went first to Port Royal, following the instructions of the proprietaries, but finally turned northward and landed near the mouth of the Kiawha, a river to which the settlers gave the name of Ashley, after their proprietary.' Here was established the settlement of old Charles Town.

For the first year the colony can hardly be said to have prospered. The town was laid out, lands near by were distributed, and some attempt was made to plant corn and potatoes, but early frosts spoiled the crops, and provisions soon became scarce. Through the efforts of Dr. Henry Woodward, who was familiar with the Indian language, friendly relations were entered into with the adjacent tribes, and some help was obtained; but it became necessary to send to Virginia for new supplies and to Barbadoes and New England for horses, cows, and more settlers. The place proved healthful, and of the few that died only one was from England; later, however, fever and ague became frequent complaints.

Political troubles arose early. Sayle was an old man and in bad health and had "much lost himself in his government." " At the beginning, acting under the instructions, he caused five councillors to be elected by the people, but he called no “parliament" because there were not enough freemen to

1 Carteret, Relation, reprinted in Charleston Year-Book, 1883, P. 370; Shaftesbury Papers, 165-168; Mathews, Relation, ibid., 169-171. Shaftesbury Papers, 203, 204.

elect representatives. Trouble having arisen over the observance of Sunday, Sayle called the freemen together and read them a series of orders drawn up by the council on this and one or two other matters. At this point William Owen, "a Magna Charta and Petition of Rights man," told the people that they could have no laws without a parliament, and in some way persuaded them to elect delegates;1 but this body, irregularly chosen and irregularly called, accomplished nothing. After Sayle's death, March 4, 1671, West was elected governor by the colonists, "because they stood in great need of a head at once," but he issued the same orders somewhat revised. Owens declared that they were illegal "because the great seal of the province was not in the colony," and West had some difficulty in quieting the colonists, who feared lest the titles to their lands might be endangered because the great seal of the province remained in England.' 1 Shaftesbury Papers, 291, 292, 300. • Ibid., 294. See Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1681–1685, § 1733.

CHAPTER X

GOVERNMENTAL PROBLEMS IN THE CAROLINAS

(1671-1691)

HE situation at Charles Town was not satis

THE

factory to Ashley, who was in the full flush of his colonial undertaking, and was determined that his plans should not be thwarted. Urged on by the governor and council of Carolina, and by certain merchants of Bermuda, he "got of his Majestie," on November 1, 1670, a grant of the Bahamas for himself and the other remaining proprietaries.' He placed the colony under the government of the Fundamental Constitutions, with Hugh Wentworth as governor, and planned to build up a system of co-operation and trade among the three colonies situated at Albemarle, Charles Town, and New Providence in the Bahamas." later attempt to plant a colony on the Edisto seems to indicate that he meant to include other settlements also in the union. To let the Charles Town settlement die would endanger the entire scheme, so that in the summer of 1670 Ashley ordered

1 Ante, 132, n.

'Shaftesbury Papers, 207. Cf. N. C. Col. Records, I., 228.

A

Sayle to issue a proclamation offering all sorts of inducements to the people of Barbadoes to come to Carolina. Thomas Colleton, son of the late Sir John and brother of the present proprietary, Sir Peter, took the matter in hand and sent from Barbadoes the John and Thomas with forty-two passengers, who reached Charles Town February 16, 1671. Eight days later the Carolina arrived with sixty-four passengers.1

The new settlers were welcomed by the colonists and received homes near the town. The leader of the Barbadians was Captain Godfrey, Sir Peter Colleton's deputy and an experienced soldier and planter. The colony needed men of this type to take places in the council and to build up agricultural life, for the earlier settlers had been chiefly tradesmen by profession. In the same year Ashley sent another ship from England, the Blessing, which arrived May 14, 1671, and he declared that he proposed to continue sending ships until a thousand people were in the colony and the place was established.

The active proprietaries were now only fourAshley (made earl of Shaftesbury April 23, 1672), Craven, Carteret, and Colleton. Seemingly they realized that their Grand Model could not be made immediately practicable, for they had erected a temporary form of government in the commission and instructions issued to Sayle in 1669;2 and now

1 Shaftesbury Papers, 266-268.

2 lbid., 117-119; Rivers, South Carolina, App., 34o, 347.

did the same in a new body of instructions and a set of temporary laws sent over on the Blessing. Again urging settlement in towns as safer and more conducive to trade, they sent over a description of a town organization such as they would like to see established.1

As the settlers increased in number, the government of the colony began to take definite form. After the death of Sayles, West became governor, but Yeamans, arriving from Barbadoes in July, 1671, claimed the office, because under the Fundamental Constitutions only landgraves could be governors, and he was the only person in the colony with such a title. West retained the governorship, however, for seven months longer, and managed the colony successfully. The council, composed of the deputies of the proprietaries and five elected by the people, met regularly and prepared bills for the parliament which began to sit for the first time in August, 1671. Several important measures were passed, one of which, authorizing the payment of the Lords Proprietaries' debts, was received with great approval in England, for profits were as yet unknown to the proprietaries. They must have spent the equivalent of $250,000 to $300,000 upon the colony, and neither at this time nor afterwards received any return for their expenditure. In later

1 Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1669-1674, § 514. Cf. Shaftesbury Papers, 343.

Ibid., 358; McCrady, Hist. of S. C., I., 273, 274.