the Emperor and themselves, and so upon his return, the Carolina being still absent on her voyage to Virginia and provisions run- ning low. he had been enabled to procure provisions from the natives. He tells of the threat of invasion by the
1 Shaftesbury Papers; Colonial Records of No. Ca. vol. I. 207
2 Supposed to be the land of Cofachiqui, visited by De Soto in 1540, near or upon the sources of the Savannah River, where the States of North and South Carolina and Georgia border upon each other.
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Spaniards, which he conceived was designed in the hope of intercepting the Carolina on her return from Virginia. yet it pleased God the ship arrived safely with her most convenient supply.1
Governor Sayle's health. from his great age and the fatigue and exposure incident to the settlement of the colony. soon failed. On the 30th of September he exe- cuted a will whereby, declaring himself weak in body, but (blessed be God) in perfect mind and memory, he devised " his mansion house and Town Lot in Albemarle Point to his eldest son Nathaniel Sayle." He lived, however, until the March following, when he died, aged about eighty years.2 He was authorized by his commission. with the advice and approbation of his Council, to nominate a deputy to succeed him in case he should die or depart from the province, who should act as Governor until the pleasure of the Proprietors should be known.3 On the morning of the 4th of March, finding his strength failing. but in full possession of his senses, he sent for his Council and nominated Joseph West as his successor under this power. The nomination was approved, and upon his death West assumed the government.4
The death of the Duke of Albemarle had preceded Gov- ernor Sayle's a few months. Lord Ashley writes to West on the 1st of November, that the present Palatine is Lord John Berkeley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who has suc- ceeded the Duke of Albemarle. deceased.5 But his Lord-' ship was not regularly admitted as such until the 20th of January, 1669-70.6
1 Shaftesbury Papers; Colonial Records of No. Ca., vol. I, 208.
2 Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. (Rivers), 96; Appendix, 385.
8 Thid .. 340. 341.
+ Shafteshay Papers; Calendar State Papers ( Sainsbury), London, 1889, 472 ; Year Book City of Charleston ( Courtenay), 1883, 875.
3 Calendar State Papers, Colonial (Sainsbury), London, 1830, 313.
G Colonial Records of No. Ca., vol. I, 180.
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The Council organized by Sayle continued to govern the colony until the Proprietor's ship, the Blessing, brought further instruction in August, 1670. Captain Halsted, the master, was, by these instructions, upon reaching the Ashley, first to deliver eight small guns with their carriages to the Governor and Council, and then with all convenient speed to procure a loading of timber staves and other commodities suitable for the market at Barbadoes, to which he was to sail as soon as he secured his freight. During the lading of his vessel he was to take a strict and particular account of the stores which had been brought out by West as storekeeper, also of the cargo from Virginia and the provisions received from Ber- muda. West and Braine, while at Bermuda, had drawn on Mr. Colleton for 12.000 pounds of sugar, and had since drawn on him for a similar amount. Captain Hal- sted was to inquire in what this sugar was laid out, also for the beef and flour Mr. Colleton had sent. He was to take a receipt of Mr. West for the cargo he was to deliver. If he had time during the lading of the ship, he was to take a view of the country, especially of Ashley River, to seek a healthy highland convenient to set out a town, as high up as a ship could well be carried, and to do the same in Wando and also " Sewa River." He was to inquire concerning the healthfulness, richness, and other properties of the soil, especially whether the country pro- duced timber for masts. As soon as his vessel was laded. he was to sail for Bridge Town, Barbadoes. there to dis- pose of the timber upon the best terms, consulting Sir John Yeamans and Mr. Thomas Colleton as to the best course for securing passengers for Ashley River, which was to be the main purpose of his voyage thither. At Barbadoes he was also to inquire about those bills charged upon them by Mr. Colleton. As soon as he had secured
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passengers, he was to sail again for the Ashley River and, delivering them there. to sail to Virginia, and then to lay out the produce of the rum and sugar he was to take in at Barbadoes, in cattle which he was to take back to the Ash- ley. His instructions then provided for another voyage to Barbadoes with lumber, the proceeds of which he -was to invest in a cargo fit for the Bahamas, where he was also to seek passengers back to the Ashley. In all his trips to any place in the West Indies he was enjoined to remember that the chief employment of his ship should be to carry people to their plantation on the Ashley, and that traffic was to be subservient to this purpose.1
Captain Halsted also brought out with him a set of laws, styled " Temporary Laws," which the Proprietors had adopted to be administered until there was a sufficient number of inhabitants to warrant the enforcement of the Fundamental Constitutions in all particulars ; but these Temporary Laws did but little to relieve the situation. The officers and machinery of the government retained were out of all proportion to the numbers of the colony. The government as prescribed was still absurdly top-heavy. For a colony at first of not more than 200, and which in two years did not double its numbers, it was still proposed to maintain a Grand Council. Parliament, and numerous officers of the highest grade known to European govern- ments. The Palatine was to name the Governor, and each Lord Proprietor a deputy, which deputies. and an equal number of others chosen by the Parliament, should con- tinue to be counsellors until the Proprietors should order a new choice or the country be so peopled as to be capable of the grand model of government. When Landgraves or Caciques should be created by the Proprietors. so many of the eldest of them as should be resident in the province
1 Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. ( Rivers), Appendix. 359-362.
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as would equal the number of the Lords Proprietors depu- ties should be added to the Council, so that the nobility should have a share in the government. The Governor with the Lords Proprietors' deputies, the Landgraves, and Caciques (of the Council), and those chosen by the Parlia- inent were to be a Grand Council and have all the power and authority of such under the constitutions and of other courts until they should be evicted. Besides these there were to be a Chief Justice. who should appoint a Chief Marshal, a Chancellor, Treasurer, High Steward, High Chamberlain, Admiral, Secretary, Receiver, Sur- veyor. Register. and Marshal of the admiralty.
To suit the beginning of the government and to prevent the taking up great tracts of land sooner than they could be settled, it was provided that until by the increase of the inhabitants parts of seventy-two colonies should be possessed by the people, each Proprietor should have but three seigniories and each Landgrave and Cacique but one barony. Lords of baronies and manors were to be required to have each upon his barony thirty persons and upon his manor fifteen within seven years after the date of his grant.
To these provisions were added two others. First, that no Indian upon any occasion or pretence whatsoever was to be made a slave or without his own consent be carried out of the country. Second, a provision for keep- ing full the number of the deputies of the Proprietors in the Council by directing how vacancies should be supplied. 1 Notice was brought at the same time that Mr. James Carteret, Sir John Yeamans, and Mr. John Locke had been made Landgraves.2 The Royal charter, as we have pointed out, empowered the Proprietors to confer titles
1 Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. (Rivers), Appendix, 351, 353. 2 Ibid., 103; Appendix, 368.
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only " upon such of the inhabitants of the province " as they should think fit ; but here we see them in the very outset making persons who had never even been in the colony of Carolina Landgraves. Captain Halsted was also instructed to tell the settlers, with reference to the supply of provisions which he carried to them, that the Proprietors had " been so much out of purse" for their good that it was expected of them in return to be "fair and punctual" in repaying what they had got ; " upon which fair dealing of them will depend the continuation of our supplies."
We cannot refrain from remarking, observes Rivers, that the "true and absolute lords" of the immense region of Carolina, with all its mines, quarries, and fisheries, whose object was declared to be the diffusion of the Christian religion among those who knew not God, must now have appeared to the colonists to abandon their dignity and best policy for sordid calculations. Instead of the Gospel, the Indians were offered only glass beads ; and the needy colonists, who were yet struggling to maintain themselves, were required to repay what had been granted them (with ten per cent interest ) by preparing cargoes of timber "at moderate rates." Their Lordships were already " so much out of purse " for their benefit that unless punctual pay- ment should be made, the settlers should expect from them no ammunition or fish-hooks, blankets or provisions. At the same time a nobility was thrust upon them, the first set of the " unalterable " Fundamental Constitutions were repudiated and another set with essential alterations substituted, and numerous laws established without the con- currence of the people as the charter provided, and to which they were required to yield an unmurmuring obedience.
All these circumstances, however, were not yet known in the infant colony, and comparative harmony prevailed through the prudent management of Governor West, who
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looked rather to the necessities by which he was surrounded than to the plans and theories that emanated from the other side of the Atlantic. 1
The colony increased but slowly. The Carolina Packet, having returned from Virginia, sailed again for Barbadoes in September, 1670. Upon her arrival there, Major Kings- land. Thomas Colleton, and Sir John Yeamans issued a proclamation stating that the Proprietors had provided the vessel for the transportation of such people, with their servants. negroes, and utensils. as would be ready to depart in thirty days. They promised that each person who had underwritten 1000 pounds of muscovado sugar towards de- fraying the expenses of Captain Hilton's voyage of dis- covery in 1664 would have lands allotted to him. Those who were minded to go, but unable to pay their own passage, would be transported upon their agreeing, within two years after their arrival, to pay 500 pounds of merchantable tobacco, cotton, or ginger, or of whatever they should first produce. Mr. John Strode and Mr. Thomas Colleton also fitted out a vessel of their own. the John and Thomas, and made great exertions to procure emigrants. The Carolina sailed from Barbadoes early in 1671, with sixty- four new settlers. and the John and Thomas took to the Ashley forty-two more. Among the latter was Captain Godfrey, who had been a deputy in the Council in Barba- does and who went out upon the persuasion of Sir John Yeamans. He took with him five men. - hands, as they were called, -also Mr. Grar, overseer to Sir John, who carried ten able men. most of them carpenters and sawyers.2 There were also of the party Captain Thomson and Mr. Culpepper. These, Stephen Bull writes to Lord Ashley, 1 Hist. Sketches ( Rivers), 104. 105.
2 Calendar State Papers, Colonial (Sainsbury), London, 1889, 313, 338, 341, 432.
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were all settled within five days, as close together as con- venient. The greatest distance that any person or family is seated. he says. is less than two miles either up or down the river from the town. In August, 1671, the Blessing brought out several families from England and, sailing at once for New York, returned in December with a company of emigrants from the Dutch settlement of Nova Belgia, which had recently passed under English rule. The ship Phonic also brought a number of families from the same place. The principal of these new-comers was Mr. Michael Smith with whom a committee of council were directed to lay off a town to be named James Town, the houses in which should be twenty feet long and fifteen feet broad at least. It was ordained that in future a list of all immigrants should be recorded in the Secretary's office and that captains of vessels should give bond not to carry off any of the inhabitants without a special license. Before the furnishing of such list and bond, no vessel could land any part of its cargo.1
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