Charles Town Settled.-The stay here was very brief, for Port Royal was found to be exposed to attacks by the Spaniards from St. Augustine, and Governor Sayle and his Council determined to transplant the colony to the west bank of the Ashley River, which they named Albemarle, in honor of George Monck. There they built the town, which they called Charles Town, in honor of

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Glart writ

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Albemarle Craven

John Berkeley Ashley

Will Berkely

AUTOGRAPHS OF THE LORDS PROPRIETORS AS ACCEPTED BY SUCH AUTHORITIES AS JUSTIN WINSOR AND JOHN FISKE, BUT WE QUESTION THE CORRECTNESS OF THE COLLETON SIGNATURE AS THAT OF THE PROPRIETOR

The

their King. Not long had they been there before the Spaniards began to threaten an attack upon the place, though England and Spain were not then at war. Spaniards finding it stronger than they had supposed, abandoned the attempt.

Governor Sayle died in 1670, a few months after the settlement at Charles Town, and no one knows his place of burial, nor is there a portrait of him to be found. Thus began the neglect in preserving the portraits and in recording the lives of the distinguished men and women of South Carolina which has attended the State in its whole career to the present hour. How differently Massachusetts and Virginia treat their worthies!

Joseph West.-Joseph West succeeded Sayle as Governor. Perfect religious liberty was granted by the constitutions and charter, though in practical operation preference was given to Protestants and especially to the Episcopalians. There were continual accessions to the number of inhabitants of the colony; some came for the sake of religious liberty and some for the betterment of their fortunes and some for a love of adventure. West made a good Governor, though he was a plebeian at the head of a government carefully planned to be an aristocracy; but, being faithful, wise, and modest, he ably administered the affairs of the little colony for fifteen years and was the guiding spirit in all useful and honorable undertakings. He left the colony, and his name at once sank into oblivion.

Slavery Introduced. In 1671 came Sir John Yeamans from the Barbados, bringing with him a cargo of

African slaves. He was the first, and for a considerable time the only, slaveholder in this colony. Slaves had been introduced into Virginia fifty-two years before. How profoundly the introduction of

African slavery has affected the history of these two States, and through them that of the nation and of the world! The importation of African slaves to America is the most grievous misfortune that ever befell the white race in any part of the world.

The

introduction of the first negro slaves into Carolina has placed Yeamans' name in the most unenviable light, and his life, both private and official, was not such as to offset this error. The neighboring colony of Georgia began its existence under the noble Oglethorpe by forbidding the introduction of whiskey and of slavery. Had it adhered to this

JOHN LOCKE

policy it might have been one of the most noted and most prosperous of the colonies, and the other colonies and later States may have followed this course.

Seat of Government Moved.-In the year 1680 the seat of government was transferred from Albemarle Point to Oyster Point, the present site of the city of Charleston, at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, which are so called in honor of Ashley Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury.

In 1683 Lord Cardross brought a few Scotch families to Port Royal, expecting to go back and bring 10,000 more people from the same country. But in 1686 the alert Spaniards pounced on the Scotch Covenanters, murdered some, flogged others in an inch of their lives, carried off all the booty they could find, and left the place in ashes. So this enterprise of Cardross came to nothing.

CHAPTER III

PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT

Under Proprietary Government.-The government under the eight Lords Proprietors began in 1670 with their appointee, William Sayle, as Governor, and ended with the administration of Robert Johnson, in 1720. There was much agitation and some conflicts, more or less violent, between the various nationalities and religious sects, and some arising from contentions for higher and better privileges than were granted by the Fundamental Constitutions, and there were the severe contests with the Indians of which we shall speak later, but South Carolinians can reflect upon this period of our history with a good deal of satisfaction, when these disturbances are compared with some in other colonies. For instance, in Massachusetts there was persecution of the Quakers, the purest and most peaceful sect of which the world has any record; yet persecution of them was carried to the extent of torturing and hanging. In South Carolina, about the same time, one of this sect, John Archdale, was gladly accepted as Governor, and all classes of society rejoiced in his beneficent administration and gave him the most cordial support, so that his services are held in almost as much gratitude as are those of Alfred the Great by the English. Archdale had the good fortune to conduct the affairs of the government so as to avoid conflicts of arms.