which we humbly submit to your Lordships judgements and consideration, professing to your Lordships, not only that Sir Nathaniel Johnson, in that scandalous Petition of Mr. Boone's is most falsely and barbarously traduced, but that we are all satisfied with his mild and easy government, and fully convinced that (under God) we owe the preservation of our lives and interests, in this Province, to his personal courage, conduct and excellent administration. And at the same time acknowledge to your Lordships, the great favour you have done us, not only in appointing so worthy a person for our Governor (and that at a time when our circumstances stood in need of a soldier of his ability and experience) but also for continuing his authority so long amongst us; in the whole course of whose judicious management, your Lordships privileges, and our rights, were so well secured and so discreetly tempered, that they, mutually supporting each other, were both preserved.

"This, my Lords, and a great deal more (in common justice and gratuity) we owe, and shall be ever ready to pay to the memory of Sir Nathaniel Johnson, and hope it will never be in the power of any malig, nant ill meaning persons, to impress your Lordships to his disadvantage ;* we are

"May it please your Lordships,

"With the uttermost devotion and respect,
"My Lords,

"Your Lordships most dutiful and Most

66

Obedt. Servts.

'JAMES RISBEE, Speaker." The Parsonage House of St. Philip's Parish being much out of repair, the Assembly Ordered, Nov. 5, 1709, "that the Public Receiver pay out of the Public Treasury, unto the Church Wardens of the Church in

*The attack upon Gov. Johnson's character, has not been noticed by either of our Historians. See an interesting Sketch of his Life in Ramsay's So. Ca. ii. 475.

N

Charles-Town, the sum of £60, for and towards the reparation of the Parsonage-House in Charles-Town, and that the Minister living in the same, for the future, keep the same in repair."*

The assiduity and piety of Commissary Johnson soon gained him the affections of the people. He had a large family, and his salary was acknowledged to be inadequate to their support. As a mark of their esteem for his character and services, his parishioners, without his knowledge, applied to the Assembly for his relief. In consideration of his having to depend solely upon his salary, not being a Missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, An Act was passed April 8, 1710, allowing him an additional salary of £50 a year. The Act likewise provided for the preservation of the Parochial Libraries.†

In the Life of Dean Swift prefixed to his Works,t it is stated that, "there was a plan suggested, perhaps by Colonel Hunter, Governor of Virginia, to send out Dr. Swift as Bishop of that Province, to exercise a sort of Metropolitan authority over the Colonial Clergy. But the appointment did not take place." Representations on the subject of an American Episcopate had been made to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; and this important subject had early engaged their attention. In the Abstract of the Society's proceedings for the year 1710, it is stated: "It having been frequently represented to the Society, that there is a very great want of a Bishop to govern those Missionaries, whom

* See Appendix I. 2.

The wars which ravaged Europe compelled many persons to seek an asylum in America. Among them were a number of Palatines. The Lords Proprietors in a letter to the Governor, Oct. 29, 1709, directed him, immediately on their arrival in any part of the Province, to give "to each of them, men, women and children, one hundred acres of land per head, free of any quit-rent, for the space of ten years, reckoning from their arrival, and then to pay one penny yearly for each acre."

Walter Scott's Edition i. 98.

the Society has, or shall, from time to time, send over to New-England, New-York, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the Continent of North-America, as well as the rest of the Clergy in those and the adjacent Colonies; and to Ordain others, and to Confirm the children of the Clergy and Laity; this matter has been most seriously considered of, and is yet depending before the Society; and in the mean time, and till they ean bring it to bear, they are looking out for the best and most commodious place, as near the centre as possible of the above mentioned Colonies, to fix the See for the said Bishop; and having been informed, that at Burlington, in New-Jersey, there is a spacious and very convenient House, with some Land belonging to it, (fit for the purpose) to be disposed of upon good terms, they have empowered the Honorable Colonel Hunter, Her Majesty's Governor of NewYork and the Jerseys, to treat with the Owner for the purchase thereof."

Some confirmation of Mr. Scott's statement may be derived from the intimacy between Col. Hunter and Dr. Swift, to whom the Colonel's famous "Letter on Enthusiasm" was by some attributed. He was appointed Governor of Virginia in 1708, but was captured by the French on his voyage. In 1710, he was sent out as Governor of New-York and the Jerseys.

The plan of an American Episcopate had been seriously considered and adopted by several of the Prelates in England, as well as by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The arrangement was matured, when the death of Queen Anne, in 1714, prevented its execution. The Monies arising from the sale of Lands in St. Christophers, that were ceded to England by the treaty of Utrecht, amounted to £80,000 sterling. This was designed by the Queen as a fund for the support of four American Bishops; but after her death, it was given to the

Princess Anne, on her marriage with the Prince of Orange.*

The laborious duties of the Parochial Cure of Charles-Town, had so impaired Mr. Johnson's constitution, that he found a voyage to England necessary for the recovery of his health. He was absent eighteen months, during which time the Church was supplied, once a month, by the Rev. Dr. Le Jau, Rector of St. James', Goose-Creek. In consideration of Mr. Johnson's services in the cause of religion, the Society allowed him a Missionary Salary of £50 sterling a year.†

Charles-Town was now becoming a place of considerable commercial importance, and its inhabitants were daily increasing. The Church was too small for the population, and was so much decayed, that it would soon be unfit for use. The inhabitants were desirous of having a larger edifice of brick, which should accommodate the increasing number of worshippers, and be an ornament to the town. Application, therefore, was made to the Assembly, and an Act was passed, March 1, 1710-11, for building a new Church of brick, to be called St. Philip's.‡

*See Life of Dr. Johnson, President of King's (now Columbia) College, New-York, 52, 54.

1 Col. Robert Gibbs had heen appointed by the Lords Proprietors, ChiefJustice of the Province; but in a subsequent letter to Gov. Tynte, Feb. 9, 1709-10, they desired him to retain the commission in his hands. The Gover nor died in 1710, and Col. Gibbs, by bribery, procured himself to be elected his successor. A civil war was nearly the consequence. See Ramsay's So. Ca. i. 53-55. The Lords Proprietors, March 14, 1710-11, appointed Charles Craven, late Secretary of the Province, Governor Tynte's successor, and sent him the following Order:

"It appearing to us from the papers and narratives relating to the dispute between Col. Broughton and Col. Gibbs, that Col. Gibbs was guilty of Bri bery, and consequently not duly elected Governor of South-Carolina; It was therefore unanimously Resolved, that no salary shall be paid to him, the said Col. Gibbs, as Governor of the same; and we do hereby direct, that all such salary or sums of money, as should have been paid, or were payable to the Governor of the said Province, from the time of the death of Col. Tynte, our late Governor, to the date of Mr. Craven's, our present Governor's Commission, be paid to our Secretary, Mr. Richard Shelton, or to his Attorney's or Assigns: And we do hereby require our Governor, Deputies, Chief Justice, Secretary, Receiver General, and all other Officers of our said Province to be aiding and assisting herein. Given at Craven House under our Hands and the Great Seal of our Province, this 13 day of March 1711-12."

+ See Appendix I. 3.

The want of Schools was a source of great solicitude to the Inhabitants, and called forth the exertions of the virtuous and the good. The Missionaries, and many other gentlemen of the Province, addressed the Society on this interesting and important subject. They described the deplorable condition of the rising generation, for want of sufficient education, and lamented the decay of piety and morals, as the inevitable consequence of leaving the young to their own pursuits, and to the influence of evil example. The spiritual, as well as temporal, interests of the people were declared to be at stake, as an ignorant, uneducated community, was but a small remove from the habits and feelings of savage life. The Society felt the force of the appeal. In the year 1711, they established a School in Charles-Town, and placed it under the care of the Rev. William Guy, A. M. whom, at the same time, they appointed an Assistant to the Rector of St. Philip's Parish. Mr. Guy was a native of England, and in Deacon's Orders. He was Ordained by Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, Jan. 18, 1711.

At the opening of the Assembly, April 2, 1712, Gov. Craven, Brother to the Palatine of Carolina,* delivered his first Speech. On the subject of religion he said: "As my own persuasions will ever dispose me to do every thing that may contribute to the prosperity and firm establishment of the Church of England, so will my temper always incline me, as a fellow christian, to show the greatest tenderness to those who are under the misfortune of dissenting from her, and to do nothing that may seem to endanger them that liberty. It were to be wished indeed that we could be all of one opinion; but that is morally impossible; but in this we may all agree, to live amicably together, consult

* Lord Granville, Palatine of Carolina, died Dec. 3, 1707, and William, Lord. Craven, was unanimously chosen Palatine, by the rest of the Lords Proprie

tors.