USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina under the proprietary government, 1670-1719, V.2 > Part 7
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1 Trott v. Danson, 3 Brown's Parl. Cases, 449; 1 Perre Williams, 789.
2 British Empire in ba .. vol. I, 483.
3 Hewatt's Hist. of So. Ca., vol. I, 195,
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Governor Johnson was now assailed through Archdale's influence from both colonies; from North as well as from South Carolina. By his commission, Sir Nathaniel was Governor of both South and North Carolina, with power to appoint a Deputy Governor in either. Under this power he had appointed Colonel Robert Daniel Deputy Governor of North Carolina, while he personally adminis- tered the government of South Carolina. Governor Daniel had succeeded in establishing the church in his colony ; but had not attempted a disfranchisement of the non- conformist.1 But the Quakers, who were very numerous in North Carolina, had refused to take the new oaths pre- scribed by Parliament in the first year of Queen Anne (1704), and were consequently dismissed from the Council, Assembly, and courts of justice. This so nettled them that, in 1706. they sent one John Porter to England with fresh grievances and complaints against Sir Nathaniel and his deputy, Colonel Daniel,2 and succeeded in prevailing upon the Proprietors to order Johnson to remove Daniel, and to appoint another Deputy Governor.3
Mr. Boone had been much elated by his success with the Board of Trade and the Whig House of Lords against the measures of Sir Nathaniel in South Carolina, and now that Lord Granville was dead, and the dissenters in the as- cendency among the Proprietors, nothing but the disgrace of the Governor would appease the indignity with which he conceived himself to have been treated by the board under the late Palatine. He presented another petition to the Lords Proprietors, charging the Governor with crimes against the civil and religious interests of the province.+ He charged that the "province was in great
1 Colonial Records of No. Ca., 1 vol., Preface (W. L. Saunders).
.2 Ibid. 708.
3 Hawks's Hist. of No. Ca., vol. II, 508.
+ Dalcho's Ch. Hist., 82.
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danger of being brought into a ruinous condition if not absolutely lost, and falling into the hands of the French by the present evil administration of the government there." With feigned devotion he declared that the Fundamental Constitutions - the same aristocratic Constitutions which the people had been resisting since the foundation of the province, and which themselves established the Church of England, but which he now described as " calculated with great wisdom and temper suitable to the different persuasion of christians about religious matters " - had been of late very much violated. That " thereby," i.e. by the violation of the Constitutions, " the inhabitants had been so divided, and such animosities raised amongst them, as have been the frequent occasion of riots and tumults in which several of the inhabitants had been in danger of losing their lives."
The inhabitants had hoped, he said, that the province would have been restored to its former peace and tran- quillity when the two unreasonable acts of Assembly were repealed by her Majesty's authority, pursuant to an address of the Lords in Parliament ; but, contrary to their expecta- tions, the Governor of the province had dissolved the Assembly because he was informed they had prepared an address to her Majesty, and another to the Lords to testify their thankful sense of her Majesty's goodness in repealing those acts and the care of the peers in asserting their rights.
Then came a repetition of the old story that the elec- tions had been managed with such partiality and injustice that " all sorts of people. even negroes, alien jews and com- mon sailors had been admitted to vote in such elections." That to prevent this an act had been passed by both Houses of Assembly, but the Governor had refused to assent to it. Mr. Boone omitted, however, to mention that the reason assigned by the Governor for his so doing was
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that the provisions of the act were contrary to his instruc- tions.
A dangerous act had been passed - he went on to say -to continue an Assembly for two years absolutely, and for eighteen months after the death or removal of the Gov- ernor, unless the Governor should think fit to dissolve it sooner, whereby the very foundations of the people's free- dom was absolutely struck at, and the province deprived of the only method they had to restore its first liberty. Again, Mr. Boone omitted to mention that the Governor. as we have seen, had in fact dissolved the Assembly, so that the objectionable act was at an end. The act was still made to do a turn, - to show how wicked Sir Nathaniel had been in assenting to it.
The Indian nations in the neighborhood of the province, Mr. Boone stated. had been so inhumanly treated that they were in great danger of revolting to the French, who were continually tempting them. whereby the prov- ince would be infallibly ruined; that the Governor, though admitting the danger, had refused to consent to an act upon the subject because it would take away a great part of his private profit: nor could he be prevailed upon to consent to it until he had in a shameful manner forced the Assembly to give him the sum of £400 and to settle £100 on him and on all succeeding Governors, which Mr. Boone alleged was a corruption beyond example. Then. changing the subject of his complaint from the Governor to Trott. justice. Mr. Boone charged, was very corruptly and partially administered by the present Chief Justice, who had several offices to himself which ought to be in different hands : that the Chief Justice had been guilty of very arbitrary proceedings by illegally imprisoning some of the best inhabitants, by refusing the presentation of grand juries, by countenancing riots, by taking upon himself
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to exercise ecclesiastical authority and arbitrarily depriv- ing an established minister of the Church of England of his living, and with treating some of the best inhabi- tants with scandalous and "revilious " language in open court. Mr. Boone stated that he had been threatened to be severely used if he should return to his estate and family in the province, only because he had come to Eng- land to represent the deplorable condition of the province. That those who had the power in the province had re- fused the public seal to be affixed to such papers as would make the evidences of all the grievances of the province more authentic. and to render it more difficult for the petitioner to make out his case. That he had forborne making any further application to her Majesty or the Par- liament for redress of grievances, in the hopes that their Lordships would be pleased to provide speedy relief.
" Wherefore," continued Mr. Boone, "your petitioner most humbly prays that your Lordships would be pleased to take the calamitous state of the said province into your consideration, and to put the administration of the govern- ment there. upon such an equal foot as may be agreeable to the Royal charter by which it is held, and the Funda- mental Constitutions established by your Predecessors, which encouraged some of the best inhabitants to trans- port themselves and families thither, and which while they were duly observed, increased the number of its inhabitants. and made trade to flourish and all the people there to live happy and easy."1
The position of the dissenters, as represented by Mr. Boone in England, was most inconsistent and insincere. While flattering the pride of the Proprietors in their Fundamental Constitutions, asserting against the well- known facts that the people had acquiesced in them and
1 Dalcho's Ch. Hist., 82-84.
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flourished under their provisions, he was at the same time invoking the hostility of the Board of Trade to overthrow the charter which he was praising to the Proprietors. The purpose of his mission to England was to prevent the establishment of the church. and yet we find him arguing that the ecclesiastical government of the colony was under the Bishop of London, and declaring that the interference of laymen in church affairs was held in de- testation and abhorrence in the colony. Demanding free- dom of conscience for the people he represented and claiming that the guarantee of it under the charter car- ried with it the right of the elective franchise, he was indignantly resenting the extension of that right to the French Protestants who had settled in the province. Mr. Boone was, nevertheless, listened to and the removal of Governor Johnson determined upon.
Governor Johnson was not apprised of these movements against him. and only learned of them when the notice of his removal was received. It was not until April 9. 1709, that the Proprietors wrote to the Assembly notifying them of the appointments of Colonel Edward Tynte as Governor: Colonel Robert Gibbes as Chief Justice; William Sanders, Esq .. Attorney General ; Henry Wiggington. Secretary ; Nathaniel Sale, Esq., son of Governor William Sale, Receiver General: and Edward Hyme. Esq .. to be Naval officer. A postscript stated that the Duke of Beaufort was legally invested in the proprietorship of the late Lord Granville, and John Danson in that of John Archdale.1
Upon the reconvening of the Assembly October 20, 1709, Governor Johnson thus addressed that body : 2 -
"You all know that the Gentleman who is to succeed me is ex pected in every day, and my utmost ambition when I resign the gov-
1 Coll. Hist. Soc. of So. Ca., vol. 1, 150. 2 Dalcho's Ch. Hist., 80. 2 H
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ernment is, only to carry with me an unsullied reputation, and the character of having acquitted myself worthy of the trust committed to me ; and though I may from the justice of this present assembly promise inyself that advantage yet my satisfaction will be imperfect while Mr. Boone's libel against me to the Lords Proprietors remains unanswered. and which their Lordships have been pleased to send me, in order to acquit myself from the imputations it contains.
" It is that infamous Libel, Gentlemen, that I desire to lay before you wherein Mr. Boone most unfairly, when there was no person to appear or answer for me, endeavoured to traduce me to her Majesty, and the Lords Proprietors, and though I could in a less public manner assert my innocence and confute the slanders and reflections therein fixed on me, yet I choose this way not only that I may act with less partiality but that (if I appear to be slandered) I may receive such a public justification as will be sufficient to vindicate my past actions in the government, and confound my accusers, and herein it is my peculiar happiness that I do not appeal to persons unacquainted with my transactions in the government but to men who (for the major part) have been privy to my administration, and witnesses of all my actions both in Church and State.
" It must not at the same time be denied, but that as a man, and a man almost worn out with sickness and old age, I have had my infirmities and stood in need of a little indulgence, and probably some of my most zealous designs for the good of the province had not the designed success, but let me find no favour or excuse of any person, if I am found by your strictest scrutiny to have endeavoured the betray- ing this province to the French, involving you in a war with our friendly Indians, or any other enormous crimes raked together and penned in a style as inveterate as malice and envy could in the most bitter words be suggested or expressed.
"I do therefore, Gentlemen, conjure you, as each of von respect your particular honour and reputation to do me justice in this affair.
" The Libel or his Petition as he is pleased to call it I herewith lay before you. Please send for Mr. Boone and oblige him. if he can. to prove and make good the crimes he has therein laid to my charge. and give me leave to answer whatever he shall affirm before you. and upon the whole draw up such a report as shall be agreeable to the honour and justice of your House. If I am not innocent let me hear the quilt under the disadvantage of having it declared so by you. But if it appears, the gentleman has undeservedly abused me, let my justification be a, publie ; that it may be recorded in the journal of
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your House, be transmitted home to their Lordships to obviate any impressions taken to my disadvantage."
The Commons, who were now entirely in the interest of the Governor, sent for Mr. Boone, who, notwithstanding the warning he declared to have received, had returned home to appear before them and make good the charges he had presented in his petition to the Proprietors. They framed questions to be propounded to him. (1) Did he own to the petition ? (2) When he was in England how came he to know that this province was in great danger (as set forth ) of falling into the hands of the French and Spaniards. by the ill administration of the Governor ? (3) To inform the House what constitutions were in force by laws of the province ? (4) How he made out that the Governor had no other reason to dissolve the Assembly than the reason he set forth in his petition? (5) How he made out that the act for continuing an Assembly for two years, etc., was thought proper for the Governor's arbitrary purposes; and so destructive to the people's freedom ? (6) Which of the most considerable free- holders and merchants had sent him to the Lords Pro- prietors ? (7) Which and what elections had been invaded and managed with partiality? (S) By whom had the Indians been inhumanly treated and abused ? 1
Mr. Boone refused to submit himself to this examination. He first claimed exemption as deputy of the infant Pro- prietor Blake. but the other deputies refused to recognize him as such deputy. Upon this he left the town, and escaped the Messenger of the House sent to bring him before that body.
Mr. Boone having escaped their examination, the Assem- bly thus addressed the Governor :2-
1 MISS. Commons Journal, October 29, 1709. 2 Dalche's Ch. Hist., 85.
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" We the Commons now met at Charles Town do return your Honour our sincere and hearty thanks for that excellent Speech you made, and delivered to us, at the opening of this present Session, and are truly sensible of your Honour's paternal care over this province during the whole course of your government; and notwithstanding the infirmities of age and sickness, your zeal for the public good in Church and State hath surmounted your particular ease and tranquil- lity, and you have undergone the fatigne with such cheerfulness and presence of mind. that it hath highly encouraged the inhabitants of this Colony to follow your good and well grounded examples and reso- lutions and cheerfully to undergo the troubles and expenses they have been at, in order to defend themselves against the common enemy now in this time of war. But when we come to that part of your Honour's Speech wherein you are pleased to give us an account of your Honour's being shortly to resign the government, it strikes us with the greatest concern and sorrow for the approaching loss of so good a Governor, and with the greatest wonder to know the reason of such a change, the administration of your government being always just and easy, and all your actions tending to the good of this Colony, so that when the government shall come to be out of your hands. we shall (with much sorrow) look upon it to be the greatest loss that could happen to this thriving Colony. In the next place we cannot but take notice of that false and scandalous Petition to the Proprietors of this Colony wherein there has been so much pains taken to set forth your Honour's actions in the blackest and bitterest manner; and do assure your Honour that we will use our utmost endeavor to know the truth of that petition by examining the author of it, and doubt not but to find it so false in every respect as to cause us to proclaim your Honour innocent by a vote of our House and that future ages may see that what is therein contained is false, give it room to be entered as such in the journals of our House.
" We do therefore with all due respect render and return our grateful acknowledgments as well for what service your Honour hath already rendered this Colony, and for your earnest desire to settle the Church of England as now by law established, and also for the assurance you are pleased to give us of continuing your provident care in promoting the good of this Colony when you shall be out of the government."
On November 5. the Assembly also addressed the Lords Proprietors : 1 ___
1 Dalcho's Ch. Hist., 87.
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" We your Lords most Obedient and dutiful servants, the Com- mons, at this present Assembly convened, have the freedom and liberty to acquaint your Lordships that at the opening of this Session the Right Hon: Sir Nathaniel Johnson Kn', Governor of this your Lordships Province recommended to us in his Speech amongst other things, the examination of a certain petition or memorial said to be lately presented to your Lordships by Mr. Joseph Boone against him requesting our strictest scrutiny therein, and such report thereof as should be agreeable to truth, and the Honour and Justice of a House of Commons. Accordingly (may it please your Lord- ships) we have taken the subject of that Petition into due considera- tion and though by the certainty of our own experience and knowledge we can aud do from our consciences acquit our Excellent Governor of the maladministration thereby charged on him. yet to pursue the fairness of his request and to take off all umbrages of partiality in the proceeding, but more especially to disabuse your Lordships and vindicate the injured character and reputation of Sir Nathaniel Johnson we Resolved to send for Mr. Joseph Boone and to examine him before a Grand committee of our whole House on the particulars of that Petition, and to that end framed a previous draft of the most pertinent questions to ask him, intending him all necessary countenance and liberty to prove and make good his charge.
"But (my Lords) before matters were brought to this conclusion Mr. Boone (by some means unknown to us) coming to the know- ledge of our design and being conscious of his own guilt and inability to maintain his accusation. made an interest (as we understand) with Madam Blake (the young Proprietor Blake's mother) to be appointed his representative in Council thereby to shelter himself from our House, and avoid the examination ; for when our messenger required his attendance before us and gave him notice of our Resolutions he answered him that he would not appear before us, because it inter- fered with his privilege and the honour of the Upper House. And when afterwards (by an express answer of your Lordships Deputies) we were assured that he was not a member of that honourable number or admitted amongst them through the defeet of some necessary quali- fications we again sent for him. he most industriously avoided both our messenger, and his own house at Charles Town. and inumne- diately by a hasty retreat or rather flight into the country made it impossible ever since either to see or speak with him. Whereupon we voted Mr. Boone's refusing to appear before us to be a contempt
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of the authority of our House and ordered our messenger to take him into custody to answer that contempt at the Bar of our House. And because he declined to prove and make good before us, the articles in his Petition charged against Sir Nathaniel Johnson we have voted that Petition or Memorial which the said Boone pre- sented to your Lordships to be false and scandalous, tending to cre- ate much jealousy and difference amongst the inhabitants of this Colony, and highly dishonourable to our governor. And in order to give your Lordships a more particular and nearer view herein, we have caused exact copies of the whole proceedings to be annexed to and accompany this address. This (my Lords) is all we apprehend necessary to be done in this atfair at this time. and which we humbly submit to your Lordships judgment and consideration, professing to your Lordships not only that Sir Nathaniel Johnson in that scandal- ous Petition of Mr. Boone's is most falsely and barbarously traduced, but that we are all satisfied with his mild and easy government, and fully convinced that (under God) we owe the preservation of our lives and interests in this province to his personal courage, conduct and excellent administration. And at the same time acknowledge to your Lordships the great favour you have done us, not only in appointing so worthy a person for our governor (and that at a time when our circumstances stood in need of a soldier of his ability and experience) but also for continuing his authority so long amongst us ; in the whole course of whose judicious management, Your Lord- ships privileges, and our rights were so well secured and so dis- creetly tempered that they mutually supporting each other were both preserved.
"This my Lords, and a great deal more (in common justice and gratuity) we owe and shall be ever ready to pay to the memory of Sir Nathaniel Johnson, and hope it will never be in the power of any ill meaning malignant persons to impress your Lordships to his dis- advantage."
This address was signed by James Risbee, Speaker.
The necessity of some Episcopal supervision over the clergy sent to America was pressing in all the colonies.1 The need of a bishop was urged by the missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel upon their first arrival. They appealed for " a suffragan to visit the
1 Anderson's History of the Colonial Church, vol. III, 70-75.
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several churches: ordain some, confirm others, and bless all." Governor Nicholson, then Governor of Virginia, whose interest in the church was undoubted. expressed in a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury his conviction "that unless a bishop be sent in a short time the Church of England will rather diminish than increase in North America." Dean Swift sought to avail himself of this sentiment. and was intriguing for "the bishoprick of Virginia." 1 The claim of the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London appears to have been one of the obstacles in the way of the appointment of a bishop in the colonies.2 This jurisdiction the Bishop of London exercised to a very limited extent in some of the colonies by the appointment of presbyters as assistants, known to the Church of Eng- land as commissaries.3 But these officers could exercise no other than administrative functions. They had the over- sight of the clergy and people, but could not consecrate, or- dain, or confirm. Two very able men occupied the position, one in Virginia and the other in Maryland. In the former was James Blair, the founder of the William and Mary College, and in the latter was Dr. Thomas Bray. In ac- cepting the appointment, which he did at no little social and pecuniary sacrifice, Dr. Bray made as a condition the provision of parochial libraries for the ministers who
1 Swift's works (Scott's ed.), vol. I. 98; Dalcho's Ch. Hist., 90 ; Hist. Am. Episcopal Ch., vol. 1, 398.
- IFist. m. Episcopal Ch., vol. I, 399.
" The commissary was an officer in the Church of England whose office was probably derived from the chorepiscopi of the ancient church. These were supposed to be mere presbyters, assistants to the bishops whose dio- ceses were enlarged by the conversion of the Pagans in the country. Bingham, Antly. vol. I. 50. Commissary is a title of jurisdiction per- :tining to him that exerciseth ecclesiastical jurisdiction in places of the diocese so far distant that the chancellor cannot call the people to the bishop's principal consistory court without great trouble to them. Barns's Detestatical Law, vol. 11, 7.
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should be sent out to the province. It was by means of this provision that he hoped to be able to secure from among the unbeneficed and poorer clergy studious and sober men to undertake the service of the church in America.1 The establishment of these libraries was not confined to Maryland, but, as we have seen, books were sent to South Carolina. as well as to other provinces. It was upon one of these parochial libraries of Dr. Bray that the Provincial Library was founded in 1698, a lay library being added thereto, as before stated.
The church having been now established with eight clergymen resident in the province,2 ten parishes laid out, and six more churches provided to be built under the act of 1706. the Bishop of London determined to appoint and send out a commissary for South Carolina. In 1707 the Rev. Gideon Johnson, A. M .. was recommended to the Bishop of London as worthy of his appointment by the Archbishop of Dublin, and others. The Bishop of London, satisfied with the character and attainments of Mr. John- son, appointed him his commissary and sent him to Charles Town. The Lords Proprietors wrote, on March 2. 1707- 1708, informing the Governor of the appointment, that Mr. Johnson had sailed, and they hoped that according to the Lord Bishop's recommendation he had been chosen minister for Charles Town.
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