Massachusetts and South Carolina.-In Massachusetts there was also the persecution of women suspected of being witches, many of whom were no doubt insane. Some of these were hanged, after a judicial trial, "for selling their souls to Satan." While in South Carolina there was some judicial notice of the prevalent superstition, there were no formal trials and no punishments inflicted. It should be said, in justice to America, that the witch superstition assumed a much intenser form and had a wider prevalence in Europe than in this country, and that hundreds were there condemned by the courts to be burned at the stake for witchcraft.

William Screven.-We must also call attention to the fact that in the time of the Proprietary Government, about 1710, William Screven was persecuted in New England for his belief that there should be perfect liberty in religious matters, following, in this respect, in the footsteps of Roger Williams. He found no place in New England where he could live in peace in advocacy of such views, but was driven from point to point, until he left that section and made his home in Georgetown, South Carolina, becoming the first settler of that now famous old town. Here there was none to molest or make him afraid, and he lived in open advocacy and practice of his views, in his last will and testament giving liberally of his land to every religious sect for the purpose of erecting houses of worship. It is to be regretted that, after the most diligent search, a picture of this good man cannot be found. It should be placed in our histories with that of Roger Williams, as Screven is

equally worthy of immortality, by the side of the founder of Rhode Island.

French Settlers Granted Full Rights.-Before the Proprietary Government came to an end, the French settlers, whose fine intelligence and admirable habits had made friends for them in all quarters, were granted equal rights with their fellow citizens of English origin, and the dissenters of the religious sects enjoyed equal liberty with those who conformed to the beliefs of the Church of England.

In the list of Governors under the Proprietary system, Joseph West, John Archdale, and Charles Craven stand the highest, as just and wise administrators of the law. Simms, in his novel, "The Yemassee," gives a fine and stimulating account of Governor Craven.

But government from across the ocean by eight Lords Proprietors of divergent wishes and views, could end only in disaster. So, upon the petition of the people of Carolina, the House of Commons, by the aid of the King's Council, made a change in the government, whereby the King became the sole proprietor in place of the eight lords, except that Carteret retained his share. James Moore was the first Governor under this new policy.

Names on the Map.-The map of South Carolina now bears upon its face many memorials of the rule of the original Lords Proprietors, as in the names of the counties of Berkeley, Clarendon, Colleton, in the rivers Ashley and Cooper, and the county-seat of Berkeley, Monck's Corner, while Albemarle, Craven, and Carteret, once used as geographical names, have been obliterated.

CHAPTER IV

THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT

Royal Government.-The overthrow of the Proprietary Government in South Carolina is often spoken of as the Revolution of 1719. Francis Yonge, whose narrative is the accepted authority upon the subject, entitles his account, "The Proceedings of the People," and doubtless it was by the uprising of the long-exasperated colonies that the overthrow was actually consummated; but Edward Randolph, collector of the King's customs, began the agitation twenty-five years before the overthrow, receiving much encouragement from the authorities in England. It was the fixed policy of James II to convert all Proprietary Governments into Royal Governments. The grounds of resistance by the colonists are stated in such manner as to remind one of the Declaration of Independence, eighty-seven years later. The case has been thus summed up by the historian Hewat:

Revolt Against the King."When the Proprietors first applied to the King for a grant of this large territory, at that time occupied by heathen, it was said they were excited thereto by their zeal for the Christian faith, yet they made no effort to Christianize the Indians. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had taken that work up, but the Proprietors had done nothing to help them. By their charter they were to build churches and chapels for divine

worship; yet they had left the burden of this entirely upon the inhabitants who had received no assistance or encouragement, except from that society. They were to have erected castles and forts for the protection of the colony, but colonists were obliged to raise these at their own expense. They assumed to themselves a despotic authority to repeal and abrogate laws made by the Assembly, and ratified by their own deputies in Carolina. They not only tyrannized over the colony, but also employed and protected officers more tyrannical than themselves. In times of imminent danger, when the colony applied to them for assistance, they were either unable or unwilling to bear the expense of its protection. When the Assembly, to strengthen the frontiers of the province and for the encouragement of settlers, allotted lands which the colonists themselves had obtained by conquest, the Proprietors, claiming the sole right to their disposition, repudiated the action of the Assembly, though assented to by their own deputies, and appropriated the lands thus acquired to their own

When the trade of the province was broken up and plundered by pirates, the colonists could obtain no assistance from their Lordships, nor would they allow the laws made by the colonists for defraying the expenses of the defenses which the colonists had themselves provided. At the instance of the merchants of London, the Proprietors interfered with the currency of the colony issued to meet its public expenditures. In short, the people saw no end of their troubles and dangers. No remedy appeared to them so proper and effectual as that

of throwing themselves under the immediate care and protection of the Crown of Great Britain.”

Independence Foreseen.-In 1719 Colonel Rhett in prophetic language had written that if this "revolt is not cropt in the bud, they will set up for themselves against His Majesty."

Attacks by Spaniards and French.-The English claimed the territory of Carolina, under the discovery of Cabot in

1497, during the reign of Henry VII, and the Spaniards claimed it as a part of Florida. Thus from the very beginning disputes arose over these rival claims, and even