KING CHARLES II. AND THE LORDS PROPRIETORS.
A. D. 1663.
After the discovery of North Carolina, in 1584, by Amadas and
Barlowe, many years had gone by before the period now reached in
this narrative. Not only had James succeeded Elizabeth, but
Charles had succeeded James and had been beheaded as a traitor
to the land he pretended to rule. Cromwell had lived, ruled
and died, and Charles II. was on the throne of his fathers, and
thus again royal bounties became possible and fashionable.
2. Many men in England had heard of the goodly land which was
being peopled around Albemarle Sound, beyond the jurisdiction of
Governor Berkeley. He, too, with his bitter and envenomed soul,
took part in a scheme which was to give him some authority over
the refugees who had imagined themselves beyond the reach of his
cruel rule.
1663
3. In the year 1663, His Majesty Charles II., King of England,
Scotland and Ireland, granted to George, Duke of Albemarle;
Edward, Earl of Clarendon; William, Earl of Craven; John, Lord
Berkeley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carteret, Sir John
Colleton, and Sir William Berkeley, as "Lords Proprietors," all
the territory south of the lands not already granted to the
province of Virginia, down to the Spanish line of Florida.
4. There were some remarkable men among these titular owners of
the land we now inhabit. The Duke of Albemarle had been General
George Monk before the restoration of King Charles, and was made
a nobleman on account of his part in that transaction. He was
not possessed of very great ability, and only became famous by
the accidents of fortune.
5. Very different was the astute lawyer, Edward Hyde, who, for
his abilities, was made the Earl of Clarendon and Lord High
Chancellor of England. He was a selfish and crafty man, and
lost his offices in his old age, but had two granddaughters who
became queens of Great Britain.
6. Lord Ashley, afterward the Earl of Shaftesbury, will ever be
remembered for the part he bore in establishing the writ of
habeas corpus as a part of the British Constitution. He was a
bold, able and profligate man, who marred great abilities by
greater vices. He combined within himself all that is dangerous
and detestable in a demagogue.
7. Sir William Berkeley, then Governor of the province of
Virginia, was another of these Lords Proprietors. He was the
embodiment of the cruelty and religious prejudice of that age.
He whipped and imprisoned people who worshipped God in a way not
pleasing to himself, and was immortalized by the remark of King
Charles II., who said of him: "That old fool has taken more
lives without offence in that naked country than I, in all
England, for the murder of my father."
8. To these men, as Lords Proprietors, a great territory was
granted, which they called "Carolina," in compliment to King
Charles II. [Many years before this time the name of "Carolina"
had been applied to the territory between Virginia and Florida,
in honor of King Charles IX. of France. ] All of them except
Governor Berkeley lived in England, but they ruled the new
country and sold the lands at the highest rate of money they
could get, with a tax of seventy-five cents on each hundred
acres to be paid every year.
9. Many fine promises were made to the English and other people
to induce them to go to Carolina and settle. Freedom to worship
God in the way that seemed best to each individual was
especially held out to poor sufferers like John Bunyan, who, in
those days, were too often kept for long years in loathsome
prisons because of their differing with the civil magistrates as
to certain matters of faith and practice in the churches.
NOTE--Governor Berkeley exhibited some traits of his character
by saying, while Governor of Virginia: "I thank God there are no
free schools nor printing here, and I hope we shall have none of
them these hundred years."
10. Religious persecutions were practiced in most of the
American colonies. It had been decreed in some of the New
England colonies that Quakers, upon coming into the province,
should have their tongues bored with a hot iron and be banished.
Any person bringing a Quaker into the province was fined one
hundred pounds sterling (about five hundred dollars), and the
Quaker was given twenty lashes and imprisoned at hard labor. In
Virginia the persecutions were equally as bad, if not worse, and
some of the punishments were almost as severe as Indian
tortures. The Assembly of this colony (Virginia) levied upon
all Quakers a monthly tax of one hundred dollars.
11. To escape persecution, many men who were Quakers and
Baptists had already gone to the region around the Albemarle
Sound; and others followed from various inducements. Their
settlements were known as the "Albemarle Colony." The whole
country was still roamed over by Indians, and even in Albemarle
the rude farmhouses were widely scattered.
12. There was not even a village in the new province. No
churches, courthouses or public schools were to be seen; but the
men and women of that day loved liberty. They preferred to
undergo danger from the Indians and the privations of lonely
homes in the forest to the persecution which they found in
England and in many portions of America.
13. It can hardly be realized amid the present luxuries and
enjoyments of the American people, what dangers and privations
were encountered by the white settlers in North Carolina two
hundred years ago; for while now thronging cities, teeming
fields and busy highways of a people numbering many millions
cover the land, then cruel and crafty Indians, always hostile at
heart to the tread of the white man, surrounded the defenceless
homes of the scattered colonists and filled the great forest
stretching three thousand miles toward the setting sun.
QUESTIONS.
1. What period have we now reached in our history?
What changes had taken place in the English government?
2. In what new scheme do we find Governor Berkeley taking part?
3. What new grant of this territory was made in 1663?
What was the new government called?
4. What kind of a man was George, Duke of Albemarle?
5. Who was Edward, Earl of Clarendon?
6. Who was Lord Ashley? What was his character?
7. What was Governor Berkeley's character?
What was said of him by King Charles II. ?
8. What name was given to the territory now granted? In whose honor
was Carolina named? Where did the Lords Proprietors live?
What tax was to be paid to them?
9. What inducements were offered to the English to go to Carolina
and settle? Why was "religious freedom" an inducement for them to
leave their comfortable homes and settle in a savage country?
10. What religious persecutions were seen in most of the American colonies?
11. What two religious sects had emigrated to this section?
What did they call their colony?
12. What was the condition of the colony? What sacrifices had
the colonists made, and why?
13. How did the condition of the colonists differ from ours?