a few months, Sir John Yeamans, who had been governor of the northern province and was now in Barbadoes, was commissioned by the proprietors as chief magistrate of the southern colony. He brought with him to Ashley River a large cargo of African slaves. From the beginning the colonists had devoted themselves to planting; but the English laborers, unused as yet to the climate, could hardly endure the excessive heats of the sultry fields. To the Caribbee negroes, already accustomed to the burning sun of the tropics, the Carolina summer seemed temperate and pleasant. Thus the labor of the black man was substituted for the labor of the white man, and in less than two years from the founding of the colony the system of slavery was firmly established. In this respect the history of South Carolina is peculiar. Slavery had been introduced into all the American colonies, but everywhere else the introduction had been effected by those who were engaged in the slave-trade. In South Carolina alone was the system adopted as a political and social experiment and with a view to the regular establishment of a laboring class in the State. Governor Yeamans was the first to accept this policy, which soon became the general policy of the province. The importation of negroes went on so rapidly that in a short time they outnumbered the whites as two to one.

Immigration from England did not lag. During the year 1671 a system of cheap rents and liberal bounties was adopted by the proprietors, and the country was rapidly filled with people. A tract of a hundred and fifty acres was granted to every one who would either immigrate or import a negro. Fertile lands were abundant. Wars and pestilence had almost annihilated the native tribes; whole counties were almost without an occupant. The disasters of one race had prepared the way for the coming of another. Only a few years before this time New Netherland had been conquered by the English. The Dutch were greatly dissatisfied with the government which the duke of York had established over them, and began to leave the country. The proprietors of Carolina sent several ships to New York, loaded them with the industrious but discontented people, and brought them without expense to Charleston. The unoccupied lands west of Ashley River were divided among the Dutch, who formed there a thriving settlement called Jamestown. The fame of the new country reached Holland, and other emigrants left fatherland to join their kinsmen in Carolina. Charles II., who rarely aided a colony, collected a company of Protestant refugees from the South of Europe, and sent them to Carolina to introduce the silk-worm and to begin the cultivation of the grape.

In 1680 the present capital of South Carolina was founded. The site of Old Charleston had been hastily and injudiciously selected. The

delightful peninsula called Oyster Point, between Ashley and Cooper Rivers, was now chosen as the spot on which to build a city. The erection of thirty dwellings during the first summer gave proof of enterprise; the name of CHARLESTON was a second time bestowed, and the village immediately became the capital of the colony. The unhealthy climate for a while retarded the progress of the new town, but the people were full of life and enterprise; storehouses and wharves were built, and merchant-ships soon began to throng the commodious harbor.

Injustice provoked an Indian war. Some vagabond Nestoes, whose only offence consisted in strolling through the plantations, were shot. The tribe appealed to the government, and the proprietors showed a willingness to punish the wrongdoers; but the pioneers were determined to fight and the savages were naturally revengeful. Scenes of violence continued along the border, and hostilities began in earnest. In the prosecution of the war the colonists were actuated by a shameful spirit of avarice. The object was not so much to punish or destroy the savages as to take them prisoners. A bounty was offered for every captured Indian, and as fast as the warriors were taken they were sold as slaves for the West Indies. The petty strife continued for a year, and was then concluded with a treaty of peace. Commissioners were appointed, to whom all complaints and disputes between the natives and the colonists should henceforth be submitted.

South Carolina was favored with rapid immigration, and the immigrants were worthy to become the founders of a great State. The best nations of Europe contributed to people the country between Cape Fear and the Savannah. England continued to send her colonies. In 1683 Joseph Blake, a brother of the great English admiral, devoted his fortune and the last years of his life to bringing a large company of dissenters from Somersetshire to Charleston. In the same year an Irish colony under Ferguson arrived at Ashley River, and met a hearty welcome. A company of Scotch Presbyterians, ten families in all, led by the excellent Lord Cardross, settled at Port Royal in 1684. The authorities of Charleston claimed jurisdiction there, and the new immigrants reluctantly yielded to the claim. Two years afterward a band of Spanish soldiers arrived from St. Augustine, and the unhappy Scotch exiles were driven from their homes. But intolerant France gave up more of her subjects than did all the other nations.

As early as 1598 Henry IV., king of the French, had published a celebrated proclamation, called the Edict of Nantes, by the terms of which the Huguenots were protected in their rights of religious worship. Now, after eighty-seven years of toleration, Louis XIV., blinded with bigotry

and passion and hoping to make Catholicism universal, revoked the kindly edict, and exposed the Protestants of his kingdom to the long-suppressed rage of their enemies. In order to enforce the decree of revocation the French army was quartered in the towns of the Huguenots, the ports were closed against emigration, and the borders were watched to prevent escape. How foolish are the ways of despotism! In spite of every precaution, five hundred thousand of the best people of France, preferring banishment to religious thraldom, escaped from their country and fled, self-exiled, into foreign lands. The Huguenots were scattered from the Baltic Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and on the Western continent from Maine to Florida. But of all the American colonies, South Carolina received the greatest number of French refugees within her borders. They were met by the proprietors with a pledge of protection and a promise of citizenship; but neither promise nor pledge was immediately fulfilled, for the colony had not yet determined what should be its laws of naturalization. Both the general assembly and the proprietors claimed the right of fixing the conditions. Until that question could be decided the Huguenots were kept in suspense, and were sometimes unkindly treated by the jealous English settlers. Not until 1697 were all diseriminations against the French immigrants removed.

In 1686 came James Colleton as colonial governor. He began his administration with a foolish attempt to establish the mammoth constitution of Locke and Shaftesbury. No wonder that the assembly resisted his authority, and that the people were embittered against him. The rents. came due; payment was refused, and the colony was in a state of rebellion. In order to divert attention from himself, Colleton published a proclamation setting forth the danger of a pretended invasion by the Indians and Spaniards. The militia was called out and the province declared under martial law. It was all in vain. The people were only exasperated by the arbitrary proceedings of the governor. Tidings came that James II. had been driven from the throne of England. The popular assembly was convened, and William and Mary were proclaimed as sovereigns. In 1690 a decree of impeachment was passed against Colleton, and he was banished from the province.

The people of North Carolina had just performed a similar service for Seth Sothel. Not satisfied with his previous success, he at once repaired to Charleston and assumed the government of the southern colony. To Sothel's other merits were added the qualifications of a first-rate demagogue; he induced the people to acquiesce in his usurpation and to sustain his authority. But his avaricious disposition could not long be held in check. The proprietors disclaimed his acts and after a turbulent rule

of two years, he and his government were overthrown. One bright page redeems the record of his administration. In May of 1691 the first general act of enfranchisement was passed in favor of the Huguenots.

Philip Ludwell, who had been collector of customs in Virginia, and since 1689 governor of North Carolina, was now sent to establish order in the southern province. He spent a year in a well-meant effort to administer the government of the proprietors; but the people were fixed in their antagonism to the constitution, and nothing could be accomplished. Ludwell gave up the hopeless task, withdrew from the province, and returned to Virginia. South Carolina had fallen into a condition bordering on anarchy.

Nearly a quarter of a century had elapsed since Locke drafted the grand model. At last the proprietors came to see that the establishment of such a monstrous frame of government over an American colony was impossible. Pride said that the constitution should stand, for the nobility of England had declared it immortal. But self-interest and common sense demanded its abrogation, and the demand prevailed. In April of 1693 the proprietors assembled and voted the boasted model out of existence. It was enacted at the same meeting that since the people of Carolina preferred a simple charter government, their request be granted. The magnificent paper empire of Shaftesbury was swept into oblivion.

Thomas Smith was now appointed governor, but was soon superseded by John Archdale, a distinguished and talented Quaker. Arriving in 1695, he began an administration so just and wise that dissension ceased and the colony entered upon a new career of prosperity. The quit-rents on lands were remitted for four years. The people were given the option of paying their taxes in money or in produce. The Indians were conciliated with kindness and protected against kidnappers. Some native Catholics were ransomed from slavery and sent to their homes in Florida, and the Spanish governor reciprocated the deed with a friendly message. When the old jealousy against the Huguenots asserted itself in the general assembly, the benevolent influence of Archdale procured the passage of a law by which all Christians, except the Catholics, were fully enfranchised; the ungenerous exception was made against the governor's will. It was a real misfortune to the colony when, in 1698, the good governor was recalled to England.

James Moore was next commissioned as chief magistrate. The first important act of his administration was a declaration of hostilities against the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine. Queen Anne's War had broken out. The Spaniards were in alliance with the French against the English. By the antagonism of England and Spain, South Carolina and

Florida were brought into conflict. Yet a declaration of war was strongly opposed in the assembly at Charleston, and was only passed by a small majority. It was voted to raise and equip a force of twelve hundred men, and to invade Florida by land and water. The summer of 1702 was spent in preparation, and in September the expeditions departed, the land-forces led by Colonel Daniel and the fleet commanded by the

governor.

The English vessels sailed down the coast, entered the St. John's and blocked up the river. Daniel marched overland, reached St. Augustine and captured the town. But the Spaniards withdrew without serious loss into the castle, and bade defiance to the besiegers. Without artillery it was evident that the place could not be taken. Colonel Daniel was despatched with a sloop to Jamaica to procure cannons for the siege; but before his return two Spanish men-of-war appeared at the mouth of the St. John's, and Governor Moore found himself blockaded. His courage was not equal to the occasion. Abandoning his ships, he took to the shore, and collecting his forces hastily retreated into Carolina. Daniel returned and entered the St. John's, but discovered the danger in time to make his escape. The governor's retreat occasioned great dissatisfaction. There were insinuations of cowardice and threats of impeachment, but no formal action was taken against him. The only results of the unfortunate expedition were debt and paper money. In order to meet the heavy expenses of the war, the assembly was obliged to issue bills of credit to the amount of six thousand pounds sterling.

Governor Moore retrieved his reputation by invading the Indian nations south-west of the Savannah. In December of 1705 he left the province at the head of fifty volunteers and a thousand friendly natives. White men had not been seen marching in these woods since the days of De Soto. On the 14th of the month the invaders reached the fortified town of Ayavalla, in the neighborhood of St. Mark's. An attack was made and the church set on fire. A Franciscan monk came out and begged for mercy; but the place was carried by assault, and more than two hundred prisoners were taken, only to be enslaved. On the next day Moore's forces met and defeated a large body of Indians and Spaniards. Five important towns were carried in succession, and the English flag was borne in triumph to the Gulf of Mexico. Communication between the Spanish settlements of Florida and the French posts in Louisiana was entirely cut off.

Meanwhile, the Church of England had been established by law in South Carolina. In the first year of Johnston's administration the High Church party succeeded in getting a majority of one in the colonial