Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-11-18
Aisturp ut $. Garuliua.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
OF THE
Early Settlement of South Carolina.
BY REV. ROBERT LATHAM.

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK.
For many reasons, the increase Of popula-
tion in South Carolina was not 80 rapid as
was desirable, nor 80 great as might have rea.
sonable been expected. In 1924, the popula-
ton was thirty-two thousand, Of which num-
ber fourteen thousand were whites. In 1874,
the population was only thirty thousand, of
which eight thousand were whites and twen-
ty-two thousand slaves. The whites had, in
ten years, decreased six thousand, and the
slaves increased four thousand. Ifthe census
returns of 1884 are correct, it will be difficult
to account for the decrease. The province
was visited, in 1923, by the yellow fever, which
greatly reduced the number Of inhabitants,
and from petition sent up by the people to
the king of England, we are informed that
many families had gone, with their effects, to
North Carolina.
About the time of which we are speaking, it
was it seems, daily occurrence for indvid-
Carolina. The reason of this was the fact,
that up to the time Of the settlement of Geor-
gia, South Carolina was frontier settlement
and exposed, as we have already seen, to the
Spaniards of St. Augustine, and the various
surrounding Indian tribes.
There was another fact which had ten
dency, for time, to retard the growth of the
population of South Carolina. The French,
in 17l2, made settlement at the mouth of
the Mississippi. Louis XIV, granted a
large tract Of country to Crozat. This, as
will be remembered, was within the limits of
the territory granted, by Charles the Second,
to the eight original proprietors, and by their
successors ceded to the Crown of England in
1729 The simple fact that a French colony
had been planted at the mouth of the Misss!'
sippi, was, of itself, a matter of little conse-
quence The distance from South Carolina
was so very great, and land 80 very abundant,
that no very great inconvenience could have
resulted from the settling of a colony of
French at this point. 1t will, however, be re-
memb bered, that France, from an early period,
laid claim to the whole Of the North Ameri-
can continent and, she thought, upon as good
grounds as those by which it was claimed by
England. Louis had no good design in
granting a tract of land to Crozat. This
colony was not content to remain in the neigh.
borhood Of the spot on which it at first To-
Gated, but gradually extended itself eastward.
Forts were built in the territory now occupied
by the present State Of Alabama. In these
forts soldiers were stationed, and from these
strongholds emissares were sent out amongst
the various Indian tribes, for the special pur-
pose of alternating their affections toward the
English. This fact, as much as anything
else retarded the increase of population in
South Carolina, and no doubt tended to
cause it to decrease.
The settlement of Georgia changed the as
poets of things in South Carolina. lmmi-
grants now began to flock in from all quar-
tiers of Europe The eleven townships which
had been, by order of the Assembly, laid out,
were gradually receiving settlers. Germany,
Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, and even
France, as well as England, contributed to
fill the country with inhabitants. In twenty
years after the settlement Of Georgia, the
white population ofSouth Carolina amounted
to thirty thousand, and the slaves to seventy
thousand. The Georgia colony contributed,
both directly and indirectly, to the growth of
South Carolina.
The form of government established by the
Trustees, in Georgia, was, by no means adapt
ed to the circumstances of the people. The
people we're restricted in their agricultural
iabors to the production of wines and silk;
and the first settlers being poor people, col.
lected from the cities of Europe, were totally
unfit for making settlement in the forest.
The result was, many of them became dissat-
fed and crossed the Savannah and became
citizens of South Carolina. In order to OBJ
tain settlers of the proper character for their
colony, the Trustees of Georgia had recourse