invitation, who was then in the occupation of lands, having "come in with the first seaters," and "did for the space of two years bestow much labor and cost in finding out the said country." "1 By "first seaters" were evidently meant the first in the province of Carolina, not merely the first in that particular neighborhood; and it is to them, probably, that Lawson refers when he says: "A second settlement [second, that is, after Raleigh's time] of this country was made about fifty years ago, in that part we now call Albemarl County, and chiefly in Chuwon precinct, by several substantial planters from Virginia and other plantations." Lawson's visit was in 1700.

Explorations and settlement

landers.

There were probably few bays or rivers along the coast, from the Bay of Fundy to Florida, unexplored by the New Englanders, where there was any promise of profitable trade with by New Eng- the Indians. The colonist followed the trader wherever unclaimed lands were open to occupation. These energetic pioneers explored the sounds and rivers south of Virginia in pursuit of Indian traffic, contrasted the salubrity of the climate and the fertility of the soil with that region of rocks where they had made their homes, and where winter reigns for more than half the year. In 1660 or 1661, a company of these men purchased of the natives and settled upon a tract of land at the mouth of Cape Fear River. Their first purpose was apparently the raising of stock, as the country seemed peculiarly fitted to grazing, and they brought a number of neat cattle and swine to be allowed to feed at large under the care of herdsmen. But they aimed at something more than this nomadic occupation, and a company was formed, in which a number of adventurers in London were enlisted, to found a permanent colony. Discouraged, however, either by the want of immediate success, or for want of time to carry out their plans, or for some less creditable reason, the settlement was soon abandoned.

Abandon

New Eng

land settlement.

On this point there is sufficient evidence. In 1663, some persons from Barbadoes were on the coast in search of a suitable ment of the place for the planting of a colony. They visited the spot where the New Englanders had been, and their report is that they found "a writing left in a post at the point of Cape Fear river by those New England men that left cattle with the Indians there, the contents whereof tended not only to the disparagement of the land about the said river, but also to the great discouragement of all such as should hereafter come into those parts to settle." So, also, the London associates of this New England Company declared, at a meeting held in August, 1663, "that at the pres

2

1 Hawks's History of North Carolina, vol. ii., p. 132.

2 Lawson's History of Carolina.

1663.1

THE NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENT.

273

ent the undertaking of the plantation of the said Charles River lieth under some obloquy, that hath given a check to it; some that were sent from New England thither, in order to the carrying on the said settlement, being come back again without so much as sitting down upon it; and for the better justification of themselves in their return, have spread a reproach both upon the harbour and upon the soil of the river itself." 1

Was there sufficient ground for this "reproach both upon the harbor and the soil?" The explorers from Barbadoes, at least, did not think so. "In answer to that scandalous writing," as they called it, found affixed to the post, they affirm, "that we have seen, facing both sides the river and branches of Cape Fair aforesaid, as good

laud, and as weli timbered, as any we have seen in any other part of the world, sufficient to accommodate thousands of our English nation, and lying commodiously by the said river's side." It was a quite sufficient answer, as the future showed.

its failure.

It is not impossible, however, that justification was sought for to cover up the real reason for failure. Lawson, in comment- Reasons for ing upon the report of the Barbadoes men, which he preserved in his history, gives as a reason why the New Englanders "did not only take off themselves, but also their stocks of cattle,"

1 Hutchinson Papers in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. i., 3d series.

that there were "irregular practices of some of that colony against the Indians, by sending away some of their children (as I have been told) under pretence of instructing them in learning and the principles of the Christian religion, which so disgusted the Indians, that though they had then no guns, yet they never gave over till they had entirely rid themselves of the English by their bows and arrows." Perhaps this was the "obloquy " to which the London associates referred.

The New England Company, nevertheless, asserted their right to the lands in question by virtue of their purchase from the Indians. Their friends in London, at the meeting in August, 1663, just referred to, presented their views upon this claim for the consideration of the new patentees. The New England colonies, they said, have ever had "full liberty to choose their own govenours among themselves; to make and confirm laws with themselves; with immunity also wholly from all taxes, charges, and impositions whatsoever, more than what is laid upon themselves by themselves." But unless these privileges were "preserved entire to them," it was "feared that all thoughts of further proceeding in the said river will be wholly laid aside by them.”1

Action of

A month later, September, 1663,- the Proprietors wrote to Governor Berkeley, informing him that they had received their the Carolina charter from the King. They empowered him to appoint a proprietors. governor, or governors, for the people who, they understood, were already settled on both banks of the Chowan. In response to 66 a paper from persons that desired to settle near Cape Fear," — by which they meant the New England Company, - the only proposals they have to make with special reference to that company relate to the allotment of land, declaring it to be "our resolution and desire that you persuade or compel those persons to be satisfied with such proportions as we allot to others." 2

Character of their projected government.

-

The character of the government had already been decided at the first meeting of the Proprietors in the preceding May. There was to be full liberty of conscience; the and assemgovernor bly were to be chosen by popular election; and duties from customs were not to be enforced. In the proposals sent with this letter to Berkeley in September, these conditions were repeated. This repetition was intended, doubtless, for the instruction and assurance of emigrants from New England, or anywhere else, who should choose to avail themselves of such an offer. But that they were not a concession to the demand of the New England claimants is manifest, as 1 Hutchinson Papers, as above.

2 Letter from the Lords Proprietors to Sir William Berkeley. Chalmers' Annals. 8 Chalmers' Annals. Martin's History. Papers in State Paper Office, London; cited in Coll. Hist. Soc. of South Carolina, vol. i.

1664.]

COLONY OF SIR JOHN YEAMANS.

275

their remonstrance to the Proprietors could not at the time of this meeting in May have been received, was not, probably, even written.1

Nothing more is heard of the New England Company. If any influence was exerted from that region upon the new province, it was through individual citizens, who chose to make it their home. Of these there were many in the early settlement of North Carolina, more, however, probably upon the Chowan than the Cape Fear River. "Make everything easy to the people of New England," wrote the Proprietors to Sir John Yeamans, in 1665, "from which the greatest emigrations are expected, as the southern colonies are already drained." 2

Yeamans came with a colony of several hundred persons, and landed at Cape Fear River on the 29th of May, 1664.3 The party 1 The abortive attempt to settle a New England colony at the mouth of Cape Fear River, and its influence upon the character of the constitution of the new province, have been a source of much controversy and misunderstanding. The mistake in regard to it seems to have originated with Chalmers, who, assuming that the "proposals" sent to Berkeley in September were made "at the desire of the New England people," overlooked the fact that they were simply a repetition of the form of government decided upon by the proprietors at their first meeting in May. Their charter then was only a little more than a month old, and no protest in regard to it could at that time have reached England from America.

2 Chalmers.

8 A Brief Description of the Province of Carolina, on the Coasts of Florida. London, 1666. Republished in Hawks' History. The colonists landed on the 8th of June, new style.

The colony

mans.

sent from Barbadoes to explore the coast of Carolina, whose indignation was so aroused by the warning put up by the New under Yea- England herdsmen on the Cape Fear River, - had bought of the Indians a tract of thirty-two miles square, and the proprietors were asked to confirm the purchase by a grant. Though this was refused, the terms granted to the colonists were satisfactory. Their settlement, which was "up the river, about twenty or thirty miles" they called Charles-town. The province or county of which Yeamans was appointed Governor, was named Clarendon, and extended from Cape Fear to the St. John's, in Florida.

Organization

Meanwhile Sir William Berkeley, in accordance with the instructions given by the Proprietors in their letter of September, of the 1663, established a government on the Chowan. He appointed a governor-William Drummond - and a council of six, who, with an assembly chosen by the people, were to enact

Chowan Colony.

Portrait of Locke.

laws, subject to the approval of the proprietors; possessions of lands were confirmed, and new grants were made, with an allowance of three years for the payment of quit-rents. In 1666, however, the Assembly protested against the payment of these quit-rents, and prayed that the tenure of lands should be the same as that established in Virginia. The petition was granted with regard to those who then held possession, but the rule was enforced upon all subsequent entries.2 An Assembly was probably convened as early as 1663,3

though Albemarle County was not included within the boundaries of Carolina till after the issue of the second charter, in 1665.

In the elaboration of a Constitution for the new province Lord Shaftesbury called to his aid the great philosopher and statesman, John Locke. It was not till 1669 that the first of these "Fundamental Con

1 A Brief Description, etc. It was, Hawks says, "in Brunswick county, at or near the junction of Old Town Creek with the Cape Fear." 8 Hawks.

2 Chalmers' Annals.