82 REMINISCENCES OF 



No circumstance has contributed more to the 

 welfare of the low country than the discovery of a 

 region in which the planters could enjoy health and 

 at the same time be near their plantations. It has, 

 in fact, prevented the depopulation of the country. 

 Other advantages followed ; numbers being col- 

 lected together in one village, they were enabled to 

 establish a church, a school, a library, a market, 

 besides the countless little comforts which are within 

 the reach only of numbers. The country still re- 

 mained under the supervision of the proprietors ; a 

 vigilant police was established. These villages are 

 fortresses where they are most useful, and secure 

 to their owners a well-governed and therefore an 

 obedient, well-ordered, and happy body of slaves. 



When the war broke out, the churches in these 

 parishes were closed, and nearly all the clergy re- 

 signed and left the State. They were generally 

 royalists and Englishmen, and a portion of their 

 salaries was paid by the '' Society in London for 

 the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." 

 During the war, many of the beautiful houses which 

 had been erected for the worship of God were used 

 by the British as store-houses, sometimes even as 

 stables, and several, when they were forced to aban- 

 don the country, were ruthlessly set fire to and 

 burned down. On the return of peace, the religious 

 sentiment of the people was found to have suffered 

 sadly in consequence of the long deprivation of 



