whose life and manners no evil example is had; and except before he enter into, or execute any such office, he shall take the oath of the King's supremacy in the presence of the Bishop, or in the open Court, and shall subscribe to the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the convocation, in the year 1562, and shall also swear that he will, to the uttermost of his understanding, deal uprightly and justly in his office, without respect or favour of reward.” When Mr. Johnson arrived in Charles-Town, he found the Inhabitants divided into parties, both in Church and State.* But his humility and prudence softened the asperity of opposing interests, and his piety procured him the love and esteem of all. His health was bad, and notwithstanding he suffered under severe fits of the gout, yet he faithfully performed his arduous duties in a large and populous Cure. He read Prayers and preached twice on Sundays, read Prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and frequently catechised the children. In the Act establishing Religious Worship in the Province, the bounds of the several Parishes were not particularly defined, this was remedied by an Act, Dec. 18, 1708.+ Governor Johnson had been an activè and zealous administrator of the public interest, and had displayed the talents of an accomplished soldier as well as statesman. It was to be expected, that his zeal for an established Church would expose him to opposition and censure. Mr. Boone had been sent to England by the Dissenters to complain to the Lords Proprietors and the British Parliament, of the laws, which excluded them from the Assembly, and had erected a Lay commission for the trial of ecclesiastical causes. The object of his Mission was accomplished, and the Ramsay's So. Ca. i, 63. See the different Parishes. offensive acts were repealed.* But still, harmony was not restored: Nothing but the disgrace of the Governor could heal the wounds, which, it was believed, had been inflicted by his hands. Mr. Boone presented another Petition to the Lords Proprietors, charging the Governor with high crimes against the civil and religious interests of the Province. This Petition the Proprietors sent to the Governor, who laid it before the House of Commons, and demanded the justice due to his character and services. He had the satisfaction to receive from them the most honorable testimony of his innocence and public services. The following, is an extract from his Speech, delivered Oct. 20, 1709, with Mr. Boone's Petition, and the Addresses of the Commons House of Assembly: "You all know that the Gentleman who is to succeed me,† is expected in every day, and my utmost ambition, when I resign the government is, only to carry with me an unsullied reputation, and the character of having acquitted myself worthy of the trust committed to me; and though I may from the justice of this present Assembly promise myself that advantage, yet my satisfaction will be imperfect while Mr. Boone's libel against me to the Lords Proprietors remains unanswered, and which their Lordships have been pleased to send me, in order to acquit myself from the imputations it contains. "It is that infamous Libel, Gentlemen, that I desire to lay before you, wherein Mr. Boone most unfairly, when there was no person to appear or answer for me, endeavoured to traduce me to her Majesty, and the Lords Proprietors; and though I could in a less public manner assert my innocence and confute the slanders and reflections therein fixed on me, yet I choose this way, not only that I may act with less partiality, but * See page 69. + Col. Edward Tynte, commissioned Governor of No. and So. Carolina, Dec. 9, 1708. that (if I appear to be slandered) I may receive such a public justification as will be sufficient to vindicate my past actions in the government, and confound my accusers, and herein it is my peculiar happiness that I do not appeal to persons unacquainted with my transactions in the government, but to men who (for the major part) have been privy to my administration and witnesses of all my actions both in Church and State. "It must not at the same time be denied but that as a man, and a man almost worn out with sickness and old age, I have had my infirmities, and stood in need of a little indulgence, and probably some of my most zealous designs for the good of the Province, had not the designed success, but let me find no favour or excuse of any person, if I am found by your strictest scrutiny to have endeavoured the betraying this Province to the French, involving you in a war with our friendly Indians, or any other enormous crimes raked together and penned in a style as inveterate as malice and envy could in the most bitter words be suggested or expressed, "I do therefore, Gentlemen, conjure you, as each of you respect your particular honor and reputation, to do me justice in this affair. "The Libel, or his Petition as he is pleased to call it, I herewith lay before you. Please to send for Mr. Boone, and oblige him, if he can, to prove and make good the crimes he has therein laid to my charge, and give me leave to answer whatever he shall affirm be. fore you, and upon the whole, draw up such a report, as shall be agreeable to the honor and justice of your House. If I am not innocent let me bear the guilt, under the disadvantage of having it declared so by you. But if it appears, the Gentleman has undeservedly abused me, let my justification be as public; that it may have récord in the journals of your House, and be transmitted home to their Lordships to obviate any impressions taken to my disadvantage.' M Mr. Boone's Petition accompanying the Governor's Message. "TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LORDS PROPRIETORS "The humble petition and memorial of Joseph Boone, on behalf of himself and the Inhabitants of the said Province, showeth : "That many of the Inhabitants of the said Province finding themselves grievously oppressed, and that the said Province was in great danger of being brought into a ruinous condition, if not absolutely lost, and falling into the hands of the French, by the present evil administration of the government there, your Petitioner hath been expressly sent into this kingdom by many of the most considerable freeholders and merchants of the said Province, and to seek redress of its grievances. "That the Fundamental Constitutions of the said Province, which were calculated with great wisdom and temper suitable to the different persuasions of christians about religious matters, have been of late very much violated, and thereby the inhabitants of the said Province have been so divided and thereby such animosities raised amongst them, as have been made and still are the frequent occasions of riots and tumults, in which several of the most considerable inhabitants have been in danger of losing their lives. "That the inhabitants of the said Province did hope that the said Province would have been restored to its former peace and tranquillity, when two very unreasonable Acts of Assembly were repealed by her Majesty's authority, pursuant to an address of the Right Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled; but contrary to their expectations, the present Governor of the said Province dissolved the Assembly there in a very arbitrary and unprecedented manner, for no other reason, as he himself declared, but because he was informed that the Assembly had prepared an humble Address to her Majesty, and another to the Right Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled, to testify their thankful sense of her Majesty's goodness in repealing the said Acts, and of the care of the said Right Hon. the Peers, in asserting their rights, and to prevent the said Assembly from sending the said Addresses into this kingdom. "That the freedom of Elections of Members to serve in the Assembly of the said Province, hath been very much invaded, and elections have been managed with very great partiality and injustice, and all sorts of people, even negroes, aliens, Jews and common sailors, have been admitted to vote in such.elections; to prevent which for the future, a late Act hath been passed by both Houses of Assembly, but the present Governor refused to consent to it. "That a dangerous Act of Assembly hath been lately passed to continue an Assembly, which the Governor thought proper, for his arbitrary purposes, for two years absolutely, and for eighteen months after the death or removal of the Governor, unless the Governor should think fit to dissolve it sooner, whereby the very foundation of the people's freedom was absolutely struck at, and the Province deprived of the only method they had to restore its first liberty. "The Indian nations in the neighbourhood of the said Province, had been so inhumanly treated, that they were in great danger of revolting to the French, who are continually tempting them to it, and whereby the said Province would be infallibly ruined; to prevent which, the Lower House of Assembly passed a just and very reasonable Bill; but the Governor, though he owned the danger that the said Province was in, of losing their Indian Allies, and many of them had actually left their habitations, refused to consent to it, publicly alleging for a reason, that it would take away a great part of his private profit, and though repeated |