[Sidenote] A council of commerce is instituted.
It is not improbable that King Charles the second, during his exile, had acquired in Holland some knowledge in trade, and seen the vast advantage resulting from it to that republic; for after his return to his native dominions, he made the naval strength of England, and her commercial affairs, the principal objects of attention. He instituted a select council of commerce, consisting of a president, vice-president, and nine counsellors, for the encouragement of trade, navigation and the colonies. Instead of the former method, of referring all commercial concerns to a fluctuating committee of the privy-council, this institution was intended to chalk out a particular line of duty, which was to engage the whole attention of that board. But the king was so immersed in private luxuries and pleasures, that it was difficult to keep him steady and firm to any laudable public regulation. The annual expence attending this excellent institution he soon found was too heavy, and therefore it was dropt, and the affairs of commerce returned to their former tedious and fluctuating channel.
[Sidenote] A legislature is formed in the colony.
In Carolina Sir John Yeamans had entered on the government with an uncommon zeal for the success of the settlement, and a grateful anxiety to discharge the duties of his trust with fidelity and honour. The proprietors, fond of their new form of government, had instructed him to use his endeavours to introduce it, as the most excellent of its kind, and wisely adapted to promote the prosperity and happiness of the people. Accordingly, Sir John summoned the people together, ordered the fundamental constitutions to be read, and representatives to be elected. The province was divided into four counties, called Berkeley, Colleton, Craven, and Carteret counties. The people, who had hitherto lived under a kind of military government, now began to form a legislature for establishing civil regulations. Ten members were elected as representatives for Colleton, and ten for Berkeley counties. A committee, consisting of Stephen Bull, Ralph Marshal, and William Owen, were nominated for framing some public regulations. Three acts were proposed by them as beneficial; the first, to prevent persons leaving the colony; the second, to prohibit all men from disposing of arms and ammunition to Indians; and the third, for the regular building of Charlestown.
[Sidenote] Its troubles from the Spaniards.
Notwithstanding the public treaty already mentioned, a religious society of the Spanish nation laid claim to the large territory of Florida, not only on the foot of prior discovery, but also by virtue of a grant from the pope; and the garrison kept at Augustine regarding the British settlement as an encroachment on their possessions, were disposed to throw every difficulty in the way of the Carolineans, in order to compel them to relinquish the country. They encouraged indented servants to leave their masters, and fly to them for liberty and protection. They instilled into the savage tribes the most unfavourable notions of British heretics, and urged them on to the destruction of the colony. Good policy required that the governor should keep a watchful eye on the motions of such neighbours, and guard his weak and defenceless colony against the pernicious designs of their Spanish rivals. Some men he discovered who were attempting to entice servants to revolt; these were ordered to receive so many stripes. Others, in defiance of the feeble power of the magistrate, took to such courses as were subversive of public peace and justice. Except a few negroes whom Sir John Yeamans and his followers brought along with them from Barbadoes, there were no labourers but Europeans for the purposes of culture. Until the fields were cleared the brute creation could afford the planters no assistance; the weak arm of man alone had to encounter all the hardships of clearing and cultivation, and the thick forest seemed to bid defiance to his strength. Hard indeed was the task of these labourers while employed in felling the large and lofty trees, and all the while exposed to the heat of an inclement sky, and the terrors of barbarous enemies; with great truth it may be said of them, that they purchased their scanty morsel with the sweat of their brows. After all, the provisions they raised were exposed to the plundering parties of savage neighbours, and one day often robbed them of the dear-bought fruits of their whole year's toil.
[Sidenote] Its domestic troubles and hardships.
It is no easy matter to describe the dreadful extremities to which these poor settlers were sometimes reduced. During the government of Sir John Yeamans a civil disturbance broke out among the colonists, which threatened the ruin of the settlement. At such a distance it was very difficult for the proprietors to furnish their colony with regular supplies; and the spots of sandy and barren land they had cleared poorly rewarded their toil. Small was the skill of the planter, and European grain, which they had been accustomed to sow, proved suitable to neither soil nor climate. The emigrants being now, from sad experience, sensible of difficulties inseparable from their circumstances, began to murmur against the proprietors, and to curse the day they left their native land, to starve in a wilderness. While they gathered oysters for subsistence with one hand, they were obliged to carry their muskets for self-defence in the other. A great gun had been given to Florence O'Sullivan, which he placed on an island situate at the mouth of the harbour, to alarm the town in cases of invasion from the Spaniards. O'Sullivan deserted his island, being ready to perish with hunger, and joined the discontented party in the town. The people became seditious and ungovernable, and threatened to compel the governor to relinquish the settlement: even Mr. Culpepper the surveyor-general, joined them in their complaints and murmurs. The greatest prudence and courage were requisite to prevent tumults, and animate the colonists to perseverance. Florence O'Sullivan was taken up by the marshal on a charge of sedition, and compelled to find security for his future good behaviour. One sloop, commanded by Joseph Harris, was despatched to Virginia, another to Barbadoes, to bring provisions. Happily before their return a seasonable supply arrived from England, together with a number of new settlers, which revived the drooping spirits of the people, and encouraged them to engage in more vigorous efforts. The governor, sensible of the hardships the people had suffered, the more readily forgave them for their past misconduct; but as Mr. Culpepper held an office from the proprietors, he sent him to England to be tried by them for joining the people in treasonable conspiracies against the settlement.
The garrison at Augustine having intelligence from servants who fled to them of the discontented and miserable situation of the colony in Carolina, advanced with a party under arms as far as the island of St. Helena, to dislodge or destroy the settlers. Brian Fitzpatrick, a noted villain, treacherously deserted his distressed friends on purpose to join their enemies. However, Sir John Yeamans having received a reinforcement, set his enemies at defiance. Fifty volunteers, under the command of Colonel Godfrey, marched against the Spaniards, who, on his approach, evacuated the island of St. Helena, and retreated to Augustine.
[Sidenote] A war among the Indians seasonable for the settlement.