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ART. V. THE COLONIAL ERA OF SOUTH-CAROLINA. 1. History of South-Carolina, from its first European discovery to its erection into a Republic; with a supplementary chronicle of events to the present time. By WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS, author of "The Yemassee," "The Partisan," "Damsel of Darien," &c. Second Edition. Charleston: Published by S. Babcock & Co. 1843.

2. Historical Collections of South-Carolina; embracing many rare and valuable pamphlets and other documents, relating to the History of that State, from its First Discovery to its Independence in the year 1776. Compiled, with various Notes and an Introduction, by B. R. CARROLL. In two volumes. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 1836.

WE are not aware that the above-mentioned works have added any new material to the history of South-Carolina; yet, they both possess merit in their way, and we are glad that they have been published. Mr. Carroll has done the State service by perpetuating several interesting treatises, connected with the early settlement of the country, which were mostly out of print, and which, save for his patriotic design, would soon have been lost to the world. He deserves thanks for his well directed labors, and he has already received from our Legislature more substantial evidence, than words can furnish, of the appreciation in which they are held. The work is, what its title indicates, a collection merely of rare old documents, constituting, not a thorough history, but simply aids to the future historian. Still, such a work has its value, which can only be fully estimated by the scholar and the antiquarian. The notes indicate considerable research, and the "Introduction," from the pen of Mr. Carroll himself, in which he describes the discoveries of the Spanish, French and English in this State and Florida, is an interesting paper and respectably written.

Mr. Simms' History, is a work of somewhat more pretension. Its author, who is now well known, at home and abroad, as a novelist, and a contributor to our popular periodicals, has very reasonably insisted on the importance to the rising generation of such a work as he has produced. It is a good manual for schools, and is also suited to meet the wants of those who are anxious to find, in a narrow compass, a record of leading events, but who have neither time,

leisure, nor perhaps inclination, to devote to the study of a voluminous and thorough history. The commissioners have, as we think, very properly sanctioned its introduction into our free schools. The author frankly acknowledges his indebtedness for his facts to the historians who have preceded him, claiming for himself the merit, not of an original work, but simply of a condensation of the labors of others:

"I have not scrupled," he says, "to make occasional use of the very language of my authority, wherever it seemed particularly comprehensive or felicitous. To place the facts in a simple form-in a just order,―to give them an expressive and energetic character,-to couple events closely, so that no irrelevant or unnecessary matter should interpose itself between the legitimate relation of cause and effect; and to be careful that the regular stream of the narrative should flow on without interruption to the end of its course, have been with me primary objects." ~ pp. 11, 12.

These objects are, generally, well attained by the writer. The narrative is lively and interesting, sustaining the reputation which the author has acquired for ability in the delineation of events, and the description of characters, whether real or fictitious. The authorities on which he has chiefly relied, are Hewatt, Ramsay, Moultrie, Johnson, Laudonnière, Drayton, Archdale and Glenn, and he is of opinion, and we concur with him in it, that he has done well to omit, from his history, such prolix discussions respecting "the doctrines of popular representation, of suffrage, of self-government, and many other principles, regarded as essential to the preservation of social liberty," as are contained in the works of the more voluminous of those writers. A philosophical inquiry into the nature, rise and progress of the principles of a free government, was not to be expected in such a work, however appropriate and even indispensable it might be, and is, in any faithful and elaborate history of the American republics, or of either of them. We stand greatly in need of a thorough, impartial, learned and complete history of South-Carolina at the present moment,—a history that shall embody both principles and facts. The accounts we now have of the first settlement of this country, embracing the provincial and colonial era, are partial, one-sided, imperfect, and full of exaggeration. They have come to us from the hands of friends alone,--from the hands of warm, enthusiastic and ambitious friends and citizens of the New World, who sincerely loved their country, but who, at the time they

wrote, were disposed, from motives of interest, as well as patriotism, to magnify both the advantages they enjoyed in their new Utopia, as well as the evils mastered by the courage and prowess of their countrymen. The Old World, as well as the New, has a voice to utter in this matter, and the archives of those European nations whose history is connected with our own, during the colonial and revolutionary eras, must be searched and examined, before the whole truth can be ascertained, or the historian be prepared, from a knowledge of opposing statements, and a fair consideration of the motives which influenced both parties, to pronounce an impartial judgment. Each of the old States should make liberal appropriations to accomplish so noble, patriotic and indispensable a design,-that is to say, each State that has a name encircled with the fame of worthy deeds, and wishes to transmit a faithful record of its acts to after times. We wish, especially, that South-Carolina might move, and move effectually, in this matter. The appropriation of a few thousand dollars to such an object, would be honorable to the State, and would be money well expended. We want light especially on the Revolutionary era. In most of the histories that have been written, injustice has been done to the Southern States generally, and to South-Carolina in particular, respecting the part they took, the labors they performed, and the credit to which they are entitled, in the great struggle for our liberties. It is time that this injustice should be remedied. We want some person possessed of the competent learning, genius, industry, spirit and perseverance,—not a mere pretender,-to undertake the task, and perform it in a manner worthy of the age and of the merits of those who acted well during the most eventful period of the world's history, in a manner, too, honorable to our literature. We want such a work to be undertaken speedily, before those memorable men, who were themselves actors in the great drama, and who have much valuable information still to impart to the historian-information that will be soon lost to the world-shall all have passed off the stage of life.

In the meantime, we have not much that we can contribute to the history of the State, although in possession of some facts which satisfy us, that the history of the Revolutionary War, as far as South-Carolina is concerned, is yet to be written. Our first intention was to prepare an article on the subject, which should be just to the State, but as a

preliminary step to the accomplishment of this design, it seems necessary to dwell briefly upon those events that took place in the State during the colonial period, previous to the Declaration of American Independence. With this object in view, we have placed at the head of this article the titles of the two works above referred to, as furnishing a suitable caption for some remarks we propose to offer on that riod; our purpose simply being to furnish a connecting link between two portions of our history, of which the events cannot well be viewed separately.

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To locate a colony in a new country, many thousand miles from the haunts of civilized man, even in the most fertile situation and salubrious climate, is, at all times, a difficult and arduous undertaking; but to plant a settlement on a spot which is devoid of the natural advantages of both soil and climate,-where the scanty subsistence derived from the one, but illy repays the settler for his toilsome labor, while the new and unknown diseases which are peculiar to the other, deprive him of his health, and not unfrequently of his life, at the very moment when he expects to reap the reward of all his toil, privation, and hardship,-is a task which is rarely, if ever, accomplished. Yet such was the first difficulty to be overcome by the early settlers of Carolina.

To add to their distress, they were exposed to the constant attacks of the hordes of savages which infested their borders, entertaining the most deadly enmity towards the white men, and prepared to take every advantage of their weak and defenceless condition. The tribes of the Westo and Stono Indians were particularly annoying. It is true, the colonists were supplied with arms and ammunition by the proprietors, which were supposed to be greatly superior to the simple weapons of the savages. But it has been truly said, that the ponderous musket, placed in the hands of one ignorant of the woods, gives the civilized stranger but little advantage over the wary and quick-sighted denizen of the forest. Concealed in his leafy covert, the Indian draws his bow, and the barbed arrow is quivering in the heart of the stranger, before he dreams of the proximity of danger. The Indians of Carolina possessed an advantage over the white settlers, which was not enjoyed by savage foes of the more Northern colonies. The Southern Indian possessed a powerful auxiliary and potent safeguard, in the nature of the

climate in which he lived. He breathed, without danger, the miasma arising from his native swamps; while the European invader, inhaling the noxious atmosphere, soon sickened and died. Bold, crafty and vindictive, he was ever on the alert to strike the fatal blow, then, retreating to his native fastnesses, defied the vengeance of his foes. Devotedly attached to his forest home, he was prepared to resist the slightest encroachments upon the soil of his hunting grounds, and would shed the last drop of his blood in defence of the graves of his sires. Hard, hard, indeed, was the lot of those settlers, who were exposed to their incessant attacks. Ignorant of the nature and subtle operations of the savages, they were necessarily compelled to act continually on the defensive. While one party were employed in raising their little cabins, another stood by to guard their labors, and prevent a surprise from the Indians. "The hunter was driven from the woods by the swarms of foes that infested them, and compelled to seek a scanty subsistence on the seashore, where he gathered the oyster with one hand, while he held the musket for defence in the other."

A single night sufficed to rob the planter of the hard earned products of a year's toil; and his ruthless foes, after consigning his dwelling to the flames, retreated to the wilderness, laden with those provisions which he had raised, not only by the "sweat of his brow," but at the peril of his life. To enhance the difficulties of their situation, a religious society of the Spanish nation claimed the province of Carolina as included in the territory of Florida, and founded their right on the ground of prior discovery, and by virtue of a grant from the Pope. Considering the settlement at Charlestown as an encroachment upon their possessions, they employed the garrison at St. Augustine in throwing every obstacle in the way of the Carolinians. They inveigled the slaves from their rightful owners, by offering them liberty, protection, and all the privileges of freemen. They instilled into the minds of the Indians the most horrible notions of the English heretics, and urged them on to the destruction of the colony.

Reduced to the greatest extremity by the scarcity of provisions and the hostilities of the Indians, the colonists despaired of ever establishing a permanent settlement in Carolina, and, growing desperate at the thoughts of their miserable situation, became ungovernable and seditious, and

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