Part 4

While one party was employed in raising their little habitations, another was always kept under arms, to watch the motions of these Indians. The governor shared those hardships along with his fellow adventurers, and by his example animated and encouraged them to perseverance. The only fresh provisions they could procure were fish from the river, and what game they could kill with their gun. While the settlers were struggling under the difficulties inseparable from the first state of colonization, the ship Blessing, belonging to the proprietors, commanded by Captain Matthias Halstead, happily arrived, and brought them a seasonable supply of necessaries. At the same time deputies from the other proprietors came over, to assist the governor in the discharge of the duties of his office. They brought with them twenty-three articles of instruction, called Temporary Agrarian Laws, intended for the equitable division of lands among the people; but whatever difficulties or inconveniencies might occur in the execution of them, the governor had directions to represent them to the proprietors, who had reserved to themselves the sole power of making alterations in them. At the same time, the governor received a plan of a magnificent town, to be laid out on the neck of land between the two rivers, to be called Charlestown, in honour of the king. Captain Halstead was employed, during his stay, in sounding the rivers, for the benefit of navigation, which were found sufficiently deep, and excellently calculated for the purposes of trade.

About this time the Duke of Albemarle, who was the first palatine, died, and was succeeded by the Earl of Craven, as eldest proprietor. John Locke, Sir John Yeamans, and James Carteret, were created landgraves, to make part of the nobility required by the fundamental constitutions. Sir John was the eldest son and heir of Robert Yeamans alderman of Bristol, who was imprisoned and executed in 1643, by order of Nathaniel Fienes, son to Lord Say, who had been appointed governor of Bristol by the parliament. His son, Sir John, was afterwards advanced to the dignity of baronet by King Charles the second in 1664, as a reward for the steady loyalty and heavy sufferings of his father. But as the violence of the preceding times, which had deprived Sir John of his father, had also injured him in his private fortune, he embarked for the island of Barbadoes, at that time in a flourishing condition, to hide his poverty from his acquaintance in England, and endeavour to acquire a fortune suitable to his dignity. When Carolina was settled, having received a grant of a large tract of land from the proprietors, he, with several respectable followers, retired to that infant colony, to forward by his presence and example, the interest of his generous and beloved friends, from whom he had received great encouragement and assistance.

Soon after his arrival in Carolina, Governor Sayle fell a sacrifice to the hardships of the climate. Upon his death the council met, and Sir John claimed the office of vice-palatine in consequence of his rank, being the only landgrave resident in the colony. But the council, who were empowered to elect a governor in such a case, chose to prefer Joseph West, until a special appointment arrived from England. West was a popular man, much esteemed among the colonists for his activity, courage, and prudence. However, he did not long remain in office, for the first vessel that arrived from England brought a commission to Sir John Yeamans, constituting him governor of the colony.

Here it may be remarked, that various causes contributed towards the population of this settlement, as well as those in the more northern climates. After the Restoration, a total change in the manners of the English nation took place, and many of the people from the strictest rigour and severity in point of morals, became profane, dissolute and abandoned. The Cavaliers, who had suffered during the usurpation, began to retaliate on the Puritans, and having obtained the ascendency over them in public affairs, on all occasions treated them with severe ridicule and supercilious contempt. On the other hand, the morose republican party, highly offended at the licentious manners and growing wickedness of the times, ardently wished for some distant retreat to shelter themselves from the storm of divine judgments which they believed hung over the corrupted and profligate nation. To prevent disturbances from these different parties, Lord Clarendon, and many more of the king's council, from maxims of policy, encouraged emigration, which they considered as a sovereign remedy for political disorders. A new field was opened in Carolina for discontented and turbulent spirits, to whom the proprietors promised grants of land, upon condition they would transport themselves and families to that quarter. They knew that industry was a good cure for enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm was an excellent spur to new and hazardous undertakings. The privilege of liberty of conscience allowed to every one by the charter equally suited all parties, and proved a great encouragement to emigration. New-England indeed had drawn over many of the warmest and most turbulent republicans, and proved a happy shelter to some against the terrors of future reckonings. Still, however, multitudes remained in the nation, who, being discontented with their present circumstances, were willing to seek for liberty of conscience in the deserts of America. Accordingly, many dissenters embraced the offers of the proprietors, and the infant colony received its earliest acquisitions from this restless and troublesome party.

Other reasons of state contributed to render those new settlements seasonably useful and important to the king. Several of his zealous friends had been ruined by their steady adherence to his family during the civil war, which had subverted the English monarchy; many brave officers and soldiers of the royal army had been reduced to indigent circumstances, for whom the king could make little provision in England; these useful subjects and faithful friends merited the compassion of their country, and being inured to face dangers, for landed estates were willing to accept of grants in the neighbourhood of Indian savages. By this time several of the settlers in Virginia and Barbadoes had been successful, and having surmounted the difficulties attending the first state of colonization, were living in easy and plentiful circumstances. The lands of Carolina were esteemed equal, if not superior in value, to those of the northern colonies. Here the servants of the king could provide for his friends without any expence to the nation, and by this means not only secured their attachment, but also extended his power. Grants of land were allowed them in Carolina by the proprietors, where it was thought they might in time enrich themselves, and become beneficial to the commerce and navigation of the mother country.

From this period every year brought new adventurers to Carolina. The friends of the proprietors were invited to it, by the flattering prospects of obtaining landed estates at an easy rate. Others took refuge there from the frowns of fortune and the rigour of unmerciful creditors. Youth reduced to misery by giddy passion and excess embarked for the new settlement, where they found leisure to reform, and where necessity taught them the unknown virtues of prudence and temperance. Restless spirits, fond of roving abroad, found also the means of gratifying their humours, and abundance of scope for enterprise and adventure. It cannot be deemed wonderful if many of them were disappointed, especially such as emigrated with sanguine expectations. The gaiety, luxury and vices of the city were bad qualifications for rural industry, and rendered some utterly unfit for the frugal simplicity and laborious task of the first state of cultivation. An hardy race, inured to labour, hunger, and fatigue, were best adapted for making impressions on the thick forest, and not such emigrants as left the city, tinctured with its vices and fond of luxury and ease. Nor could the Puritans, who settled before them, promise themselves much greater success than their neighbours; though more rigid and austere in their manners, and more religiously disposed, their scrupulosity about trifles and ceremonies, and their violent and litigious dispositions, created trouble to all around them, and disturbed that general harmony so necessary to the welfare and prosperity of the young settlement. From the various principles which actuated the populace of England, and the different sects who composed the first settlers of Carolina, nothing less could be expected, but that the seeds of division should be imported into that country with its earliest inhabitants.

We are apt to attend chiefly to the desolating wars, or the great and surprising revolutions which happen to kingdoms in their populous and advanced state, and to pass over the events of their rise and progress as trifling and inconsiderable; but as the greatest nations upon earth have gradually sprung from such beginnings, it is no less curious and instructive to view the smaller transactions of their infant state, than the grander events of their mature age. Kingdoms in the political world, like plants in the vegetable, have their stages of rise, progress, perfection, and decline; and, in the fields of nature, it is equally pleasant to mark the buds of the spring, as the bloom of summer, or the decay of autumn.

One advantage certainly attended the various settlements in America, of which no European state can boast. Being peopled from civilized nations in an enlightened age, when records are carefully kept and faithfully preserved, the events of their rise and progress, though not so important, were equally clear as those of their more perfect state: whereas the history of the origin of eastern nations could only be transmitted to future generations by the songs of bards or oral tradition. Ignorance of geography, and the art of printing not being then invented, must have rendered the transactions of rude and barbarous ages so precarious and obscure, that if the dead of past ages were to revive, they could scarcely be able to recognize the complexion of their own time. Even in the ages preceding the invention of printing, and the happy Reformation, many events lie buried in darkness and oblivion. The small knowledge which then existed being confined to the clergy, their accounts do not merit entire credit; for the various orders of ecclesiastics at that time were too much under the influence of monkish pride and superstition, to transmit faithful memorials to posterity.

Before the year 1667, there is no mention made of America in any treaty between England and Spain, the latter being contented to keep up her ancient claims to that country, and the former careful to keep and improve the footing she had already gained in it. However, a few years after Carolina was settled, Sir William Godolphin concluded a treaty with Spain, in which, among other articles, it was agreed, "That the King of Great-Britain should always possess, in full right of sovereignty and property, all the countries, islands, and colonies, lying and situated in the West Indies, or any part of America, which he and his subjects then held and possessed, insomuch that they neither can nor ought thereafter to be contested on any account whatsoever." The Bucaniers, who had for many years infested Spanish America, were now cut off from all future protection from the English government in their hostile invasions of these dominions, and all commissions formerly granted to such pirates, were recalled and annulled. By this treaty, the freedom of navigation in these American seas was opened to both nations; and all ships in distress, whether from storms, or the pursuit of enemies and pirates, taking refuge in places belonging either to Britain or Spain, were to be treated with humanity, to meet with protection and assistance, and to be permitted to depart without molestation. These things merit particular notice, as by this treaty Spain evidently gave up all future pretensions to the country of Carolina granted to the proprietors by the king; and this freedom of navigation, provided for in such express terms, was violated, as we shall afterwards see, by the Spaniards, and proved the occasion of a bloody war between the two nations. Not long after this, a treaty of neutrality between Britain and France was also concluded; by which negotiations the possessions of Great Britain, France, and Spain, in the western world, were better ascertained; and the freedom of commerce and navigation was more firmly established by those three great potentates, than had taken place in any former period.

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.

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.

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.

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.

At this period, to form alliances with Indian tribes was an object of great importance with the governor and council. One circumstance proved favourable to the colony at the time of its settlement. The Westoes, a powerful and numerous tribe, who harboured an irreconcileable aversion to the white faces of strangers, would have proved a dangerous enemy to them, had not their attention been occupied by the Serannas, another Indian nation. A bloody war between these two tribes providentially raged, and was carried on with such fury, that in the end it proved fatal to both. This served to pave the way for the introduction and establishment of this British settlement, which otherwise might have shared the same unhappy fate with the first adventurers to Virginia. Many tribes besides that might no doubt have extirpated the colony, but it is probable the governor studied by every means to avoid giving them any provocation, and to conciliate their affection and esteem.

While we now and then turn our eyes to those wild hunters who ranged through the American woods, we must guard against such false and horrid descriptions of them, as some who have suffered from their warlike temper have exhibited to the world. Many authors have discovered unreasonable prejudices against them, and shewn that they either wanted judgment to distinguish, or candour to make due allowances for, the failings peculiar to all nations in the same rude and uncultivated state. When Julius Cesar carried the Roman arms into Britain, and Germanicus over-run the forests of Germany, did they not find the silvestres of those countries little, if at all, more civilized than the brown natives of America? If the Indians were offended at the encroachments made by strangers on lands which they had possessed unmolested for time immemorial, that is nothing wonderful or uncommon. Lands may be called the first property of all nations on the face of the earth. While unacquainted with the advantages of pasturage and agriculture, a greater extent of hunting lands are requisite for their subsistence. Through this territory, now possessed by Europeans, they had been accustomed to range, independent, fearless and free. If they were ready to defend their property at the risque of life, this practice is nothing more than what all nations in the same barbarous state have followed. Until laws were made to prevent and redress wrongs, and men delivered up their arms to the civil magistrate, have they not, in every age, had recourse to forcible means for the defence of their property? The natives of Carolina were doubtless displeased at the encroachments of strangers on their inheritance, and if they had not advanced a single step towards civilization, no man can reasonably expect from them a conduct incompatible with their natural circumstances. The woods abounded with deer and buffaloes, which, when young, might have been domesticated; but on such employment no Indian had entered; it probably appeared to him equally despicable as that of agriculture.

The first bond of union and affection between Europeans and Americans was conveniency. At this early period, to the Indian a knife, a hatchet, or a hoe, was a useful and invaluable acquisition. He observed with what facility the strangers supplied their wants, which were many in comparison with his, by means of the various implements they used. The woods fell before the axe, the earth opened before the hoe or the spade; and the knife was useful on numberless occasions. He admired the skill of white men in making those implements of ease and profit, and voluntarily offered them his deer skins, the only riches he had which could procure them. The love of ease was as natural to the one as the other, and he would rather give them the profits of a year's hunting than want such instruments. Having obtained these in process of time, he found the tomahawk and musket equally useful; these he also coveted, and could not rest till he obtained them. What was at first only convenient, as his wants increased, became absolutely necessary, by which means the original bond was strengthened and confirmed. As the channel of commerce opened, the Indian found that he was not only treated with friendship and civility, but that the white people were equally fond of his skins, furs and lands, as he was of their gaudy trinkets, and various implements of convenience and advantage. It was this connection that induced the native inhabitants of the forest, peaceably to admit stranger differing so much in complexion, language and manners, among them and allow them to clear and cultivate their lands.

From the ignorance of Englishmen with respect to the policy and customs of these wild tribes, they must have been exposed to numberless dangers in the earlier periods of their commercial intercourse. At first, the rude manners of the western savages must have been equally strange to the European, as the civilized manners of eastern nations to the Indian. The commerce itself served to enhance the danger; for although Indians lived much dispersed, yet they united under one chief, and formed different towns, all the lands around which they claimed as their property. The boundaries of their hunting grounds being carefully fixed, each tribe was tenacious of its possessions, and fired with resentment at the least encroachment on them. Every individual looked on himself as a proprietor of all the lands claimed by the whole tribe, and bound in honour to defend them. This may serve to account for many umbrages (which we shall afterwards have occasion to mention) taken by Indians in general at purchases made and titles obtained by private persons, and even by particular provinces: for no Indian, however great his influence and authority, could give away more than his own right to any tract of land, which, in proportion, is no more than as one man to the whole tribe. To all such gifts the concurrence and consent of the whole nation must be obtained. Here a large source of difference and quarrels opened, and a foolish bargain of an individual often exposed the European settlers to the fury and vengeance of the whole clan.

Those inhabitants, like beasts of prey, traverse the forest, and while they neither encroach on their neighbours territories, nor are at war with another tribe, enjoy freedom in the most extensive sense of the word. In stature they are of a middle size, neither so tall nor yet so low as some Europeans. To appearance they are strong and well made; yet they are totally unqualified for that heavy burden or tedious labour which the vigorous and firm nerves of Europeans enable them to undergo. None of them are deformed, deformities of nature being confined to the ages of art and refinement. Their colour is brown, and their skin shines, being varnished with bears fat and paint. To appearance the men have no beards, nor hair on their head, except a round tuft on its crown; but this defect is not natural, as many people are given to believe, but the effect of art, it being customary among them to tear out such hair by the root. They go naked, except those parts which natural decency teaches the most barbarous nations to cover. The huts in which they live are foul, mean and offensive; and their manner of life is poor, nasty and disgustful. In the hunting season they are eager and indefatigable in pursuit of their prey; when that is over, they indulge themselves in a kind of brutal slumber, indolence and ease. In their distant excursions they can endure hunger long, and carry little with them for their subsistence; but in days of plenty they are voracious as vultures. While dining in company with their chieftains, we were astonished at the vast quantity of meat they devoured. Agriculture they leave to women, and consider it as an employment unworthy of a man: indeed they seem amazingly dead to the tender passions, and treat their women like slaves, or beings of an inferior rank. Scolding, insults, quarrels, and complaints, are seldom heard among them: on solemn occasions they are thoughtful, serious, and grave; yet I have seen them free, open and merry at feasts and entertainments. In their common deportment towards each other they are respectful, peaceable, and inoffensive. Sudden anger is looked upon as ignominious and unbecoming, and, except in liquor, they seldom differ with their neighbour, or ever do him any harm or injury. As for riches they have none; nor covet any; and while they have plenty of provisions, they allow none to suffer through want: if they are successful at hunting, all their unfortunate or distressed friends share with them the common blessings of life.

Although in some particular customs the separate tribes of Indians differ from each other, yet in their general principles and mode of government they are very similar. All have general rules, with respect to other independent tribes around them, which they carefully observe. The great concerns relating to war or peace, are canvassed in assemblies of deputies from all the different towns. When injuries are committed, and Indians of one tribe happen to be killed by those of another, then such a meeting is commonly called. If no person appears on the side of the aggressors, the injured nation deputes one of their warriors to go to them, and, in name of the whole tribe, to demand satisfaction: if this is refused, and they think themselves able to undertake a war against the aggressors, then a number of warriors, commonly the relations of the deceased, take the field for revenge, and look upon it as a point of honour never to leave it till they have killed the same number of the enemy that had been slain of their kinsmen. Having accomplished this, they return home with their scalps, and by some token let their enemy know that they are satisfied. But when the nation to whom the aggressors belong, happen to be disposed to peace, they search for the murderers, and they are, by the general judgment of the nation, capitally punished, to prevent involving others in their quarrel; which act of justice is performed often by the aggressor's nearest relations. The criminal never knows of his condemnation until the moment the sentence is to be put in execution, which often happens while he is dancing the war dance in the midst of his neighbours, and bragging of the same exploit for which he is condemned to die.

In different ages mankind in similar circumstances, with respect to their progress in improvements, bear a striking resemblance one to another. The accounts of rude and barbarous Indians may be so far curious and instructive, as they serve to throw light on several earlier periods of history, both sacred and profane. The American savages almost universally claim the right of private revenge. It is considered by them as a point of honour to avenge the injuries done to friends, particularly the death of a relation. Scalp for scalp, blood for blood, and death for death, can only satisfy the surviving friends of the injured party. The same law of retaliation was established among the ancient Jews and Romans. But should the wise and aged men of weight and influence among Indians interpose, on account of some favourable circumstances on the side of the aggressor, perhaps satisfaction may be made by way of compensation. In this case, some present made to the party aggrieved serves to gratify their passion of revenge, by the loss the aggressor sustains, and the acquisition of property the injured receives. Should the injured friends refuse this kind of satisfaction, which they are entirely at liberty to do, then the murderer, however high his rank may be, must be delivered up to torture and death, to prevent the quarrel spreading wider through the nation. This custom of making compensation also prevailed among European nations in their earlier and more uncultivated ages. In the time of Tacitus, the relations of the maimed or murdered person, among the Germans, were obliged to accept of a compensation, and restrain the spirit of revenge. During the Anglosaxon period in England, laws were made to determine the various fines for murder, man-slaughter, wounds and other injuries, and prices were fixed on the heads of men according to their rank. In case of adultery among Indians, the injured husband considers himself as under an obligation to revenge the crime, and he attempts to cut off the ears of the adulterer, provided he be able to effect it; if not, he may embrace the first opportunity that offers of killing him, without any danger from his tribe. Then the debt is paid, and the courage of the husband proved. This is more severe than the law of Ethelbert, which admitted of a fine from the adulterer, and obliged him to purchase another wife for the injured husband.

With respect to internal government, these savages have also several customs and regulations to which the individuals of the same tribe conform. Personal wisdom and courage are the chief sources of distinction among them, and individuals obtain rank and influence in proportion as they excel in these qualifications. Natural reason suggests, that the man of the greatest abilities ought to be the leader of all possessed of inferior endowments; in him they place the greatest confidence, and follow him to war without envy or murmur. As this warrior arrives at honour and distinction by the general consent; so, when chosen, he must be very circumspect in his conduct, and gentle in the exercise of his power. By the first unlucky or unpopular step he forfeits the goodwill and confidence of his countrymen, upon which all his power is founded. Besides the head warrior, they have judges and conjurers, whom they call Beloved Men, who have great weight among them; none of whom have indeed any coercive authority, yet all are tolerably well obeyed. In this commonwealth every man's voice is heard, and at their public deliberations the best speakers generally prevail. When they consult together about important affairs, such as war or peace, they are serious and grave, and examine all the advantages and disadvantages of their situation with great coolness and deliberation, and nothing is determined but by the general consent. When war is the result of their councils, and the great leader takes the field, any one may refuse to follow him, or may desert him, without incurring any punishment, but by such ignominious conduct he loses his reputation, and forfeits the hopes of distinction and preferment. To honour and glory from warlike exploits the views of every man are directed, and therefore they are extremely cautious and watchful against doing any action for which they may incur public censure and disgrace.

The Indians, like all ignorant and rude nations, are very superstitious. They believe that superior beings interfere in, and direct, human affairs, and invoke all spirits, both good and evil, in hazardous undertakings. Each tribe have their conjurers and magicians, on whose prophetic declarations they place much confidence, in all matters relating to health, hunting, and war. They are fond of prying into future events, and therefore pay particular regard to signs, omens, and dreams. They look upon fire as sacred, and pay the author of it a kind of worship. At the time of harvest and at full moon they observe several feasts and ceremonies, which it would seem were derived from some religious origin. As their success, both in warlike enterprises and in procuring subsistence depends greatly on fortune, they have a number of ceremonious observances before they enter on them. They offer in sacrifice a part of the first deer or bear they kill, and from this they flatter themselves with the hopes of future success. When taken sick they are particularly prone to superstition, and their physicians administer their simple and secret cures with a variety of strange ceremonies and magic arts, which fill the patients with courage and confidence, and are sometimes attended with happy effects.

During the time Sir John Yeamans was governor of Carolina, the colony received a great addition to its strength from the Dutch settlement of Nova Belgia, which, without any resistance, surrendered to the armament commanded by Sir Robert Carr, and became subject to England. Charles the second gave it to his brother the Duke of York, who called the province New-York, and governed it on the same arbitrary principles which afterwards rendered him so obnoxious to the English nation. After the conquest many of the Dutch colonists, who were discontented with their situation, had formed resolutions of moving to other provinces. The proprietors of Carolina offered them lands and encouragement in their palatinate, and sent their ships Blessing and Phoenix and brought a number of Dutch families to Charlestown. Stephen Bull, surveyor-general of the colony, had instructions to mark out lands on the southwest side of Ashley river for their accommodation. There each of the Dutch emigrants drew lots for their property, and formed a town, which was called James-town. This was the first colony of Dutch who settled in Carolina, whose industry surmounted incredible hardships, and whose success induced many from ancient Belgia afterwards to follow them to the western world. The inhabitants of James-town, afterwards finding their situation too narrow and circumscribed, in process of time spread themselves through the country, and the town was totally deserted.

About the year 1674, Sir John Yeamans being reduced to a feeble and sickly condition by the warm climate, and his indefatigable labours for the success of the settlement, returned to Barbadoes, where he died. After his departure the grand council again chose Joseph West governor; and the palatine confirmed the election. A meeting of all the freemen was called at Charlestown, where they elected representatives, for the purpose of making laws for the government of the colony. Thomas Gray, Henry Hughs, Maurice Mathews, and Christopher Portman, were chosen deputies from the people, and took their seat at the upper house of assembly. These new members were obliged to take an oath, that they should shew equity and justice to both rich and poor, without favour or affection; that they should observe the laws of England, and those that should hereafter be established in the colony; that they should obey the rules and directions of the proprietors; that they should not divulge the secrets of the grand council, without sufficient authority from that board. A question being put, whether the deputies of the proprietors should take the same oath? it was judged unnecessary, as they held their appointments during pleasure, and were immediately answerable to the proprietors for their conduct. Now the colony had its governor, its upper and lower house of assembly, which three branches took the name of Parliament, agreeable to the constitutions. This was the first parliament that passed acts which are ratified by the proprietors, and found on record in the colony.

It might have been expected, that these adventurers, who were all embarked on the same design, would be animated by one spirit, and zealous above all things to maintain harmony and peace among themselves; they had all the same hardships to encounter, the same enemies to fear, and the same cause, the prosperity of the settlement, to promote. In such circumstances, the governor had good reason to hope, that one common desire of safety, and principle of love and friendship, would pervade the whole colony; yet nothing is more certain than that the contrary effect took place. The most numerous party in the country were dissenters, of various denominations, from the established church of England; which body of men, whatever high pretensions they may affect to superior sanctity of manners, have not always been found the most peaceable members of society. A number of cavaliers having received grants from the proprietors, had now brought over their families and effects, and joined the Puritans in Carolina. The latter were looked upon by the proprietors with a partial eye, as men of honour, loyalty and fidelity, and met with great indulgence and encouragement; by which means they thrust themselves into offices of trust and authority. The Puritans, on the other hand, viewed them with the eye of envy and jealousy, and having suffered from them in England, could not bear to see the smallest share of power committed to them in Carolina. Hence the seeds of strife and division, which had been imported into the colony, began to spring forth, and, as if brought to a warmer and more fertile soil, to grow so rank as to promise little peace and happiness to the young settlement. No common dangers or difficulties could blot out of their memories the prejudices and animosities contracted in England: the odious terms of distinction were revived and propagated among the people, and while one party were attached to the church of England, the other, who had fled from the rigour of ecclesiastical power, were jealous above all things of religious liberties, and could bear no encroachment on them. The governor found that matters of religion were tender points, and therefore wisely avoided all deliberations about them, chusing rather to leave every man to his free choice, than propose an establishment of any kind, which he saw would occasion trouble and division among the people.

Another source of difficulty arose to government from the different manners of these colonists. These emigrants were not a people accustomed to rural labours and frugal simplicity, but many of them pampered citizens, whose wants luxury had increased, and rendered them impatient of fatigue and the restraints of legal authority. The sober and morose life, the stiff and rigid morals of the Puritans, were made the objects of ridicule by their neighbours, and all the powers of wit and humour were employed in exposing them to public derision and contempt. Their levelling spirit, republican principles, and contentious disposition, they declared merited the hatred and abhorrence of every man of honour and honesty, as they had served to produce in England that race of sly, deceitful and hypocritical wretches, who had been the curse and scourge of the nation. The Puritans, on the other hand, possessed of no small share of rancour and malevolence, and exasperated by their licentious manner and grievous abuse, violently opposed their influence among the people. Hence arose a number of difficulties in framing laws, in distributing justice, and in maintaining public order and tranquillity. Governor West, observing those dissentions breaking out in the settlement, was at no small pains to keep them within the bounds of moderation, but having a council composed of ambitious cavaliers, was unable entirely to check the disorder. In spite of his authority, the Puritans were treated with insolence and neglect, and the colony, distracted with domestic differences, were ill prepared for defence against external enemies: not only so, but such divisions occasioned a neglect of industry and application, which prevented the country from making that progress in improvement which might have been expected from its natural advantages.

At this unfavourable juncture the Indians, from Stono, came down in straggling parties, and plundered the plantations of the scanty and dearly earned fruits of labour and industry. Being accustomed to the practice of killing whatever came in their way, they ranked the planter's hogs, turkeys and geese among their game, and freely preyed upon them. The planters as freely made use of their arms in defence of their property, and several Indians were killed during their depredations. This occasioned a war, and the Indians poured their vengeance indiscriminately, as usual, on the innocent and guilty, for the loss of their friends. Governor West found it necessary to encourage and reward such of the colonists as would take the field against them for the public defence. Accordingly, a price was fixed on every Indian the settlers should take prisoner, and bring to Charlestown. These captive savages were disposed of to the traders, who sent them to the West-Indies, and there sold them for slaves. This traffic was deemed by some an inhuman method of getting rid of troublesome neighbours; yet, at this period, the planters had some reasons to plead in its vindication. Lands indeed were given as the reward of valour; but lands, without hands to cultivate them, were rather a burden, than any way beneficial, to men who were allowed more by the proprietors than they could turn to any profit. But the planters had an immediate reward for Indian prisoners, and while it encouraged bold adventurers, it was made a profitable branch of trade. Whether the rum which was imported into the colony, in return for these Indians, proved of beneficial consequence or not, we shall not pretend to determine, as this depended on the use or abuse that was made of it. Where the water is bad, a little rum mixed with it is accounted wholesome and nourishing; but excess in drinking, every where, destroys the constitution, and proves a fruitful spring of pains, diseases, and death.