The Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia. Alexander Hewatt
of servants, after they had cleared the charges they cost them; had negroes been bought from the flames, to which in some countries they were devoted on their falling prisoners of war, and in others sacrificed at the funeral obsequies of the great and powerful among themselves; in short, had they been by this traffic delivered from torture or death, European merchants might have some excuse to plead in its vindication. But, according to the common mode in which it has been conducted, we must confess it a difficult matter to conceive a single argument in its defence. It is contrary to all laws of nature and nations to entice, inveigle and compel such multitudes of human creatures, who never injured us, from their native land, and dispose of them like flocks of sheep and cattle to the highest bidder; and, what compleats the cruelty and injustice of the traffic, to consign them over to ignorance, barbarism, and perpetual slavery. After this, where will insatiable avarice stop? As a free and independent people, they had unquestionably an equal right to make slaves of the inhabitants of Europe. Nature has given the people of the one continent no superiority over those of the other; the advantages of Europeans were the effects only of art and improvement. And though policy has given countenance and sanction to the trade, yet every candid and impartial man must confess, that it is atrocious and unjustifiable in every light in which it can be viewed, and turns merchants into a band of robbers, and trade into atrocious acts of fraud and violence.
A.D. 1584. Virginia settled.
We shall now return to those naval adventurers, whose object was the establishment of colonies in America. About the year 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh, an able statesman and gallant officer, formed a project for planting an English colony in America. His penetrating genius easily discerned the great advantages which would accrue from a successful foreign settlement. He applied to the Queen, and having obtained from her letters-patent, immediately began to carry into execution what his ingenuity had projected. He fitted out two vessels, and gave the command of them to Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow, and sent them to America. They landed at the island Roanock, and took possession of the country in the name of the Queen of England, and Sir Walter called it Virginia, in honour of his virgin Queen. The favourable report made by these two mariners, encouraged Sir Walter to pursue his design with resolution. Great minds are fond of new schemes and grand enterprizes, but it commonly falls to posterity to reap the advantages resulting from them. Sir Richard Grenville, one of Sir Walter's intimate companions, afterwards visited this country, and left one hundred and eight men in it to keep possession of the territory. But they running short of provisions, and having no source of supply, were reduced to great straits. Happily for them, admiral Drake, who had been sent with a fleet to Spanish America in search of treasure, had instructions to touch at Virginia in his return to England. On his arrival he found the infant colony in great distress, and at their request carried them back to England.
Some years afterwards another attempt was made, and fifty men were left to begin a settlement. Whether these suffered death by hunger, or the hands of savages, is uncertain; but, on the arrival of another embarkation, none of the fifty could be found. They observed the word Croatan marked on some trees, from which the conjectured that the colony had moved to a place called by that name, and left this as a mark to conduct their friends to it. But a storm afterwords arising, these adventurers were driven out to sea, and, without finding their unfortunate countrymen, returned to England.
From this period till the year 1606 Virginia was left without an inhabitant, except its original savages. In the mean time, Sir Walter Raleigh, having incurred the displeasure of the king and the jealousy of the court, fell a sacrifice to the malice and power of his enemies. However, some merchants of London and Bristol kept trading to the western world, and bartered beads, knives, hatchets and coarse cloths for the skins and furs which the Indians brought them. The immense profits arising from this commerce encouraged them to enlarge it. For this purpose two companies were incorporated for trading to America and establishing settlements in it, the one was called the Virginia Company, the other the Plymouth Adventurers. King James granted them all the territory which lies between the 34th and 45th degrees of north latitude. The former of these corporations laid the foundation of James-Town in Virginia, which was the first British settlement in America which proved permanent and successful. So after Sir Walter Raleigh had projected and spent forty thousand pounds, in vain attempts to establish a colony in this quarter, this company reaped the first advantages of his enterprising spirit and great design.
Its progress.
However, for many years, finall and inconsiderable was the progress of this distant settlement. Their object was rather Indian trade than cultivation, till Lord Delawar was appointed governor of the colony. After his arrival in Virginia, he turned the attention of the settlers to industry and application. From the rivers which abounded with fish, and the woods with game, he taught them the arts of procuring a plentiful supply of provision. He showed them the profitability of chastising those Indian tribes who presumed to harass the colony, pointed out the methods of defence in the woods, and by his example inspired them with revolution and perseverance. At length, having by his zeal and indefatigable labours brought the colony to a growing and hopeful condition, at the risque of his own health, he appointed his son deputy-governor, and returned to England.
By this time several men of opulence and distinction in England had begun to form the most sanguine hopes with respect to this settlement, and united in a plan for carrying inhabitants to it. Sir Thomas Yates and Sir George Somers embarked with 500 men for Virginia: the latter being driven by a storm within sight of the island called Bermuda, formed a design of settling it. This embarkation proved a great acquisition to the colony in Virginia. On their arrival the colonists began to think themselves strong, and therefore, not content with the lands about James-Town, they forced their way up the large rivers, and made bold excursions into the country, in search of the most convenient and fertile spots of ground. The wisdom of their governor was no less conspicuous in the division of property, than in the distribution of justice. His tenderness and indulgences set the springs of industry in motion, which spread through the settlement, and excited a spirit of emulation with respect to the culture of lands. By degrees little spots were cleared and planted, which rewarded the diligent, and the country began to make some feeble advances towards improvement. In proportion as the colony multiplied, the inhabitants spread themselves through the country, yet abundance of land still remained for additional numbers, with which it might in time be augmented.
Disturbances in England promote foreign settlements.
During the reign of the family of Stuart, a series of weak and oppressive measures, pursued in England, occasioned domestic troubles and discontent to the nation, and contributed greatly to promote American settlements. James the first, surrounded by a crowd of flatterers, began to entertain high ideas of his power and prerogative, to inculcate the extravagant doctrines of divine indefeasible right, passive obedience, and non-resistance, on a people whom he was ill qualified to govern, and who had conceived an irreconcilable aversion from such political principles. The consequence was, he lost by his weakness and pedantry the affections of the nation, yet his reign is memorable for giving rise to many foreign settlements. From him the East-India Company received a new patent, which encouraged the corporation to enlarge their stock, and to fit out a greater number of ships for that trade. In his reign Barbadoes was settled by an association of noblemen, of whom the Earl of Pembroke was the chief. And though it afterwards changed its master, and fell into the hands of the Earl of Carlisle, yet it prospered from its first population, and soon became a rich and flourishing island. St. Christophers may also date its origin from the close of this king's reign. The Plymouth Adventurers, who had carried a colony to New-England, at different times added numbers to it, and, notwithstanding every difficulty, it grew and prospered. Sir William Alexander received a grant of that territory now called Nova Scotia from the same king, but never made and serious attempts towards settling it.
During the succeeding reign several thousands emigrated to the western continent. Both the King and Queen were attached to the Popish religion, which vast multitudes of the nation abhorred. This served to alienate the people's affections not a little from the royal family; but the tyrannical and oppressive regulations established by the rulers of the church, doubled the distress of the people, and served to complete their disaffection to their native country. The Puritans, so called for their taking, or affecting to take, the pure and simple word of God for the rule of their faith and practice,