An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina And Georgia Volume II Part 4

Soon after the departure of General Oglethorpe, the Carolineans pet.i.tioned the King, praying that three independent companies, consisting each of an hundred men, might be raised in the colonies, paid by Great Britain, and stationed in Carolina, to be entirely under the command of the Governor and Council of that province. This pet.i.tion was referred to the Lords of his Majesty's Privy-council, and a time appointed for considering, whether the present state of Carolina was such as rendered this additional charge to the nation proper and necessary. Two reasons were a.s.signed by the colonists for the necessity of this military force: the first was, to preserve peace and security at home; the second, to protect the colony against foreign invasions. They alledged, that as the country was overstocked with negroes, such a military force was requisite to overawe them, and prevent insurrections; and as the coast was so extensive, and the ports lay exposed to every French and Spanish plunderer that might at any time invade the province, their security against such attempts was of the highest consequence to the nation. But though they afterwards obtained some independent companies, those reasons, at this time, did not appear to the Privy-council of weight sufficient to induce them to give their advice for this military establishment. It was their opinion, that it belonged to the provincial legislature to make proper laws for limiting the importation of negroes, and regulating and restraining them when imported; rather than put the mother country to the expence of keeping a standing force in the province to overawe them: that Georgia, and the Indians on the Apalachian hills, were a barrier against foreign enemies on the western frontiers: that Fort Johnson, and the fortifications in Charlestown, were a sufficient protection for that port; besides, that as the entrance over the bar was so difficult to strangers, before a foreign enemy could land five hundred men in that town, half the militia in the province might be collected for its defence. Georgetown and Port-Royal indeed were exposed, but the inhabitants being both few in number and poor, it could not be worth the pains and risque of a single privateer to look into those harbours. For which reasons it was judged, that Carolina could be in little danger till a foreign enemy had possession of Georgia; and therefore it was agreed to maintain Oglethorpe's regiment in that settlement complete; and give orders to the commandant to send detachments to the forts in James's Island, Port-Royal, and such other places where their service might be thought useful and necessary to the provincial safety and defence.

[Sidenote] The colony's advantages from Britain.

Many are the advantages Carolina has derived from its political and commercial connection with Britain. Its growing and flourishing state the colony owes almost entirely to the mother-country, without the protection and indulgence of which, the people had little or no encouragement to be industrious. Britain first furnished a number of bold and enterprising settlers, who carried with them the knowledge, arts, and improvements of a civilized nation. This may be said to be the chief favour for which Carolina stands indebted to the parent state during the proprietary government. But since the province has been taken under the royal care, it has been nursed and protected by a rich and powerful nation. Its government has been stable, private property secure, and the privileges and liberties of the people have been extensive. Lands the planters obtained from the King at a cheap rate. To cultivate them the mother-country furnished them with labourers upon credit. Each person had entire liberty to manage his affairs for his own profit and advantage, and having no tythes, and very trifling taxes to pay, reaped almost the whole fruits of his industry. The best and most extensive market was allowed to the commodities he produced, and his staples increased in value in proportion to the quant.i.ty raised, and the demand for them in Europe. All British manufactures he obtained at an easy rate, and drawbacks were allowed on articles of foreign manufacture, that they might be brought the cheaper to the American market. In consequence of which frugal planters, every three or four years, doubled their capital, and their progress towards independence and opulence was rapid. Indeed, the colonists had many reasons for grat.i.tude, and none for fear, except what arose from their immoderate haste to be rich, and from purchasing such numbers of slaves, as exposed them to danger and destruction.

The plan of settling townships, especially as it came accompanied with the royal bounty, had proved beneficial in many respects. It encouraged mult.i.tudes of poor oppressed people in Ireland, Holland and Germany to emigrate, by which means the province received a number of frugal and industrious settlers. As many of them came from manufacturing towns in Europe, it might have been expected that they would naturally have pursued those occupations to which they had been bred, and in which their chief skill consisted. But this was by no means the case; for, excepting a few of them that took up their residence in Charlestown, they procured lands, applied to pasturage and agriculture, and by raising hemp, wheat and maize in the interior parts of the country, and curing hams, bacon, and beef, they supplied the market with abundance of provision, while at the same time they found that they had taken the shortest way of arriving at easy and independent circ.u.mstances.

[Sidenote] Its advantage and importance to Britain.

Indeed while such vast territories in Carolina remained unoccupied, it was neither for the interest of the province, nor that of the mother-country, to employ any hands in manufactures. So long as labour bestowed on lands was most profitable, no prudent colonist would direct his attention or strength to any other employment, especially as the mother-country could supply him with all kinds of manufactures at a much cheaper rate than he could make them. The surplus part of British commodities and manufactures for which there was no vent in Britain, found in Carolina a good market, and in return brought the English merchant such articles as were in demand at home, by which means the advantages were mutual and reciprocal. The exclusive privilege of supplying this market encouraged labour in England, and augmented the annual income of the nation. From the monopoly of this trade with America, which was always increasing, Britain derived many substantial advantages. These colonies consumed all her superfluities which lay upon hand, and enlarged her commerce, which, without such a market, must have been confined to its ancient narrow channel. In the year 1744, two hundred and thirty vessels were loaded at the port of Charlestown, so that the national value of the province was not only considerable in respect of the large quant.i.ty of goods it consumed, but also in respect to the naval strength it promoted. Fifteen hundred seamen at least found employment in the trade of this province, and, besides other advantages, the profits of freight must make a considerable addition to the account in favour of Britain.

Nor is there the smallest reason to expect that manufactures will be encouraged in Carolina, while landed property can be obtained on such easy terms. The cooper, the carpenter, the brick-layer, the shipbuilder, and every other artificer and tradesman, after having laboured for a few years at their respective employments, and purchased a few negroes, commonly retreat to the country, and settle tracts of uncultivated land.

While they labour at their trades, they find themselves dependent on their employers; this is one reason for their wishing at least to be their own masters; and though the wages allowed them are high, yet the means of subsistence in towns are also dear, and therefore they long to be in the same situation with their neighbours, who derive an easy subsistence from a plantation, which they cultivate at pleasure, and are answerable to no master for their conduct. Even the merchant becomes weary of attending the store, and risking his flock on the stormy seas, or in the hands of men where it is often exposed to equal hazards, and therefore collects it as soon as possible, and settles a plantation. Upon this plantation he sets himself down, and being both landlord and farmer, immediately finds himself an independent man. Having his capital in lands and negroes around him, and his affairs collected within a narrow circle, he can manage and improve them as he thinks fit. He soon obtains plenty of the necessaries of life from his plantation; nor need he want any of its conveniencies and luxuries. The greatest difficulties he has to surmount arise from the marshy soil, and unhealthy climate, which often cut men off in the midst of their days. Indeed in this respect Carolina is the reverse of most countries in Europe, where the rural life, when compared with that of the town, is commonly healthy and delightful.

CHAP. IX.

[Sidenote] All commotions and oppressions in Europe favourable to America.

The war between England and France still raged in Europe, and being carried on under many disadvantages on the side of the allied army, was almost as unsuccessful as their enemies could have desired. The battle of Fontenoy was obstinate and b.l.o.o.d.y, and many thousands were left on the field on the side of the vanquished. The victorious army had little reason for boasting, having likewise bought their victory very dear.

Though bad success attended the British arms on the continent at this time, yet that evil being considered as remote, the people seemed only to feel it as affecting the honour of the nation, which by some fortunate change might retrieve the glory of its arms; but a plot of a more interesting nature was discovered, which added greatly to the national perplexity and distress. A civil war broke out within the bowels of the kingdom, the object of which was nothing less than the recovery of the British crown from the house of Brunswick. Charles Edward Stuart, the young pretender, stimulated by the fire of youth, encouraged by the deceitful promises of France, and invited by a discontented party of the Scotch nation, had landed in North Britain to head the rash enterprise.

Mult.i.tudes of bold and deluded Highlanders, and several Lowlanders, who owed their misfortunes to their firm adherence to that family, joined his army. He became formidable both by the numbers that followed him, and the success that at first attended his arms. But at length, after having struck a terror into the nation, he was routed at Culloden field, and his party were either dispersed, or made prisoners of war.

What to make of the prisoners of war became a matter of public deliberation. To punish all, without distinction, would have been unjustifiable cruelty in any government, especially where so many were young, ignorant, and misled: to pardon all, on the other hand, would discover unreasonable weakness, and dangerous lenity. The prisoners had nothing to plead but the clemency of the King, and the tenderness of the British const.i.tution. Examples of justice were necessary to deter men from the like attempts; but it was agreed to temper justice with mercy, in order to convince the nation of the gentleness of that const.i.tution, which made not only a distinction between the innocent and guilty, but even among the guilty themselves, between those who were more, and those who were less criminal. The King ordered a general pardon to pa.s.s the Great Seal, in which he extended mercy to the ignorant, and misled among the rebels, which pardon comprehended nineteen out of twenty, who drew lots for this purpose, were exempted from trial, and transported to the British plantations. Among other settlements in America, the southern provinces had a share of these bold and hardy Caledonians, who afterwards proved excellent and industrious settlers.

As every family of labourers is an acquisition to a growing colony, such as Carolina, where lands are plenty, and hands only wanted to improve them; to encourage emigration, a door was opened there to Protestants of every nation. The poor and distressed subjects of the British dominions, and those of Germany and Holland, were easily induced to leave oppression, and transport themselves and families to that province. Lands free of quit-rents, for the first ten years, were allotted to men, women, and children. Utensils for cultivation, and hogs and cows to begin their stock, they purchased with their bounty-money. The like bounty was allowed to all servants after the expiration of the term of their servitude. From this period Carolina was found to be an excellent refuge to the poor, the unfortunate, and oppressed. The population and prosperity of her colonies engrossed the attention of the mother-country.

His Majesty's bounty served to alleviate the hardships inseparable from the first years of cultivation, and landed property animated the poor emigrants to industry and perseverance. The different townships yearly increased in numbers. Every one upon his arrival obtained his grant of land, and sat down on his freehold with no taxes, or very trifling ones, no tythes, no poor rates, with full liberty of hunting and fishing, and many other advantages and privileges he never knew in Europe. It is true the unhealthiness of the climate was a great bar to his progress, and proved fatal to many of these first settlers; but to such as surmounted this obstacle, every year brought new profits, and opened more advantageous prospects. All who escaped the dangers of the climate, if they could not be called rich during their own life, by improving their little freeholds, they commonly left their children in easy or opulent circ.u.mstances. Even in the first age being free, contented, and accountable to man for their labour and management, their condition in many respects was preferable to that of the poorest cla.s.s of labourers in Europe. In all improved countries, where commerce and manufactures have been long established, and luxury prevails, the poorest ranks of citizens are always oppressed and miserable. Indeed this must necessarily be the case, otherwise trade and manufactures, which flourish princ.i.p.ally by the low price of labour and provisions, must decay. In Carolina, though exposed to more troubles and hardships for a few years, such industrious people had better opportunities than in Europe for advancing to an easy and independent state. Hence it happened that few emigrants ever returned to their native country; on the contrary, the success and prosperity of the most fortunate, brought many adventurers and relations after them.

Their love to their former friends, and their natural partiality for their countrymen, induced the old planters to receive the new settlers joyfully, and even to a.s.sist and relieve them. Having each his own property and possession, this independence produced mutual respect and beneficence, and such general harmony and industry reigned among them, that those townships, formerly a desolate wilderness, now stocked with diligent labourers, promised soon to become fruitful fields.

[Sidenote] Cultivation attended with salutary effects.

It has been observed, that in proportion as the lands have been cleared and improved, and scope given for a more free circulation of air, the climate has likewise become more salubrious and pleasant. This change was more remarkable in the heart of the country than in the maritime parts, where the best plantations of rice are, and where water is carefully preserved to overflow the fields; yet even in those places cultivation has been attended with salutary effects. Time and experience had now taught the planters, that, during the autumnal months, their living among the low rice plantations subjected them to many disorders, from which the inhabitants of the capital were entirely exempted. This induced the richer part to retreat to town during this unhealthy season. Those who were less able to bear the expences of this retreat, and had learned to guard against the inconveniencies of the climate, sometimes escaped; but laborious strangers suffered much during these autumnal months.

Accustomed as they were in Europe to toil through the heat of the day, and expose themselves in all weathers, they followed the same practices in Carolina, where the climate would by no means admit of such liberties.

Apprehensive of no ill consequences from such exposure, they began their improvement with vigour and resolution, and persevered until the hot climate and heavy toil exhausted their spirits, and brought home to them the unwelcome intimations of danger.

[Sidenote] Mean heat in Carolina.

In the months of July, August, and September, the heat in the shaded air, from noon to three o'clock, is often between ninety and an hundred degrees; and as such extreme heat is of short duration, being commonly productive of thunder-showers, it becomes on that account the more dangerous. I have seen the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer arise in the shade to ninety-six in the hottest, and fall to sixteen in the coolest season of the year; others have observed it as high as an hundred, and as low as ten; which range between the extreme heat of summer and cold in winter is prodigious, and must have a great effect upon the const.i.tution of all, even of those who are best guarded against the climate; what then must be the situation of such as are exposed to the open air and burning sky in all seasons? The mean diurnal heat of the different seasons has been, upon the most careful observation, fixed at sixty-four in spring, seventy-nine in summer, seventy-two in autumn, and fifty-two in winter; and the mean nocturnal heat in those seasons at fifty-six degrees in spring, seventy-five in summer, sixty-eight in autumn, and forty-six in winter.

[Sidenote] The diseases of the country.

As this climate differs so much from that of Britain, Ireland, and Germany, and every where has great influence on the human const.i.tution, no wonder that many of these settlers should sicken and die by the change, during the first state of colonization. In the hot season the human body is relaxed by perpetual perspiration, and becomes feeble and sickly, especially during the dog-days, when the air is one while suffocating and sultry, and another moist and foggy. Exhausted of fluids, it is perhaps not at all, or very improperly, supplied. Hence intermittent, nervous, putrid and bilious fevers, are common in the country, and prove fatal to many of its inhabitants. Young children are very subject to the worm-fever, which cuts off mult.i.tudes of them. The dry belly-ache, which is a dreadful disorder, is no stranger to the climate. An irruption, commonly called the p.r.i.c.kly Heat, often breaks out during the summer, which is attended with troublesome itching and stinging pains; but this disease being common, and not dangerous, is little regarded; and if proper caution be used to prevent it from striking suddenly inward, is thought to be attended even with salutary effects. In the spring and winter pleurisies and peripneumonies are common, often obstinate, and frequently fatal diseases. So changeable is the weather, that the spirits in the thermometer will often rise or fall twenty, twenty-five, and thirty degrees, in the s.p.a.ce of twenty four hours, which must make havock of the human const.i.tution. In autumn there is sometimes a difference of twenty degrees between the heat of the day and that of the night, and in winter a greater difference between the heat of the morning and that of noon-day. We leave it to physicians more particularly to describe the various disorders incident to this climate, together with the causes of them; but if violent heat and continual perspiration in summer, noxious vapours and sudden changes in autumn, piercing cold nights, and hot noon-days in winter, affect the human const.i.tution, the inhabitants of Carolina, especially in the maritime parts, have all these and many more changes and hardships during the year to undergo. Not only man, but every animal, is strongly affected by the sultry heat of summer. Horses and cows retire to the shade, and there, though hara.s.sed with insects, they stand and profusely sweat through the violence of the day. Hogs and dogs are also much distressed with it.

Poultry and wild fowls droop their wings, hang out their tongues, and, with open throats, pant for breath. The planter who consults his health is not only cautious in his dress and diet, but rises early for the business of the field, and transacts it before ten o'clock, and then retreats to the house or shade during the melting heat of the day, until the coolness of the evening again invites him to the field. Such is his feebleness of body and languor of spirit at noon, that the greatest pleasure of life consists in being entirely at rest. Even during the night he is often restless and depressed, insomuch that refreshing sleep is kept a stranger to his eyes. If unfortunately the poor labourer is taken sick in such weather, perhaps far removed from, or unable to employ, a physician, how great must be his hazard. In towns this heat is still rendered more intolerable by the glowing reflection from houses, and the burning sand in the streets. But how it is possible for cooks, blacksmiths, and other tradesmen, to work at the side of a fire, as many in the province do during such a season, we must leave to the world to judge.

[Sidenote] Climate favourable to the culture of indigo.

This hot weather, however, has been found favourable to the culture of indigo, which at this time was introduced into Carolina, and has since proved one of its chief articles of commerce. About the year 1745 a fortunate discovery was made, that this plant grew spontaneously in the province, and was found almost every where among the wild weeds of the forest. As the soil naturally yielded a weed which furnished the world with so useful and valuable a dye, it loudly called for cultivation and improvement. For this purpose some indigo seed was imported from the French West Indies, where it had been cultivated with great success, and yielded the planters immense profit. At first the seed was planted by way of experiment, and it was found to answer the most sanguine expectations.

In consequence of which several planters turned their attention to the culture of indigo and studied the art of extracting the dye from it.

Every trial brought them fresh encouragement. In the year 1747 a considerable quant.i.ty of it was sent to England, which induced the merchants trading to Carolina to pet.i.tion parliament for a bounty on Carolina indigo. The parliament, upon examination, found that it was one of the most beneficial articles of French commerce, that their West India islands supplied all the markets of Europe; and that Britain alone consumed annually six hundred thousand weight of French indigo, which, at five shillings a pound, cost the nation the prodigious sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. It was demonstrated by the merchants, that this vast expence might be saved, by encouraging the cultivation of indigo in Carolina, and commonly believed that in time the colony might bring it to such perfection, as to rival the French at the markets of Europe. This pet.i.tion of the merchants was soon followed by another from the planters and inhabitants of Carolina, and others to the same effect from the clothiers, dyers, and traders of different towns in Britain. It was proved, that the demand for indigo annually increased, and it could never he expected that the planters in the West Indies would turn their hands to it, while the culture of sugar canes proved more profitable.

Accordingly, an act of parliament pa.s.sed, about the beginning of the year 1748, for allowing a bounty of sixpence _per_ pound on all indigo raised in the British American plantations, and imported directly into Britain from the place of its growth. In consequence of which act the planters applied themselves with double vigour and spirit to that article, and seemed to vie with each other who should bring the best kind and greatest quant.i.ty of it to the market. Some years indeed elapsed before they learned the nice art of making it as well as the French, whom long practice and experience had taught it to perfection; but every year they acquired greater skill and knowledge in preparing it, and received incredible profit as the reward of their labours. While many of them doubled their capital every three or four years by planting indigo, they in process of time brought it to such a degree of perfection, as not only to supply the mother-country, but also to undersel the French at several European markets.

[Sidenote] The manner of cultivating and making indigo.

Here it may not be improper to give the reader some account of the manner in which the people of Carolina cultivate this plant, and extract the dye from it. As we pretend to little knowledge of this matter ourselves, we shall give the following rules and directions of an ingenious person, who practised them for several years with great success. "As both the quant.i.ty and quality of indigo greatly depend on the cultivation of the plant, it is proper to observe, that it seems to thrive best in a rich, light soil, unmixed with clay or sand. The ground to be planted should be plowed, or turned up with hoes, some time in December, that the frost may render it rich and mellow. It must also be well harrowed, and cleansed from all gra.s.s, roots, and stumps of trees, to facilitate the hoeing after the weed appears above ground. The next thing to be considered is the choice of the seed, in which the planters should be very nice; there is great variety of it, and from every sort good indigo may be made; but none answers so well in this colony as the true Guatimala, which if good is a small oblong black seed, very bright and full, and when rubbed in the hand will appear as if finely polished.

"In Carolina we generally begin to plant about the beginning of April, in the following manner: The ground being well prepared, furrows are made with a drill-plow, or hoe, two inches deep, and eighteen inches distant from each other, to receive the seed, which is sown regularly, and not very thick, after which it is lightly covered with earth. A bushel of seed will sow four English acres. If the weather proves warm and serene, the plant will appear above ground in ten or four-teen days. After the plant appears, the ground, though not gra.s.sy, should be hoed to loosen the earth about it, which otherwise would much hinder its growth. In good seasons it grows very fast, and must all the while be kept perfectly clean of weeds. Whenever the plant is in full bloom it must be cut down, without paying any regard to its height, as its leaves are then thick and full of juice, and this commonly happens in about four months after planting. But, previous to the season for cutting, a complete set of vats of the following dimensions, for every twenty acres of weed, must be provided, and kept in good order. The steeper or vat in which the weed is first put to ferment, must be sixteen feet square in the clear, and two and a half feet deep; the second vat or battery twelve feet long, ten feet wide, and four and a half feet deep from the top of the plate. These vats should be made of the best cypress or yellow-pine plank, two and a half inches thick, well fastened to the joints and studs with seven-inch spikes, and then caulked, to prevent their leaking. Vats thus made will last in Carolina, notwithstanding the excessive heat, at least seven years. When every thing is ready, the weed must be cut and laid regularly in the steeper with the stalk upward, which will hasten the fermentation; then long rails must be laid the length of the vat, at eighteen inches distance from one another, and wedged down to the weed, to prevent its buoying up when the water is pumped into the steeper. For this purpose the softest water answers best, and the quant.i.ty of it necessary must be just sufficient to cover all the weed. In this situation it is left to ferment, which will begin sooner or later in proportion to the heat of the weather, and the ripeness of the plant, but for the most part takes twelve or fifteen hours. After the water is loaded with the salts and substance of the weed, it must be let out of the steeper into the battery, there to be beat; in order to perform which operation, many different machines have been invented: but for this purpose any instrument that will agitate the water with great violence may be used.

When the water has been violently agitated for fifteen or twenty minutes in the battery, by taking a little of the liquor up in a plate it will appear full of small grain or curdled; then you are to let in a quant.i.ty of lime-water kept in a vat for the purpose, to augment and precipitate the faeculae, still continuing to stir and beat vehemently the indigo water, till it becomes of a strong purple colour, and the grain hardly perceptible. Then it must be left to settle, which it will do in eight or ten hours. After which the water must be gently drawn out of the battery through plug-holes contrived for that purpose, so that the faeculae may remain at the bottom of the vat. It must then be taken up, and carefully strained through a horse-hair sieve, to render the indigo perfectly clean, and put into bags made of Osnaburghs, eighteen inches long, and twelve wide, and suspended for six hours, to drain the water out of it.

After which the mouths of these bags being well fastened, it must be put into a press to be entirely freed from any remains of water, which would otherwise greatly hurt the quality of the indigo. The press commonly used for this purpose is a box of five feet in length, two and a half wide, and two deep, with holes at one end to let out the water. In this box the bags must be laid, one upon another, until it is full, upon which a plank must be laid, fitted to go within the box, and upon all a sufficient number of weights to squeeze out the water entirely by a constant and gradual pressure, so that the indigo may become a fine stiff paste; which is then taken out and cut into small pieces, each about two inches square, and laid out to dry. A house made of logs must be prepared on purpose for drying it, and so constructed that it may receive all the advantages of an open and free air, without being exposed to the sun, which is very pernicious to the dye. For here indigo placed in the sun, in a few hours will be burnt up to a perfect cinder. While the indigo remains in the drying house, it must be carefully turned three or four times in a day, to prevent its rotting. Flies should likewise be carefully kept from it, which at this season of the year are hatched in millions, and infest an indigo plantation like a plague. After all, great care must also be taken, that the indigo be sufficiently dry before it is packed, lest after it is headed up in barrels it should sweat, which will certainly spoil and rot it."

In this manner indigo is cultivated and prepared in Carolina, and the richest land in the heart of the country is found to answer best for it.

The maritime islands, however, which are commonly sandy, are not unfavourable for this production, especially those that contain spots of land covered with oak, and hickory trees. It is one of those rank weeds which in a few years will exhaust the strength and fertility of the best lands in the world. It is commonly cut in the West Indies six and seven times in the year, but in Carolina no more than two or three times before the frost begins. Our planters have been blamed by the English merchants for paying too much attention to the quant.i.ty, and too little to the quality of their indigo, hence the West-India indigo brings an higher price at the market. He that prefers the quality to the quant.i.ty, is very careful to cut the plant at the proper season, that is, when the weed begins to bloom; for the more luxuriant and tender the plant, the more beautiful the indigo. While it is curing, indigo has an offensive and disagreeable smell, and as the dregs of the weed are full of salts, and make excellent manure, therefore they should be immediately buried under ground when brought out of the steeper. It is commonly observed, that all creatures about an indigo plantation are starved, whereas, about a rice one, which abounds with provisions for man and beast, they thrive and flourish. The season for making indigo in Carolina ends with the first frosty weather, which puts a stop to fermentation, and then double labour is not only requisite for beating it, but when prepared it is commonly good for nothing.

[Sidenote] The common methods of judging of its quality.

The planters bring their indigo to market about the end of the year, and frequently earlier. The merchant judges of its quality by breaking it, and observing the closeness of its grain, and its brilliant copper, or violet blue colour. The weight in some measure proves its quality, for heavy indigo of every colour is always bad. Good indigo almost entirely consumes away in the fire, the bad leaves a quant.i.ty of ashes. In water also pure and fine indigo entirely melts and dissolves, but the heterogeneous and solid parts of the bad sink to the bottom like sand.

From this period it became a staple to Carolina, and proved equally profitable as the mines of Mexico or Peru. To the mother country it was no less beneficial, in excluding the French indigo entirely from her market, and promoting her manufactures, and trade. I shall afterwards take notice of the rapid progress made in the cultivation of this article; particularly with respect to the quant.i.ty produced and yearly shipped to Britain, to supply the markets in Europe.

[Sidenote] Nova Scotia settled.

The great bounty and indulgence of Britain towards her American colonies increased with their progress in cultivation, and favour after favour was extended to them. Filled with the prospect of opening an excellent market for her manufactures, and enlarging her commerce and navigation, in which her strength in a great measure consisted, these colonies were become the chief objects of her care, and new ones were planted for the protection of the old. At this time the peace of Aix la Chapelle left a number of brave sailors and soldiers without employment. Good policy required that they should be rendered useful to the nation, and at the same time furnished with employment for their own subsistence. Acadia, which was ceded to Britain by the treaty of peace, changed its name to Nova Scotia, and was capable of producing every species of naval stores. The sea there abounded with excellent fish, which might furnish employment for a number of sailors, and be made an useful and advantageous branch of trade. But the excellent natural harbours which the country afforded, of all other things proved the greatest inducement for establishing a colony in it, the possession of which would not only promote trade in the time of peace, but also prove a safe station for British fleets in time of war.

Besides, for the sake of commercial advantage, it was judged proper to confine the settlements in America as much as possible to the sea-coast.

The parliament therefore determined to send out a colony to Nova Scotia, and, to forward the settlement, voted forty thousand pounds. The following advantageous terms were held forth to the people by government, and a number of adventurers agreed to accept them. Fifty acres of land were to be allowed to every soldier and sailor, two hundred to every ensign, three hundred to every lieutenant, four hundred and sixty to every captain, and six hundred to all officers of higher rank; together with thirty for every servant they should carry along with them. No quit-rents were to be demanded for the first ten years. They were also to be furnished with instruments for fishing and agriculture, to have their pa.s.sage free, and provisions found them for the first year after their arrival. Three thousand seven hundred and sixty adventurers embarked for America on these favourable terms, and settled at Halifax, which place was fixed on as the seat of government, and fortified. The Acadians, the former inhabitants of the country, were allowed peaceably to remain in it, and having sworn never to bear arms against their countrymen, submitted to the English government, and pa.s.sed under the denomination of French neutrals. The greatest difficulty which the new settlers of Nova Scotia had to surmount at this time arose from the Micmac Indians, who held that territory from nature, and for some time obstinately defended their right to their ancient possessions; and it was not without considerable loss that the British subjects at length, by force of arms, drove them away from those territories.

[Sidenote] The great care of Britain for these colonies.

Nor did this new settlement engross the whole attention and liberality of the parent state; the province of Georgia also every year shared plentifully from the same hands. Indeed the bounty of the mother country was extensive as her dominions, and, like the sun, cherished and invigorated every object on which it shone. All the colonies might have been sensible of her constant attention to their safety and prosperity, and had great reason to acknowledge themselves under the strongest obligations to her goodness. If she expected a future recompense by the channel of commerce, which is for the most part mutually advantageous, it was no more than she had justly merited. The colonists, we allow, carried with them the rights and liberties of the subjects of Britain, and they owed in return the duties of obedience to her laws and subjection to her government. The privileges and duties of subjects in all states have been reciprocal, and as the mother country had incurred great expence for the establishment and support of these foreign settlements; as she had multiplied her burdens for their defence and improvement; surely such protection and kindness laid a foundation for the firmest union, and the most dutiful returns of allegiance and grat.i.tude.

[Sidenote] Low state of Georgia.

However, the province of Georgia, notwithstanding all that Britain had done for its population and improvement, still remained in a poor and languishing condition. Its settlers consisted of two sorts of people; first, of indigent subjects and foreigners, whom the Trustees transported and maintained; secondly, of men of some substance, whom flattering descriptions of the province had induced voluntarily to emigrate to it.

After the peace Oglethorpe's regiment being disbanded, a number of soldiers accepted the encouragement offered them by government, and took up their residence in Georgia. All those adventurers who had brought some substance along with them, having by this time exhausted their small stock in fruitless experiments, were reduced to indigence, so that emigrants from Britain, foreigners, and soldiers, were all on a level in point of poverty. From the impolitic restrictions of the Trustees, these settlers had no prospects during life but those of hardship and poverty, and of consequence, at their decease, of bequeathing a number of orphans to the care of Providence. Nor was the trade of the province in a better situation than its agriculture. The want of credit was an unsurmountable obstacle to its progress in every respect. Formerly the inhabitants in and about Savanna had transmitted to the Trustees a representation of their grievous circ.u.mstances, and obtained from them some partial relief.

But now, chagrined with disappointments, and dispirited by the severities of the climate, they could view the design of the Trustees in no other light than that of having decoyed them into misery. Even though they had been favoured with credit, and had proved successful, which was far from being their case; as the tenure of their freehold was restricted to heirs male, their eldest son could only reap the benefit of their toil, and the rest must depend on his bounty, or be left wholly to the charge of that Being who feeds the fowls of the air. They considered their younger children and daughters as equally ent.i.tled to paternal regard, and could not brook their holding lands under such a tenure, as excluded them from the rights and privileges of other colonists. They saw numbers daily leaving the province through mere necessity, and frankly told the Trustees, that nothing could prevent it from being totally deserted, but the same encouragements with their more fortunate neighbours in Carolina.

[Sidenote: Complaint of the people.]

That the Trustees might have a just view of their condition, the Georgians stated before them their grievances, and renewed their application for redress. They judged that the British const.i.tution, zealous for the rights and liberties of mankind, could not permit subjects who had voluntarily risked their lives, and spent their substance on the public faith, to effect a settlement in the most dangerous frontiers of the British empire, to be deprived of the common privileges of all colonists. They complained that the land-holders in Georgia were prohibited from selling or leasing their possessions; that a tract containing fifty acres of the best lands was too small an allowance for the maintenance of a family, and much more so when they were refused the freedom to chuse it; that a much higher quit-rent was exacted from them than was paid for the best lands in America; that the importation of negroes was prohibited, and white people were utterly unequal to the labours requisite; that the public money granted yearly by parliament, for the relief of settlers and the improvement of the province, was misapplied, and therefore the wise purposes for which it was granted were by no means answered. That these inconveniencies and hardships kept them in a state of poverty and misery, and that the chief cause of all their calamities was the strict adherence of the Trustees to their chimerical and impracticable scheme of settlement, by which the people were refused the obvious means of subsistence, and cut off from all prospects of success.

We have already observed, that the laws and regulations even of the wisest men, founded on principles of speculation, have often proved to be foreign and impracticable. The Trustees had an example of this in the fundamental const.i.tutions of John Locke. Instead of prescribing narrower limits to the industry and ambition of the Georgians, they ought to have learned wisdom from the case of the Proprietors of Carolina, and enlarged their plan with respect to both liberty and property. By such indulgence alone they could encourage emigrations, and animate the inhabitants to diligence and perseverance. The lands in Georgia, especially such as were first occupied, were sandy and barren; the hardships of clearing and cultivating them were great, the climate was unfavourable for labourers, and dangerous to European const.i.tutions. The greater the difficulties were with which the settlers had to struggle, the more encouragement was requisite to surmount them. The plan of settlement ought to have arisen from the nature of the climate, country, and soil, and the circ.u.mstances of the settlers, and been the result of experience and not of speculation.

Hitherto Georgia had not only made small improvement in agriculture and trade, but her government was feeble and contemptible. At this time, by the avarice and ambition of a single family, the whole colony was brought to the very brink of destruction. As the concerns of these settlements are closely connected and interwoven with the affairs of Indian nations, it is impossible to attain proper views of the circ.u.mstances and situation of the people, without frequently taking notice of the relation in which they stood to their savage neighbours. A considerable branch of provincial commerce, as well as the safety of the colonists, depended on their friendship with Indians; and, to avoid all danger from their savage temper, no small share of prudence and courage was often requisite. This will appear more obvious from the following occurrence, which, because it is somewhat remarkable, we shall the more circ.u.mstantially relate.

[Sidenote] Troubles excited by Thomas Bosomworth.

I have already observed, that during the time General Oglethorpe had the direction of public affairs in Georgia, he had, from maxims of policy, treated an Indian woman, called Mary, with particular kindness and generosity. Finding that she had great influence among the Creeks, and understood their language, he made use of her as an interpreter, in order the more easily to form treaties of alliance with them, allowing her for her services an hundred pounds sterling a-year. This woman Thomas Bosomworth, who was chaplain to Oglethorpe's regiment, had married, and among the rest had accepted a track of land from the crown, and settled in the province. Finding that his wife laid claim to some islands on the sea-coast, which, by treaty, had been allotted the Indians as part of their hunting lands; to stock them he had purchased cattle from the planters of Carolina, from whom he obtained credit to a considerable amount. However, this plan not proving so successful as the proud and ambitious clergyman expected, he took to audacious methods of supporting his credit, and acquiring a fortune. His wife pretended to be descended in a maternal line from an Indian king, who held from nature the territories of the Creeks, and Bosomworth now persuaded her to a.s.sert her right to them, as superior not only to that of the Trustees, but also to that of the King. Accordingly Mary immediately a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of an independent empress, disavowing all subjection or allegiance to the King of Great Britain, otherwise than by way of treaty and alliance, such as one independent sovereign might make with another. A meeting of all the Creeks was summoned, to whom Mary made a speech, setting forth the justice of her claim, and the great injury done to her and them by taking possession of their ancient territories, and stirring them up to defend their property by force of arms. The Indians immediately took fire, and to a man declared they would stand by her to the last drop of their blood in defence of their lands. In consequence of which Mary, with a large body of savages at her back, set out for Savanna, to demand a formal surrender of them from the president of the province. A messenger was despatched before hand, to acquaint him that Mary had a.s.sumed her right of sovereignty over the whole territories of the upper and lower Creeks, and to demand that all lands belonging to them be instantly relinquished; for as she was the hereditary and rightful queen of both nations, and could command every man of them to follow her, in case of refusal, she had determined to extirpate the settlement.

The president and council, alarmed at her high pretensions and bold threats, and sensible of her great power and influence with the savages, were not a little embarra.s.sed what steps to take for the public safety.