alarm, immediately retired. Soon after, an additional armament appeared, and a body of troops were landed; but the English, flushed with victory, attacked them with such resolution, that both they and their ships were captured. After some years of repose, the colony was involved in all the horrors of Indian war; the origin of which is difficult to trace, though the settlers throw the whole blame upon the natives. It is manifest that they waged it with deep treachery and ferocity, and yet there seems room to suspect that they had heavy wrongs to avenge. The first burst was from the Tuscaroras, on the frontier of North Carolina, whose attack against the settlements on the Roanoke was made with the usual secrecy and rapidity, and above a hundred perished before measures of defence could be adopted. This was all that could be done till aid was procured from South Carolina, whence Captain Barnwell, with 600 militia and 360 Indians, penetrated the intervening wilderness, defeated the enemy, and pursuing them to their main fortress, obliged them to surrender. They soon after migrated northward, and formed a union with the Five Nations. A more formidable struggle awaited South Carolina. The Indians on its The border had long been united with the colonists in alliance and common hostility to the Spaniards. When the treaty of Utrecht had terminated the European war with the latter people, the natives soon announced that they had dined with the governor of Florida, and washed his face-a sure pledge of alliance colonists, who did not suspect that the enmity was to be transferred to them, allege that it was fomented by their old enemies; but the charge seems scarcely supported by any overt act. Certain it is, that the Yemassees, Creeks, Cherokees, and all the tribes from Cape Fear to the shores of the gulf, amounting to 6,000 men, became united in one grand confederacy to exterminate the English name. Their preparations were enveloped as usual in profound secrecy; and, even on the previous evening, when some suspicious circumstances were noticed, they gave the most friendly explanation. In the morning the work of blood commenced in the vicinity of Port Royal, where about ninety of the planters perished; but the people of the place, happily finding a vessel in the harbor. crowded on board, and were conveyed to Charleston. The Indians collected from all sides, and advanced upon that capital; two detachments, which attempted to stop their progress, were surprised or ensnared, and suffered severely. Craven, the governor, however, having mustered 1,200 men fit to bear arms, succeeded in stopping their progress; upon which, having collected all his strength, and receiving a reinforcement from North Carolina, he marched to the attack of their grand camp. The struggle was long and fierce-the Indians having stationed themselves in a broken and entangled spot, fitted for their wild manœuvres. At length they were completely defeated, and soon after driven beyond the limits of the colony. The termination of this contest was immediately followed by violent internal disturbances. The settlers had many grounds of complaint against the proprietors, who had not afforded any pecuniary aid during the late sanguinary contest. At its close the assembly passed acts bestowing the lands whence the Indians had been expelled upon such persons as might choose to occupy them; on the faith of which a party of 500 emigrated from Ireland. But the proprietary annulling this grant, caused them to be ejected, and the tract divided into baronies for their own benefit. They disallowed other laws, which the colonists were extremely desirous to obtain, and sent orders to the governor to sanction none which had not been previously submitted to themselves. They reposed their entire confidence in Trott, the chief-justice, who was even accused of malversation in nis office; but the complaints against him from the people, and even the governor, were disdainfully rejected. This discontent, long fomenting, broke out openly on a report of invasion from the Havana. In this emergency the assembly refused to vote any supplies; a bond of union was drawn up, and signed by almost all the inhabitants. They transmitted a proposal to Johnson that he should contiue to hold his office in the name of the king; but as he declined the offer, Colonel Moore was elected. The other made some attempts to compel submission, but found his force inadequate. The issue of the whole transaction, however, depended on the view which might be taken by the crown, always disposed to favor any arrangement that might extend its prerogative. The king, being absent in Hanover, had left the government in the hands of a regency, who, on examining the case, decided that the proprietors had forfeited their charter, and ordered proceedings to be instituted for its dissolution. Acting certainly with great promptitude, as if this were already effected, they named Sir Francis Nicholson governor, under a commission from his majesty. That person distinguished in other stations for his active talents, had been accused of arbitrary maxims; but in Carolina he seems to have laid these aside, and rendered himself extremely acceptable. He made great exertions to provide for religions instruction, and the diffusion of education. Through an alliance with the Creeks and Cherokees, he secured the frontier, which had been considerably harassed by Indian incursions. We may here pause to mention, that at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, the American coast, and particularly Carolina, was dreadfully infested by piracy. The long war between France and Spain, aided by the vicinity of the West Indies, afforded large scope for privateers. After the peace, they were unwilling to relinquish so lucrative an occupation; and, exercising it equally on friends and foes, spread desolation over all those shores. The governors, it is said, instead of striving to suppress the disorder, often secretly favored it, and shared in the profits. James II., in 1687, equipped a small fleet under Sir Robert Holmes, who considerably checked the evil; but it again broke out with augmented violence, especially after the treaty of Utrecht. John Theach, called Blackbeard, equally frightful in his aspect and character, became a sort of pirate-king-the idol of his followers, and the terror of all peaceable merchants. In 1718, George I. despatched a squadron under Woodes Rogers, who took the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, long a kind of outlawed capital. The pirates attempted to form another stronghold at the mouth of Cape Fear river, but were driven from it by the governor of Carolina. Rogers was empowered, in case of submission, to offer pardon to those who should surrender, of which most availed themselves; though some afterward resumed their vocation, and among them Theach himself, who was soon, however, defeated and killed. In the course of the five subsequent years, twenty-six suffered death for this offence. In 1729, the transactions of the proprietors were finally closed by a deed surrendering all their rights into the hands of the crown. They received in return £17,500, with £5,000 for arrears of rent amounting to £9,000; but Lord Carteret, while resigning all political power, preferred to retain his claim to property in the soil, of which an ample portion was assigned to him. The colonists were gratified by the entire remission of their quit-rents. In 1694, the captain of a vessel from Madagascar, having touched at Carolina, had presented the governor with a bag of rice, which, being distributed among several farmers, throve so remarkably, that it had already become a staple of the settlement; and the privilege was now granted of exporting this article direct to any part of Europe southward of Cape Finisterre. North and South Carolina, too, which in point of fact had always been distinct, and their occupied parts even distant from each other, were now finally declared to be two colonies, each to have its separate governor. From this era their affairs held a pretty uniform course, diversified only as the character of the successive governors was popular or otherwise. They continued to draw numerous bodies of emigrants; and their career, both of agriculture and commerce, was extremely prosperous. This, it is painful to add, was in a great measure effected by large importations of negro slaves, which enabled the wealthy to cultivate plantations on an extensive scale, and without personal labor. It appears also that reproach was incurred by the harshness with which these captives were treated; and serious alarms of insurrection were entertained. To guard against this danger, they petitioned, in 1742, to be allowed to raise and maintain three independent companies; a boon which, though refused at first, was finally granted. These colonies derived a considerable accession from the rebellion of 1745, at the close of which many adherents of the vanquished cause were allowed to seek shelter in the western plantations, and induced by various circumstances to prefer the Carolinas. The discovery of indigo, as a native production, afforded, in addition to rice, another article for which a sure demand would be found in Europe. About the middle of the eighteenth century, too, when the other colonies began to have at least their best lands appropriated, this, which was still comparatively unoccupied, drew settlers from them, especially from Pennsylvania. Although estates along the coast were become scarce, valuable tracts remained in the interior, to which these American emigrants were pleased to resort. After all that had been done before 1732 for the peopling of Carolina, there remained a large district between the Savannah and the Alatamaha, claimed by Britain, yet completely uninhabited. This disadvantage was more felt from its being bordered, not only by powerful Indian tribes, but by the Spaniards in Florida and the French in Louisiana; both having claims which, if circumstances favored, they could plausibly advance. The planters were particularly anxious to have a settlement formed, that might stand like a wall between them and these troublesome neighbors, but were much at a loss for persons who would voluntarily station themselves in a situation so unpleasant. Circumstances arose in England which afforded a prospect of supplying this want. A body of dis tinguished individuals, under the impulse of humanity, "Redressive searched Into the horrors of the gloomy jail." General Oglethorpe, a soldier, brave, honorable, and humane, moved an inquiry, in 1728, into the treatment and condition of persons confined in the pris FIG. 42.-Portrait of General Oglethorpe. ons of England, and in the following year presented a report upon this subject. It was found that, under the extremely bad management then prevalent, many persons imprisoned for debt or minor offences were treated most tyrannically, deprived of common comforts, and their morals farther injured by the associates with whom they were compelled to mingle. Many of them, even if liberated, could not have returned to the world with any prospect of comfort or advantage; and hence it occurred that to them a residence in the new continent might form an extremely desirable change. They could not be fastidious as to the situation, and might there be formed into military colonies, as a barrier to the other states. The conversion and improvement of the Indians entered into this generous plan. It was entrusted to a body of eminent persons, who undertook to act as trustees, not entering, like former associations, into a mercantile speculation for profit, but from philanthropic motives devoting their time and contributions to the object. They were to administer the colony during twenty-one years, after which it was to revert to the crown. It was named Georgia, from the reigning monarch; and Oglethorpe, with whom the whole scheme had originated, undertook to act gratuitously as governor. A general enthusiasm prevailed throughout the nation; large sums were subscribed by benevolent individuals; and parliament, in the course of two years, voted £36,000 for the purpose. In the end of 1732, Oglethorpe, with a party of a hundred and sixteen, sailed for the new settlement. Having touched on their way at South Carolina, his followers were most hospitably received; and on their arrival, he made it his first object to conciliate the neighboring Indians, belonging to the powerful race of the Creeks. His efforts, guided by sincerity and discretion, were crowned with success. He prevailed upon Tomochichi, the head of this savage confed |