American History Told by Contemporaries/Volume 2/Chapter 5

CHAPTER V — SOUTHERN COLONIES
33. Andros's and Nicholson's Administrations (1690-1705)

BY ROBERT BEVERLY (1705)

 

Beverly was a Virginian of wealth and high social position. His history of Virginia is of great value, though not impartial. He had a private grudge against Nicholson. —Bibliography: Tyler, American Literature, II, 264-267; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 278-284; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 99. — For previous history of Virginia, see Contemporaries, I, ch. x.

§. 132. ANNO 1690. Francis Nicholson, Esq ; being appointed Lieutenant-Governor under the Lord Effingham, arrived there. This Gentleman discoursed freely of Country Improvements, instituted public Exercises, and gave Prizes to all those, that should excel in the Exercises of Riding, Running, Shooting, Wrestling, and Cudgeling. When the Design of a College was communicated to him, he promised it all imaginable Encouragement. . . .

§. [1]34. Anno 1691, an Assembly being called . . .

The Assembly was so fond of Governor Nicholson at that Time, that they presented him with the Sum of three hundred Pounds, as a Testi mony of their good Disposition towards him. But he having an Instruction to receive no Present from the Country, they drew up an Address to their Majesties, praying that he might have leave to accept it, which was granted, and he gave one half thereof to the College.

§. 137. Their Majesties were well pleased with that pious Design of the Plantation, and granted a Charter, according to the Desire of Mr. Blair, their Agent. . . .

It was a great Satisfaction to the Archbishops and Bishops to see such a Nursery of Religion founded in that new World ; especially for that it was begun in an Episcopal Way, and carried on wholly by zealous Conformists to the Church of England.

§. 138. In this first Assembly, Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson pass'd Acts for Encouragement of the Linen Manufacture, and to promote the Leather Trade, by Tanning, Currying, and Shoe-making. He also in that Session pass'd a Law for Cohabitation, and Improvement of Trade.

Before the next Assembly he tack'd about, and was quite the Reverse of what he was in the first as to Cohabitation. Instead of encouraging Ports and Towns, he spread abroad his dislike of them ; and went among the People, finding Fault with those Things, which he and the Assembly had unanimously agreed upon the preceding Session. Such a violent Change there was in him, that it proceeded from some other Cause, than barely the Inconstancy of his Temper. He had receiv'd Directions from those English Merchants, who well knew that Cohabitation would lessen their consign'd Trade.

§. 139. In February, 1692, Sir Edmund Andros arrived Governor. He began his Government with an Assembly, which overthrew the good Design of Ports and Towns : But the Ground-work of this Proceeding, was laid before Sir Edmund's Arrival. However, this Assembly proceeded no farther, than to suspend the Law, till their Majesties Pleasure should be known. But it seems the Merchants in London were dissatisfied, and made public Complaints against it, which their Majesties were pleased to hear ; and afterwards refer d the Law back to the Assembly again, to consider, if it were suitable to the Circumstances of the Country, and to regulate it accordingly. But the Assembly did not then proceed any farther in it ; the People themselves being infected by the Merchants Letters.

§. 140. At this Session Mr. Neal's Project for a Post-Office, and his Patent of Post-Master-General in those Parts of America, were presented. The Assembly made an Act to promote that Design ; but by reason of the inconvenient Distance of their Habitations, and want of Towns, this Project fell to nothing. . . .

§. 142. Sir Edmund Andros was a great Encourager of Manufactures. In his Time Fulling-Mills were set up by Act of Assembly. He also gave particular Marks of his Favour towards the propagating of Cotton, which since his Time has been much neglected. He was likewise a great Lover of Method, and Dispatch in all Sorts of Business, which made him find Fault with the Management of the Secretaries Office. And, indeed, with very good Reason ; for from the Time of Bacon's Rebellion, till then, there never was any Office in the World more negligently kept. Several Patents of Land were enter'd Blank upon Record ; many original Patents, Records, and Deeds of Land, with other Matters of great Consequence, were thrown loose about the Office, and suffer'd to be dirtied, torn, and eaten by the Moths, and other Insects. But upon this Gentleman's Accession to the Government, he immediately gave Directions, to reform all these Irregularities ; he caused the loose and torn Records of Value to be transcribed into new Books ; and order d Conveniences to be built within the Office, for preserving the Records from being lost and con founded, as before. He prescribed Methods to keep the Papers dry and clean, and to reduce them into such Order, as that any thing might be turn'd to immediately. But all these Conveniences were burnt soon after they were finished, in October, 1698, together with the Office itself, and the whole State-house. But his Diligence was so great in that Affair, that tho' his Stay afterward in the Country was very short ; yet he caused all the Records, and Papers, which had been sav'd from the Fire, to be sorted again, and Register'd in Order, and indeed in much better Order, than ever they had been before. In this Condition he left 'em at his quitting the Government.

He made several Offers to rebuild the State-house in the same Place ; and had his Government continued but six Months longer, 'tis probable he would have effected it after such a Manner, as might have been least burthensome to the People, designing the greatest Part at his own Cost. . . .

§.145. In November, 1698. Francis Nicholson, Esq ; was removed from Maryland, to be Governor of Virginia. But he went not then with that Smoothness on his Brow, he had carry'd with him when he was appointed Lieutenant-Governour. He talk'd then no more of improving of Manufactures, Towns, and Trade. But instead of encouraging the Manufactures, he sent over inhuman Memorials against them, opposite to all Reason. In one of these, he remonstrates, That the Tobacco of that Country often bears so low a Price, that it would not yield Cloaths to the People that make it; and yet presently after, in the same Memorial, he recommends it to the Parliament, to pass an Act, forbidding the Plantations to make their own Cloathing; which, in other Words, is desiring a charitable Law, that the Planters shall go naked. In a late Memorial concerted between him and his Creature Col. Quarrey, 'tis most humbly proposed, That all the English Colonies on the Continent of North America, be reduced under one Government, and under one Vice-Roy ; and that a standing Army be there kept on foot, to subdue the Queen's Enemies ; surmising that they were intending to set up for themselves. . . .

§. 146. Soon after his Accession to the Government, he procured the Assembly, and Courts of Judicature, to be remov'd from James; Town, where there were good Accommodations for People, to Middle Plantation, where there were none. There he flatter'd himself with the fond Imagination, of being the Founder of a new City. He mark'd out the Streets in many Places, so as that they might represent the Figure of a W, in Memory of his late Majesty King William, after whose Name the Town was call'd Williamsburgh. There he procur'd a stately Fabrick to be erected, which he placed opposite to the College, and graced it with the magnificent Name of the Capitol.

§. 147. In the 2^d Year of this Gentleman's Government; there happen'd an Adventure very fortunate for him, which gave him much credit ; and that was the taking of a Pyrate within the Capes of that Country. . . .

§. 148. This. Governor likewise gain'd some Reputation by another Instance of his Management, whereby he let the World know, the violent Passion he had to publish his own Fame.

To get Honour in New -York, he had zealously recommended to the Court of England, the necessity that Virginia shou'd contribute a certain Quota of Men, or else a Sum of Money, towards the building, and maintaining a Fort at New -York. The Reason he gave for this, was, because New - York was their Barrier, and as such it was but Justice, they shou'd help to defend it. This was by Order of his late Majesty King William proposed to the Assembly : But upon the most solid Reasons, they humbly remonstrated, That neither the Forts then in being, nor any other that might be built in the Province of New- York, cou'd in the least avail to the Defence and Security of Virginia ; for that either the French, or the Northern Indians might invade that Colony, and not come within an hundred Miles of any such Fort. . . .

§. 149. Neither was he contented to spread abroad this Untruth there ; but he also foisted it into a Memorial of Col. Quarry's to the Council of Trade. . . .

Certainly his Excellency, and Col. Quarry, by whose joint Wisdom and Sincerity this Memorial was composed, must believe that the Council of Trade have very imperfect Intelligence, how Matters pass in that Part of the World, or else they would not presume to impose such a Banter upon them.

But this is nothing, if compar'd to some other Passages of that unjust Representation, wherein they took upon them to describe the People of Virginia, to be both numerous and rich, of Republican Notions and Principles, such as ought to be corrected, and lowered in time ; and that then, or never was the Time to maintain the Queen's Prerogative, and put a stop to those wrong pernicious Notions, which were improving daily, not only in Virginia, but in all her Majesty s other Governments. A Frown now from her Majesty, will do more than an Army hereafter, &c.

With those inhuman false Imputations, did those Gentlemen afterwards introduce the Necessity of a standing Army.

§. 150. Thus did this Gentleman continue to rule till August 1705. . . .

[Robert Beverly], The History of Virginia (London, 1722), 87-97 passim.

 

34. Report of an Investigating Agent in Carolina (1699)

BY EDWARD RANDOLPH

 

Randolph was sent over by the king as a special agent to investigate the manner in which the colonies carried out the British laws. —Bibliography : Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, ch. v; Channing and Hart, Guide, §102 ; Contemporaries, I, No. 133. —For previous history of the Carolinas, see Contemporaries, I, ch. xii.

 

AFTER a dangerous voyage at Sea, I landed at Charles Town, in the Province of So. Carolina, & soon after my arrival, I administered the Oath to M^r. Jos. Blake, one of the Proprietors & Governor of this Province. But he is not allowed of by his Ma^tys. Order in Council to be Gov^r., the Act of Parl^t. for preventing frauds being not taken notice of by the Proprietors.

There are but few settled Inhabitants in this Province, the Lords have taken up vast tracts of lands for their own use, as in Colleton County & other places, where the land is most commodious for settlement, which prevents peopling the place, & makes them less capable to preserve themselves. As to their civil Govern^t., 'tis different from what I have met with in the other Proprieties. Their Militia is not above 1500 Soldiers White men, but have thro the Province generally 4 Negroes to 1 White man, & not above 1100 families, English & French.

Their Chief Town is Charles Town, and the seat of Gov^t. in this Province, where the Governor, Council & Triennial Parliam . set, & their Courts are holden, being above a league distance from the entrance to their harbour mouth, w^eh. is barred, & not above 17 foot water at the highest tide, but very difficult to come in. The Harbour is called by the Spaniards, St. George ; it lyes 75 leagues to the Northward of St. Augustine, belonging to the Spaniards. It is generally laid down in our English maps to be 2 deg., 45 min., within the southern bounds of this Province. In the year 1686, one hundred Spaniards, w^th Negroes & Indians, landed at Edistoe, (50 miles to the southward of Charles Town,) & broak open the house of M^r. Joseph Moreton, then Governor of the Province, & carried away M^r. Bowell, his Brother-in.law, prisoner, who was found murdered 2 or 3 days after ; they carried away all his money & plate, & 13 slaves, to the value of ₤1500 sterling, & their plunder to St. Augustine. Two of the Slaves made their escape from thence, & returned to their master. Some time after, Gov^r. Moreton sent to demand his slaves, but the Gov^r. of St. Augustine answered it was done without his orders, but to this day keeps them, & says he can't deliver them up w^thout an ord^r. from the King of Spain. About the same time they robbed Mr. Grimball's House, the Sec. of the Province, whilst he attended the Council at Charles Town, & carried away to the value of above ₤1500 sterl^g. They also fell upon a settlement of Scotch men at Port Royal, where there was not above 25 men in health to oppose them. The Spaniards burnt down their houses, destroyed & carried away all that they had, because (as the Span^ds. pretended) they were settled upon their land, and had they at any time a superior force, they would also destroy this Town built upon Ashley & Cooper Rivers. This whole Bay was called formerly St. George's, which they likewise lay claim to. The Inhabitants complained of the wrong done them by the Spaniards to the Lords Proprietors, & humbly prayed them (as I have been truly informed) to represent it to His Ma^ty., but they not hearing from the Lord Prop^rs., fitted out two vessels with 400 stout men, well armed, & resolved to take St. Augustine. But Jas. Colleton came in that time from Barbadoes with a Commission to be Gov^r., & threatn'd to hang them if they proceeded, whereupon they went on shore very unwillingly. The Spaniards hearing the English were coming upon them for the damages, they left their Town & Castle, & fled into the woods to secure themselves. The truth is, as I have been credibly informed, there was a design on foot to carry on a Trade with the Spaniards.

I find the Inhabitants greatly alarmed upon the news that the French continue their resolution to make a settling at Messasipi River, from [whence] they may come over land to the head of Ashley River w^thout opposition, 'tis not yet known what care the Lord s Prop^rs intend to takefor their preservation. Some ingenious gentleman of this Province (not of the Council) have lately told me the Deputies have talked of mak^g an Address to the Lords Prop^rs for relief, But 'tis apparent that all the time of this French War they never sent them one barrel of powder or a pound of lead to help them. They conclude they have no reason to depend upon them for assistance, & are resolved to forsake this Country betimes, if they find the French are settled at Meschasipi, or if upon the death of the King of Spain these Countries fall into the hands of the French, as inevitably they will (if not timely prevented), and return with their families to England or some other place where they may find safety & protection. It was one of the first questions asked me by several of the Chief men at my arrival, whether His Ma^ty. had not sent over some soldiers to preserve them from the French, saying they might all live in this plentiful Country if His Ma^ty. will please to allow them half pay for 2 or 3 years at furthest, that afterwards they will maintain themselves & families (if they have any) in making Pitch and Tar & planting of Indian Corn, His Majesty will thereby have so many men seasoned to the Country ready for service upon all occasions, five such men will do more service by sea or land than 20 new rais'd men from home, they may be brought hither in the Virginia outward bound Ships, 100 or 150 men in a year, till they are made up 1000, it will save the charge of transporting so many another time 2 or 3000 leagues at sea. I heard one of the Council (a great Indian Trader, & has been 600 miles up in the Country west from Charles Town) discourse that the only way to discover the Meschasipi is from this Province by land. He is willing to undertake it if His Ma^ty. will please to pay the charge w^ch will not be above ₤400 or ₤500 at most ; he intends to take with him 50 white men of this Province and 100 Indians, who live 2 days journey east from the Meschasipi, and questions not but in 5 or 6 months time after he has His Ma^ty's commands & instructions to find out y^e mouth of it and the true latitude thereof.

The great improvement made in this Province is wholly owing to the industry & labour of the Inhabitants. They have applied themselves to make such commodities as might increase the revenue of the Crown, as Cotton, Wool, Ginger, Indigo, &^c. But finding them not to answer the end they are set upon making Pitch, Tar & Turpentine, and planting rice, & can send over great quantityes yearly, if they had encouragement from England to make it, having about 50,000 Slaves to be employed in that service, upon occasion, but they have lost most of their vessels, which were but small, last war by the French, & some lately by the Spaniards, so that they are not able to send those Commodities to England for a market, neither are sailors here to be had to man their vessels.

I humbly propose that if His Ma^ty. will for a time suspend the Duties upon Commodities, and that upon rice also, it will encourage the Planter to fall vigilantly upon making Pitch & Tar, &^.c ., w^ch the Lords Prop^rs. ought to make their principal care to obtain from His Ma^ty. being the only way to draw people to settle in their Province, a place of greatest encouragement to y^e English Navy in these parts of y^e world. Charles Town Bay is the safest port for all Vessels coming thro the gulf of Florida in distress, bound from the West Indies to the Northern Plantations ; if they miss this place they may perish at sea for want of relief, and having beat upon the coast of New England, New York, or Virginia by a North West Wind in the Winter, be forced to go to Barbadoes if they miss this Bay, where no wind will damage them and all things to be had necessary to refitt them. My Lords, I did formerly present Your Lordships with proposals for supplying England with Pitch & Tar, Masts & all o^r Naval Stores from New England. I observed when I were at York in Sept^r. last, abundance of Tar bro^t. down Hudson's River to be sold at New York, as also Turpentine & Tar in great quantities from the Colony of Connecticut, I was told if they had encouragement they could load several Ships yearly for England. But since my arrival here I find I am come into the only place for such commodities upon the Continent of America ; some persons have offered to deliver in Charlestown Bay upon their own account 1000 Barrels of Pitch and as much Tar, others greater quantities provided they were paid for it in Charles Town in Lyon Dollars passing here at 5⁸. p^r. piece, Tar at 8⁸. p^r. Barrel, and very good Pitch at 12⁸. p^r. Barrel, & much cheaper if it once became a Trade. The season for making those Commodities in this Province being 6 mo⁸. longer than in Virginia and more Northern Plantations ; a planter can make more tar in any one year here with 50 slaves than they can do with double the number in those places, their slaves here living at very easy rates and with few clothes.

The inclosed I received from M. Girard, a French Protestant living in Carolina. I find them very industrious & good husbands, but are discouraged because some of them having been many years Inhabitants in this Province, are denied the benefit of being Owners & Masters of Vessels, which other the Subjects of His Majesty's Plantations enjoy, besides many of them are made Denizens. If this Place were duly encouraged, it would be the most useful to the Crown of all the Plantations upon the continent of America. I herewith enclose to Your Lordships a Draft of the Town and Castle of St. Augustine, with a short description of it by a Gentleman who has been often there. It s done exactly true, more for service than for show. The Spaniards now, the French, if ever they get it, will prove dangerous neighbours to this Province, a thing not considered nor provided against by the Lords Proprietors. I am going from hence to Bermuda, with His Ma ty . Commissioners, to administer the Oath to the Gov^r. of that Island, with a Commission for the Judge and other Officers of the Court of Admiralty erected there, from whence I believe it necessary to hasten to the Bahamas Islands, where a Brigantine belonging to New England was carried in as a wreck. The Master & Sailors being pursued by some persons who had commission from Gov^r. Webb, believing they were chased by Spaniards, forsook their Vessel & went on shore among the Natives to save their lives.

All which is humbly submitted by

Your Lordship's

Most humble Servant,

Ed. Randolph.

The want of a small Vessel to support the loss of the Frigate, which was appointed by the Lords Commiss^rs. of the Admiralty to transplant me from one Plantation to another, makes me stay a great while at one place for a passage to another, which is uncertain, difficult & dangerous.

I have by the extreme of cold last Winter in Maryland and Pennsylvania, & by my tedious passage in the Winter time from New York to this place, got a great numbness in my right leg & foot. I am in hopes this warm climate will restore me to my health. I have formerly wrote to your Board & the Commiss^rs. of H. M. Customs, the necessity of having a Vessel to transport me from one Plantation to another.

I humbly pray Your Lordships favour to direct that the little residence I am to make in these parts of the World, may be in this Province, & that a Vessel well manned may be sent me hither, which may answer all occasion, my intentions being not to lye idle, for when the Hurricane times come in these parts of the World, I can go securely to Virginia, Maryland & Pensylvania & New England, without fear of being driven from those Plantations by North West Winds, & when they come I can pass from one Plantation to another without difficulty

[William James Rivers], A Sketch of the History of South Carolina (Charleston. 1856), 443-447.

35. A South Carolina Settlement (1742) 

BY ELIZA LUCAS

 

Eliza Lucas was an English girl, upon whom was thrown the burden of carrying on a large estate in South Carolina. She later became the wife of Charles Pinckney, chief justice of South Carolina. — Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 335-356; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 102. — For previous Carolina history, see Contemporaries, I, ch. xii.

May 22^d. 1742.

 

I AM now set down my dear Brother to obey your Commands and give you a short description of the part of the World I now inhabit — S^o Carolina then is an Extensive Country near the Sea. Most of the settled part of it is upon a flatt. the Soil near Charles Town sandy but further distant, clay and swamp lands. It abounds with fine navigable rivers and great quan[ti]ties of fine timber — The Country at a great distance that is to say about a hundred and fifty mile from C^rs Town very hilly The soil in general very fertile and there are few European or American fruits or grain but what grow here the Country abounds with wild fowl Venison and fish Beef Veal and Mutton are here in much greater perfection than in the Islands tho' not equal to that of England — Fruit extreamly good and in profusion, and the oranges exceed any I ever tasted in the West Indies or from Spain or Portugal. The people in general hospitable and honest and the better sort add to these a polite gentile behaviour. The poorer sort are the most indolent people in the world, or they would never be wretched in so plentiful a country as this. The winters here are fine and pleasant but 4 months in the year are extreamly disagreeable excessive hott much thunder and lightening and musketoes and sand flies in abundance C^rs Town the Metropolis, is a neat pretty place the inhabitants polite and live a very gentile manner the streets and houses regularly built, the ladies and gentlemen gay in their dress, upon the whole you will find as many agreeable people of both sexes for the size of the place as almost any where S^t Phillip's Church in C^rs. Town is a very Elegant one and much frequented, there are sever! more places of publick Worship in the town and the generality of people of a religious turn of mind.

I began in haste and have observed no method or I should have told you before I came to Summer, that we have a most charming Spring in this Country especially for those who travel through the Country for the Scent of the young Myrtle and yellow Jessamine with which the woods abound is delightful. The staple commodity here is rice and the only thing they export to Europe. Beef, Pork and Lumber they send to the West Indies. . . .

 

Sept ^r 8^th. (1742.)

Wrote to Miss Mary Fayweather in Boston. The same time wrote my Father a full and long acc^<t. of 5 thousand Spainyards landing at S^t Symons. We were greatly alarmed in Carolina ; 80 prisoners now in C^rs. Town, they had a large fleet, but were scattered by bad weather. Our little fleet from Carolina, commanded by Cap Hardy could not get to y^e Gen^ls. assistance, the Enemy were sailed to S^t Marks. 'Tis said Capt. Hardy instead of cruising off S^t Augustine barr where it was probable he would find them returned with all the men to C^rs. Town, w^ch. has greatly disgusted the Gov^r and Council as well as the rest of the Inhabitance. There is sent now 3 Men of Warr and 4 provincial vessels under the command of Capt. Frankland. Sent my father his kettle Drums, informed him of M^r. Smith seling the rum he sent us, and giving away the preserved sorrel, tho he assured us it was by mistake put on board a vessel going to Barbadoes and carried there. Sad wretch. Sent for Cowcumber seed— Polly gone to school at M^rs. Hicks s at 140 pound per annum.

Eliza Lucas, Journal and Letters (edited by Mrs. H. P. Holbrook, Wormsloe, 1850), 17-20 passim.

 

36. Routine in Maryland (1754)
BY GOVERNOR HORATIO SHARPE

 

Sharpe was governor of Maryland from 1753 to 1768; his efficiency is well shown by the extract below. — Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, III, 553-562, V, 270-272; J. T. Scharf, Maryland, I, 442ff.; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 101. — For earlier Maryland history, see Contemporaries, I, ch. xi.

 

IN obedience to your Ldps Instructions I have transmitted Copies of all the Laws made at a Session of Assembly begun & held at Annapolis in this Province the 2^d of Oct^r 1753 & have fulfilled your Lordsp's pleasure by inclosing therewith a few Observations for the more easy reference to any thing new or of an extraordinary nature by any of them enacted. Such a Bill as your Lordship was pleased to recommend in your Instructions for the Naturalization of German Protestants importing themselves into this Province was brought into the Lower House of Assembly in the Oct^r Session but did not pass through, however these people suffer no great Inconveniences from the want of such a Law, as there is an Act of Parliament in force in England naturalizing all such Foreigners after a few years Residence in any of His Majesty's Plantations. Advising with your Lordship's Agent & Judge of the Land Office about having parcells of Land surveyed in the several Counties & erected into Mannours I was informed that there is not remaining a Tract of Land (unless one in the Lower part of the Eastern Shore that I have a prospect of Discovering & the Barrens) extensive enough to answer that purpose in any part of the province, except in Frederick County near the Frontiers, & there are two mannours surveyed & reserved in that County already ; if I should by any enquiries get knowledge of Vacancy which will answer that End, or Land contiguous fit to be added to the Mannours already laid out & erected, I will punctually obey your Lordships Instructions. Your Ldp's Expectations of having what Land remains vacant in the more populous parts of the Country sold off at more advanced prices, cannot I am afraid, be answered as much as I wish ; The Method always followed here of locating Land Warrants by selecting the most rich & fertil Land without regard ing any regularity of its Area, or making one of its Courses coincide with the Boundary of the adjacent prior patented Tract, has left the Land hitherto remaining Vacant & uncultivated, in such irregular small & incommodious parcells that it is thought scarcely worth any ones While but those on whose possessions it joins, to take it up even at the common Rate. I observed in a Letter to your Ldp's Secretary soon after my Arrival that in some of the Counties there is supposed to be a considerable number of Acres, for which your Ldp receives no Rent. . . .

I have herewith sent for your Ldp's information & satisfaction an exact State of the worth of the respective Ecclesiastical Benefices in the province at this time ; your Ldp will see that the Divisions already made have reduced most of them to a very moderate Value. The misinformation that had been given me made me represent untruly the Income of some of those that are now vacant, which Error your Ldp will be hereby enabled to rectify. . . . Your Ldp's distinguishing marks of Favour to M^r Bacon & M^r Malcolm were delivered them the same Day who expressed a dutiful sense of & thankfulness for the honour your Ldp had been pleased to confer on them which they intend to do themselves the honour of acknowledging by Letter to your Ldp.

The Trustees of the Charity School about to be established in Talbot County gratefully accept your Ldps proposals & are preparing a thankfull Address for the most kind Testimony of your Ldp s Approbation. . . .

I am sorry at being unable to put the Scheme your Ldp : was pleased to intimate for compleating the Governour's House in execution ; for want of being covered the House is now reduced to so bad a State (the Timber work being mostly wasted & demolished) that less than ₤300 or ₤400. will not put it in the Condition it was left in by the workmen, & I apprehend to perfect it would require as many Thousand, so large a sum it is impracticable to raise by Lottery in these parts where it is with the greatest Difficulty that ₤100 or ₤200 can be raised by that method for executing any work of the most general Utility. . . .

I met the Assembly the 25^th of March upon the Business that was mentioned in my Letter dated the io th of Feb^y the Contents of which I hope e'er this your Ldp is acquainted with, but neither my utmost Efforts or the Example of the Virginians who had just then granted the Sum of ₤10,000 for that purpose could induce them to make the least Provision for the Encouragement of the Ohio Expedition. . . . I have taken an Opportunity since my arrival of visiting Baltimore which indeed has the Appearance of the most increasing Town in the Province, tho it scarcely answered the Opinion I had conceived of it : hardly as yet rivaling Annapolis in number of Buildings or Inhabitants ; its Situation as to Pleasantness Air & Prospect is inferior to that of Annapolis, but if one considers it with respect to Trade, The extensive Country beyond it leaves no room for Comparison ; were a Few Gentⁿ of fortune to settle there & encourage the Trade it might soon become a flourishing place but while few beside the Germans (who are in general Masters of small Fortunes) build & inhabit there I apprehend it cannot make any considerable Figure. . . .

Correspondence of Governor Horatio Sharpe (Maryland Archives, VI, Baltimore, 1888), I, 52-57 passim.

37. The Parson's Opinion of "the Parson's Cause"
(1763)
BY REVEREND JAMES MAURY
(TRANSLATED BY ANN MAURY, 1853)

 

This celebrated case illustrates the relation of church and state in the colonies, and is also the beginning of the public career of Patrick Henry. Maury was an estimable minister of Huguenot ancestry.—Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI, 24; Maury, Memoirs of a Huguenot Family; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 134.

December 12th, 1763.

 

DEAR SIR:—Now that I am somewhat more at leisure, than when I wrote to you by Major Winston, from Hanover, some few days ago, I have sat down to give you the best account I can of the most material passages in the trial of my cause against the Collectors in that Court, both to satisfy your own curiosity, and to enable the lawyer, by whom it is to be managed in the General Court, to form some judgment of its merits. I believe, sir, you were advised from Nov^r Court, that the Bench had adjudged the twopenny act to be no law ; and that, at the next, a jury, on a writ of inquiry, were to examine whether the Plaintiff had sustained any damages, and what. Accordingly, at December Court, a select jury was ordered to be summoned; but, how far they who gave the order, wished or intended it to be regarded, you may judge from the sequel. The Sheriff went into a public room, full of gentlemen, and told his errand. One excused himself (Peter Robinson of King William) as having already given his opinion in a similar case. On this, as a person then present told me, he immediately left the room, without summoning any one person there. He afterwards met another gentleman (Richard Sq. Taylor) on the green, and, on his saying he was not fit to serve, being a churchwarden, he took upon himself to excuse him, too, and, as far as I can learn, made no further attempts to summon gentlemen. These, you'll say, were but feeble endeavors to comply with the directions of the Court in that particular. Hence, he went among the vulgar herd. After he had selected and set down upon his list about eight or ten of these, I met him with it in his hand, and on looking over it, observed to him that they were not such jurors as the Court had directed him to get, being people of whom I had never heard before, except one, whom, I told him, he knew to be a party in the cause, as one of the Collector's Securities, and, therefore, not fit for a juror on that occasion. Yet this man's name was not erased. He was even called in Court, and, had he not excused himself, would probably have been admitted. For, I cannot recollect, that the Court expressed either surprise or dislike that a more proper jury had not been summoned. Nay, though I objected against them, yet, as Patrick Henry (one of the Defendant's lawyers) insisted they were honest men, and, therefore, unexceptionable, they were immediately called to the book and sworn. Three of them, as I was afterwards told, nay, some said four, were Dissenters of that denomination called New Lights, which the Sheriff, as they were all his acquaintance, must have known. Messrs. Gist and McDowall, the two most considerable purchasers in that county, were now called in to prove the price of tobacco, and sworn. The testimony of the former imported, that, during the months of May and June, 1759, tobacco had currently sold at 50s. per hundred, and that himself, at or about the latter end of the last of those months, had sold some hundreds of hhds. at that price, and, amongst the rest, one hundred to be delivered in the month of August, which, however, were not delivered till September. That of the latter only proved, "That 50s. was the current price of tobacco that season." This was the sum of the evidence for the Plaintiff. Against him, was produced a receipt to the Collector, to the best of my remembrance in these words: "Received of Thomas Johnson, Jun'r, at this and some former payments, ₤144, current money, by James Maury." After the lawyers on both sides had displayed the force and weight of the evidence, pro and con. to their Honors, the jurors, and one of those who appeared for the Defendants had observed to them that they must find (or if they must find, I am not sure which, but think the former) for the Plaintiff, but need not find more than one farthing; they went out, and, according to instruction (though whether according to evidence or not, I leave you to judge), in less than five minutes brought in a verdict for the Plaintiff, one penny damages. Mr. Lyons urged, as the verdict was contrary to evidence, the jury ought to be sent out again. But no notice was taken of it, and the verdict admitted without hesitation by the Bench. He then moved to have the evidence of Messrs. Gist and McDowell recorded, with as little effect. His next motion, which was for a new trial, shared the same fate. He then moved it might be admitted to record, "that he had made a motion for a new trial, because he considered the verdict contrary to evidence, and that the motion had been rejected;" which, after much altercation, was agreed to. He lastly moved for an appeal, which, too, was granted. This, sir, as well as I can remember, is a just and impartial narrative of the most material occurrences in the trial of that cause. One occurrence more, tho not essential to the cause, I can't help mentioning, as a striking instance of the loyalty, impartiality and attachment of the Bench to the Church of England in particular, and to religion at large. Mr. Henry, mentioned above (who had been called in by the Defendants, as we suspected, to do what I some time ago told you of), after Mr. Lyons had opened the cause, rose and harangued the jury for near an hour. This harangue turned upon points as much out of his own depth, and that of the jury, as they were foreign from the purpose; which it would be impertinent to mention here. However, after he had discussed those points, he labored to prove "that the act of 1758 had every characteristic of a good law; that it was a law of general utility, and could not, consistently with what he called the original compact between King and people, stipulating protection on the one hand and obedience on the other be annulled." Hence, he inferred, "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant, and forfeits all right to his subjects obedience." He further urged, "that the only use of an Established Church and Clergy in society, is to enforce obedience to civil sanctions, and the observance of those which are called duties of imperfect obligation; that, when a Clergy ceases to answer these ends, the community have no further need of their ministry, and may justly strip them of their appointments; that the Clergy of Virginia, in this particular instance of their refusing to acquiesce in the law in question, had been so far from answering, that they had most notoriously counteracted, those great ends of their institution; that, therefore, instead of useful members of the state, they ought to be considered as enemies of the community; and that, in the case now before them, Mr. Maury, instead of countenance, and protection and damages, very justly deserved to be punished with signal severity." And then he perorates to the following purpose, "that excepting they (the jury) were disposed to rivet the chains of bondage on their own necks, he hoped they would not let slip the opportunity which now offered, of making such an example of him as might, hereafter, be a warning to himself and his brethren, not to have the temerity, for the future, to dispute the validity of such laws, authenticated by the only authority, which, in his conception, could give force to laws for the government of this Colony, the authority of a legal representative of a Council, and of a kind and benevolent and patriot Governor." You'll observe I do not pretend to remember his words, but take this to have been the sum and substance of this part of his labored oration. When he came to that part of it where he undertook to assert, "that a King, by annulling or disallowing acts of so salutary a nature, from being the Father of his people degenerated into a Tyrant, and forfeits all right to his subjects obedience;" the more sober part of the audience were struck with horror. Mr. Lyons called out aloud, and with an honest warmth, to the Bench, "That the gentleman had spoken treason," and expressed his astonishment "that their worships could hear it without emotion, or any mark of dissatisfaction." At the same instant, too, amongst some gentlemen in the crowd behind me, was a confused murmur of Treason, Treason! Yet Mr. Henry went on in the same treasonable and licentious strain, without interruption from the Bench, nay, even without receiving the least exterior notice of their disapprobation. One of the jury, too, was so highly pleased with these doctrines, that, as I was afterwards told, he every now and then gave the traitorous declaimer a nod of approbation. After the Court was adjourned, he apologised to me for what he had said, alleging that his sole view in engaging in the cause, and in saying what he had, was to render himself popular. You see, then, it is so clear a point in this person s opinion, that the ready road to popularity here, is, to trample under foot the interests of religion, the rights of the church, and the prerogative of the Crown. If this be not pleading for the "assumption of a power to bind the King s hands," if it be not asserting "such supremacy in provincial Legislatures" as is inconsistent with the dignity of the Church of England, and manifestly tends to draw the people of these plantations from their allegiance to the King, tell me, my dear sir, what is so, if you can. Mr. Cootes, merchant on James River, after Court, said " he would have given a considerable sum out of his own pocket, rather than his friend Patrick should have been guilty of a crime, but little, if any thing inferior to that which brought Simon Lord Lovatt to the block; " and justly observed that he exceeded the most seditious and inflammatory harangues of the Tribunes of old Rome. My warmest wishes and prayers ever attend you. And besides these there is little else in the power of, my dear Camm,

Your affectionate

J. Maury.

Ann Maury, Memoirs of a Huguenot Family (New York, 1872), 418-424.

38. The Running of Mason and Dixon's Line (1763-1767)

BY THE COMMISSIONERS OF MARYLAND AND PENNSYLVANIA

 

The commissioners were fourteen in number. The piece is significant as showing the settlement of one of the many boundary controversies, and also as the record of a line which later divided free from slave states. —Bibliography : Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, III, 513, V, 273; Channing and Hart, Guide, §107.

 

1st.WE have completely run out, settled, fixed and determined a straight line, beginning at the exact middle of the due east and west line mentioned in the articles of the fourth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and sixty, to have been run by other commissioners, formerly appointed by the said Charles, Lord Baltimore, and the said Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, across the peninsula, from Cape Henlopen to Chesapeake Bay, the exact middle of which said east and west line is at the distance of thirty-four miles and three hundred and nine perches from the verge of the main ocean, the eastern end or beginning of the said due east and west line ; and that we have extended the said straight line eighty-one miles seventy-eight chains and thirty links up the peninsula, until it touched and made a tangent to the western part of the periphery of a circle drawn at the horizontal distance of twelve English statute miles from the centre of the town of New Castle, and have marked, described and perpetuated the said straight or tangent line, by setting up and erecting one remarkable stone at the place of beginning thereof, in the exact middle of the aforesaid due east and west line, according to the angle made by the said due west line, and by the said tangent line ; which stone, on the inward sides of the same, facing towards the east and towards the north, hath the arms of the said Thomas Penn and Richard Penn graved thereon, and on the outward sides of the same facing towards the west and towards the south, hath the arms of the said Frederick Lord Baltimore graved thereon ; and have also erected and set up in the said straight or tangent line, from the said place of beginning to the tangent point, remarkable stones at the end of every mile, each stone at the distance or end of every five miles, being particularly distinguished by having the arms of the said Frederick Lord Baltimore graved on the side thereof turning towards the west, and the arms of the said Thomas Penn and Richard Penn graved on the side thereof turning towards the east, and all the other intermediate stones are marked with the letter P on the sides facing towards the east, and with the letter M on the sides facing towards the west, and have fixed in the tangent point a stone with the arms of the said Frederick Lord Baltimore graved on the side facing towards the west, and with the arms of the said Thomas Penn and Richard Penn graved on the side facing towards the east.

2d. That from the end of the said straight line or tangent point, we have run out, settled, fixed and determined, a due north line of the length of five miles one chain and fifty links, to a parallel of latitude fifteen miles due south of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia, which said due north line intersected the said circle drawn at the distance of twelve English statute miles from the centre of the town of New Castle, one mile thirty-six chains and five links from the said tangent point, and that in order to mark and perpetuate the said due north line, we have erected and set up one unmarked stone at the point where the said line intersects the said circle, three other stones at a mile distance from each other graved with the letter P on the sides facing the east, and the letter M on the sides facing the west, between the said place of intersection of the said circle and the said parallel of latitude, and a third stone at the point of intersection of the said north line and parallel of latitude, which last stone on the sides facing towards the north and east, hath the arms of the said Thomas Penn and Richard Penn graved thereon, and on the sides facing towards the south and west hath the arms of the said Frederick Lord Baltimore graved thereon.

3d. That we have run out, settled, fixed and determined such part of the said circle as lies westward of the said due north line, and have marked and perpetuated the same, by setting up and erecting four stones in the periphery thereof, one of which, at the meridian distance of one mile from the tangent point, is marked with the letter P on the east and the letter M on the west sides thereof.

4th. That we have run out, settled, fixed and determined a due east and west line, beginning at the northern point or end of the said due north line, being the place of intersection of the said north line, with the parallel of latitude, at the distance of fifteen English statute miles due south of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia, and have extended the said line, two hundred and eighty miles, eighteen chains and twenty-one links due west from the place of beginning ; and two hundred and forty-four miles, thirty-eight chains and thirty-six links due west from the river Delaware ; and should have continued the same to the end of five degrees of longitude, the western bounds of the Province of Pennsylvania, but the Indians would not permit us. And that we have marked, described, and perpetuated the said west line, by setting up and erecting therein stones at the end of every mile, from the place of beginning to the distance of one hundred and thirty-two miles, near the foot of a hill, called and known by the name of Sideling hill; every five mile stone having on the side facing the north, the arms of the said Thomas Penn and Richard Penn graved thereon, and on the side facing the south, the arms of Frederick Lord Baltimore graved thereon, and the other intermediate stones are graved with the letter P on the north side, and the letter M on the south side ; and that the country to the westward of Sideling hill, being so very mountainous as to render it in most places extremely difficult and expensive, and in some impracticable, to convey stones or boundaries which had been prepared and marked as aforesaid, to their proper stations, we have marked and described the said line from Sideling hill to the top of the Alleghany Ridge, which divides the waters running into the rivers Potowmack and Ohio, by raising and erecting thereon, on the tops of ridges and mountains over which the said line passed, heaps or piles of stones or earth, from about three and a half to four yards in diameter, at bottom, and from six to seven feet in height, and that from the top of the said Alleghany Ridge westward, as far as we have continued the said line, we have set up posts at the end of every mile, and raised round each post, heaps or piles of stones, or earth of about the diameter and height before mentioned.

J. Thomas Scharf, History of Maryland (Baltimore, 1879), 147-409.