CONSTITUTIONS FOR CAROLINA. 147 XIII. mentary might be written on the constitutions, the CHAP. statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of English bigotry; Carolina promised, not 1669. equal rights, but toleration to "Jews, Heathens, and other Dissenters," to "men of any religion." In other respects, "the interests of the proprietors," the desire of a government most agreeable to monarchy," and the dread of "a numerous democracy,"1 are avowed as the sole motives for forming the funda- ́ mental constitutions of Carolina. The rights of the resident emigrants were less considered. The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of eight-a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The dignity was hereditary; in default of heirs, the survivors elected a successor. Thus was formed an upper house, "a diet of Starosts,' "2 self-elected and immortal. For purposes of settlement, the almost boundless territory was to be divided into counties, each containing four hundred and eighty thousand acres. The creation of two orders of nobility, of one landgrave or earl, of two caciques or barons for each county, preceded the distribution of lands into five equal parts, of which one remained the inalienable property of the proprietaries, and another formed the inalienable and indivisible estates of the nobility. The remaining three fifths were reserved for what was called the people; and might be held by lords of manors who were not hereditary legislators, but, like the nobility, exercised judicial powers in their baronial courts. The number of the nobility might neither be increased nor diminished; election supplied the places left 1 See the Preamble in Charters, &c. p. 33; in Martin, i. App. lxxi. 2 Gillies' Arist. ii. 248. 148 CONSTITUTIONS FOR CAROLINA. CHAP. vacant for want of heirs; for, by an agrarian principle, XIII. estates and dignities were not allowed to accumulate. 1669. The instinct of aristocracy dreads the moral power of a proprietary yeomanry; the perpetual degradation of the cultivators of the soil was enacted. The leet-men, or tenants, holding ten acres of land at a fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were adscripts to the soil; "under the jurisdiction of their lord, without appeal ;" and it was added, "all the children of leet-men shall be leetmen, and so to all generations."1 Grotius, in a former generation, had defended slavery as a rightful condition; a few years later, and William Penn is said to have employed the labor of African bondmen; it is not surprising that John Locke could propose, without compunction, that every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves. By the side of the seigniories, baronies, and manors, it was supposed that some freeholders would also be found; no elective franchise could be conferred on a freehold of less than fifty acres, and no eligibility to the parliament on a freehold of less than five hundred. All executive power, and, in the last resort, all judiciary power, rested with the proprietaries themselves. The seven subordinate courts had each a proprietary for its chief; and of the forty-two counsellors of whom they were composed, twenty-eight were appointed by the proprietaries and the nobility. The judiciary was placed far beyond the reach of popular influence. To one aristocratic court was intrusted the superintendence of the press; and, as if not only men would submit their minds, but women their tastes, and chil 1 Constitutions, sect. 22. CONSTITUTIONS FOR CAROLINA. 149 XIII. dren their pastimes, to a tribunal, another court had CHAP. cognizance of "ceremonies and pedigrees," "of fashions and sports." 1 Of the fifty who composed the 1669. grand council of Carolina, fourteen only represented the commons, and of these fourteen, the tenure of office was for life. The constitutions recognized four estates-the proprietaries, the landgraves, the caciques, and the commons. In the parliament, all the estates assembled in one chamber; apart from the proprietaries, who might appear by deputies, the commons elected four members for every three of the nobility; but the influence of a great landed aristocracy in controlling elections was already well understood; and none but large proprietaries were eligible to the parliament. An aristocratic majority might, therefore, always be relied upon; but, to prevent danger, three methods, reproduced, in part, in modern monarchical constitutions, were adopted; the proprietaries reserved to themselves a negative on all the proceedings of parliament; no subject could be proposed-an analogous clause existed in the charter granted by Louis XVIII. to Franceexcept through the grand council; and in case of a constitutional objection to a law, either of the four estates might interpose a veto. Popular enfranchisement was made an impossibility. Executive, judicial and legislative power were beyond the reach of the people. A few singularities were in harmony with the great outlines of the system. In trials by jury, the majority decided; a rule fatal to the oppressed; for where moral courage is requisite for an honest verdict, more than a small minority cannot always be expected.Another clause, which declared it "a base and vile 1 Constitutions, sect. 45. 150 CONSTITUTIONS FOR CAROLINA. CHAP. thing to plead for money or reward," could not but XIII. compel the less educated classes to establish between 1669. themselves and the nobility the relation of clients and patrons. While every religion was tolerated, the church of England-it is the only clause engrafted upon the constitutions by the proprietaries against the wishes of Locke'-was declared to be the only true and orthodox, the national religion of Carolina, and therefore alone to receive public maintenance by grants from the colonial parliament. 1670. Mar. 1. Such were the constitutions devised for Carolina by Shaftesbury and Locke, by the statesman who was the type of the revolution of 1688, and the philosopher who was the antagonist of Descartes and William Penn. Several of our American writers have attempted to exonerate Locke from his share in the work which they condemn; but the constitutions, with the exception I have named, are in harmony with the principles of his philosophy, and with his theories on government. To his late old age he preserved with care the evidence of his legislative labors, as a monument to his fame; and his admirers esteemed him the superior of the contemporary Quaker king, the rival of "the ancient philosophers," to whom the world had "erected statues." 2 The constitutions were signed in March, 1670, and in England became the theme of extravagant applause. "The model," said Blome,3 in 1672, "is esteemed by all judicious persons without compare." "Empires," added an admirer of Shaftesbury, "will be ambitious of subjection to the noble government which deep 1 Constitutions, sect. 96. Locke's Works, x. 194. Life, in i. xxv.xxvi. 2 An autograph is said to be in the Charleston library. See Reports of the Historical Committee, &c. 1835, p. 10. 3 Blome's America, 138. PROGRESS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 151 XIII. wisdom has projected for Carolina ;" and the propri- CHAP. etaries believed they had set their seals to "a sacred and unalterable" instrument, which they fearlessly decreed should endure "forever." As far as depended upon the proprietaries, the government was immediately organized; and Monk, duke of Albemarle, was constituted palatine. But the contrast between the magnificent model of a constitution and the humble settlements of Carolina, rendered the inappropriateness of the forms too ludicrously manifest. Was there room for a palatine and landgraves, for barons and lords of manors, for an admiralty court and a court of heraldry, among the scattered cabins between the Chowan and the ocean? 2 Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants 1665. from New England, and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and 1667. simple form of government. A few words A few words express its outlines; a council of twelve, six named by the proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly; an assembly, composed of the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of the incipient settlements,-formed a government worthy of popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated; for freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the colonial legislature, were solemnly conceded. The colonists were satisfied; the more so, as their lands were confirmed to them, by a solemn grant, May on the terms which they themselves had proposed.3 1668. 1. The authentic record of the legislative history of 1669. North Carolina, begins with the autumn of 1669,* 1 W. Talbot's Dedication of Lederer's Discoveries. So, too, Wilson, in the Dedication, in 1682, to his tract on Carolina. 2 Martin, i. 142. 3 Williamson, i. 259. Martin, i. 146. 4 Chalmers, 525, 555, from pro |