USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina under the proprietary government, 1670-1719, V.2 > Part 14
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The memorial pressed again the importance of the colony as an outpost to the other English provinces in America. They represented that " by many former cir- cumstances as well as by the late Letter from the Assembly of Carolina there is too much reason to be assur'd that the
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French (who live and trade with the Indians from Que- beck and along the Lakes of Canida and southward to and down the great river of Messisippi to Fort Morilla scituated on a River near the mouth of the said great River with the Bay of Mexico ) have stirred up and en- couraged severall Nations of Indians to this war." The French. they represented, had settled within the bounds of the charter of Carolina on the back of the improved part of the province, and had possessed themselves from the northernmost part of the sea to the southernmost on the back of all the most valuable British plantations and colonies on the main of America. "'Tis too obvious," they said, " what they (especially South Carolina) must expect whenever a Rupture with France may happen if not before. It's also as obvious how formidable the French will grow there during peace considering how industrious they are in frequently supplying their Settle- ments with People." etc.
" Carolina being thus circumstanced and capable of af- fording greater quantity of valuable produce than any other part of British America as the best of Rice in abundance, all manner of Timber for building, shipping in great plenty. Pitch. Tar. Turpentine. Rossin. Indigo and Silk which has been manufactured in London and proves to be of extraordinary Substance and Lustre, omitting to mention the great quantity of provisions and other neces- sarys it affords the Plantation. 'Tis humbly hoped the King and Parliament will be of opinion that it merits a particular notice and Protection.
" The colony being capable of producing sufficient quan- tities of many of the aforesaid commodities not only to supply great Britain but several other parts of Europe, the first costs of which being paid for, in british manufac- torys and the whole freight redounding to his Majestys
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Subjects are circumstances worthy of the notice of the Legislature. " 1
While Boone and Berresford were thus appealing to his Majesty's government to be taken under the Roval care and protection. the Assembly in Carolina were devoting themselves to legislation for the province, not indeed as if they had any idea of abandoning it. One of its first measures was to order "That Col. Maurice Moore be desired (by the messenger) to attend this House, and when come into the same Mr. Speaker do give him the thanks of this House for his service to this Province in his coming so cheerfully with the forces brought from North Carolina to our assistance, and for what further services he and they have done since their arrival here. " 2
In 1707. under the administration of Sir Nathaniel Johnson. a large tract of land before alluded to. then in-
1 To this memorial Mr. Berresford added the following tabular state- ment of the value of the province before the Indian wars, and its losses occasioned thereby : ---
A DEMONSTRATION OF THE PRESENT STATE - OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
The value of The Province the year before the Indian war. viz: Lands, Negroes Stock Merchandez and all other Profitt and Improvements by an Assemb! the sum total amounting to £ 709.763
The value of the Province is diminished by destruction desertion &ct: at least a third which is £ 236.5ST
The Bills of Credit made current before the war and now extant are £ 44.000
The Debts and Bills since the War ₺ 140.000
The value of Ten Thousand Negroes at Twenty Pounds each which being the only thing the Inhabitants can carry with them when they desert the Prov- ince or improve their Lands, and subsist themselves with, while there they - 2 200.000 will never part with, and therefore the sum of them to be deducted, which is . ) The remaining sim to be exosted before their Debts will be equal to the value, of their Lands, and other Stock after which (in point of Interest) it seems to be equal for the Inhabitants to leave the Province or stay & pay the Debt if their Troubles were at an end. but if the War continue & the Inhabitants - remain on the Land there is too much reason to fear they will be reduced to the miserable condition of their Neighbors in the Banama Islands which we hope his most Gracious Majesty the King under Good will timely prevent $709.768
59.176
2 Commons Journal.
a Condition.
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habited by the Yamassees, had been set aside and appro- priated by an act for their exclusive use. Surveys and settlements upon it were forbidden, and white settlers already within its limits were removed. The purpose of this measure was to secure the maintenance of these then friendly Indians between the colony and the hostile tribes under Spanish influence in Florida.1 But after the Indian War and the expulsion of the Yamassees, the Proprietors had written to the Governor and Council on the 3d of March. 1716. that it was the intention of the board that these lands from which the Yamassees had been expelled should be parcelled out in divisions not exceeding 100 acres to be allotted to those who were or might thereafter come to Carolina.2 The first act of the Assembly of June 13. 1716, under Deputy Governor Daniel was, there- fore, one to repeal the act of 1707. and to open these lands to settlers from abroad. The limits of this territory were the Combahee River on the northeast. the marshes and islands on Coosaw and Port Royal rivers on the southeast. the Savannah River on the southwest. and a line drawn from the head of the Combahee River to Fort Moore on the Savannah. These lands were now set apart for settlement by such persons (being Protestants) as might come into the province from Great Britain, Ireland, or any of his Majesty's plantations in America. To every such person 300 acres of river land and 400 acres of back land were offered. The grants were to be confined to "new comers" (actual settlers). who were not to be allowed to convey away their tracts before seven years had expired. The grants were not, however, to be with- out consideration. A quit-rent of 12 pence per 100 acres was reserved and $3 purchase money to be paid for each
1 Statutes of So. Ca. vol. II, 317. 2 Coll. Hist. Soc. of No. Ca., vol. I, 164.
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100 acres within four years and six months. This favor being allowed the persons that should settle the said tract of land. said the act, in consideration of their poverty. "Therefore," it continued, " it is the humble request and desire of the General Assembly to the Lord Palatine. and the rest of the Lords Proprietors of this Province that their Lordships for the consideration aforesaid will ac- quiesce in and approve this part of this act, and accept of their purchase money to be paid as before directed by this act." etc.1
The next measure of the General Assembly was one to encourage the importation of white servants. The act recited that sad experience had taught that the small number of white inhabitants was not sufficient to defend the province even against their Indian enemies. and that the numbers of slaves which were daily increasing might likewise endanger its safety if speedy care was not taken to encourage the importation of white servants. Where- fore a bounty of £25 current money of the province was offered to be paid by the Receiver for every white male servant above sixteen years of age and under thirty; and £22 for every boy of twelve and under sixteen: an addi- tional bounty of $5 was offered for all such servants who should be imported within two years. Of the white servants so imported, planters were required to take from the Receiver one servant for every ten slaves owned. But whereas said the act. "there hath been imported into this province several native Irish servants that are Papists, and persons taken from Newgate and other prisous, con- vieted of capital erimes to the great prejudice and detri- ment of this province," in order to prevent the imposing upon the province persons of lewd and profligate lives, it provided " that all merchants or masters of vessels or
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. II, 641-646.
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others shall upon their oaths declare that to the best of their knowledge none of the servants by them imported be either what is commonly called native Irish or persons of known scandalous characters or Roman Catholics"; merchants shipping servants were "obliged to send a certificate under the hand of the proper magistrate that such persons or servants are Protestants, and be not reputed to be or have not been legally convicted of any notorious crime. "1 Such were the religious animosities of the time and the blindness of prejudice that the colonists appear to have been more afraid of Irish papists than of the Yamassee Indians, and regarded them no better than "persons of lewd and profligate lives." It is scarcely to be wondered, however, that Roman Catholics should be held in such disrepute, when it is recollected that but a few years since the dissenters under Boone were classifying Huguenots. Jews, strangers. aliens, servants, and negroes as alike unworthy of participation in the government with English freemen.
The next measure was one " for laying an imposition on Lupors. goods and Merchandises Imported or Exported out of this Province for the raising of a Fund of Money towards defraying the public charges and expenses of the Govern- ment. "2 This act, which laid heavy duties on a long list of enumerated articles of merchandise, and five per cent on all goods not mentioned, made another attempt to check the importation of negroes by imposing heavy duties. Three pounds current money per head was imposed on every negro slave over ten years old imported into the province from Africa ; and £30 per head for all such im- ported from any of the other colonies."
1 Statutes of Su. Ca., vol. II. 046.
= 16/2. 610.
3 From inventories and appraisements on file in the Ordinary's, now
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Then followed an act authorizing another emission of bills of credit to the amount of £30,000 for the payment of the army and defraying the expenses of the war, which resulted in a further depreciation of the currency.1 Also " An act for the better Regulating the Indian Trade."? These and other measures of less importance were passed on the 30th of June, 1716. At the same session Governor Daniel had informed the House that he had bought thirty of the Highland Scots rebels at £30 per head, for whom the agent in London had petitioned, and requested power to purchase more. The Assembly sanctioned this purchase ; but wished no more "till we see how these will behave themselves." 3 On the 4th of August still another issue of £15,000 in bills was authorized to be stamped to pay for these Scots, who were to be employed as soldiers in defending the province .*
Having taken these measures for checking the impor- tation of negroes and encouraging that of white men for the protection of the province, the Assembly turned its attention to remedy the evils and inconveniences which still existed in regard to the election of members of the Commons House of Assembly. Previously to the act of 1692,5 as we have seen, elections had been conducted en- tirely under the instruction of the Lords Proprietors to their Governors. The provisions of that act are not known. The act of 17046 prescribed the qualifications of a voter to be the age of twenty-one years, the possession of
Probate. office in Charleston, which were made about this time, grown negro slaves appear to have been valued at from $150 to $200 currency ; i.e. about $40 to 850 sterling. Boone and Berresford in the table just given, it will be seen, value negroes, young and old, male and female, at £20 sterling, round.
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. II, 662. 2 Thid., 677.
3 Hist. Sketches of So. Ca. ( Rivers), 276, note ; Commons Journals,
* Statutes of So. Ca., vol. 11. 6×2. 5 Thid., 73. " Ibid., 249.
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50 acres of land or £ 10 in personal property, and a residence of three months prior to the date of the writs of election ; required the elections to be held in public for two days, and to be by ballot ; but it did not prescribe the voting precincts, nor apportion the representatives to the coun- ties. These matters were left as they had been under the regulations of the Proprietors, and though the repre- sentation had been divided in 1682 equally between Berkeley and Colleton, and directions had been given that the elec- tions should be held at Charles Town and London, in Colle- ton, and again apportioned in 1691 between Berkeley, Colleton, and Craven counties, it had become customary, perhaps through the dangers of Colleton to incursions of the Indians. to hold all the elections in Charles Town. This was not only inconvenient, but it led to the rioting which had often occurred. especially in 1701, and exposed the inhabitants of the country precincts to the influences of the political leaders in the town. It was in every respect a most objectionable and dangerous arrangement. justified only at first by the necessities of the times. This matter the Assembly now took up, and again looked to Barbadoes for a model upon which to base a representa- tive and elective system.
In England the two systems, the parish and the town- ship. have existed from the most ancient times side by side ; usually, but not always, coincident in area, yet separate in character and machinery. The township, which preceded the parish, was the unit of civil. and the parish the unit of ecclesiastical, administration.1 The nonconformists of New England. disaffected to the church. adopted the township system to the exclusion of the parochial. The churchmen, who settled Barba-
1 Blackstone's Com., vol. I, 112-116; Stubbs's Cons. Hist., vol. I, 227 ; Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. XVIII, 295.
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does about the same time, on the other hand, established parishes, and from time to time adding civil to the ecclesiastical duties of parochial offices, contented them- selves with that organization as the basis alike of civil as of ecclesiastical affairs. The parish thus became the unit alike of Church and State, and the election precinct of members of the Commons House of Assembly. The Church act of 1706, as we have seen, adopted in Carolina the names of the parishes in Barbadoes, and in 1712. the care of the poor, which under Archdale's act of 1695 had been committed to overseers, was put under the charge of the vestries and churchwardens -a legiti- mate charge in their ecclesiastical capacity. The Assem- bly of this year went further and adopted the parish electoral system of Barbadoes as the model of the gov- ernment of this colony. The act which accomplished this was entitled " An act to keep inviolute and preserve the freedom of Elections and appoint who shall be deemed and adjudged capable of choosing or being chosen Members of the Commons House of Assembly." 1 The reasons assigned in the preamble for its enactment were that the greatest part of the inhabitants lived at considerable distance from the stated places of election, whereby they were at great expense of time and money. besides other hazards. in choos- ing members of the Commons House of Assembly ; and as the counties of the province were now divided into distinct parishes, elections might be managed in them so as, in a great measure, to avoid these evils. Its prin- cipal features were as follows : -
Elections were to be held in each parish to continue for but two days, beginning at sunrise each day and end- ing at sunset. These elections were to be managed by the churchwardens, who were to make publication of
1 Statutes of So. C ... vol. II, 683.
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the writs. and, at the closing of the polls, were to put all the votes, which were to be " delivered in and rolled up by the electors, into some box. glass or paper, sealed with the seals of any two or more of the electors present," and. upon the opening of the polls the second day, were to be unsealed. in order to proceed to the election.
To prevent persons voting twice at the same election, electors were to be enrolled; their names were to be fairly entered in a book or roll provided by the church- wardens; and if in voting two or more papers were found rolled up together, or more persons' names found written on any paper than ought to be voted for, such papers were not to be counted. It was especially pro- vided that the elector should not be obliged to subscribe his name to the voting paper or ballot, which seems to intimate that some such custom had previously existed ; but of this we have no other information. The church- wardens. managers of elections. were, within seven days, to give public notice at the church door. or some other public place in the parish, of the result of the election ; and every one chosen was required under a penalty of £100 currency to serve.
The members of the House of Commons were thus ap- portioned to the parishes : to St. Philip's, Charles Town, four; Christ Church two: St. John's three; St. An- drew's four: St. James, Goose Creek, three ; and as. said the act, the limits of the parishes of St. Thomas and St. Dennis were not yet clearly ascertained, "the said parish of St. Dennis Iving in the midst of the bounds, and designed only for the use of the French settlements, which at present are mixed with the English, "to the parishes of St. Thomas and St. Dennis were allotted .three : to St. Paul's four : St. Bartholomew's three : to St. Helena three : to St. James. on Santee, in Craven County, one.
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A special provision was made in favor of the inhabi- tants of St. Bartholomew's and St. Helena, who had been driven from their settlements; they were allowed to choose persons who had formerly lived in those parishes, and to vote at such places as the Governor and Council should appoint. The bounds of the parishes were to be surveyed within two months after the ratification of the act.
Writs of election were to be issued by the Governor and Council, and to be tested forty days before the meet- ing of a new House, of which elections publie notice was to be given two Sundays before at the door of each parish church or at some other public place in the parish. In case churchwardens should be wanting. the Governor and Council might appoint other persons to manage an election. The managers of election, churchwardens, or other persons appointed were required to be sworn by a Justice of the Peace faithfully to execute the writ of election. This clause was to be the subject of one of the first differences between the people and the Royal Gov- ernment forty-six years after.
The qualifications of voters prescribed in the act of 1704 were modified. It was now enacted that every white man, and no other, professing the Christian religion. of the age of twenty-one years, who had been in the province for the space of six months before the date of the writ of election, instead of three, as was sufficient under the act of 1704, and who was worth £30 current money of the province, should be entitled to vote for members of the Commons House of Assembly for the parish wherein he was actually resident. The freehold qualification of 1704 was abolished, but the money qualitication increased from £10 to £30. For members of the House the qualifica- tions were that the person should be worth $500 current
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money in goods and chattels, or possessed of 500 acres of land in the parish wherein he was chosen.
Penalties were presented against those who should vio- late the freedom of election by menaces, threats, or bribery. A quorum of the House was fixed at sixteen members, nine of whom must concur in the passage of any law ; but seven might meet. " make a house " as it was termed, elect a chairman (in the absence of the Speaker), and adjourn or summon by their Messenger the absent members.
This law, which now assimilated the government of Carolina to that of Barbadoes and the other British West Indies which had followed the model of that colony, was acceptable to all but to a few leaders, chief of whom were Trott and Rhett. Churchmen were satisfied with it, as it incorporated the church into the very warp and woof of the government itself, making use of its machinery for the administration of civil affairs as well as ecclesiasti- cal, and thus more firmly establishing its hold upon the people. On the other hand, it avoided the violence and tumults often witnessed at elections in Charles Town. saved great expense and inconvenience, and allowed parties in the country to manage their elections with- out interference or influence of the townspeople. It
increased the representation in the Commons House to thirty, and most equitably apportioned the representation to the different parts of the province. No more repre- sentatives were allowed to St. Philip's, the town parish, than to St. Paul's, in Colleton. But this was fully com- pensated by the representation allowed the adjoining parishes. St. James, Goose Creek, St. Andrew's, and Christ Church. whose interests and affiliations were all the same as those of the inhabitants of the town. This het thus established the peculiar parish system of South Carolina, which was to last for a century and a half.
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The Proprietors had yielded to the wishes of the people, and on the 24th of February, 1716. had revoked the veto power of Trott and his power to appoint Provost Marshals.1 They had also agreed to the appropriation of the Yamassee lands to new settlers.2 and in April had contributed £500 towards the building of the new St. Philip's Church, and directed that the Rev. Mr. John- son, for whom they entertained a high opinion, was to receive £100 per annum during his residence in the parish of Charles Town, and also arrears for assize ser- mous from the year 1708 to 1713.3 But Mr. Johnson, as we have seen, had not lived to enjoy these additions to his income. Though the Proprietors had withdrawn the extraordinary powers they had conferred upon Trott. they had lost no confidence in him, and were ready to trust him with other positions and duties in addition to those of his great office of Chief Justice. Lord Carteret. the Palatine, issued a warrant authorizing him to sit as Judge of the Vice-admiralty Court.+
Another great trouble to the Carolinians had been grow- ing during Governor Craven's administration. While the Indians had arisen upon the frontier in the country, and the Governor was engaged in repelling their invasion from that direction, the pirates again appeared upon the coast. During Queen Anne's War, both Spaniards and French had twice overrun and plundered the Bahama Islands, and the Island of Providence was practically deserted by the English inhabitants. The population of Providence had always been of the most unruly and turbulent character. living in a great measure upon the wrecks on the island, which they were accused, indeed, of occasioning as well
1 Coll. Hist. Soc. of No. Ca., vol. I, 187. 2 Tb,i., 161. 3 lbid., 163.
4 Hewatt's Hist. of So. Ca. vol. I, 231.
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as plundering.1 Trott himself had been Governor of the island, and knew well its character. Indeed, he had been charged by Randolph with conniving at these practices. During the war with France and Spain. Providence be- came the chief rendezvous of a body of desperate .men, who were accustomed to push out into the ocean, or cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and prey on commerce. For five years they held their robber reign, and plun- dered and took vessels of every nation without distinc- tion. They had their hiding-places along the coast of both Carolinas. The mouth of the Cape Fear was a place of refuge and resort, second only in importance to Providence.2 It was estimated that they numbered 1500 men on the coast, 800 of whom had their headquarters at Providence. They swept the coast from Newfound- land to South America, plundering their prizes at sea, or carrying them into Cape Fear or Providence as best suited their convenience.3
Upon the address of the House of Lords the King had dispatched Captain Woodes Rogers with a naval force to Providence, to break up the nest of pirates there. This, as we shall see, Rogers promptly succeeded in doing. But their suppression in the Island of Providence did but transfer large numbers of them to Carolina.
The commerce of Carolina had in the last ten years greatly increased. It had, indeed, more than doubled. In 1706 the number of vessels entering the port of Charles Town had been 68. In 1716 it had been 162.4 The commerce of the port had been for some years free from piratical interference, until 1715, when many captures
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