22 History of Methodism 



that the original copy was genuine and of binding 

 force, they perseveringly refused to recognize the au- 

 thority of any of them, till at length, in April, 1693, 

 the proprietaries resolved, " That as the people have 

 declared they would rather be governed by the powers 

 granted by the charter, without regard to the Funda- 

 mental Constitutions, it will be for their quiet and the 

 protection of the well-disposed to grant their request." 



Attracted by the natural advantages of a land dis- 

 tinguished as " the beauty and envy of North America," 

 the Cavaliers of England began to emigrate, in order 

 that they might repair fortunes wasted by the wars 

 of Cromwell; and drawn by the security given in the 

 fundamental laws, and under the sanction of the char- 

 ter, for perfect freedom and equality in matters of re- 

 ligion, the persecuted of all countries flocked to it as 

 an asylum from the evils of intolerance. 



Under the conduct of William Sayle, a Dissenter, 

 who was appointed by the proprietaries the first gov- 

 ernor of the colony, July 26, 1669, and of Joseph VV est, 

 wdio was sent out as their commercial agent, the first 

 band of emigrants — composed for the most part of 

 English Dissenters and a few Huguenots, provided 

 with every thing thought necessary for a new settle- 

 ment — set sail for Carolina in January, 1670. Touch- 

 ing at Kinsale in Ireland, to obtain from twenty-five 

 to thirty servants for a plantation to be opened for 

 the proprietaries, under, the direction of Mr. West, 

 and also at Barbadoes to procure suitable seeds and 

 plants for the new colony, they reached Port Royal 

 harbor on the 17th of March, and landed on Beau- 

 fort Island, where about one hundred years before, 

 in the like search for a cover f jom the storms of per- 

 secution, the Huguenots had engraved the lilies of 



