NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS Of the PEOPLE of South-Carolina, In the YEAR 1719: AND OF The True CAUSES and MOTIVES that induced them to Renounce their Obedience to the LORDS PROPRIETORS, as their Governors, and to put themselves under the immediate Government of the CROWN. MONDRO LONDON, Printed in the YEAR M.DCC.XXVI. To the Right Honourable JOHN Lord CARTERET, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, &c. My LORD, T HE People of South-Carolina are now forced, (by the to set forth the true Cause of their Proceedings in the Year 1719, to put themselves under the Protection and Government of the Crown; for which they do not plead Law, but Necessity. The World, from the Knowledge they have of your Lordship's Humanity, Honour, and Good-Nature, will be induc'd to conclude, You will not insist upon what may be strictly Your Right, where the Lives and Estates of upwards of Seventeen Hundred Families may be endanger'd thereby. I presume also to say, It is equally the Lords Proprietors as the Peoples Interest, that Province should be govern'd by the Crown, who only can protect that Frontier Colony: For if the Inhabitants are ruined and drove off the Country, their Lordships must, in some sort, be Sufferers with them; not to mention the Expence it saves them, of a Salary to a Governor and other Officers of the Government. And tho' I would be thought far from prescribing Rules to their Lordships, I dare venture to say, that under proper Regulations, Their Estates may be better Augmented and Receiv'd under His Majesty's Government, than under their own, and it would be a Reciprocal Advantage, as well to the Province as Themselves. I have been forced, in the following Narration, to lay some Mismanagements to the Lords Proprietors Charge, which I do truly believe, if your Lordship had not been then on your Embassy in Sweden, I should not have had Occasion to mention, for they would not have been: But as Truth, and the necessary Apology of the People who employ me, have constrained me to it, without the least Intention of blemishing any One's Character; so I hope for their Pardon, and more particularly for that of your Lordship, from whom I have receiv'd so many Favours: And I beg leave to assure your Lordship, that I am, with the greatest Respect and Deference, My LORD, Your Lordship's Most Obedient, and Most Humble Servant, F. YONG E. A NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS T Of the PEOPLE of South-Carolina, In the Year 1719. HE Lords Proprietors of Carolina being at this Time soliciting His Majesty for the Restitution of their Government of South-Carolina, from whose Authority the Inhabitants revolted in the Year 1719, and humbly besought His Majesty to take them under his own immediate Government and Protection; I could not help thinking this a proper Juncture to acquaint the World how those People came to take such extraordinary Measures, as those they did, has the Appearance of to them who are not acquainted with the Springs and Motives which agitated and push'd them on to such violent Proceedings. And being furnish'd with proper Materials, the Original Papers, and an Eye-Witness to most that then pas'd in that Province, I can answer for the Truth of the Facts hereafter related and as the Continuance of the Government of that Province under the Crown is of the greatest Consequence, not only to the Province itself, but to all the Settlements in NorthAmerica, to which it is a Frontier; I hope it will not be thought an impertinent Work to acquaint the Publick with an Affair, which altho' so remote, is of so great Importance. |
