THE TUSCARORAS EMIGRATE.

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ent tribe from the English," and moreover promised to CHAP. take no more of their lands, they did not put him to death with Lawson. He was kept a prisoner five weeks, and 1712 then permitted to return home. During this time, the Tuscaroras and their allies, the Corees, had attacked the settlements on the Roanoke and Pamlico sound. The 1711. carnage continued for three days, and many of the poor people, who had fled from persecution at home, perished by the tomahawk in the land of their adoption.

The people appealed to Virginia and to South Carolina 1712 for aid. Only a part of the Tuscaroras had engaged in the attack. With another portion of the tribe, Spotswood, governor of Virginia, made a treaty of peace,-the only assistance he could give. Governor Craven of South Carolina sent to their aid a small force, and a number of friendly Indians. These drove the Tuscaroras to their fort, and compelled them to make peace. These same troops, as they were returning home, basely violated the treaty just made; attacked some Indian towns, and seized their inhabitants to sell them as slaves. The war was of course renewed. The Tuscaroras, driven from one place of concealment to another, and hunted for their scalps or for slaves, finally abandoned their fair lands of the south; emigrated across Virginia and Pennsylvania to the home of their fathers, and there, at the great council-fire of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, on Oneida lake in New York, were admitted into that confederacy, of which they became the sixth nation. At this time, the people of 1713 Pennsylvania complained of the importation of these captives into their colony. A law was therefore enacted, forbidding the introduction of "negroes and slaves, as exciting the suspicion and dissatisfaction of the Indians of the province."

The war seemed to be ended, and the traders of South Carolina especially, extended their traffic with the tribes who lived in the region between that colony and the Mis

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CHAP. sissippi. Soon after, these traders were driven from the villages of some of the more western tribes. This was 1713. attributed to the influence of the French of Louisiana.

1715.

The Yamassees, whom we have seen in alliance with the colonists against the Tuscaroras, when they hoped to obtain captives, now renewed their friendship with the Spaniards, with whom they had been at variance, for they hated the priests, who attempted to convert them. They induced the Catawbas, the Creeks and the Cherokees, who had also been allies of the colonists against the Tuscaroras, to join them. This alliance was likewise attributed to Spanish and French influence. Governor Spotswood seems to have revealed the truth, when he wrote to the "Board of Trade" in London, that "the Indians never break with the English without gross provocation from persons trading with them." These tribes had been looked upon as a tame and peaceable people," and fair game for unprincipled traders.

The savages cunningly laid their plans, and suddenly, one morning, fell upon the unsuspecting settlers, killed great numbers and took many prisoners. The people fled toward the sea-shore. A swift runner hastened to Port Royal and alarmed the inhabitants, who escaped as best they could to Charleston. The Indians continued to prowl around the settlements, and drove the inhabitants before them, until the colony was on the verge of ruin.

The enemy received their first check from forces sent from North Carolina. Governor Craven acted with his usual energy, he raised a few troops and went to meet the savage foe. The contest was long and severe; in the end the Indian power was broken. The Yamassees emigrated to Florida, where they were welcomed with joy by the Spaniards at St. Augustine. The other tribes retired further into the wilderness. Yet war-parties of the Yamassees continued, for years, to make incursions against the frontier settlements, and kept them in a state of alarm.

CHARTER OF THE PROPRIETARIES FORFEITED.

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The proprietaries made no effort to protect the colo- CHAP nists or to share the expense of the war. They at length determined, as they must defend themselves, also to man- 1715. age their own affairs, and they resolved "to have no more to do with the proprietaries, nor to have any regard to their officers." On the other hand, the proprietaries complained that the "people were industriously searching for grounds of quarrel with them, with the view of throwing off their authority." The matter was brought before Parliament, which declared the charter of the proprietaries to be forfeited.

Francis Nicholson, who for many years had been experimenting as a colonial governor, and, as he said, “been falsely sworn out of Virginia and lied out of Nova Scotia," was appointed provisional governor. He was not an example of good temper, and much less of good morals. He made a treaty with the Cherokees, who were to permit only Englishmen to settle on their lands; and with the Creeks, whose hunting-grounds were to extend to the Savannah. He had battled against popular rights in the north, now he thought best to make his path easy, and he confirmed all the laws passed by the revolutionary Assembly. However, when he left the country he mourned over the "spirit of commonwealth notions which prevailed,” as the result, as he said, of intercourse with the New Englanders, who, at this time, were busily engaged in trading with the Carolinas.

These disputes were at length ended by an act of Parliament. Seven of the proprietaries sold out their claims to the government of England. The two Carolinas were 1729 now separated, and a royal governor appointed for each.

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CHAPTER XVI.

COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA.

Founded in Benevolence.-Oglethorpe.-First Emigration.--Savannah.— Encouragements.-Germans from the Western Alps.-Augusta.-The Moravians.-Scotch Highlanders.-The Wesleys.-Whitefield, his Orphan House.-War with Spain; its Cause.-Failure to Capture St. Augustine. Repulse of the Spanish Invaders.-The Colony becomes a Royal Province.

CHAP. WE have seen some colonies founded as asylums for the oppressed for conscience' sake, and others the off1732. spring of royal grants to needy courtiers,-bankrupt in fortune, and sometimes in morals, seeking in their old age to retrieve the follies of their youth. It is now a pleasure to record the founding of an asylum not alone for the oppressed for conscience' sake, but for the victims of unrighteous law a colony the offspring of benevolence; the benevolence of one noble-hearted man ;-one who, born in affluence, devoted his wealth, his mind and his energies to the great work. James Edward Oglethorpe, "the poor man's friend," "a Christian gentleman of the Cavalier school," had sympathy for the unfortunate who were immured within prison walls, not for crime, but for debt. He labored to have repealed the laws authorizing such imprisonment, and to reform the entire prison discipline of England.

His efforts did not end here; he desired to provide in America an asylum for those who were, while in their own land, at the mercy of heard-hearted creditors, as well as

A TRUST FOR THE POOR.

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a place of refuge for the poor, where comfort and happi- CHAP ness might be the reward of industry and virtue. There were, at this time, in England, more than four thousand 1732. men in prison for debt, with no hope of relief. Through

his exertions, "multitudes were restored to light and freedom, who by long confinement were strangers and helpless in the country of their birth."

Others became interested in his schemes of benevolence, and a petition numerously signed by men of influence and family was presented to the king. They asked a charter to colonize the territory south of the Savannah river, then included in Carolina, with unfortunate debtors, and with Protestants from the continent of Europe. A grant was given by George II. of the region lying between the Savannah and the Altamaha, and from their head. springs west to the Pacific. The territory was to be known as Georgia. It was given "in trust for the poor" to twenty-one trustees for the space of twenty-one years. The trustees manifested their zeal by giving their services without any reward.

The climate of this region was thought to be very favorable for the raising of silk-worms, and the cultivation of the grape. Merchants, therefore, who could not be otherwise influenced, were induced to favor the cause by hopes of gain. The "free exercise of religion" was guaranteed to all "except papists." Under no conditions was land to be granted in tracts of more than five hundred acres. This was designed to enable the poor to become owners of the soil, and to prevent the rich from monopolizing the best lands.

Much interest was taken in this new field of benevolence, and donations were made by all classes of society. What a transition for the poor debtor! He was to exchange the gloomy walls of a prison for a home in that delightful land, where grim poverty never would annoy him more! It was determined to take as colonists only