Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/222

198 remained in a state of perfect friendship and peace with the colonists, who followed their various employments in the neighborhood of those Indians without the least terror or molestation.

The Carolinas now attracted considerable attention, and their population was increased by accessions from several of the states of Europe. Encouraged by the assurances and the arrangements of their countryman, John Peter Pury, a native of Neufchatel, in Switzerland, one hundred and seventy persons emigrated with him to this province, and not long after they were joined by two hundred more. The governor, according to agreement, allotted forty thousand acres of land for the use of the Swiss settlement' on the north-east side of the Savannah River; and a town was marked out for their accommodation, which he called Purysburgh, from the name of the principal promoter of the settlement. These settlers, however, felt very severely the change of climate, to which many of their lives fell a sacrifice; and for some years the survivors deeply regretted the voluntary banishment to which they had subjected themselves. In the same year, according to a plan that had been recently adopted in England, for the more speedy population and settlement of Carolina, eleven townships were marked out on the sides of rivers, in square plats, each consisting of twenty thousand acres. Two of these townships were laid out on the Alatamaha; two on the Savannah ; two on the Santee; one on the Pedee; one on the Wacamaw; one on the Wateree; and one on Black River. The lands in these townships were divided into shares of fifty acres for each man, woman, and child, who should come over to occupy and improve them. In 1737, multitudes of laborers and husbandmen in Ireland, unable to procure a comfortable subsistence for their families in their native land, embarked for Carolina. The first colony of Irish, receiving a grant of lands near the Santee River, formed a settlement, which was called Williamsburgh.

The following year, a party of slaves made an insurrection in South Carolina, which, however, was easily subdued. Jealous of Spanish influence, and coveting the great wealth of Spanish towns and ships, the Carolinas joined in enterprises against the Spaniards; but the one in 1740, against St. Augustine, was unsuccessful. In North Carolina the question of the quit-rents continued to be productive of discord, and the officers of the crown were for years unpaid. The matter was, however, arranged in 1748. Notwithstanding difficulties and trials of various descriptions, the colony increased in population and wealth ; and in some cases the younger members of rich families were sent to England to be educated. By and by we shall see the effect of this change, brought about by the possession of wealth and leisure. 