Some Account of the Design of the Trustees for establishing Colonys in America

Poor Hoped People who can not gain a Subsistance in England

MANY POOR FAMILYS are reduced to the utmost necessity by inevitable misfortunes. As Tradesmen who have suffered losses, Artificers and Manufacturers of such branches of Trade as are decayed or overstocked, Fathers of numerous Familys by Sickness thrown behind hand so as they cannot retrieve it, Labouring men who having served in the Army or in private Familys when discharged are rendered by disuse incapable of returning to their former Occupations. Many by too much good nature to rescue others have undone themselves. The Prisons were full of these who were bound for others or ingaged in Law Suits. It is true that great numbers [are] have been and are Daly relieved by Parliamentary Compassion, a noble Charity but not intirely compleated, for. those only who have friends to assist them can become beneficial to the publick whilst the Insolvent who is turned naked out of a Prison and has not a Friend to trust him with work reaps but the priviledge of starving at large.⁹ The want of Friends, want of Credit or a false shame of working in a lower degree prevents several honest Men from being useful in England and makes them either perish for want, fly their Countrey or seek for Bread by unlawful means. Want first reduces them to Sickness or to Prison, and when the Mans industry is useless the Wife and wretched Children must either perish or ask relief of their Parish which perhaps disowns them perhaps allows them enough to prevent their being famished to Death but not enough to prevent Sickness the constant Companion of Famine. The gay and rich part of Mankind were wholly unacquainted with the numbers of their fellow Creatures who languished and dyed through meer want till the late Committee of Inquiry when it appeared by the lowest Account that 300 Persons per Annum had at a medium for several years past perished in one Prison only.¹⁰

Persecuted Protestants

As there are some in England whom misfortunes may force abroad there are infinite numbers in other parts of Europe to whom Tyranny and Persecution have made Banishment less dreadful than the residing in their native Countrys.¹¹

Long peace makes Evacuation necessary

Praise be to Heaven that there have been 60 Years without Civil War or Pestilence in England and 16 without any foreign War that could deserve that name therefore Politically speaking an evacuation is necessary not only for the people but for the Government also. As Sir Walter Raleigh fully proves who says “Where many younger Sons of younger Brothers have neither Lands nor means to uphold themselves & where many Men of Trade or useful profession know not how to bestow themselves for lack of employment there can it not be avoided but that the whole Body of the State (howsoever otherwise healthfully disposed [)] should suffer anguish by the grievance of these ill affected Members.

“It sufficeth not that the Country hath wherewith to sustain even more than lives upon it, if means be wanting whereby to drive convenient participation of the general Store into a great number of well Deservers.

“In such cases there will be complaining commiseration & finally murmure (as Men are apt to lay the blame of those Evils whereof they know not the ground upon publick mismanagement[)]”¹²

Idle Poor

Besides the honest and unfortunate there is another species the idle poor the disposing of whom may be considered not only as a Charity to them but a benefit to our selves, since it is the removing of so many Enemys to the publick tranquility. These may be divided into Convicts and Vagrants: it is already provided that the former shall be transported at the publick expence, but the severe Laws against Vagrants are of little or no effect, for when they are put in execution which rarely happens their effect is quite different from their Design. He who is committed to Bridewell is not reformed but initiated in all the secrets of Roguery and comes out ten times wickeder than before.

It is a reflection both upon the Charity and Policy of a Christian City to see numbers of Boys healthy and strong idling about the Streets breeding up Recruits for the Street Robbers. The putting them and such Persons as have no legal Settlements into a method of earning their Bread, the rescuing them from Vice, Necessity and Idleness and training them up to labour would be a real Charity.¹³

Land wanting People

As there are numbers of poor in England [who are] of little or no use [to themselves and of little] to the publick, there are other parts of the World where Men are as much wanting as Lands are here, places in which fertile Tracts of Land are of no value because there is none to cultivate them. Amongst the rest, [a] great part of Carolina is in this condition.

Description of Carolina

All Carolina may be divided into 3 parts, of which one is uninhabited, the other is possessed by the Indians as the third is by the English and called the Settlement. The last are only established in those places which are convenient for Water Carriage, that is to say here and there along the Sea Coast, and in few places above 60 Miles up the Rivers. The Settlement is bounded on the North by Clarendon River, and on the South by [the South Edistow] Port Royal River, the uninhabited part is from [the South Edistow] Port Royal to the Alatamaha and the Indians possess [-ed of the] the Lands to the West of the Settlement.¹⁴ This Province is bounded on the North by Virginia, on the South West by the Spanish Florida, on the East and South East by the Atlantick Ocean along which it extends it self from 36 to 29 Degrees North Latitude and Westward into the Country as far as the South Seas. Described in this manner it was granted by King Charles the second to Lord Shaftsbury and other Lord Proprietors. It was then one great Forrest thinly inhabited by small Indian Nations. About the Year 1670 some English Familys were transported thither and Colonel Sayle was appointed Governor. Afterwards it was divided into 2 Provinces North and South and notwithstanding numberless discouragements increased in People.

English familys first transported thither

North Carolina

In North Carolina the people on their first establishment for their present conveniency dispersed themselves into Country Plantations so that there is no Town of any consideration and very little Trade there.

South Carolina

French Protestants

In South Carolina the first Planters established themselves in a Body pursuant to the Directions of Lord Shaftsbury. There is a considerable Trade and one beautiful Town consisting of about a thousand white People. This Province is watered by several noble Rivers. The first to the Northward and by which it is seperated from North Carolina is Clarendon River; about . . . Miles to the South West of Clarendon River the Sante falls into the Sea, a River of long course which rises in the Apalachy or Cherichee Mountains. Several French Protestant Familys when forced from France by Persecution in 1686 settled here, in a forlorn condition. God has blessed their industry and they and their familys are now Masters of handsome Houses, large Tracts of cultivated Land and numerous Herds of Cattle. At about . . . Miles to the South West of the Sante the two Rivers of Ashly and Cooper joining each other meet the Ocean, upon the point of Land formed by their conflux stands Charles Town the capital of South Carolina. At about . . . Miles from their Mouths the River Stono discharges it self. . . . Miles farther to the North West the North Edistow River meets the Sea; at about . . . Miles farther the South Edistow a deep and wide River falls into the Sea.¹⁵ From the Edistow at about . . . Miles South West along the Coast lye the Islands of Beaufort and St. Hellens on which is a small Town from the adjoining Harbour called Port Royal looked upon to be the best for Men of War in all Carolina. Thus far is inhabited by Europeans and is commonly called the Settlement the strength of which amounts to 2,500 white Men able to bear Arms and near upon 40,000 Negroes their Slaves.

The Settlement which is all the cultivated part of South Carolina bears a very small proportion to the waste part of the Province, yet from this small spot of Land which in the year 1670 was only Woods at an averidge for some years last past hath been imported . . . Barrells of Rice . . . Barrels of Pitch and Tarr per Annum and some small quantitys of Silk: the latter produce hath been very much neglected partly for the want of knowing how to wind the Silk, partly through want of white hands, the Negroe Slaves being both dull and careless and not capable of winding it with that nicety which it requires. Wine also has been tried by way of curiosity and succeeded but the Indian Massacre and unhappy division between the Proprietors and People occasioned that and all other improvements to be neglected.¹⁶

To give a better idea of the place, take in his own Words Mr. Archdales description of South Carolina [(of which this Province is part)], a Man of undoubted veracity and Virtue, and who was for many years Governor thereof.

“ ’Tis beautified with odoriferous Woods green all the year, as Pine, Cedar & Cypress. ’Tis naturally fertile & easy to manure. Were the Inhabitants industrious Riches would flow in upon them; for I am satisfied a Person with 500£ discreetly laid out in England & again prudently managed in Carolina shall in a few years live in as much plenty as a Man of 300£ a Year in England; & if he continues careful, not covetous shall increase to great Riches, as many there are already Witnesses & many more might have been if Luxury & Intemperance had not ended their Days.

“As to the Air ’tis always serene & agreeable to any Constitutions, as the first Planters experienced. There’s seldom any raging Sickness but what is brought from the Southern Colonys; as the late Sickness was, which raged A.D. 1706 & carried off abundance of People in Charles Town & other places.

“Intemperance also has occasioned some Distempers. What may properly be said to belong to the Country is to have some gentle touches of Agues & Feavers in July & August, especially to new Comers. It has a Winters Season to beget a new Spring. I was there at twice five years & had no Sickness but what I got by a careless violent cold; & indeed I perceived that the Feavers & Agues were generally gotten by carelessness in Cloathing or Intemperance.

“Every thing generally grows there that will grow in any part of Europe there being already many sorts of Fruits as Apples, Pears, Apricocks, Nectarines They that once taste of them will despise the watry washy taste of those in England. There’s such plenty of them that they are given to the Hoggs. In 4 or 5 Years they come from a Stone to be bearing Trees.

“All sorts of Grain thrive in Carolina as Wheat, Barley Pease And I have measured some Wheat Ears 7 or 8 of our Inches long. It produces the best Rice in the known World, which is a good Commodity for returns home; as is also Pitch, Tarr, Buck, Doe, Bears Skin & Furrs, tho’ the last is not so good as the Northern Colonys.

“It has already such plenty of provisions that it in a great measure furnishes Barbadoes, Jamaica There are vast numbers of wild Ducks, Geese, Teal; & the Sea & Rivers abound in Fish. That which makes Provisions so cheap is the shortness of the Winter: for having no need to mow for Winter Fodder, they can apply their hands in raising other Commoditys.

“The Rivers are found to be more Navigable than was at first believed & ‘twas then prudently contrived not to settle on the most Navigable; but on Ashley & Cooper River; those entrances are not so bold as the others: So that Enemys & Pirates have been disheartened in their Designs to disturb that Settlem

“The new Settlers have now great advantages over the first Planters, since they can be supplied with Stocks of Cattle & Corn at reasonable rates.”¹⁷

[“We shall conclude this Account of Carolina with an Extract of a Letter from thence from a Person of credit who speaks of the Southward near the Savanah.

“The many Lakes we have up if down breed a multitude of Geese if other Water Fowl. All along Port Royal River if in all this part of Carolina, the Air is so temperate if the Seasons of the year so regular that there’s no excess of heat or cold nor any troublesome variety of Weather: for tho’ there is every year a kind of Winter, yet it is both shorter if milder than at Ashley if Cooper River, & passes over insensibly as if there was no Winter at all. This sweet temperature of Air causes the Banks of this River to be covered with various kinds of lovely Trees; which being perpetually green present a thousand Landskips to the Eye, so fine if so diversified that the sight is entirely charmed with them. The Ground is very low in most places near the River; but rises gradually at a distance with little Hills adjoining to fruitful Plains all covered with Flowers without so much as a Tree to interrupt the prospect. Beyond these are beautiful Valleys, cloathed with green Herbs & a continual verdure caused by the refreshing Rivulets that run thro’ them: There are a great many Thickets which produce abundance of Simples, the Indians make use of them for the cure of their Diseases. There are also Sarsaparilla, Cassia Trees, Gums & Rossin very good for Wounds & Bruises; & such a prodigious quantity of Honey which the Bees make every where that the store of it is not to be exhausted. Of this they make excellent Spirits & Mead as good as Malaga Sack. The Bees swarm 5 or 6 times. Theres a kind of Tree from which there runs an Oil of extraordinary virtue for curing Wounds & another Tree which yields a Balm thought to be scarce inferior to that of Mecca.”]¹⁸

[Beyond South Edistow the Continent is at present all desolate. There a Nation of Indians called Yamasees formerly dwelt amongst whom the English lived dispersed in single Familys without so much as fortifying their Houses, but in the year 1715 the Indians destroyed all the unfortified Settlements. The terror of which incursion has prevented the inhabiting any of the Lands on the Continent to the Southward of the Edistow notwithstanding the Yamasees and other Indian Nations being almost destroyed in the Wars have retired several hundred Miles into the Country and left the Land uninhabited.]

From the River of Port Royal to the south is the uninhabited Carolina part of which his Majesty has Erected into a new Province by the name of Georgia in this past Act.¹⁹ At . . . Miles distance from [South Edistow] Port Royal, one of the mouths of the Savanah opens into the Ocean, it rises in the Cherichee Mountains and after forming several Lakes washes the place where the Savanah Town formerly stood,²⁰ thence with an easy Stream runs through a flat Countrey and after a course of near 600 Miles from its Fountains falls into the Sea through several mouths. At a Days sail to the Southward of the mouths of the Savanah the Alatamaha mixes with the Ocean and forms a number of beautiful Islands. Up this River at a place called the Forks of Alatamaha, there was a little Fort and English Garrison of regular Troops.²¹

The Countreys lying between the Savanah and Alatamaha which are granted by his Majesty to this [Charity] Trust are little known to the English they never having extended their Plantations so far. All the printed Maps are false, yet have we had a description of them from Men of undoubted credit, some of whom traversed that Country in hunting, some on Messages to the Indians and one Gentleman out of Philosophical curiosity descended the Savanah for several hundred Miles, in order to observe the various natural productions of that Country of which he is now in a most beautiful Book publishing an Account.²²

This Tract of Land lyes in the same Latitude with Schiras in Persia and Jerusalem in Palestine. The Climate is hot in Summer but the heat is much abated and the Air cooled by North West Winds and runing Streams. The Winters are short and the Frosts though not severe are sufficient to kill the Insects and purify the Air. Many Rivers and Brooks fall into the Sea between the Savanah and Alatamaha. The Sea Coast is guarded from the rage of the Atlantick Ocean by a range of Islands most of which are adorned with lofty Woods intermixed with Savannas, that is to say Meadows which are naturally clear of Trees. The Channels between the Islands and the Continent are safe from all Weather. The Sea Coast of the Continent is level and without any considerable Hills. The Soil is for the most part of a fertile Land, in some places of a more barren kind, the whole Shore is covered with Wood, that which is most fertile bearing black Wallnut Trees, Hiccory, Cedar, Cypress and Mulberry Trees: the more barren is covered with Oak, Firr and Pine Trees, and the richness or barreness of the Soil is as well distinguished by the species as by the growth of the Timber. From the Sea Coast up into the Country to where the Hills begin the Land rises gently with what the Gardeners call a hanging level Excepting in some small hills which run across the Country and Jetting into the rivers from bluff Points.²³ All the way are Woods intermixed with Savannas and watered with small Streams, which when stopped by the fall of rotten Trees or other impediment form what in that Countrey they call Swamps or Marshes made by runing Water, in them grow Canes and Reeds the young Shoots and Leaves of which are green in the most scorching Summers and [are the food of] feed innumerable herds of Deer and wild Cattle [with which those woods abound]. The Woods are for the most part composed of tall Trees, which intermingling their branches form such a shade as prevents any Shrubs, Briers or Underwoods growing underneath them, the Vine only excepted which mounting up the Trees to their tops enjoys the Sun, As the Trees are large, stand at great distances and extend their Boughs far, the Woods are in the most places [passage] passable for Horsemen. At about 90 Miles from the Sea in some places and 150 in others the Country rises into little Hillocks, the Lands are richer the Trees still larger: as it extends Westwards the Hills increase in height: at about 400 Miles distance they rise into Mountains and in the Valleys formed by them, Wood, Lakes, Savannas intermixed with Rocks [of Marble] and falls of Water form beautiful Landskips. Beyond these Mountains we cannot find that any English have ever yet been.

[It appears that] In short all the Land between the Rivers Savanah and Alatamaha is at present a Forrest diver[s]ified with Groves, Lawns, Swamps, Rivers, Lakes and Mountains abounding with Staggs, Elks, Buffaloes, wild Horses, black Cattle and numberless other kind of Creatures, besides which these vast Woods shelter Beasts of Prey, Serpents and other venomous Insects.

Alteration that cultivation would make

Towns for Trade might be conveniently situated along the sides of the Navigable Rivers. For the subsistance and employment of the Inhabitants of each Town there might be alotted a particular Produce peculiar to that place, natural to that Climate and such as England is now obliged to buy from Foreigners. The Timber being felled the Ground it grew on would become arable, the Swamps being drained would become Meadow and by the clearing of the Woods the noxious Animals would retire or be destroyed. Villages and Farms might be established in the Lands farther from the Rivers and the most distant from Water Carriage would be convenient for breeding and grazing of Cattle. The Woods growing upon barren Lands or such as are not fit for cultivation might be preserved for the benefit of future Generations. Every part of the Country will produce Wheat, Barley, Indian Corn; Fruits of all kinds as Peaches, Pears etc. and all sorts of Cattle known in Europe, as Horses, Oxen etc.

Commoditys appropriated to each town

Some Towns besides the provisions of Corn and Cattle may raise Hemp and Flax and considering that they [are] will be free from the burthens of Superstition, Taxes and high Rents which the Countrys from whence those [Produces] Commoditys are brought groan under and considering the fertility of Soils never yet broke up, it is to be believed that they may furnish Flax and Hemp much cheaper than any of the Continents of Europe can. Other Towns may be employed on raising Vines and Mulberry Trees for the Silk Worms. Where the Soyl is more proper for it Olive Yards may be the support of the adjoining Town. Various other Productions will maintain various Towns and the exchanging of them for English Commoditys or for each other will create an intercourse and traffick.

What Lands near the Sea will Produce

The Lands near the Sea will produce Flax, Hemp, Mulberry Trees for the Silk Worms; Cotton, Indico. Olives, Dates, Raisins, Pitch, Tarr and Rice the two last of which are needless, there being enough of them produced in the present Settlement.

What the Land up the Country will produce

Higher up the Rivers and in Hilly Countrys good Wine might be made and perhaps the Mohair Goat might keep the fineness of its Fleece there as well as in Angria. Gums, Barks and Woods fit for dying all kinds of Colours might be also there raised [and indeed every kind of Produce with which England is now supplied from Countrys lying in the same Latitude].

The taking the method of Agriculture from Countrys lying near the same Climate and of a like Soyl and the having Men from those Countrys to instruct the first Planters may not be improper. A Native of Piedemont an intelligent Man who is lately come from South Carolina says That the Soyl and Air resemble Lombardy only the first is richer the latter hotter than in that part of Italy and that the same manner of Cultivation may be followed.²⁴ That the Mulberry Trees may be planted at equal distances Vines may be reared against them and Wheat sowed between, that the shaddow of the Trees may defend the Corn and Grapes from the too scorching heats of the Sun, that the Leaves may be gathered by the Women and Children to feed the Silk Worms. [This method of Agriculture will be more fully mentioned in another Treatise.]²⁵

Agriculture from Countrys in the same Climat

Air and Soil Like Lombardy

Reason of Georgias being uninhabited

This Tract of Land not only wants People for the cultivation of it but also for the preservation of South Carolina. From the settling of that Colony till after Mr. Archdale was Governor who did strict Justice to the Indians the English and they lived intermixed like People of the same Nation. Afterwards some of the English in South Carolina who are known by the name of Indian Traders and travel from Nation to Nation furnishing the Indians with European Goods, taking from them in exchange Skins and other Commoditys injured the Natives by extortion and violencys committed upon their Wives. They demanded redress, which not being procured, by one sudden irruption they almost destroyed the whole Plantation. The English had carelessly dispersed themselves in single Familys through the Country as if it had been entirely subjected relying wholly upon the Indian faith and at the same time injured and refused justice to those brave, well armed and revengeful Nations upon whose Faith they relied.

Unfortified Plantations Destroyed by Indians

In the year 1715 it was that the Yamasee Indians having called to their aid a large body of other Nations from beyond the Savanah River, destroyed all the English unfortified Houses to within 5 Miles of Charles Town. Those who had caution enough to fortify their Settlements escaped the Storm in which many hundred familys of negligent Planters perished. The War thus begun continued to the great expence and almost entire ruin of the Colony, and at last was ended by an universal Peace, the Yamasees who scorned submission having abandoned their Lands and all the other Indian Nations having retired either beyond the Alatamaha or into the Mountains. Notwithstanding the Peace the terror of the Massacre remains so strongly imprinted upon the people of South Carolina that they dare not attempt in single Familys to settle beyond the River [Edistow] of Port Royal and have not a number of white Inhabitants sufficient to make Settlements in a Body.

When peopled will be a Barrier to South Carolina

The District intended for a new Colony whilst it lyes uninhabited will facilitate the Invasions of the Indians upon South Carolina. But a number of Towns established along the Rivers Savanah and Alatamaha would prevent any future Massacre and make a stronger Barrier to the present Settlement and keep the Negroe Slaves of South Carolina in awe who are now so numerous as to be dreadul even to their Masters.²⁶

Purposes for which the Trustees are incorporated

It is surprizing to think that notwithstanding in America there are fertile Lands sufficient to subsist all the useless poor in England and distresst Protestants in Europe, yet that thousands should starve here for want of meer sustenance: but the reason is the distance makes it very difficult for them to go thither. The same want that renders Men useless here prevents their paying their Passage, and if others pay it for them they become Servants or rather Slaves for years to those who have defrayed that charge. Therefore Money for Passage is necessary, but it is not the only want: for if the people were set down in America and the Land before them; they must cut down Trees, build Houses, fortify Towns and dig and sow the Land before they can get in a Harvest, and till then they must be provided with Food and kept together that they may be assistant to each other in the support and protection of the whole.

The sending forth of Colonys the Romans esteemed amongst their noblest works for which they appointed Officers who directed the management of the whole and the expence was bore out of the publick Treasury.²⁷ And his Majesty for deducing Colonys into America hath incorporated Trustees with the Powers of the Roman Officers, they therefore are to gather such People as are proper to be sent over and to take care that they shall be there established in a regular manner. Of which Machival gives his opinion as follows. . . .²⁸

The Trustees intend to make experiment of all kind of Products as silk wine oil etc. etc. divulge the manner of rearing them that all the American planters may Proffit by them and be there by enabled to buy more English Manufactures.²⁹

Trustees to leve proffit

The Gentlemen who compose this Society have restrained themselves in their Charter from receiving any benefit by the Design. To the carrying on of [the Charity] which they give not only their time but also Benefactions in Money, and are permitted to choose into the Trust any whom they shall find inclined and capable to be assisting in so humane and Christian an undertaking. They rely for success first upon that providence which supports Mankind, next upon the charitable disposition of the people of England, and they doubt not that much will be spared from Luxury and superfluous expences by generous tempers when a means is offered them by the giving of [10] 20 Pounds to provide for a Man or Woman or by [5] 10 Pounds a Child forever. Many Persons of distinguished Characters have honoured the Trust so far as to be Patrons and accept of Powers for collecting of Benefactions, Lists of whom are hereunto annexed.³⁰

In order to prevent the [Charity] benefactions given to this purpose from ever being misapplied, and to keep up as far as human precaution can the Spirit of disinterestedness they have established the following method of accounting. First, That all their transactions may appear and that each Benefactor may see what Money has been laid out and what remains All Monies given, shall be as soon as received by the Cashier of the Trustees deposited in the Bank of England and inserted in printed Lists with the Names of the Benefactors, or if concealed, then the Names of those by whose hands they sent their Money. Secondly there shall be Annual Accounts laid before the Lord high Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, two chief Justices, Chief Baron of the Exchequer or any two of them; and printed Coppys of the said Accounts shall be transmitted to every Benefactor who hath given above the Sum of 5 Pounds Annual Benefaction or above 100 Pounds in one Sum. These Accounts will show the Money that hath been laid out and the printed Lists the Money that hath been received, and in this Account will be contained the numbers, names and ages of the persons sent abroad, the Charges of Passage, Cloaths, Arms etc. and also the amount of all profits that shall from time to time arise from the Colony, which will in one view give the state of the affairs of the Trust.³¹

for continuation of the trust

And for the continuation of the [Charity] Trust there will be labour and Lands reserved in America: So that at the same time the Money by being laid out preserves the lives of the poor and makes a comfortable provision for them whose expences are by it defrayed, their labour in improving their own Lands will make the adjoining reserved Lands valuable and the Rents of those reserved Lands will be a perpetual Fund for the relieving more poor people. So that instead of laying out the Money upon Lands with the income thereof to support the poor, this is laying [out the Charity] it out upon the poor and by the relieving those who are now unfortunate raises a Fund for the perpetual relief of those who shall be so hereafter.³²

The Trustees must consider of the manner of executing this trust and may take in Proposals accept and Inquire.³³ The first Colony must be composed of People able to bear fatigue, they being established the weaker and more helpless poor may be sent over, and how even they may be made capable of subsisting themselves and be beneficial to the publick will be shown [hereafter] on another occasion.³⁴

In chusing the first [Colony] Famelyes regard should be had to the preventing those Evils by which infant Colonys have frequently been destroyed. The English attempts in America have often miscarried by Disertion, Sickness, Famine, Mutiny or force of an Enemy, as did the late glorious but unsuccessful attempt of his Grace the Duke of Montague.³⁵

The first Colony should consist not of single Men but of Familys: for a Wife and Children are security for a Mans not abandoning the Settlement; and the presence of those dear pledges who will reap the advantage of it will the more strongly incite him to labour. Even in the beginning Women and Children will not be useless Mouths since there will always be some business which they may do and save so much labour to the Men, such as preparing their Food, cleaning and mending their Cloaths, gathering Wild Fruits, Roots, or Shell fish etc.

The being kept clean and having wholesome food prepared at regular hours would tend greatly to the preserving the health of the people; and in Sickness the having their Wives to nurse them may recover many who would inevitably perish were they to have no succour but from careless or unskilful Comrades.

The familys should be laborious and honest people whose motive for leaving their Country should not be Crimes but Misfortunes. Their industry and labour employed in cultivating the Land being helped by one year provision will be a remedy against Famine.

They ought to be apprized of the nature of the Design and the difficultys they must at first undergo and none taken but who after pious consideration are sensible of the advantages they will reap by having Houses and Lands of their own sufficient to give a comfortable maintenance to themselves and familys for ever. Without doubt such Men would not be apt to mutiny, since that would be destroying the end they aim at. If the number of Men able to bear Arms be sufficient to make head against the first attempts of any Enemy that can be drawn together in that Country it will be sufficient to protect them from open force.

The manner of collecting them may be first by publishing Proposals of the terms they are to go upon, in some such manner as this.

This is to give notice that all Persons whose necessitys render them desireous of reaping the benefit of the intended Colony, may send in Writing their Names, place of abode at present and for 3 years last past, what Trades or Occupations they understand, their own ages and if they are married the ages of their Wives and number and ages of their Children, to the Secretary of the Trustees, and after 10 Days in which their Characters shall be enquired into, if the Trustees find them to their satisfaction they will be admitted of the Colony with the following advantages.

1st

They will be subsisted till the Ships are ready to sail at the House belonging to the Trustees, where they will have an allowance of salt-Provisions in order to accustom them to what they are to meet with at Sea.

2dly

On their being imbarked they, their Wives and Children are to be Cloathed from head to foot at the expence of the Society.

3dly

They are to have Bedding and Hamocks sufficient for themselves and familys given unto each of them.

4thly

Each family is to have Kitchen Utensils, working Tools,³⁶ Seed and other necessarys given gratis on their landing. Each person who hath an Apprentice will be allowed to take him with him provided the same is above 14 and under 20 years of age.

5thly

Each family is to have provisions for one Year.

In return of all these benefits and for the preservation of themselves and of the Colony they are to conform to the following Regulations.

1st

They are to be obedient to their Directors.

2dly

They are to assist each other and by joint endeavours fortify such place as their chief Commander shall think proper to establish their Town in.

3dly

They are by joint indeavours to build Houses for themselves and cultivate and sow Lands for their next years provision.

4thly

After that is done, the Houses that are built and the Land that is cultivated are to be divided amongst themselves, each Man to have a House and 20 Acres of Land to himself and to his Heirs Male forever, to be held in Coppyhold at Fine certain. In lieu of which fine and Rent each Man is to pay for his House and Land, one Days labour in the Week, which labour is to be employed in the service of the publick.

5thly

All Persons that have 3 Children alive at the same time, shall during the time of their 3 Childrens being alive at once be exempted from the Rent of labour.

6thly

All Persons above 60 years of age shall be exempt from labour.

7thly

No Person shall leave the Country in two years without license obtained, which shall not be refused any one who will repay to the Commander in chief the expence which the Trustees have been at on his Account.

8thly

All Persons that go are themselves and familys to be free and no labour, taxes, tythes nor Money under any pretence whatsoever is to be exacted from them, save only the above mentioned Labour, which is to be the Rent for their Lands, the produce of which labour is to be laid out for the support of the Colony in time of War, Sickness or Famine and for the sending over more poor Familys to increase it.³⁷

Lastly, all the Males from 17 years of age to 45 shall be obliged to take up Arms in defence of the Colony, and shall be exercised for that purpose.

Of the Persons who shall give in their Names to the Secretary, the Trustees will chuse such as are sober, healthy and able to labour, whose Familys are not too numerous in young Children and provide a House to subsist them in till they can be imbarked, where they may be accustomed to that Discipline which they are to preserve when abroad. Those who are impatient of orderly Government may be dismissed and the Wheat whinnowed from the Chaff, for it is infinitely better to lose expence some Weeks than to carry over a mutinous or effeminate fellow.

When the number of people for the intended Colony are chosen they may be divided into hundreds of familys, a proper person is to be appointed Constable over each hundred, the hundred is to be divided into Laths consisting of 25 Men and their Familys. Out of them one is to be Constable and the other 24 to be divided into two Tythings, out of each of which a Tything Man is to be appointed, the Tythings to be subdivided into Comradeships of 6 one of whom is to be Foreman. The Man is to be answerable for the behaviour of his Wife, Children and Servants, and to enable him to keep them in order he is to have proper authority over them, the Foreman is to be answerable for his Comrades to the Tything Man, and he to the Constable for his Tything, the Constable is to be accountable for his Lath to the Constable of the hundred.³⁸

Under the ancient simple English Laws, our Saxon Ancestors from small beginings grew into a mighty Nation, those Laws were calculated for Warlike and tumultuous times, a hardy race of Men in a woody and thinly peopled Country exposed to the frequent ravages of unexpected Enemys. Notwithstanding all these inconveniencys, that great Prince King Aelfrid by dividing England into Hundreds secured the publick Peace so well that an unarmed Man loaded with Gold might safely have travelled from one end of England to the other. As England in that age was in the same condition as Georgia is now, the same Laws will probably have the same effect and the binding the Officers and Inhabitants of the Tythings and Hundreds to produce the Offenders or be answerable for the Offence may as effectually now preserve the publick tranquility in Georgia as it did then in England.

It may not perhaps be improper for incouragement of Virtue and Industry to establish two other Degrees, that is to say Yeomenry and Gentry. That such of the Townsmen as shall signalize themselves by their Sobriety, Diligence and Capacity in Agriculture, Mechanicks or any other useful knowledge may be advanced according to their merit. Into the Yeomenry also may be admitted such Persons as shall carry over their familys at their own expence and agree with the Trustees on such terms as shall be for the advantage of the Colony.

The Gentry are to be Men of Reputation and Character and such to whom the Trustees shall think fit for the increase of the Colony to grant Manors upon such terms as shall be agreed between them, which Agreement shall be specified in the Grants unto them and be inrolled in their Courts. All the benefits arising from such Agreements are to be employed in supporting the Colony.

The Election being carefully looked to which is a matter of the highest importance, since if the first men have not Bodys and Minds capable for the undertaking, it would be as vain to attempt a Settlement as it would be for a Carpenter to work without Tools; the next thing is the imbarkation on which they should have their new Cloaths and Beding delivered unto them and be reviewed by such of the Trustees and Benefactors as are willing to see the fruits of their Charity. For preserving them in their Passage it will be necessary that the Ship should not be crouded, that they should be brought up frequently on Deck for the benefit of the fresh Air and that in the mean time the places where they lye should be washed with Vinegar and proper things burnt therein to take away all nauseous smells, cleanliness being of great consequence to health, whilst the Men might be taught the use of the Musket. These things belong to the Leader of the Colony to execute and he must be one who will look upon the Colony as his Family, upon the preserving of individuals depend both his Reputation and the success of the Settlement.

For the inducing the people to the more easy obedience it may be proper that he should give those who are most orderly and virtuous some extraordinary allowance of refreshments and to punish those who behave in a contrary manner. But if the Crimes be such as require severe punishments then they ought to be tried before a Court of Judicature composed in such manner as the Society shall appoint. The utmost endeavours should be used to instill a spirit of labour into the poor People, for extream necessity generally breaks the minds of the distressed and throws them into a habit of idleness very difficult to be cured. For the remedying of this ill habit the method would be that such of the poor as seem most industrious should be encouraged and that out of them should be appointed Tything Men and Foremen. The Constables ought to be Men that should understand the nature of the Climate to which the Colony is to be sent and to know those Arts which are necessary for the first Establishment. They should instruct the Tything-Men and Fore-Men in those things which are most necessary to be done at their landing, they should acquaint them with the nature of building Houses, clearing Woods, mending and making their own Tools and also the Seasons and manner of Diging, Plowing and Sowing of Corn etc. raising Provisions and managing Hemp, Silk, Vines etc.

By often conversing of these matters in the Voyage the People will grow eager to arrive in Port in order to put them in practice. The Women should be inspired with the same Spirit of labour, such as understand making of Cloaths, Spining of Linnen etc. and household services should be encouraged, so as to make others emulate them and be allowed something for instructing those who are ignorant: little prizes for those who are most expert may be perhaps a good way of incouraging industry both in Men and Women.

Great care ought to be taken in instructing them in their Duty towards God and Man; and a wise Minister might take many occasions to urge such Precepts home when their minds were most inclined to receive them from Storms and other accidents which frequently happen on the face of the deep. It would be highly proper that the Minister should assemble those who are of the Church of England Evening and Morning and that those who are of other perswasions should frequently assemble themselves to praise God in their way. All kind of refreshments should be on board for relief of the Sick, and the same care ought to be taken of the poorest Colonian, if any of them should be afflicted with Sickness as of the principal Officer.

After their arrival, in establishing the Town regard must be had to preserving the Inhabitants from Sickness, from foreign Enemys and civil discord: the last will depend upon the Laws, the other two in great measure upon the situation of the place As will also their future subsistance since they must owe their maintenance to the fertility of the Soil for raising and convenience of carriage for exporting their production, and therefore the nature of the place ought to be well inquired into.

The Ancients were very curious in choosing situations for Citys; and the regular founding of them having been an Art long neglected, it may not be improper to hear Vitruvius Engineer to C. Julius Caesar on that Account.³⁹

Bk. 1, ch. 4

“Before the Walls are begun to be built it is fit to choose a healthy situation. Such are rising Grounds or little Hills in an Air not thick nor subject to Foggs & the descent facing those points of the Compass which in that Climate are least exposed to the heats or colds: It ought not to be near Marshes: for when the Morning Breezes which rise before the Sun shall bear towards the Town, the Vapours rising from the stinking Mud mixed with the breaths of Cattle infected with feeding in fenny Pastures, the Bodys of the Townmen will be liable to many Distempers from the unwholesomeness of the Morning Air. Situations upon the Sea shore exposed to the South or West are seldom healthy, because during the Summer the Sun from its rising begins to heat & at Noon Day bums the Southern expositions. The Western ones are warmed by the rising, heated by the mid-Day & scorched before the setting Sun: & by the great change from the colds of the Night to the violent heats of the Day, the health of the Inhabitants of those are greatly prejudiced: & this may be observed in inanimate things, for in Vaults where one would keep Wine no body lets in the light on the Western or Southern sides but on the Northern only, because that exposition is never subject to change from heat to cold. It is remarked that the Store-houses open to the Sunny side keep neither Corn, Frnits nor Provisions well: for the Sun drying up those parts in which the strength of their natural virtue consists, makes them moulder & consume. _________ If any one desires to search curiously into the situations of Citys I should advise him to observe the nature of the Fish, Fowl & Beasts feeding on that place. In doing which he will find great difference in their temperature, according to the healthiness or unhealthiness of the place. ___________ Certainly we ought to choose the most temperate situation if we would have the City healthy. If we inquire the reason why the Ancients sacrificed & inspected the Entrails of Beasts which fed in the places where they intended to erect Citys, we shall find if their Entrails were corrupted they sacrificed others, that they might the better judge whether it arose from the Sickness of that particular Beast or the fault of the Pasture: if they on repeated experiments found the Beasts healthy & their Entrails fair & sound they concluded the Water & the Herbage healthy, & there fixed their habitations: but if they found them decayed & rotten they never fixed in that situation, judging that human Bodys would be affected by the unwholesomeness of the Water & Pastures by which the Beasts on whom they were to be subsisted were nourished. ___________ If the Town be built amongst Morasses & that they lye along the Coast facing the North or North East, if these Fens should be higher than the Beech, the City may be healthfully situated: for it is but opening Ditches & whenever the Sea is swelled by Storms it will flow in, & the salt-Waters intermixing with the Waters of the Morass will prevent them from corrupting & will kill any unwholesome Insects bred in them. This is demonstrated by the Marshes of Gaul, particularly about Ravenna & Aquilea, which Citys tho’ surrounded with Fenns are very healthy. On the other hand where the Waters are standing & can have no Ditches or Drains to draw them into the Rivers or Sea, they corrupt, stink & send up pestilential vapours very dangerous to the health of the neighbour Inhabitants. Such was those in Apulia adjoining to the ancient Salapia, a Town built by Diomedes after his return from Troy. The Inhabitants were every year afflicted with epidemical Distempers. They in the Reign of Marcus Hostilius prayed him to point them out a healthy place to which they might remove & build a City. That gracious Prince having with great care searched out, at last found a healthy situation on the Sea Coast, & having asked & obtained the consent of the people & Senate of Rome to transplant the City of Salapia thither, he marked out the Walls, divided the City into equal Portions for the Inhabitants whom he taxed half a Sester a head, he dug Trenches from an adjoining Lake to the Sea, he made that the Port for the Town. So that the Salapians being remov’d only 4 Miles from their ancient habitations lived now in a healthy, regular & well laid out City.

Ch. 6

‘‘Having taken care that the situation should be healthy, it is to be wished that the adjoining Country may be fertile & abound with Provisions. The high Roads ought to be convenient, & the City should be near either to a Sea Port or a Navigable River for the convenience of Water Carriage. ____________ It is also necessary that the Streets should be so disposed as to be sheltered from the coldest, the hotest & the moistest Winds, the excess of which qualitys are greatly hurtful to human Bodys. This was neglected by the Founders of Mitylene a City in the Isle of Lesbos famous for magnificent buildings, but so inconsideratedly laid out, that when the West Winds blow feavers, when Corns the Asthma rages, & tho’ when the Wind changes to the North the Town grows healthy, yet the severity of the cold is then such that there is no staying in the Streets nor Squares _________ If the Streets are sheltered from these Winds, it not only preserves the health of those that are well, but contributes greatly to the recovering the Sick who labour under such Distempers as are affected by the Air, as Dizziness, Coughs, Plurecy, Ptisick, spitting of blood & such kind of Distempers as are not cured by evacuations but by restoratives & nutrition. These Distempers generally caused by cold, (the strength of the Pat[i]ent being already wore out with his Distempers) are very hard to cure. In these Cases an Air agitated by violent Winds is very prejudicial; but on the contrary a mild & calm Air sheltered from the rages of the Winds & not impregnated with too many cold or moist particles contributes greatly to restore the Patients extenuated with long Sickness, swells their Vessels & prepares them for Nutrition.”

The Roman Architect directs to consult the wholesomeness of the Air and Waters, fertility of the Soil, the convenience of Navigation and easy access: He gives many Rules by which to judge of them, for the Design of his whole work is to teach how to build a strong convenient and magnificent City.

The situation of the Town being fixed upon, it ought first to be fortified in such a manner as may make it defensible against the insults of any Enemy that can attack it in that distant quarter of the World. This ought to take place of all other cares and herein the example of the wise Athenians may be followed. Who “After the defeat of the Persians at Platea returned home, & tho’ the most part of their Houses at Athens were burnt or broken down, yet they resolv’d first on their common defence & to fortify their City before they cared to cover themselves, their Wives & Children with any private Buildings.”⁴⁰ A Ditch well flanked and Pallisadoed will very probably be a sufficient Fortification, which in a short space of time may be finished. At the same time that one Detatchment of Men are cutting the Trees, digging the Ditch, fixing the Pallisadoes and mounting of Cannon, another Detatchment may be running up the private and publick Buildings, which at first for expeditions sake will be of Boards, and two Carpenters considering the Timber grows upon the place may build a wooden House in a few Days. In the distribution of the Town the Streets should be spacious and laid out by Line and a large Square reserved for a Market place, and for exercising the Inhabitants, on the sides of which may be the Church, Infirmary for the Sick, an House for new Comers, Town House and other publick Buildings. Without the Town a Mile square which amounts to 640 Acres might be reserved as a Common for the pasturing of the Cattle and all within Musket shot of the Works should be cleared. This open space will contribute greatly to the health and security of the Town as well as to the conveniency of the Inhabitants. The Lands beyond the Common may be divided into Laths, each Lath to consist of 32 Farms, 6 to be reserved for the publick benefit of the Colony, 2 for the Constable and one for each Family. Each Family should have a Farm in the Country and an Alotment sufficient for a House and Garden in the Town. The Leader of the Colony should take care with the utmost expedition to have an Acre cleared and sowed upon each Farm and a House built upon each Alotment in the Town. After the Land is divided into Farms and the Town into Alotments and a House built upon each Alotment and an Acre sowed upon each Farm, it may not be improper that a Thanksgiving Day be appointed, on which the People should in their cleanest and best Apparel assemble themselves in the great Square by break of Day, and begin the Day by Prayers and Thanksgiving to God for his delivering them from misery and establishing them in a happy State of life. After Prayers the Men should stand to their Arms in the Square and the Drums beating, the Town and the Colony may be publickly named.

After the naming the Town and Province the Articles or Laws under which they are to Governed should be read and it would be proper to give a Name to each Lath. Then the 25 Men of each Lath being drawn up seperately with the Constables at the head of them, they should draw Lots for the Lands, and then the Foremen of each Comradeship should draw Lots for what Lands should belong to their Comradeships and the People should draw Lots for their Farms. After this the Cannon and small Shot may be fired and the rest of the Day spent in Manly Exercises and in decent joy and gladness a comfortable Meal being provided for the whole People at the expence of the Society and the same Day of that Month may be kept every Year as a Thanksgiving Day for the establishment of the Colony and in commemoration of the Founder, if the Town be founded by the benefaction of a single Person.

The Town should consist of 125 Familys since that number may have their Farms within two Miles of the Town for it will be inconvenient to go farther to their Lands therefore those who exceed that number should be divided into Laths consisting of 25 Familys. Each Lath should compose a Village which should be fortified and in it each Family should have its Alotment as also Farms thereunto adjoining in the same manner as the Towns People. And still as the People increase new Laths may be set out and new Villages built till they amount to 20 dependant on one Town. All which Villagers and Townsmen being drawn together will form a Batallion of Infantry consisting of 625 Men.

If any Persons shall signalize themselves by their merit and will bear their own expences they may as is before mentioned be called Yeomen and ought to have larger Portions of Land marked out for them beyond the Villages and to 4 Yeomen should be alotted the same quantity of Land as to one Lath. They should be obliged to build their 4 Houses together to fortify them with a Ditch to keep themselves and Servants Armed and perhaps it may not be improper that by the terms of their Agreement they should as Dragoons serve on Horseback with two Men if the Country should be invaded. Ten such Laths of Yeomenry will make 120 Dragoons. If any Gentlemen should carry over a number of Foreigners for Servants they ought to be planted beyond the Yeomenry and the same quantity of Land as is alotted for a Lath should be erected into a Manor and the service demanded for it might be besides Rent perhaps 10 Horsemen well mounted and armed. If 10 Manors should be taken up it would make 100 Horse. Between each two Laths belonging to the Yeomenry and between each two Manors belonging to the Gentry there should be one Lath reserved for the Colony.

If such a disposition should take place the force of each Township would consist of 625 Foot, 120 Dragoons and 100 Horse. Besides, the Lands reserved for the Charity would give room for increase for though part of them ought to be kept for Timber and felled one year under another and though some of them ought to be appropriated for the maintenance of Fortifications Artillery and Shipping yet part of them may [be] let out to such persons as do not care to be obliged to Military service and would rather pay Rent than be subject to Discipline.

The 6 Farms reserved in each Lath belonging to the Townsmen and Villagers may be cultivated by the reserved services of the Men of that Lath. The reserved service is one Day in six, therefore each Lath must furnish 4 Men every Day. The Leader of the Colony should study to make the Days of labour on the publick Land rather Days of mirth than of toil. The Workmen should be allowed Drink and Food out of the publick Stores. There Should be also pains taken to inform them that they are working for their own advantage and that the produce of those Lands is to be laid up in the Store-Houses that there may be a Magazine for supplying the Poor the Sick and the whole Town in case of War, Famine or other accidents, that by this small labour they are exempted from Taxes Tythes Rents and all other kinds of Payments and that it is but a small return to the Charity for Arming, Cloathing, Supporting and all other benefits which they have received from it.

There will be Teams kept by the Trustees and Persons appointed by them who understand the method of Agriculture used in Italy, in the Maderas and Palestine that they may cultivate the reserved Lands so as to produce Silk, Wine, Oil and other Commoditys which England is now obliged to buy at foreign Markets. Whatever is produced by these reserved Farms, after the Aged and Sick of the Laths where it grew are first provided for the remainder will be disposed of to the best advantage for the use of the Charity.

If this method can be executed in one Town the same may be repeated in any other place and a number of Towns may be planted along the Rivers Savanah and Alatamaha in the same manner. If the first 125 Familys found a Town the Villagers and Yeomenry will be drawn together by the protection of it, and therefore each 125 Familys may be settled in a seperate Town leaving the increase and the execution of the rest of the Design to time.

To defend the People from each other proper Laws will be necessary and nothing is more likely to establish unity than this equal distribution of Land and registring that distribution. There will be no room for Law Suites concerning property if the Farms are to descend undivided to the next Heir and the personal Estate be divided according to the custom of London. The only objection to this is that the younger Children will be poorly provided for. But as soon as there are 24 men who have no Land a new Village and Lath will be set out: the Daughters will be provided for by Marriage, for where Children are Wealth to their Parents and where there is more Land than People to cultivate it, no Man who is out of his Apprenticeship will remain unmarried, and as Males and Females are born in equal numbers if all the Men have Wives there can be no Woman without a Husband. The Laws will be prepared by the Trustees and assented to by the King, they will be calculated to punish all kind of violence to prevent Luxury and Oppression in the Superiors and Idleness and Vice in the Inferiors and will all have a view to the Peace and Safety of the People,⁴¹ the promoting of Christianity and the encouragement of Commerce and Agriculture. The execution of the Laws will be in a Council of the wisest and best Men of the Colony and under them in the Constables and Tything Men as is before mentioned. But the trying of all facts relating to Criminal or Civil matters will be in Jurys of 12 Men being Peers to the Partys concerned.

As the Townships increase in number other provisions may be made and other Jurisdictions described in order to deside differences between Town and Town or the Inhabitants of different Towns.

The People of South Carolina have already promised to the Trustees that they will deliver to them on demand at Charles Town one years Provision for every Person that shall Land in the Province.⁴² Besides which for fear of accidents 3 Months Provisions will be imbarked with them. So that there can be no fear of want and after their first Harvest is in they will abound in all things considering the fertility of the Soil and that Cattle thrive wonderfully there.

As for the future subsistance it must depend upon Grazing, Agriculture and raising Flax, Silk, Hemp and such kind of gross Commoditys as will be proper to keep up a Trade with and purchase from England Cloathing, Household Goods and such other things as they shall want.

To encourage Marriage and make Children a profit instead of a burthen to their Parents it may not be improper to revive the Paternal Power and give the Father the benefit of his Sons labour till he is 21 Years of age and of the Daughter’s till she is married. Thus by the seven last years of his Sons labour the Father will be repaid the charge he hath been at for him from his Birth to that time. The Roman Law might be expedient exempting the Father of 3 Children from all Dutys whatsoever. Perhaps the taking up of all Vagrants in England who have no Settlements under the age of 14 Years and the binding them Apprentices to the first industrious Planters may not be a bad method of increasing the Colony, disburthening England from future Thieves and of providing for those unhappy Wretches.

The reserved Lands being managed to the best advantage will in time produce a very considerable Revenue which is to be employed in transporting more poor Familys upon the same footing. So that the more that Revenue grows the more Towns and Villages there will be, and the more People there are the more consumption there will be of English Goods and the more Manufacturers employed. Another thing that would contribute greatly towards the support and increase of the Colony would be opening Fairs at stated times in the Commons adjoining to each Town where the Prizes of Goods should be fixed and equal justice should be done to Native or Stranger Christian or Indian and then making of Presents to the Natives and inviting them down to them will create an intercourse and traffick.

As for the benefits that will arise from Contributions given to this purpose the first will be to the Benefactors the unutterable pleasure and satisfaction which every good and generous Mind receives on its being conscious of having performed a great, a virtuous or a charitable action: and what can be a truer Charity than the giving Bread to the hungry, Cloaths to the naked, liberty of Religion to the oppressed for Conscience sake? What more human than rescuing unfortunate Youth or abandoned and helpless Orphans from the temptations want or ill Company may expose them to? What more glorious than of these to form well regulated Towns, to give them Houses, Cattle and Lands of Inheritance, to instruct them how to raise all those good things which make Life comfortable and how to enjoy them under such Laws as tend to make them happy both here and hereafter.

The relieving of the starving Wretches themselves and of their friends who are burthened with them will be but a small part of the Charity. Many Children will owe their very being to it, who would otherwise never have been born and many more their well being. The persecuted and distresst Protestants will be by this relieved, they will gain by their sufferings; instead of the Rocky Alps or the Marshes of Poland they will have the fertile Plains of Carolina, a Land of Corn, Vines and Olives, a glorious reward even in this Life for their constancy.⁴³

The People of England will be greatly augmented and numberless poor will be here employed for supplying of them with necessarys. For the more People are drawn off the more room is left for others to supply their places, of which Sir Walter Rauleigh speaks very fully in the following Passage.

“And to say what I think if our King Edward the had prospered in his French Wars & Peopled with English the Towns which he won as he began at Callice [Calais] driving out the French, the Kings (as his Successors) holding the same course would by this time have filled all France with our Nation without any notable emptying of this Island.

“The like may be affirmed upon like suspicion upon the French in Italy or almost of any others, as having been verified by the Saxons in England & Arabians in Barbary: what is then become of so huge a multitude as would have overspread a great part of the Continent. Surely they died not of old age nor went out of the World by the ordinary ways of nature, but Famine & contagious Distempers, the Sword the Halter & a thousand mischiefs have consumed them. Yea of many of them perhaps Children were never born, for they that want means to nourish Children will abstain from Marriage or (which is all one) they cast away their Bodys upon rich old Women or otherwise make unequal or unhealthy Matches for gain, or because of poverty they think it a Blessing which in nature is a Curse to have their Wives barren.

“Were it not thus Arithmetical Progression might easily demonstrate how fast Mankind would increase in multitude overpassing (as miraculous tho’ indeed natural) the Examples of the Israelites who were multiplied in 215 Years from 70 unto 600,000 able Men.”⁴⁴ And Sir Josiah Child says “Such as our Employment is for People so many will our People be; & if we should imagine we have in England employment but for one hundred People & we have born & bred amongst us 150 People, I say the 50 must away from us or starve or be hanged to prevent it whether we had any foreign Plantations or not.”⁴⁵

Then if it be considered that our Plantations (spending mostly our English Manufactures and those of all sorts almost imaginable in egregious quantitys, and employing near two thirds of all our English Shipping) do therein give a constant sustenance to, it may be, two hundred thousand Persons here at home; I must needs conclude upon the whole matter, That we have not the fewer but the more People in England by reason of our English Plantations in America.

If the number of Inhabitants depends upon the quantity of Labour and that People increase proportionably as there is employment for them, then the increasing the demand of Manufactures will increase the people by giving work to so many Manufacturers as are employed in furnishing the Goods demanded. To explain this by Examples If 125 familys in England earn 2125 Pounds per Annum and those very familys by being removed into American shall earn 12325 Pounds per Annum the People of England will be increased by the removal of these familys for out of that 12325 Pounds 8216 Pounds will be spent in England to buy Tools, Cloaths, Arms etc. And 8216 Pounds spent in Goods will give employment to 410 People at 20 Pounds per Annum each and consequently support 410 Familys. It may be objected that what these People earned whilst in England should be taken off. Supposing that to be granted there will remain 6091 Pounds which will employ 304 Persons at 20 Pounds a Year each. So that the removal of 125 familys will give subsistance to and consequently increase the People of England by 304 Familys.

England imports to the value of two hundred thousand Pounds worth of raw Silk yearly from Italy. If these People should be able to furnish England with all the Silk it wants, then will they buy with that Silk 200,000 Pounds worth of such Goods as they want from England which will employ 10,000 Men at 20 Pounds each and consequently increase the People of England by 10,000 Familys. If they are employed in raising Hemp they will be able to furnish the Manufacturers of Britain and Ireland cheaper than they can be furnished from the East Sea or from any other part of the European Continent. The cheaper this material is in Britain and Ireland the more Manufacturers would be employed on it: for the consumption of Linnens would increase proportionably to the cheapness of the material since that would enable the Merchants to allow the Manufacturer a good price and yet undersell Foreigners in the Markets abroad: for at this present time all the Flax and Hemp growing in Britain and Ireland cannot keep all the Hands employed on the linnen Manufacture at work 3 Months in the Year.

As much as every Man earns by his labour so much does the Country he lives in get by him: therefore it is advantagious to a Kingdom that Men should be in that part of their Dominions where they can earn most. The labour of a white Man in South Carolina is worth at least 30 Pounds a Year; the labour of many of these poor (those who are in Prison particularly) cannot be worth 20 Shillings a Year. Supposing at an averidge that they should earn 6 Pounds a Year, a hundred of such Men in England would be but of 600 Pounds a Year value to the Kingdom. That 100 Men in Carolina where labour is worth 30 Pounds a Year would be worth 3,000 Pounds a Year to the Kingdom: nor would this Money be to their advantage only, for he who earns there 30 Pounds a Year must wear Cloaths, use Tools Household Goods etc. to the value of 20 Pounds per Annum which he must buy from England, for they cannot make them there it not being worth their while who can earn 30 Pounds a Year upon raising Silk to lose their labour upon making Woolen Goods and Tools which are made by People who work for 15 Pounds a Year. If this then be the case

And the State, of which Carolina is part, gets the whole £30. And the Revenue gets the Dutys of those Goods with which he purchased the 20 Pounds worth of English Goods. To put this in a clearer light here follows a Scheme showing how much profit will arise to the Nation from the establishing one Colony only.

It seems to be pretty plainly proved that every foreigner and every English Man who cannot get work and goes to Carolina is a benefit to the Nation and increases the people: for he employs the Makers in England of all the English Goods he consumes and the more employment there is the more Manufacturers there will be.

The particular method we have laid down may vary according as there shall be occasion: but that there may be a Colony successfully established is demonstrable. Under what difficultys was Virginia planted? the Coast and Climate were then unknown, the Indians numerous and at enmety with the first Colony and they were forced to fetch all Provisions from England. Yet they are grown a mighty Province and the Revenue receives . . . for Dutys upon the goods that they send yearly home.

Within this 50 Years Pensilvania was as much a Forrest as Georgia is now and in those few Years by the wise Oeconomy of William Penn and those who assisted him it now gives food to thousands of Inhabitants and is the seat of as fine a City as most in Europe.⁴⁶

This Design is much more probable to succeed than either of those were since Carolina abounds with Provisions the Climate is known and there are Men to instruct in the Seasons and nature of cultivating that Soil. Charles Town a great Mart is within 120 Miles: if the Colony is attacked it may be relieved from Sea by Port Royal or the Bahamas and the Militia of South Carolina is ready to support it by Land.⁴⁷

There is an occasion now offered for every one to help forward this Design. The smallest Benefactions will be received and applied with the utmost care, every little will do something and a great number of small Benefactions will amount to a Sum capable of doing a great deal of good.⁴⁸

The time and occasion calls out upon the rich and generous People of England. Religion, Charity and the love of our Countrey perswade, nay even self interest prompts to send away those whom want may force against their own inclinations upon dangerous courses. Desperate poor never more abounded, a long Peace has made evacuation necessary. Witness the frequent murmures for want of employment from all parts of the Kingdom. The Protestants from abroad harrassed by the madness of Romish Priests, cry out for a place of refuge, the Vaudois the Polanders and the Germans would with joy enrich and strengthen your America. All Nations are improving their Trade all eager for foreign Plantations. Let not the Britons now grow indolent. All Nations are at peace take then the benefit of the general tranquility and improve beyond the Ocean. There without bloodshed or the hazard of a Battle you may increase the Wealth, the Strength and the honour of the Kingdom more than the Edwards or the Henrys did by their glorious but destructive Victorys. They burnt Towns, you will build them: they ravaged, you will cultivate large Dominions: They destroyed, you will preserve, and increase Mankind.

Finis