The Washington herald., 1907-09-11


siders for a century as a Huguenot city.
There were never many Huguenots. and
they have never been able TO claim nu-
merical ascendancy even here. But no
people have exerted so great an influence
in America IN proportion to their num-
bers.
In the sixteenth century Admiral CO.
ligny sent a colony of French Huguenots
under command OF Slour Jean Ribault 70
ind an asylum in America. They landed
at Port Royal, and named the country
Carolina" IN honor Of King Charles
TX Of France. The colony was an utter
failure. and when Charles II Of England
gave patent to the lords proprietors
there was nothing left of the first Hugue-
not settlement but a broken column cut
with a feur-de-lis. and the names Port
Royal and Carolina.
It was in 1879 that the "towne Of trade. &"
which had been established by the Eng
lish on the west bank Of the Ashley
River. was ordered to be removed to the
peninsula between the Ashley and the
Cooper rivers and to be called Charles
Towne" There Charleston is to-day, oc-
cupying a point. Of land between two
broad rivers The rivers run TO the south
ard. therefore, Charleston IS situated Just
as IS New York. except that there is no
river to cut the peninsula into an island
Charleston was thus founded entirely by
Englishmen. The lords proprietors com
manded the men In the colony to lay out
streets not less than eighty feet wide, and
some of them to be twice that wide. But
there was obstinate objection TO wasting
so much land on highways. Therefore
the streets are extremely narrow in
Charleston until this day
When Charles Towne was just one
year old the influx Of the Huguenots
began. For about six years South Caro-
lima was the haven Of refuge for those
French Protestants who had money and
courage enough to escape from the prose-
cution Of the Church Of Rome after the
revocation Of the Edict Of Nantes. In
South Carolina they found laws which
forbade the Roman Catholic religion. and
the intensely antipapai sentiment Of the
English made them welcome The HUI
guenOt immigration ended in 1885, and
there were only about 450 OF them in
all. South Carolina then had perhaps
$500 other European inhabitants The
Huguenot influence was great from the
beginning
They erected a church as early as 1857,
having organized their congregation six
years before. The successor to that
church stands now on the original site.
and IN the yard about Il are buried the
bodies of those first French refugees and
their descendants. Not all the Hugueuot
influence in society and politics has come
from the HuguenOt church, for many
OF the oldest and most eminent French
families went into the more wealthy and
influential communion OF the Church Of
England and are now identified with the
Protestant Episcopal church. In the
Episcopal burying grounds in Charles
ton one sees the names; Huger, Mazyck,
Horny, and others Of those families who
have given the designation 'Huguenot'
TO their times and customs.
Be that as IL may, one cannot but be
impressed by the little Huguenot church.
There It has stood for two and a quarter
centuries. Elias Prioleau. its first pastor.
IS represented by his llneal descendants
in ths church to this day, and he founded
the long line OF pastors which has reach
ed without interruption TO the Rev
Charles S. Vedder, who has now COM
pleted forty years service as the leader
Of that flock.
The church is unique IN that a majority
OF It's members live away from Charleston.
This is due to the fact that it is the only
Huguenot church on this continent, and
members Of French Protestant families
ali over the nation have desired TO keep
up their church relations. To do this
they have become members OF the
Charleston church. Some OF these absent
members are the grandchildren and great
grandchildren Of Huguenots who left
Charleston years ago. 1t is characteristic
Of them that they cling so tenaCiOusly to
their traditions.
When the lords prOprietors gave South
Carolina a form of provincial government
they were quite liberal for the age. They
permitted the coIonists TO make their own
laws, TO establish their own orders OF no
billty, 10 grant freedom Of religion If they
so desired, but required them 70 establish
the Church OF England as the State relig-
ion. So il was that South Carolina had
an order Of landed nobility. There were
barOns cassiQues and landgraVes The
amount OF land owned was q more I'M
pOrtant consideration in granting a patent
OF nobility and title than was blood and
birth, but all noble lines must sometimes
begin IN common clay. While there are
South Carolinians who trace their families
TO Landgrave Smith. and the like every
body knows that HuguenOt blood is q
proud possession. How few know that
there ever wes such a thing as a South
Carolina baTony?
Dr.. Henry Woodward settled South Car
olina by himself, and when other English
men came he obtained them food from
the friendly Indians to tide them over the
first horrible winter, when they were re-
duced to one pint of "damnified peas" a
day From Woodward are descended the
Haynes. Rhetts, Barnwells Heywards,
and other families eminent IN South Car
Olina history, but when one reads Of the
careers Of Robert Y. Hayne and r. Barn
well Rhstt IN Congress, there is no es-
Gaping the fact always mentioned that
they were of Huguenot blood. These
things show how great has been the In
nuence Of that small colony of French
refugees, whose language and customs
have been blotted out among their own
circles for more than q century but
whose names are proof of their Gallic
blood. and whose characteristic inde-
pendenee and irnpatience of interference
has left its mark not only on the people !
of Charleston, but, through them, on the
history Of the United States.
Epseopalians, Huguenots. Presbv- /
terians, Congregationalists. and other de-
nominations have a history which reaches /
back to the days Of the province in South /
Carolina, but not so the Roman Catbo- /