Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/146

122 called Carolana, does not appear to have led to any settlement. Heath's patent was subsequently declared void, the conditions on which it was granted not having been fulfilled. Different points, however, in this fertile region, were, during the following fifteen or twenty years, occupied by bands of emigrants. Certain persons, suffering from religious difficulties in Virginia, fled beyond her limits and occupied a portion of the country on the banks of the Chowan, north of Albemarle Sound. A small party of adventurers from New England settled near the mouth of Cape Fear River, about 1660; but as the land was not found to be productive, and the neighboring Indians were not well disposed, the greater part of the emigrants soon after returned home; to the honor of Massachusetts it must be stated, that contributions were forwarded, in 1667, to the relief of those who remained, and who had fallen into great distress.

Soon after the Restoration, a body of noblemen of the highest rank, the Earl of Clarendon, Monk, Duke of Albemarle, Lords Berkeley, Craven, and Ashley, Sir George Cartaret, Sir John Colleton, and Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, "excited," as they declared, "by a laudable and pious zeal of the Gospel, begged a certain country in the parts of America not yet cultivated and planted, and only inhabited by some barbarous people, who have no knowledge of God." Charles II. readily granted their petition, and erected out of the territory south of the Chesapeake the new province of, embracing the region from Albemarle Sound, southward to the River St. John's, and westward to the Pacific. The charter empowered the eight joint proprietaries, named above, to enact and publish any laws which they should judge necessary, with the assent, advice, and approbation of the freemen of the colony; to erect courts of judicature, and appoint civil judges, magistrates, and officers; to erect forts, castles, cities, and towns; to make war, and, in cases of necessity, to exercise martial law; to build harbors, make ports, and enjoy customs and subsidies, imposed with the consent of the freemen, on goods loaded and unloaded. One of the provisions of this charter deserves particular notice. The king authorized the proprietaries to allow the inhabitants of the province such indulgences and dispensations in religious affairs, as they, in their discretion, should think proper and reasonable: and no person, to whom such liberty should be granted, was to be molested, punished, or called in question, for any differences in speculative opinions with respect to religion, provided he disturbed not the civil order and peace of the community.

The first object of the proprietaries naturally was to conciliate the settlers from New England and Virginia, who were already on the ground. Very liberal terms were offered to the former of these, such as a hundred acres of land to each free settler, liberty of conscience, a distinct and recognized share in the government, etc.; but for reasons just now stated, the colony at