In the year following the revolution of 1688, the repose of Maryland was again disturbed. A rumor was artfully circulated that the Catholics had leagued with the Indians to destroy all the Protestants in the province. An armed association was immediately formed, for the defence of the Protestant religion, and for asserting the rights of king William and queen Mary. The magistrates attempted to oppose this association by force; but, meeting with few supporters, they were compelled to abdicate the government. King William directed those who had assumed the supreme authority to exercise it in his name; and for twenty-seven years the crown retained the entire control of the province. In 1716, the proprietor was restored to his rights; and he and his descendants continued to enjoy them until the commencement of the revolution. The people then assumed the government, adopted a constitution, and refused to admit the claims of the representatives of lord Baltimore either to jurisdiction or to property.
NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.
The final settlement of this country originated with the earl of Clarendon and other courtiers of Charles II., who were presented with a grantof all the lands lying between the thirty-first and thirty-sixth degrees of north latitude, and received in their charter ample powers of administration and judicature. Some previous efforts had been unsuccessfully made to colonize this portion of the North American continent, and grants had been given to different individuals, which were now all pronounced void by the privy council. A few settlers were scattered in different parts, and those on Albemarle sound were on certain conditions allowed to retain their lands. A government was organized over them, at the head of which Mr. Drummond was placed.
Having taken the command of the infant settlement at Albemarle, the proprietaries directed a survey of the coast to the southward, and projected the establishment of a new colony in Clarendon country, which had been recently abandoned by the emigrants from New England. In furtherance of this object, they conferred on John Yeamans, a respectable planter of Barbadoes, the appointment of commander-in-chief of Clarendon country. In the autumn, he conducted from Barbadoes a body of emigrants, who landed on the southern bank of cape Fear. He cultivated the good will of the natives, and insured a seven years’ peace. The planters, in opening the forest to make room for the operations of tillage, ‘necessarily prepared timber for the uses of the cooper and builder, which they transmitted to the island whence they had emigrated, as the first subject of a feeble commerce, that kindled the spark of industry which soon gave animation to the whole.’ Another settlement was also projected to the southward of cape Remain, which received the name of Carteret, and was placed under a separate governor.
In pursuance of the authority with which the proprietors were invested by their charter, they began to frame a system of laws for the government of their colony; in which they availed themselves of the assistance of the illustrious John Locke. The form of government proposed by this eminent man proved utterly impracticable and useless. It received no favor from the people, and never attained the force of fundamental laws.
Notwithstanding these constitutions and legal preparations, several years elapsed before the proprietors of Carolina made any serious efforts towards its settlement. In 1667, they fitted out a ship, gave the command of it to captain William Sayle, and sent him out to bring them some account of the coast. His report to his employers, as might naturally be expected, was favorable. He praised their possessions, and encouraged them to engage with vigor in the execution of their project. His observations respecting the Bahama islands, which he had visited, induced them to apply to the king for a grant of them, and Charles bestowed on them by patent all those islands lying between the twenty-second and twenty-seventh degrees of north latitude. Nothing then remained but to make preparations for sending a colony to Carolina. Two ships were procured, on board of which a number of adventurers embarked, with provisions, arms, and utensils requisite for building and cultivation.
Sayle was appointed the first governor, and received a commission, bearing date July 26, 1669. The expenses of this first embarkation amounted to twelve thousand pounds; a proof that the proprietors entertained no small hopes with respect to their palatinate. The number of men, however, must have been by no means adequate to the undertaking, especially considering the multitude of savages that ranged through thatextensive wilderness. In what place governor Sayle first landed is uncertain; but he was dissatisfied with his first situation, and, moving to the southward, took possession of a neck of land between Ashley and Cooper rivers, where he laid out a town, which, in honor of the king then reigning, he called Charleston; but dying soon after, Sir John Yeamans, who had for several years been governor at Clarendon, was appointed to succeed him. This new settlement attracted many inhabitants from that at Clarendon, and ultimately entirely exhausted it. Being at a great distance from Albemarle, the proprietors established a separate government over it, and hence arose the distinctive appellations of North and South Carolina.
The affairs of the northern colony must now occupy a portion of our attention. The fundamental constitutions, which have already been described, were received by the colonists with disgust and disunion. Their promulgation produced no other effect than to excite the most inveterate jealousy of the designs of the proprietaries; till, in process of time, a refractory spirit took possession of the minds of the people, and was at length exasperated into sentiments as hostile to subordination, as the policy of the proprietaries was repugnant to liberty. From this period the history of the northern province, for a series of years, is involved in such confusion and contradiction, that it is impossible to render it interesting, and difficult to make it even intelligible. It is a record of insurrection and revolt, not easily understood, and not sufficiently interesting to demand more than this slight allusion.
To return to the affairs of the southern colony, now under the administration of Joseph West. The situation of Old Charleston being found inconvenient, the inhabitants, in 1680, removed to Oyster Point, where a new city was laid out, to which the name of the other was given. In the same year commenced a war with the Westoes, a powerful tribe of Indians, which threatened great injury to the colony; peace, however, was soon restored. Governor West was superseded by Sir Richard Kirle, an Irish gentleman, who died six months after his arrival in the country. After his decease, colonel Robert Quarry was chosen his successor. During the time of his government, a number of pirates put into Charleston, and purchased provisions with their Spanish gold and silver. Those public robbers, instead of being taken and tried by the laws of England, were treated with great civility and friendship, in violation of the laws of nations.
Whether the governor was ignorant of the treaty made with Spain, by which England had withdrawn her former toleration from these plunderers of the Spanish dominions, or whether he was afraid to bring them to trial from the notorious courage of their companions in the West Indies, we have not sufficient authority to affirm; but one thing is certain, that Charles II., for several years after the restoration, winked at their depredations, and many of them performed such valiant actions, as, in a good cause, would have justly merited honors and rewards; he even knighted Henry Morgan, a Welshman, who had plundered Porto Bello and Panama, and carried off large treasures from them. For several years so formidable was this body of plunderers in the West Indies, that they struck a terror into every quarter of the Spanish dominions. Their gold and silver, which they lavishly spent in the colony, insured to them a kind reception among the Carolinians, who opened their ports to them freely, and furnished them with necessaries. They could purchase the favor of thegovernor, and the friendship of the people, for what they deemed a trifling consideration. Leaving their gold and silver behind them for clothes, arms, ammunition, and provisions, they embarked in quest of more. However, the proprietors, having intelligence of the encouragement given to pirates by governor Quarry, dismissed him from the office he held; and, in 1685, landgrave Joseph Morton was appointed to the government of the colony.