A SKETCH OF EDITCATIOX IX SOUTH CAROLINA. 447 



grammar and other arts and sciences and useful learning, and also in 

 the principles of the Christian religion," and that " several well disposed 

 Christians, by their last wills, have given several sums of money for the 

 founding a free school." The Act constitutes a body corporate, consisting 

 of the Governor and fifteen others, with power to prescribe rules, and to 

 elect a master, who shall be of the Church of England, and shall teach 

 the Latin and Greek languages, and, also, the useful parts of the mathe- 

 matics. An amendatory and more general Act passed in 1712, appoint- 

 ing John Douglass master, at a salar}' of £100 and a house, allowing him 

 an usher, and a writing master to teach writing, arithmetic and mer- 

 chants' accounts, and the arts of navigation and surveying. Twelve 

 beneficiaries were provided for, and free scholarships for five years were 

 granted to any citizens on payment of £20 each. An additional provision 

 was that " any 



SCHOOLMASTER SETTLED IN A COUNTRY PARISH, 



and appointed by the vestry, should receive £10 per annum from the 

 public treasury ;" while each parish was allowed £12 towards erecting a 

 school-house. 



This Act deserves mention, not so much from the actual results 

 achieved, but as a proof of the enlightened and liberal spirit of the people 

 in the presence of most unpropitious circumstances. It must be remem- 

 bered' that the early settlers of Carolina were continually harassed by 

 foes from without and dissensions at home. " They raised their scanty 

 crops, not only with the sweat of their brows, but at the risk of their 

 lives." Cavaliers and Puritans brought with them the memories of old 

 feuds, and were united only in oppressing the Huguenots. Locke's 

 model constitution was an exasperating failure. Proprietors and people 

 held diverse interests, and Governors were often at daggers' points with 

 the governed. Over issues of money had destroyed public confidence 

 and depleted the treasury. A disastrous expedition against the Span- 

 iards, in 1702, and the necessity of repelling a counter invasion, ren- 

 dered the situation still more distressing. At the very time that the 

 free school was founded, the Province was torn by the claims of two con- 

 flicting Governors, and the dispute was scarce settled before a severe 

 contest arose against hostile Indians. The four years from 1715 to 1719 

 marked constant strife between the people and the Proprietors, and 

 tranquility was not secured until the appointment, in the latter year, of a 

 royal Governor. 



THE FIRST ROYAL GOVERNOR. 



The first appointee of the Crown. General Francis Nicholson, combined 

 boldness, activity and firmness with liberality, wisdom and integrity. 



