The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-02-17
Colonial North carolina.

Colonial North Carolina.
 John Fiske, Harper's Magazine.
 At the time of the Revolution the pop ulaiion of North Carolina numbered about 100000, of which somewhat more than one-fourth were negro slaves. The white population was mainly English, but the foreign element was larger than in the case of any of the other colonies which we have thus far considered. There were Huguenots from France, German Protestanss from the Palatinate, Moravians, Swiss, and Scotch, and what we have ts note especially is that this foreign population was in the main far more respectable and orderly than the English majority. The English settlers came mostly from Virginia, though in the southeastern corner of the colony there was a considerable settlement. of Eng l lishmen from the Barbadoes. Now the English settlers who thus came south- ward from Virginia were very different in character from the sober puritans who went northward into Maryland. North Caro- lima was to Virginia something like what Rhode Island was to Massachusetts, receptacle for all the factious and turbu- lent elements of society; but in this case the general character O! the emigration was immeasurably lower The shiftless people who could not make a place for themselves in Virginian society, includ- | ing many of the poor whites,' fiocked in large numbers into North Carolina. They were in the main yer, lawless in temper, holding it to be the lief end of man to resist all constituted authority, and above all things to pay no taxes. The history of North Carolina was ac- cordingly much more riotous and disor- deriy than the history of any of the other colonies. There were neither laws nor lawyers. says Bancroft. with but slight exaggeration. The courts. such as they were. sal often in taverns, where the Judge might sharpen his wits with bad whisky. while their decisions were not recorded. but were simply shouted by the crier from the inn-door or al the near est maTket-place. There were few anna teur surgeons and apothecaries to be found in the villages. but no regular phy- sioians anywhere. Nor does the soul ap- pear to have been better cared for than the body. for II was not until I7o3 that the l first clergyman was settled in the colony The church of England was established by government. without the approval Of the people. who were opposed on princi- pie to church-rates as to all kinds of taxes whatsoever. Owing to this dislike of taxation, most of the people were Dis senters. but no Dissenting churches four lshed Tn the colony. There was com plete toleration, even of Quakers. be- cause nobody cared groat for theology or for religion. The few ministers who contrived to support life in North Caro- lima were listened to in a mood like that in which Mrs. Pardiggle's discourses were received by the brickmakers. while the audience freely smoked their pipes within the walls of the sanctuary during divine service.
 The industries in which these people ] were engaged were more numerous and diversified than the industries ofVirginia but they were all purely agricultural | There were no manufactures. The sim plest and eommoncst articles of daily use were imported from the northern col onies or from England Agriculture was conducted more wastefully and with less intelligence than in any of the other col onies. In the northern counties tobacco was almost exclusively cultivated, but it was of very inferior quality compared with the tobacco of Virginia In the southern part of the colony the principal crops were rice. indigo. and cotton. A great deal of excellent timber was cut :: for the yellow pine of North Carolina was then. as now, famous for its hardness and durability. Tar and turpentine were also produced in large quantities. All this furnished the basis for a flourishing foreign commerce: but the people did not take kindly to the sea, and the carry ing-trade was entirely monopolized by New-Englanders. The fisheries which were of considerable value. were alto gether neglected. All business or traffic about the coast was carried on under per ilous conditions: for pirates were always lowering about, secure in the sympathy of the people, like the brigands of south ern Italy in recent times. It was partly due to this, as well as partly to the wan, of good harborage. that very large part of the commerce of North Carolina was diverted northward to Norfolk or south ward to Charleston.
 Under such conditions as these any thing like town life was impossible. In I776 Wilmington and Newborn were vil- i iages of five or six hundred inhabitants each. Not only were there no towns. but there were very few large plantations with lordly manor-houses like those of j Virginia.