The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 (of 5)
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[Footnote 132: History of South Carolina.]
{1721}
{1732}
[Sidenote: The province divided.]
Carolina received with joy the same form of government which had been
bestowed on her sister colonies. The people pleased with their
situation, and secure of protection, turned their attention to
domestic and agricultural pursuits; and the face of the country soon
evidenced the happy effects which result from contented industry,
directed by those who are to receive its fruits. For the convenience
of the inhabitants, the province was divided; and was, thenceforward,
distinguished by the names of North and South Carolina.[133]
[Footnote 133: Idem.]
[Sidenote: Georgia settled.]
About this period, the settlement of a new colony was planned in
England. The tract of country lying between the rivers Savanna and
Alatamaha being unoccupied by Europeans, a company was formed for the
humane purpose of transplanting into this wilderness, the suffering
poor of the mother country. This territory, now denominated Georgia,
was granted to the company; and a corporation, consisting of
twenty-one persons, was created under the name of "trustees for
settling and establishing the colony of Georgia." Large sums of money
were subscribed for transporting, and furnishing with necessaries,
such poor people as should be willing to pass the Atlantic, and to
seek the means of subsistence in a new world. One hundred and sixteen
persons embarked at Gravesend, under the conduct of Mr. James
Oglethorpe, one of the trustees, who, after landing at Charleston,
proceeded to the tract of country allotted for the new colony, and
laid the foundation of the town of Savanna, on the river which bears
that name. A small fort was erected on its bank, in which some guns
were mounted; and a treaty was held with the Creek Indians, from whom
the cession of a considerable tract was obtained.
The trustees continued to make great efforts for the accomplishment of
their object, and settled several companies of emigrants in Georgia.
Unfortunately, the wisdom of their regulations did not equal the
humanity of their motives. Totally unacquainted with the country they
were to govern, they devised a system for it, rather calculated to
impede than to promote its population.
{1733}
[Sidenote: Impolicy of the first regulation.]
Considering each male inhabitant both as a soldier and a planter, to
be provided with arms and ammunition for defence as well as with
utensils for cultivation, they adopted the pernicious resolution of
introducing such tenures for holding lands as were most favourable to
a military establishment. Each tract granted, was considered as a
military fief, for which the possessor was to appear in arms, and take
the field, when required for the public defence. The grants were in
_tail male_; and, on the termination of the estate, the lands were to
revert to the trust, to be re-granted to such persons as would most
benefit the colony. Any lands which should not be enclosed, cleared,
and cultivated, within eighteen years, reverted to the trust. The
importation of negroes, and of rum, was prohibited; and those only
were allowed to trade with the Indians, to whom a license should be
given.
However specious the arguments in support of these regulations might
appear to the trustees, human ingenuity could scarcely have devised a
system better calculated to defeat their hopes.
The tenure of lands drove the settlers into Carolina where that
property might be acquired in fee simple. The prohibition of slavery
rendered the task of opening the country, too heavy to be successfully
undertaken in that burning climate; and the restriction on their trade
to the West Indies, deprived them of the only market for lumber, an
article in which they abounded.
{1734}
Mr. Oglethorpe's first employment was the construction of
fortifications for defence. He erected one fort on the Savanna, at
Augusta, and another on an island of the Alatamaha, called Frederica,
for defence against the Indians and the inhabitants of Florida. The
Spaniards remonstrated against them; and a commissioner from the
Havanna insisted on the evacuation of the country to the thirty-third
degree of north latitude, which he claimed in the name of the King of
Spain; but this remonstrance and claim were equally disregarded.
The restrictions imposed by the trustees, on the inhabitants of
Georgia, were too oppressive to be endured in silence. They
remonstrated, particularly, against the tenure by which their lands
were held, and against the prohibition of the introduction of slaves.
These complaints, the result of experience, were addressed to persons
ignorant of the condition of the petitioners, and were neglected. The
colony languished; while South Carolina, not unlike Georgia both in
soil and climate, advanced with considerable rapidity. Although
emigration was encouraged by paying the passage money of the
emigrants, by furnishing them with clothes, arms, ammunition, and
implements of husbandry, by maintaining their families for the first
year, and, in some instances, by furnishing them with stock; yet the
unwise policy, which has been mentioned, more than counterbalanced
these advantages; and for ten years, during which time the exports
from Carolina more than doubled, the settlers in Georgia could, with
difficulty, obtain a scanty subsistence.
{1737}
The differences between Great Britain and Spain not admitting of
adjustment, both nations prepared for war. The Spaniards strengthened
East Florida; and the British government ordered a regiment,
consisting of six hundred effective men, into Georgia. The command of
the troops, both of Georgia and Carolina, was given to major general
Oglethorpe, who fixed his headquarters at Frederica.
[Sidenote: Insurrection of the slaves.]
Before hostilities had commenced, the Spaniards at St. Augustine
engaged in criminal intrigues among the blacks of Carolina. Agents had
been secretly employed in seducing the slaves of that province to
escape to St. Augustine, where liberty was promised them, and where
they were formed into a regiment officered by themselves. Hitherto
these practices had been attended only with the loss of property; but,
about this time, the evil assumed a much more alarming form. A large
number of slaves assembled at Stono, where they forced a warehouse
containing arms and ammunition, murdered the whites in possession of
it, and, after choosing a captain, directed their march south
westward, with drums beating and colours flying. On their march, they
massacred the whites, seized all the arms they could find, and forced
such blacks as did not voluntarily join them, to follow their party.
Intoxicated with ardent spirits, and with their short lived success,
they considered their work as already achieved, and halted in an open
field, where the time which might have been employed in promoting
their design, was devoted to dancing and exultation. Fortunately, the
people of the neighbourhood had assembled on the same day, to attend
divine service; and, as was then directed by law, all the men came
armed. They marched immediately against the blacks, whom they
completely surprised. Many were killed, and the residue dispersed or
taken. Thus the insurrection was suppressed on the day of its
commencement; and such of its leaders as survived the battle were
immediately executed.
During the long repose, which the pacific temper of the duke of
Orleans, Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. and the
equally pacific temper of sir Robert Walpole, minister of England,
gave to their respective countries, the British colonies in America
had increased rapidly in population and in wealth. Lands were cheap,
and subsistence easily acquired. From New York to Virginia inclusive,
no enemy existed to restrain new settlements, and no fears of
inability to maintain a family, checked the natural propensity to
early marriages. The people were employed in cultivating the earth,
and in spreading themselves over the vast regions which were open to
them; and, during this period, their history furnishes none of those
remarkable events which interest posterity.
CHAPTER X.
War declared against Spain.... Expedition against St.
Augustine.... Georgia invaded.... Spaniards land on an
island in the Alatamaha.... Appearance of a fleet from
Charleston.... Spanish army re-embarks.... Hostilities with
France.... Expedition against Louisbourg.... Louisbourg
surrenders.... Great plans of the belligerent powers....
Misfortunes of the armament under the duke D'Anville.... The
French fleet dispersed by a storm.... Expedition against
Nova Scotia.... Treaty of Aix la Chapelle.... Paper money of
Massachusetts redeemed.... Contests between the French and
English respecting boundaries.... Statement respecting the
discovery of the Mississippi.... Scheme for connecting
Louisiana with Canada.... Relative strength of the French
and English colonies.... Defeat at the Little Meadows....
Convention at Albany.... Plan of union.... Objected to both
in America and Great Britain.
{1739}
[Sidenote: War with Spain.]
The increasing complaints of the merchants, and the loud clamours of
the nation, at length forced the minister to abandon his pacific
system; and war was declared against Spain. A squadron commanded by
admiral Vernon was detached to the West Indies, with instructions to
act offensively; and general Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the
settlements in Florida. He planned an expedition against St.
Augustine, and requested the assistance of South Carolina. That
colony, ardently desiring the expulsion of neighbours alike feared and
hated, entered zealously into the views of the general, and agreed to
furnish the men and money he requested. A regiment, commanded by
colonel Vanderdussen, was immediately raised in Virginia and the two
Carolinas. A body of Indians was also engaged, and captain Price, who
commanded the small fleet on that station, promised his co-operation.
These arrangements being made, and the mouth of St. John's river, on
the coast of Florida, being appointed as the place, of rendezvous
general Oglethorpe hastened to Georgia, to prepare his regiment for
the expedition.
{1740}
Those unexpected impediments, which always embarrass military
movements conducted by men without experience, having delayed the
arrival of his northern troops, Oglethorpe entered Florida at the head
of his own regiment, aided by a party of Indians; and invested Diego,
a small fort about twenty-five miles from St. Augustine, which
capitulated after a short resistance. He then returned to the place of
rendezvous, where he was joined by colonel Vanderdussen, and by a
company of Highlanders under the command of captain M'Intosh; a few
days after which, he marched with his whole force, consisting of about
two thousand men, to fort Moosa, in the neighbourhood of St.
Augustine, which was evacuated on his approach. The general now
perceived that the enterprise would be attended with more difficulty
than had been anticipated. In the time which intervened between his
entering Florida and appearing before the town, supplies of provisions
had been received from the country, and six Spanish half gallies
carrying long brass nine pounders, and two sloops laden with
provisions, had entered the harbour. Finding the place better
fortified than had been expected, he determined to invest it
completely, and to advance by regular approaches. In execution of this
plan, colonel Palmer, with ninety-five Highlanders, and forty-two
Indians, remained at fort Moosa, while the army took different
positions near the town, and began an ineffectual bombardment from the
island of Anastasia. The general was deliberating on a plan for
forcing the harbour and taking a nearer position, when colonel Palmer
was surprised, and his detachment cut to pieces. At the same time some
small vessels from the Havanna, with a reinforcement of men and supply
of provisions, entered the harbour through the narrow channel of the
Matanzas.
The army began to despair of success; and the provincials, enfeebled
by the heat, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by fruitless
efforts, marched away in large bodies. The navy being ill supplied
with provisions, and the season for hurricanes approaching, captain
Price was unwilling to hazard his majesty's ships on that coast. The
general, labouring under a fever, finding his regiment, as well as
himself, worn out with fatigue, and rendered unfit for action by
disease; reluctantly abandoned the enterprise, and returned to
Frederica.
The colonists, disappointed and chagrined by the failure of the
expedition, attributed this misfortune entirely to the incapacity of
the general, who was not less dissatisfied with them. Whatever may
have been the true causes of the failure, it produced a mutual and
injurious distrust between the general and the colonists.[134]
[Footnote 134: In the same year Charleston was reduced to
ashes. A large portion of its inhabitants passed, in one
day, from prosperity to indigence. Under the pressure of
this misfortune, the legislature applied to parliament for
aid; and that body, with a liberality reflecting honour on
its members, voted twenty thousand pounds, to be distributed
among the sufferers.]
{1742}
The events of the war soon disclosed the dangers resulting from this
want of confidence in general Oglethorpe, and, still more, from the
want of power to produce a co-operation of the common force for the
common defence.
Spain had ever considered the settlement of Georgia as an encroachment
on her territory, and had cherished the intention to seize every
proper occasion to dislodge the English by force. With this view, an
armament consisting of two thousand men, commanded by Don Antonio di
Ridondo, embarked at the Havanna, under convoy of a strong squadron,
and arrived at St. Augustine in May. The fleet having been seen on its
passage, notice of its approach was given to general Oglethorpe, who
communicated the intelligence to governor Glenn of South Carolina, and
urged the necessity of sending the troops of that province to his
assistance.
Georgia being a barrier for South Carolina, the policy of meeting an
invading army on the frontiers of the former, especially one
containing several companies composed of negroes who had fled from the
latter, was too obvious not to be perceived: yet either from prejudice
against Oglethorpe, or the disposition inherent in separate
governments to preserve their own force for their own defence,
Carolina refused to give that general any assistance. Its attention
was directed entirely to the defence of Charleston; and the
inhabitants of its southern frontier, instead of marching to the camp
of Oglethorpe, fled to that city for safety. In the mean time, the
general collected a few Highlanders, and rangers of Georgia, together
with as many Indian warriors as would join him, and determined to
defend Frederica.
[Sidenote: Georgia invaded.]
Late in June, the Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty-two sail,
carrying above three thousand men, crossed Simon's bar into Jekyl
sound, and passing Simon's fort, then occupied by general Oglethorpe,
proceeded up the Alatamaha, out of the reach of his guns; after which,
the troops landed on the island, and erected a battery of twenty
eighteen pounders.
Fort Simon's being indefensible, Oglethorpe retreated to Frederica.
His whole force, exclusive of Indians, amounted to little more than
seven hundred men, a force which could only enable him to act on the
defensive until the arrival of reinforcements which he still expected
from South Carolina. The face of the country was peculiarly favorable
to this system of operations. Its thick woods and deep morasses
opposed great obstacles to the advance of an invading enemy, not well
acquainted with the paths which passed through them. Oglethorpe turned
these advantages to the best account. In an attempt made by the
Spanish general to pierce these woods in order to reach Frederica,
several sharp rencounters took place; in one of which he lost a
captain and two lieutenants killed, and above one hundred privates
taken prisoners. He then changed his plan of operations; and,
abandoning his intention of forcing his way to Frederica by land,
called in his parties, kept his men under cover of his cannon, and
detached some vessels up the river, with a body of troops on board, to
reconnoitre the fort, and draw the attention of the English to that
quarter.
About this time, an English prisoner escaped from the Spaniards, and
informed general Oglethorpe that a difference existed between the
troops from Cuba, and those from St. Augustine, which had been carried
so far that they encamped in separate places. This intelligence
suggested the idea of attacking them while divided; and his perfect
knowledge of the woods favoured the hope of surprising one of their
encampments. In execution of this design, he drew out the flower of
his army, and marched in the night, unobserved, within two miles of
the Spanish camp. There, his troops halted, and he advanced, himself,
at the head of a select corps, to reconnoitre the situation of the
enemy. While he was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the
necessary information without being discovered, a French soldier of
his party discharged his musket, and ran into the Spanish lines.
Discovery defeating every hope of success, the general retreated to
Frederica.
Oglethorpe, confident that the deserter would disclose his weakness,
devised an expedient which turned the event to advantage. He wrote to
the deserter as if in concert with him, directing him to give the
Spanish general such information as might induce him to attack
Frederica; hinting also at an attempt meditated by admiral Vernon on
St. Augustine, and at late advices from Carolina, giving assurances of
a reinforcement of two thousand men. He then tampered with one of the
Spanish prisoners, who, for a small bribe, promised to deliver this
letter to the deserter, after which, he was permitted to escape. The
prisoner, as was foreseen delivered the letter to his general, who
ordered the deserter to be put in irons; and, was, in no small degree,
embarrassed to determine whether the letter ought to be considered as
a stratagem to save Frederica, and induce the abandonment of the
enterprise; or as real instructions to direct the conduct of a spy.
While hesitating on the course to be pursued, his doubts were removed
by one of those incidents, which have so much influence on human
affairs.
[Sidenote: Spanish army re-embarks in confusion.]
The assembly of South Carolina had voted a supply of money to general
Oglethorpe; and the governor had ordered some ships of force to his
aid. These appeared off the coast while the principal officers of the
Spanish army were yet deliberating on the letter. They deliberated no
longer. The whole army was seized with a panic; and, after setting
fire to the fort, embarked in great hurry and confusion, leaving
behind several pieces of heavy artillery, and a large quantity of
provisions and military stores.
Thus was Georgia delivered from an invasion which threatened the total
subjugation of the province.
The ill success of these reciprocal attempts at conquest, seems to
have discouraged both parties; and the Spanish and English colonies,
in the neighbourhood of each other, contented themselves, for the
residue of the war, with guarding their own frontiers.
The connexion between the branches of the house of Bourbon was too
intimate for the preservation of peace with France, during the
prosecution of war against Spain. Both nations expected and prepared
for hostilities. War had commenced in fact, though not in form, on the
continent of Europe; but as they carried on their military operations
as auxiliaries, in support of the contending claims of the elector of
Bavaria, and the queen of Hungary, to the imperial throne, they
preserved in America a suspicious and jealous suspension of hostility,
rather than a real peace.
{1744}
This state of things was interrupted by a sudden incursion of the
French into Nova Scotia.
[Sidenote: Hostilities with France.]
The governor of Cape Breton having received information that France
and Great Britain had become principals in the war, took possession of
de Canseau with a small military and naval force, and made the
garrison, and inhabitants prisoners of war. This enterprise was
followed by an attempt on Annapolis, which was defeated by the timely
arrival of a reinforcement from Massachusetts. These offensive
operations stimulated the English colonists to additional efforts to
expel such dangerous neighbors, and to unite the whole northern
continent bordering on the Atlantic, under one common sovereign.
The island of Cape Breton, so denominated from one of its capes, lies
between the 45th and 47th degree of north latitude, at the distance of
fifteen leagues from Cape Ray, the south western extremity of
Newfoundland. Its position rendered the possession of it very material
to the commerce of France; and the facility with which the fisheries
might be annoyed from its ports, gave it an importance to which it
could not otherwise have been entitled. Thirty millions of
livres,[135] and the labour of twenty-five years, had been employed on
its fortifications. From its strength, and still more from the
numerous privateers that issued from its ports, it had been termed the
Dunkirk[136] of America. On this place, governor Shirley meditated an
attack.
[Footnote 135: About five and a half millions of dollars.]
[Footnote 136: Belknap.]
The prisoners taken at Canseau, and others who had been captured at
sea and carried to Louisbourg, were sent to Boston. The information
they gave, if it did not originally suggest this enterprise,
contributed greatly to its adoption. They said that Duvivier had gone
to France to solicit assistance for the conquest of Nova Scotia, in
the course of the ensuing campaign; and that the store ships from
France for Cape Breton, not having arrived on the coast until it was
blocked up with ice, had retired to the West Indies.
In several letters addressed to administration, governor Shirley
represented the danger to which Nova Scotia was exposed, and pressed
for naval assistance. These letters were sent by captain Ryal, an
officer of the garrison which had been taken at Canseau, whose
knowledge of Louisbourg, of Cape Breton, and of Nova Scotia, enabled
him to make such representations to the lords of the admiralty, as
were calculated to promote the views of the northern colonies.
The governor was not disappointed. Orders were dispatched to commodore
Warren, then in the West Indies, to proceed towards the north, early
in the spring; and to employ such a force as might be necessary to
protect the northern colonies in their trade and fisheries, as well as
to distress the enemy. On these subjects, he was instructed to consult
with Shirley, to whom orders of the same date were written, directing
him to assist the King's ships with transports, men, and provisions.
Such deep impression had the design of taking Louisbourg made on the
mind of Shirley, that he did not wait for intelligence of the
reception given to his application for naval assistance. He was
induced to decide on engaging in the enterprise, even without such
assistance, by the representations of Mr. Vaughan, son of the
lieutenant governor of New Hampshire, a man of a sanguine and ardent
temper, who could think nothing impracticable which he wished to
achieve. Mr. Vaughan had never been at Louisbourg, but had learned
something of the strength of the place, from fishermen and others; and
the bold turn of his mind suggested the idea of surprising it. There
is something infectious in enthusiasm, whatever be its object; and
Vaughan soon communicated his own convictions to Shirley.[137]
[Footnote 137: Belknap.]
{1745}
The governor informed the general court that he had a proposition of
great importance to communicate, and requested that the members would
take an oath of secrecy, previous to his laying it before them. This
novel request being complied with, he submitted his plan for attacking
Louisbourg. It was referred to a committee of both houses; the
arguments for and against the enterprise were temperately considered;
and the part suggested by prudence prevailed. The expedition was
thought too great, too hazardous, and too expensive.
The report of the committee was approved by the house of
representatives, and the expedition was supposed to be abandoned; but,
notwithstanding the precaution taken to secure secrecy, the subject
which had occupied the legislature was divulged,[138] and the people
took a deep interest in it. Numerous petitions were presented, praying
the general court to re-consider its vote, and to adopt the
proposition of the governor. Among the several arguments urged in its
favour, that which the petitioners pressed most earnestly, was the
necessity of acquiring Louisbourg, to save the fisheries from ruin.