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P. FORCE, WASHINGTON, 1837.

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
Lords Proprietors Application to His Majesty for a
Restitution of their Government) by me [their Agent]

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,

D

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,

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F. YONG E.

A

NARRATIVE

OF THE

PROCEEDINGS

T

Of the PEOPLE of

South-Carolina,

In the Year 1719.

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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.

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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.

But before I proceed to Particulars, it will be necessary to give the Reader a short View of the Nature of the Settlement and Government of that Province, and of the Accidents and Contingencies that first gave the people a Dislike to the Lords Proprietors; and which, by degrees, so far irritated them, that they at last resoly'd to be no longer subject to their Government.

This Province was first settled at the Charge and Expence of several Persons of Quality, to whom King Charles II. granted it by Charter, soon after his Restoration; and a Scheme was then by them drawn, for the forming and settling the Legislature, and for encouraging Settlers to go over: It will be sufficient only to mention here, that by their Charter, they had Power given them to call an Assembly of the Freemen of the Province, or their Delegates, and with them, either by themselves or their lawful Deputies, to enact and make Laws, not repugnant to the Laws of England; and it had been usual with them, to appoint a Governor and seven Deputies, called the Council, the first of which (the Governor) represented the Palatine, and the others the rest of the Lords Proprietors, respectively, and were called the Upper House of Assembly: Thus the Laws were pass'd, and the Country govern'd for upwards of Fifty Years; when, after some Years Intercourse and Dealing between the Inhabitants and several Nations of the Indians, with whom they Traded, as they now do for several Thousand Pounds a Year, the said Indians unanimously agreed to destroy the whole Settle ment, by murdering and cutting to pieces all the Inhabitants, on a Day they had agreed on; and altho' some private Intimations were given the People of this their Design, it was totally disbeliev'd; so that on that certain Day, in the Year 1715, they killed all, or most of the Traders that were with them in their Towns; and going among the Plantations murder'd all who could not fly from their cruelty, and burned their Houses. The Occasion of this Conspiracy, which was so universal, that all thè Indians were concerned in it, except a small Clan or two that lived amongst the Settlements, insomuch that they amounted to between Eight and Ten Thousand Men, was attributed to some ill Usage they had receiv'd from the Traders, who are not (generally) Men of the best Morals; and that, no doubt of it, might give some Cause to their Discontents; to which may be added the great Debts they owed the Inhabitants, which it is said. amounted to near 10,0007, Sterling, with the Goods then amongst them; all which they seiz'd and made their own, and never paid their Debts, but cancell'd them, by murdering their Creditors.

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