The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-16

variety or strain Of the Eneiish race, and
although Il II hard 10 get documentary evi.
donce touching the origin Of this strain.
tho author submits that tho facts OF It's distrl.
button furnish data for valid differences. What
arc these dathi We have first tho deportation
OF degraded English human beings in large mum.
bcrs to the two oldest of tho southern colonies.
In which there was n demand for wholesale
cheap labor; secondly, the substitution of black
cheap labor for white; thirdly, the tendency OF
tho degraded white human beings to seek tho
frontier, or else to lodge in scquostcred hooks
outside OF tho main currents of progress. Mr.,
Fiske regards the data as sufficient to explain
tho origin and distribution Of the crackers"
but no deems q word of qualification need.
full. Ho would not assume that tho ances.
tors of all the persons designated a,
Crackers" were once white freedmen in Viz.
ginia and Maryland; he deems It more probable
that this class furnished q nucleus about which
various wrecks OF decayed and broken.down
mankind Of many kinds were gradually gath.
cred. Neither does he take II for granted thai
every community Of Ignorant, semi.civilized
white people in the Southern States is do.
seconded from white freedmen. Prolonged isola.
ton from the currents Of thought and feeling
that sway the great world will account for
almost any extent Of ignorance and backward.
ness, and there are few geographical situations
east Of the Mississippi River moro conducive ia
isolation than the southwestern portion Of the
great Appalachian highlands.
".
It seems at first sight q paradox that tho his,
tory Of tobacco can have o distinct relation Ia
the history Of liberty. but Mr.. Fiske finds a ker.
mel of truth in Mr.. Moncure Conway's assertion
that "a true history Of tobacco would BIO the his.
tory Of English and American freedom 1t was,
in truth, tobacco that planted an English nation
in Virginia and made Q corporation in London
so rich and powerful that 1t became q formi.
dable seminary of s%edition; It was the
desire to monopolize tho tobacco trade
that induced Charles II. to recognize
the House of Burgesses; discomfort with
the Navigation act and with Its effect upon tho
tobacco trade was quoted among the causes Of
Bacon's rebellion; and SO on, down to the eve Of
independence, when Patrick Henry won his first
triumph in the famous Parsons Cause, in which
the price of tobacco furnished the bono Of con-
~tention, tho Indian weed has been strangely
implicated with the history Of political freedom.
Mr.. Fiske says further that when we reflect upon
tho splendid part played by Virginia in win.
ming American independence and bringing
u " AioJohO u PoiIiCdi AEahuo"OTh IL our
Federal Republic. and when We recall that, Of
the FIVE founders Of this nation who were foro.
most in constructive work, all but Hamilton
were Virginians. It becomes interesting to 20
back and study the social features of the com.
munity in which such leaders of men were pro.
duced. The economic basis of that community
was tho cultivation of tobacco on large planta-
tions. and from that single economic circum-
stance resulted most Of the social features do
picted in the fourteenth chapter of this work to
which we have already referred.
In the sixteenth chapter Mr.. Fiske explains
how the growth of rice culture in South Caro-.
lima put an end to the relations which had pro-
viously existed between tho settlers of that
province and the pirates. Tho first English
settlements south of Virginia were made ut tho
time (the latter half Of the seventeenth century,
when buccaneering was mighty ana defiant.
They furnished a convenient market for tho
pirates. who wcre apt to be open-handcd Gus.
toners. ready to pay good prices in Spanish
gold, whether for clothes, weapons, and brandy
brought from Europe. or for timber. tar. to-
bacco, rice. or corn raised in America. One
of the Bahama Islands, called New Provi.
dence. had been settled by tho English.
For a time it was annexed to Carolina, just as
the Bermudasw were for a time annexed to vir-
Rinia. Its remarkable facilities for anchorage
and its convenient situation made 1t a favorito
haunt OF pirates. whose evil communications
corrupted the good manners Of the Inhabitants.
Rather than lose such customers tho denizens
of Now Providence befricnded them in every
possible way. so that the island became no
torious as one of the worst nests Of desperadoes
in the American waters. The malady was not
long in spreading to tho mainland. The pirates
had long infested the Carolina coast, which,
with its numerous sheltered harbors and inlets.
N 7ordad avcallapt Iurbtp1 nl,,aa avid g. uvaa
rather a help than q hindrance to them when
settlements began to be made there. For now,
instead of a wilderness. the coast became an ON.
porium where they could buy food, medicine,
tools, and most Of such things as they needed.
So long as they behaved moderately we'll while
ashore, the Carolinians did not deem It neces.
sary to press them with questions as to what
they did on the high seas. 1t is significant that
for at least thirty years after the founding OF
Carolina nearly all the currency In tho colony
consisted of Spanish gold and silver brought in
by freebooters from the West Indies. The colo.
nists. moreover. were impelled to tolerate pi-
racy by tho Navigation laws, which enabled
English merchants to charge exorbitant
prices for goods shipped to America,
and to pay as little as possible for
goods exported therefrom. The contrast boz
tween such respectable customers and tho pfc
rates was entirely in favor of tho latter. who
could afford to be liberal both with goods and
cash. After tho founding of Charleston the
with pirates there were repeatedly
made the subject of complaint in London. In
1854 Robert Quarry, acting Governor of Caro-
lima. was removed from Office for completely
with pirates. His successor. Joseph Morton,
actually gave permission to two Captains to
bring their Spanish prizes into the har-
Dor. Soon afterward John Boon. a mem.
Der of the Council. was expelled for hold.
Ing correspondence with freebooters. At tho
close Of Ludwell's administration 1t was said
that Charleston fairly swarmed with pirates.
against whose ill-gotten gold tho law was pow.
erless. Not until the end of the seventeenth
century did n marked change become visible. In
South Carolina the cultivation of rice had then
reached such dimensions that tonnage enough
could not be found to carry the crop Of 1893
across the Atlantic. AS rice was thus becoming
the chief source of income for South Carolina
people began to be sorely vexed when pirates
captured their cargoes. Besides this. tho