CHAPTER IV 

 SOUTH CAEOLINA 



Successful 

 Settlement 



French in the 

 Front Raak 



Port Royal 

 1670 



Liberal 

 Charter 



ORE thau a centiuy after the disastrous failure 

 of Admiral Coligny's plans to establish French 

 colonies which might become asylums for 

 Protestant refugees in America, in the very same Caro- 

 lina that was the scene of devastation, demonism, despair 

 and death, it came to pass that French settlements were 

 established. In no section, moreover, were the French 

 settlers more numerous and influential. The story of 

 the state cannot be written without them. In the 

 colonial days they ranked among the foremost citizens 

 in public affairs, and in the War of the Revolution they 

 stood in the front ranks of the patriots and soldiers. 

 One has but to mention the name of Henry Laurens, a 

 chief among the men who resented royal tj ranny and 

 carried the Carolinas into line with Massfichusetts in de- 

 fense of human liberty ; and in the army the name of 

 Marion, one of the most romantic figures as well as ef- 

 fective fighters of the Revolution, to prove this. 



Owing to the Spaniards and their hatred of the French, 

 and particularly the Protestant French, it was left for 

 the English, under direction of William Sayle, the first 

 governor, to establish the first permanent settlement in 

 South Carolina. This was at or near Port Royal in 1670. 

 The charter was especially inviting to emigrants. It 

 granted liberty of conscience to every one, and this at a 

 time when in England conformity to the Anglican 

 Church was pressing hard upon many good men, just as 

 in France Roman Catholicism was driving out the Hugue- 

 nots. The civil government of this new colony laid only 



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