第 27 节
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疯狂热线 更新:2021-12-07 09:33 字数:9322
the Albemarle; seized by a storm; was wrecked。 The two other ships; with a
Barbados sloop; sailed on anal were approaching the Bahamas when another
hurricane destroyed the Port Royal。 The Carolina; however; pushed on with
the sloop; reached Bermuda; and rested there; then; together with a small
ship purchased in these islands; she turned west by south and came in March
of 1670 to the good harbor of Port Royal; South Carolina。
Southward from the harbor where the ships rode; stretched old Florida; held
by the Spaniards。 There was the Spanish town; St。 Augustine。 Thence Spanish
ships might put forth and descend upon the English newcomers。 The colonists
after debate concluded to set some further space between them and lands of
Spain。 The ships put again to sea; beat northward a few leagues; and at
last entered a harbor into which emptied two rivers; presently to be called
the Ashley and the Cooper。 Up the Ashley they went a little way; anchored;
and the colonists going ashore began to build upon the west bank of the
river a town which for the King they named Charles Town。 Ten years later
this place was abandoned in favor of the more convenient point of land
between the two rivers。 Here then was builded the second and more enduring
Charles TownCharleston; as we call it now; in South Carolina。
Colonists came fast to this Carolina lying south。 Barbados sent many;
England; Scotland; and Ireland contributed a share; there came Huguenots
from France; and a certain number of Germans。 In ten years after the first
settling the population numbered twelve hundred; and this presently doubled
and went on to increase。 The early times were taken up with the wrestle
with the forest; with the Indians; with Spanish alarms; with incompetent
governors; with the Lords Proprietaries' Fundamental Constitutions; and
with the restrictions which English Navigation Laws imposed upon English
colonies。 What grains and vegetables and tobacco they could grow; what
cattle and swine they could breed and export; preoccupied the minds of
these pioneer farmers。 There were struggling for growth a rough agriculture
and a hampered trade with Barbados; Virginia; and New Englandtrade
likewise with the buccaneers who swarmed in the West Indian waters。
Five hundred good reasons allowed; and had long allowed; free bootery to
flourish in American seas。 Gross governmental faults; Navigation Acts; and
a hundred petty and great oppressions; general poverty; adventurousness;
lawlessness; and sympathy of mishandled folk with lawlessness; all combined
to keep Brother of the Coast; Buccaneer; and Filibuster alive; and their
ships upon all seas。 Many were no worse than smugglers; others were robbers
with violence; and a few had a dash of the fiend。 All nations had sons in
the business。 England to the south in America had just the ragged coast
line; with its off…lying islands and islets; liked by all this gentry;
whether smuggler or pirate outright。 Through much of the seventeenth
century the settlers on these shores never violently disapproved of the
pirate。 He was often a 〃good fellow。〃 He brought in needed articles without
dues; and had Spanish gold in his pouch。 He was shrugged over and traded with。
He came ashore to Charles Town; and they traded with him there。 At one time
Charles Town got the name of 〃Rogue's Harbor。〃 But that was not forever;
nor indeed; as years are counted; for long。 Better and better emigrants
arrived; to add to the good already there。 The better type prevailed; and
gave its tone to the place。 There set in; on the Ashley and Cooper rivers;
a fair urban life that yet persists。
South Carolina was trying tobacco and wheat。 But in the last years of the
seventeenth century a ship touching at Charleston left there a bag of
Madagascar rice。 Planted; it gave increase that was planted again。 Suddenly
it was found that this was the crop for low…lying Carolina。 Rice became her
staple; as was tobacco of Virginia。
For the rice…fields South Carolina soon wanted African slaves; and they
were consequently brought in numbers; in English ships。 There began; in
this part of the world; even more than in Virginia; the system of large
plantations and the accompanying aristocratic structure of society。 But in
Virginia the planter families lived broadcast over the land; each upon its
own plantation。 In South Carolina; to escape heat and sickness; the
planters of rice and indigo gave over to employees the care of their great
holdings and lived themselves in pleasant Charleston。 These plantations;
with their great gangs of slaves under overseers; differed at many points
from the more kindly; semi…patriarchal life of the Virginian plantation。 To
South Carolina came also the indentured white laborer; but the black was
imported in increasing numbers。
From the first in the Carolinas there had been promised fair freedom for
the unorthodox。 The charters provided; says an early Governor; 〃an overplus
power to grant liberty of conscience; although at home was a hot
persecuting time。〃 Huguenots; Independents; Quakers; dissenters of many
kinds; found on the whole refuge and harbor。 In every colony soon began the
struggle by the dominant color and caste toward political liberty。 King;
Company; Lords Proprietaries; might strive to rule from over the seas。 But
the new land fast bred a practical rough freedom。 The English settlers came
out from a land where political change was in the air。 The stream was set
toward the crumbling of feudalism; the rise of democracy。 In the New World;
circumstances favoring; the stream became a tidal river。 Governors;
councils; assemblies; might use a misleading phraseology of a quaint
servility toward the constituted powers in England。 Tory parties might at
times seem to color the land their own hue。 But there always ran; though
often roughly and with turbulence; a set of the stream against autocracy。
In Carolina; South and North; by the Ashley and Cooper rivers; and in that
region called Albemarle; just back of Virginia; there arose and went on;
through the remainder of the seventeenth century and in the eighteenth;
struggles with the Lords Proprietaries and the Governors that these named;
and behind this a more covert struggle with the Crown。 The details
differed; but the issues Mvolved were much the same in North and South
Carolina。 The struggle lasted for the threescore and odd years of the
proprietary government and renewed itself upon occasion after 1729 when the
Carolinas became royal colonies。 Later; it was swept; a strong affluent;
into the great general stream of colonial revolt; culminating in the
Revolution。
Into North Carolina; beside the border population entering through Virginia
and containing much of a backwoods and derelict nature; came many
Huguenots; the best of folk; and industrious Swiss; and Germans from the
Rhine。 Then the Scotch began to come in numbers; and families of Scotch
descent from the north of Ireland。 The tone of society consequently changed
from that of the early days。 The ruffian and the shiftless sank to the
bottom。 There grew up in North Carolina a people; agricultural but without
great plantations; hardworking and freedom…loving。
South Carolina; on the other hand; had great plantations; a town society;
suave and polished; a learned clergy; an aristocratic cast to life。 For
long; both North and South clung to the sea…line and to the lower stretches
of rivers where the ships could come in。 Only by degrees did English
colonial life push back into the forests away from the sea; to the hills;
and finally across the mountains。
CHAPTER XV。 ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD
In the spring of 1689; Virginians flocked to Jamestown to hear William and
Mary proclaimed Lord and Lady of Virginia。 The next year there entered; as
LieutenantGovernor; Francis Nicholson; an odd character in whom an
immediate violence of temper went with a statesmanlike conception of things
to be。 Two years he governed here; then was transferred to Maryland; and
then in seven years came back to the James。 He had not been liked there;
but while he was gone Virginia had endured in his stead Sir Edmund Andros。
That had been swapping the witch for the devil。 Virginia in 1698 seems to
have welcomed the returning Nicholson。
Jamestown had been hastily rebuilt; after Bacon's burning; and then by
accident burned again。 The word malaria was not in use; but all knew that
there had always been sickness on that low spit running out from the
marshes。 The place might well seem haunted; so many had suffered there and
died there。 Poetical imagination might have evoked a piece of sad
pageantrystarving times; massacres; quarrels; executions; cruel and
unusual punishments; gliding Indians。 A practical question; however; faced
the inhabitants; and all were willing to make elsewhere a new capital city。
Seven miles back from the James; about halfway over to the blue York; stood
that cluster of houses called Middle Plantation; where Bacon's men had
taken his Oath。 There was planned and builded Williamsburg; which was to be
for nearly a hundred years the capital of Virginia。 It was named for King
William; and there was in the minds of some loyal colonist