USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina under the proprietary government, 1670-1719, V.1 > Part 22
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Having procured these additional instructions, Governor Archdale, at length, on the 17th of August. 1695, entered upon his government at Charles Town. He spent the first months endeavoring to allay "the heats" of the peo- ple. and selecting his Council. He brought out with him for this purpose blank deputations, in the use of which the Proprietors recommended him to observe care. " favor to be shown to those who have been the greatest benefactors to the country." 2 He prided himself no little upon the moderation and judgment with which he exe- cuted this power. "My power," he says, " was very large. yet did I not wholly exclude the High Church party at that time out of the essential part of the government, but mix'd two Moderate Church-men to one High Churchman in the council whereby the ballance of government was preserved peaceable and quiet in my Time, and so left and continued several years whilst Blake whom I left Gov-
1 Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. (Rivers), 179, 180.
2 Ibil., 138.
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ernour lived." 1 The Council he thus appointed and "mixed" were Joseph Blake, whom he describes as "accounted in some measure a dissenter," 2 Stephen Bull, James Moore, Paul Grimball, Thomas Cary (his son-in- law), John Berresford, and William Hawett.3 All former judges of the courts, officers of the militia, and justices of the peace were continued in their respective offices.+ Having arranged these matters to his satisfaction, he summoned his first Parliament. " When I arrived," he says, "I found all matters in great confusion and every faction apply'd themselves to me in hopes of relief: I appeased them with kind and gentle words and so soon as possible call'd an assembly." Upon opening the Assembly, he addressed them as " Friends and Representatives of the People." and spoke to them of the occasion of his coming, told them that upon the application for some Proprietor to come over, Lord Ashley had been nominated, but his affairs not permitting his Lordship's coming, he had been induced to do so. That he was endued with a considerable power and trust, and he hoped faithfully and impartially to answer their expectations. "And I believe I may appeal to your Serious Rational Observations whether I have not already so allay'd your Heats as that the disgust- ing Titles thereof are so much withered away, and I hope this Meeting with you will wholly extinguish them so that a solid Settlement of this hopeful Colony will ensue," etc. Now that the Assemby had heard the Proprietors' inten- tions in sending him hither, he advised them to proceed soberly and mildly.
1 Archdale's Description of Carolina (1708); Carroll's Coll., vol. II, 112, 113.
2 Ibid.
3 Hewatt's Hist. of So, Ca., vol. I, 130; Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Ca., vol. I, 142.
4 Hewatt, vol. I, 130.
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The Assembly replied, thanking Almighty God for his Honor's safe arrival, and returned him most sincere and hearty thanks for the progress he had already made since his arrival towards the settlement of the place; for his candid expressions and the good favor and great kindness shown to the people, and assured him of their hearty endeavor to the attaining of such a settlement as would redound to the honor of the Lords Proprietors and the happiness of the people.
"But Courteous Reader," says Archdale, " after this fair Blossomin Season to produce Peace and Tranquility to the Country some endeavor'd to sow Seed of Contention thereby to nip the same: insomuch that they sat six Weeks under Civil Broils and Heats; but at length re- collecting their Minds into a cooler Frame of Spirit my Patience was a great means to overcome them so that in the conclusion all Matters ended amicably." 1
These remarks, says Rivers, are applicable to both his parliaments, but Archdale did not expend much of his patience upon the first, which was dissolved on the 29th of November, after a session of a few weeks. Upon open- ing this Parliament he told the Assembly that the Proprie- tors required the jury act to be changed. so that the names of the jurymen should each be on a single piece of parch- ment and not by twelves. He next informed them that the price of selling land was reduced to only half the former price, and bade them remember the Proprietors had borne the expense "of several thousand pounds " out of their own pockets in settling the province. As he had spoken to them of his " many dangers and hardships " by land and by water, incurred only for their benefit, the Assembly immediately gave him the opportunity he seemed to desire to benefit them. and earnestly solicited him to
1 Archdale's Description, Carroll's Coll., vol. II, 101-103.
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remit the arrears of rent, which were now a grievous burden upon all the people. To their surprise he refused to do so except on hard conditions.1 This at once led to a rupture with the Assembly, which was dissolved. Imme- diately upon its dissolution. however, Jonathan Amory, the Speaker. presented a petition in behalf of himself and the people at large. praying the summoning of another, to con- sist of thirty representatives. Archdale agreed to this and on the 30th of November. the day after he had dissolved the Assembly. issued a proclamation for the freemen of the colony to meet on the 19th of December, at Charles Town, " then and there by a majority of their voices to agree to and ascertain the number of their representatives for this part of the Province, to consult and advise with us about making such laws as shall be necessary for the safety and defence of this Province." He professed to do this in com- pliance with the request of the "modest and reasonable members of the Commons and other well meaning inhabi- tants," and not at all to please " the obstinate majority " who had just defeated his designs for the peace of the province.2
Of the thirty representatives on which the people de- cided. the twenty for both Berkeley and Craven were elected at Charles Town, and the ten for Colleton at Captain Bristow's plantation in that county. There were no Huguenots among the representatives who assembled in the Parliament January, 1696. A petition was again made for an abatement of the debts due to the Proprietors. Archdale and his Council proposed to remit all arrears to Michaelmas, 1695, provided the remaining debts were secured. the town fortified by means of taxes and measures taken for the ready payment of quit-rents for the future.
1 Hist. Sketches ( Rivers), 180.
2 Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. (Rivers), 181; Appendix, 439.
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The Assembly first demanded an accurate statement of accounts between the people and Proprietors. Whilst the Governor thus bargained when he ought generously to have given, he requested on his part a clause to be inserted in the militia act in behalf of " tender conscience," which was unanimously refused.1
At length " business proceeded," it was said, "more in the spirit of compromise," and some important measures were passed. The first was an act to determine the price of land. the form of conveyances and the manner of re- covery of rents for land, and the prices of the several com- modities in "which the same might be paid." 2 By this act simpler forms of conveyancing were prescribed, and payment of the purchase money or rent reserved might be made in current money of the province. or in indigo, cotton, silk. rice, beef. or pork (in barrels or half-barrels), or in English peas. Six appraisers were to be appointed, three of whom were to be nominated by the Governor and Council and the other three by the Commons, to fix and determine the value at which these commodities should be received in payment. Lands rented were to be held at a penny an acre, or the value thereof in the above commodi- ties. In case of non-payment of the quit-rents the Receiver of the Lords Proprietors might distrain, and bring an ac- tion in court for recovery. Land should not revert to the Proprietors unless payments were delayed for seven years. All former grants or purchases from authorized agents, notwithstanding any legal defects in the conveyanees, were confirmed to their possessors.
To encourage the peopling of the colony, grants were to be given without delay. New settlers were exempt from rent for five years. To all who wished to purchase, the
1 Ilist. Sketches (Rivers), 182, citing Journals,
2 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. II, 96.
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price of land was reduced as allowed to £20 per 1000 acres, with a rent of 12 pence per 100 acres, and not forfeitable till non-payment for twenty-one years,
Several acts relating to the domestic affairs of the colony were passed. The settlements so far were princi- pally upon the rivers and bays with which the low country of Carolina is everywhere intersected, and transportation was almost entirely by water; boats and canoes were not only, therefore, peculiarly valuable as the means of trans- portation. but were also peculiarly liable to theft: an act was passed on the subject, providing specially for the punishment for the stealing or letting loose of any boat or canoe. By this law a white freeman or servant was to be punished by a fine, whilst the Indian for the same offence was included with the slave and was to receive thirty-nine lashes, and for a second offence was to have his ears cut off.1
A curious act was one providing " for the destroying of unmarked cattle." A considerable business of the colony at this time was in the rearing of " black cattle." Cattle turned loose in the rich swamps, while deteriorating in size, multiplied in great numbers. These were watched and marked by their owners, and when fit for market were butchered and salted and shipped to Barbadoes and other West India islands. This act recited that a great number of trees had been blown down by the violence of a late hurricane, which made the woods difficult to be traversed, whereby many persons had been prevented from bringing their cattle to their pens and marking them as they were accustomed. and that. in consequence. many evil-minded persons had taken upon them to kill and destroy great numbers of them. The act provided for a system of licensing persons to kill unmarked cattle, and punishing
1 Stitutes, vol. II, 105.
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any one for so doing without a certificate from a Justice of the Peace.1
Archdale prided himself greatly upon his management of Indian affairs and upon the humanity with which he treated them : and his administration has been commended particu- larly on this account.2 And yet we have just seen the Indian punished by whipping and mutilation for stealing boats, for which the white man was only fined, and shall further see among the enactments of this mild administration in regard to these poor people one requiring "every Indian bowman capable of killing deere," before the 25th of November in every year, to bring to such person as the Governor should appoint to receive the same "one woolfes skinn one tigers skinn or one beare skinn, or two catt skinns," and if any one did not do so. the Cacique or Chief of his nation was required to bring him to Charles Town before the 25th of December, there to be severely whipped on his bare back in the sight of the inhabitants of the said town. which whipping. the act says, should be in the place of that skin which the Indian ought to have given to the receiver.3 In one respect, however, Archdale moderated the restriction against the Indians. Sothell had forbidden. under severe penalties, firearms and rum to be given them. Archdale allowed them a pound of powder and thirty bullets for each destructive beast they killed beyond the yearly tax.
During Smith's short administration, an act had been passed in 1693 regulating public houses ; but the act has been lost and there is no copy of it. So Archdale has the honor of the first act of which we have a record regulating the sale of liquor in Carolina. The act prohibits the sale,
1 Statutes. vol. II, 106. 2 Hewatt's Hist. of So. Co., vol. 1, 132. 8 Statutes, vol. II, 108.
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except by license from the Governor, of any beer, cider. wine, brandy, rum, punch, or any strong drink whatsoever. under the quantity of one gallon at one draught; and puts in force all the laws of England. both statute and common, concerning the abuses and disorders of taverns.1
A beneficent measure of Archdale's administration-was the inauguration of provision for the poor. Commissioners were appointed to receive contributions and gifts of charity, and, though to a very small extent, to draw from the public treasury for the support of the indigent.2
Archdale showed more humanity in settling disputes between the Indians, and in his conduct to those at a dis- tance, than in the laws he provided for governing those who were near. He released from captivity four Indians and sent them back to their tribe near St. Augustine with a friendly letter to the Spanish Governor, who was induced thereby to act kindly in return to some Englishmen ship- wrecked on the Florida coast. In another instance his taking under his protection a party of Indians at war with others was rewarded by the saving of a party of fifty-two New Englanders who had been cast away at Cape Fear, for whom Archdale sent a vessel and brought them safely to Charles Town.3 These were the founders of Wappetaw Congregationalist Church, in what was afterwards Christ Church parish, and whom we shall find in a few years resist- ing the landing of the French at Sewee.+
Archdale, yielding to the opinions of the people, left the Indian trade and the condition of the Huguenots as he found them. but advised. with regard to the latter, the plan which was afterwards adopted. He seemed afraid
1 Statutes. vol. II, 113.
2 Ibid., 116.
3 Archdale, Carroll's Coll., vol. II. 108, 109.
4 Ibid., 105, note ; Howe's Hist. Presh. Ch .. 119.
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lest he should do too much, and leaving many things undone which required attention, he hastened from the colony, appointing, under the power of his commission, his friend. Joseph Blake, Deputy Governor.1
Upon Archdale's departure. the Commons were pro- fuse in their acknowledgments of their appreciation of his services. Through Jonathan Amory, their Speaker, they made an " humble address and recognition of thanks" to the Lords Proprietors for their gracious condescension ^ in sending him out with such large and ample powers, for the remission of some arrears of rents, and for the undeni- able manifestation of their Honor's parental care; and to Archdale himself for the prudent. industrious, and inde- fatigable care and management of the powers intrusted to him. The acts of grace he had so reasonably conde- scended to grant had removed all doubts. jealousies, and discouragements of the people, and had laid a most sure foundation on which might be erected a most glorious superstructure,2 etc. These were but empty words. The radical differences between the Proprietors and the colo- nists were not removed and were soon to break out afresh. Archdale, however, having arranged matters to his own satisfaction, received the address with great complacency. and promised to present it to the Proprietors on his arrival in England.3
1 Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. (Rivers), 185.
2 Archdale, Carroll's Coll., vol. II, 104.
3 Hewatt, vol. I, 137.
CHAPTER XIII
1696-99
JOSEPH BLAKE, whom Archdale under his power ap- pointed Deputy Governor upon his departure, was the son of Benjamin Blake, the immigrant who had come out with Axtell and Morton. He had been a Deputy, one of those whom Sothell had removed, and whose return to office the Proprietors had required; and as Deputy he had been chosen by the Council as Governor, when Smith gave up the office in disgust. He had already, therefore, had a short administration, and was now about to enter upon the longest term of any but Governor West's, whose ad- ministration, indeed, his very much resembled in its quiet, peaceful, and useful conduct of affairs. On the 25th of April, 1697, the Proprietors made him a Landgrave and expressed their satisfaction at his appointment by Mr. Archdale.1 -- an appointment, however, which, as we shall see, they afterwards found it convenient to disown.
The most important act of his administration was the naturalization and enfranchisement of the Huguenots. The antipathies of the English colonists to the French emigrants -- because of their nationality refugees from their country though they were -had at first been very great; but these now began to abate. From the quiet and inoffensive behavior of the Huguenots, their industry and success in the settlement of & part of the province
1 Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Ca., vol. 1, 141.
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which had hitherto been avoided by the English, more kindly feeling began to be entertained in regard to them. Though the Treaty of Ryswick had not yet been actually made, the opposition of France to the recognition of William was gradually subsiding, and the war between England and France was nearing an end. This, no doubt, in a great measure tended to soften the sentiment of hostility to the French in Carolina. At this favorable juncture. by the advice of the Governor and other friends, the Huguenots petitioned the General Assembly to be incorporated with the freemen of the colony, and to be allowed the same privileges and liberties with those born of English parents. The Assembly listened to the appeal, and adopted " un act for the making aliens free of this part of the province and granting liberty of conscience to all protestants." The preamble to this act recited that perse- cution for religion had forced some aliens, and trade and the fertility of the province had encouraged others, to resort to the colony, who had given good testimony of their duty and loyalty to his Majesty and the Crown of England. of their fidelity to the Lords Proprietors, of their good affec- tions to the inhabitants. and by their industry, diligence, and trade had very much enriched and advanced the set- tlement ; and the act provided that all alien inhabitants of the province should be entitled to enjoy the same privi- leges as those born of English parents, and to hold lands and claim the same as heirs or by their own purchase. upon the condition that such persons should within three months petition the Governor and Lords Proprietors for the benefit of its provisions, and should also make oath of allegiance to his Majesty King William. The act names and enfranchises those who had joined in the petition to the Assembly. It went ou also further to provide that as "several" of the present inhabitants had transported
U
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themselves into the province in hopes of enjoying the liberty of their conscience according to their own persua- sion under the Royal charter of King Charles the Second, of blessed memory. all Christians who were then in the province, or might thereafter come (Papists only excepted), should enjoy the full, free, and undisturbed liberty of their consciences, and exercise their worship according to the professed rules of their religion without let or hindrance.1
Blake had thus easily induced the Assembly to do, of their own accord, this justice to the Huguenots which Sothell had endeavored to force upon them by his author- ity, and Archdale had not ventured to ask. He had secured them equal rights and representation with Eng- lishmen.
Governor Archdale had not availed himself, to any great extent, of the powers in his commission to alter existing laws. Upon his return to England, the Proprie- tors themselves, however, took up the subject. In the meanwhile. the old Earl of Craven, the third Palatine, had died April 9, 1697; and John Granville, Earl of Bath, who had just established his title to the original share of the Duke of Albemarle, being the eldest of the Lords Proprietors, succeeded him as fourth Palatine. The pro- prietorship of Earl Craven had descended to his son William, Lord Craven.2 The Proprietors had, on the 22d of August. made Thomas Amy a Landgrave; 3 but they wished now to transfer the share which he held in trust. i.e. that purchased from Lady Berkeley, to some person likely to strengthen their interest at court. yet not to lose so valuable a person, they transferred to Amy
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. II, 131.
2 Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Ca., vol. I, 141 ; Collins's Peerage, vol. VII, 146.
3 Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Ca., vol. 1, 141, 142.
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the proprietorship of Seth Sothell, which they had ap- propriated.1 and, for the present, transferred the trust in the Berkeley share to Mr. Thornburgh, who now repre- sented at the board not only the Colleton share. but this as well.2 The imbecile Earl of Shaftesbury was represented by his son Anthony, Lord Ashley; and the minor Lord Carteret by the Earl of Bath. The board was thus re- duced to six members : the Earl of Bath, Lord Craven, Lord Ashley, and Messrs. Thornburgh. Amy, and Archdale. Thus constituted. it made another effort to impose the Fundamental Constitutions, but in a revised form. With the aid of Major Daniel and Captain Bellinger, who were in England.3 the articles were reduced to forty-one by the omission of those relating to manors and leet-men, the cum- brous system of courts and their dignitaries, etc. The new Constitutions made no alterations in matters of re- ligion. still provided for the creation of Landgraves and Caciques to form the Upper House of Parliament, limiting them, however. to half the number of the Commons, made the Governor and Council the Palatine Court, and con- tinued to proclaim that property was the foundation of "all power and dominion in Carolina." These Constitu- tions were signed April 11, 1698, by Bath, Palatine, Ashley, Craven. Thornburgh. and Amy.
The nobility which, under the Royal charter, the Pro- prietors were empowered to institute, as we have before pointed out, was intended to be a provincial nobility. The authority given the Proprietors to confer marks of favor and titles of honor was explicitly limited to such of the inhabitants of the province as should merit such rewards.+
1 Coll. Hist Soc. of So. Ca., vol. I, 143. 2 Danson V. Trott, supra. 3 Y'all. Hist. Not. of So. Ca., vol. I, 145. * Ante, p. 61.
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But regardless alike of the purpose and limitation of their authority, the Proprietors had, up to this time, conferred the title of Landgrave upon no inhabitant of the province except as an appendage or qualification to that of Gov- ernor, in the cases of West, Smith, and Blake. The eleven Landgraves had been appointed while they were in Eng- land or Barbadoes, from favor or for services rendered in those places, such as Locke's for drawing the Constitutions. as Axtell's and Morton's in inducing immigration, and as Amy's at the Carolina Coffee House. To propitiate the opposition to the Constitutions in Carolina, the Proprie- tors fell upon the plan of putting these titles of nobility within the reach of the colonists by purchase. They sent out the new Constitutions by Major Robert Daniel, the same Robert Daniel they had excluded from the general pardon because of his connection with the revolt against Colleton in 1692, and with them they sent also patents for six Landgraves and eight Caciques, to be sold to such per- sons of worth as Landgrave Morton and he should deem worthy. They were to receive from each Landgrave £100 (equal to, probably, $2000), and from each Cacique $50 ($1000).1 Captain Edmund Bellinger purchased a patent for Landgrave in England, for which he was to pay £100 in Carolina, and one John Bayly purchased another, for which he was to pay £100 in Ireland.2 Robert Daniel was made a Landgrave without purchase. As a still more substantial favor, the Proprietors made over to Governor Joseph Blake the proprietorship of Lord Berkeley's which they had appropriated. The grant bears date the same day as the Revised Constitu- tions.3
1 Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Ca., vol. I, 155.
2 Tbid., 147.
3 Danson v. Trott, supra.
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The Assembly in Carolina were, however, not so easily to be cajoled. After several weeks had passed, the As- sembly requested the Governor and Council to inform them if they had power to alter and amend the proposed form of government, and were told they had not. They then appointed a committee, consisting of Captain Job Howes, Ralph Izard, and Dr. Charles Burnham, to look into the matter. The committee reported, denying legisla- tive power to Landgraves and Caciques as an order; recommending that baronies be reduced to a smaller ex- tent of land ; demanding that, throughout the colony, lands should be secured to the people at the present rate of rent and purchase, and that no freeholders of a certain quantity of land should be liable to arrest in civil cases. These demands the Proprietors refused, and the Constitu- tions were again laid aside.1
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