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From the "City Gazette," of Friday, May 12th 1826.

        From the Southern Intelligencer.

             THE FRENCH REFUGEES.

                   NO. II.

     The revocation of the edict of Nantz, obliged above half a million of
Protestants to leave the dominions of Louis, and seek religious liberty in other
countries.
     Their hard fate could scarcely fail to excite the sympathy of all who were
not the subjects of a blind bigotry, or indifferent to the happiness of their
fellow-men.
     In the reign of James II, considerable collections were made for the
Refugees who went over to England; and in that of William $15,000 were voted by
Parliament, "to be distributed among persons of quality and all such as through
age or infirmity were unable to support themselves."  While encouragement was
offered to artificers and manufacturers to settle in Great Britain, and to
others to migrate to America.*
     South Carolina participated in the benefits which the industry and moral
habits of this people afforded to the countries in which they settled.
     From a comparison of the names of the Refugees mentioned in Ramsay's
History of South Carolina, and those contained in the Act of Naturalization of
1696, with a very old manuscript list (which will be particularly noticed
hereafter) we obtain the names of not less than 170 families and individuals who
made this state their asylum, soon after the tyrannical and impolitic act, which
induced them to emigrate.
     A large proportion of the French settled on the south side of Santee River,
where a town was laid out and called "Jamestown."  This portion of country hence
obtained the name of French Santee.  Many settled in Charleston and its
vicinity.  There was also a settlement of them in the part of Berkley County,
called the Orange Quarter, which was afterwards made the Parish of St. Dennis;
and about ten families were settled in St. John's, Berkley.
     All the accounts we have of the Refugees, represent them 

* 1 Hewit's History Carolina, 108.

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as a religious and moral people, making orderly, industrious, and valuable
citizens.
     The Refugees supposed, that in uniting their destinies with those of the
English Colonists, they were securing to themselves the rights and privileges of
citizens; and it is probable that no circumstance occurred for the first year or
two to make them doubt the correctness of that impression.
     We may naturally conclude that the acquisition of lands was among the
inducements held out to the French to come to the province.  They generally
purchased lands, and the circumstances of some enabled them to obtain large
tracts.  They took the oath of allegiance to the king and of fidelity to the
proprietors.*  It is evident that the lords proprietors wished them to be
considered citizens, for during the administration of Governor Ludwell, (about
1691) instructions were received from them, by which he was required to allow
them all the rights and privileges of English settlers, and six representatives
in the assembly of the province.†
     These instructions produced great discontent among the English settlers. 
National antipathies and prejudices are said to have been previously revived;
much unpleasant feeling was now excited; and the intentions of the proprietors
opposed, upon the ground that the Refugees were foreigners, and under all the
disabilities of aliens.
     It was accordingly contended that the proprietors had not authority to
allow them representatives in assembly; that they were not entitled to vote at
elections; nor to the privilege of sitting as jurors; that the titles by which
they held these lands were invalid; and that these disabilities could be removed
only by an act of naturalization.  To these objections was added another, which
as it was connected with their religious tenets, was calculated to excite the
feelings which had already borne so many wounds.  It was said that the marriages
performed by their ministers were unlawful, and that the children of such
marriages were illegitimate.
     These views, which affected so seriously the objects that are dearest to us
on earth, produced considerable solicitude in the minds of the Refugees; and
after consultation amongst themselves, they addressed the lords proprietors on
their difficulties.

* 1 Hewit, p. 10.
† 1 Hewit, p. 111. - 1 Ramsay, p. 44.

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     The lords proprietors instructed Governor Ludwell to inform them "that they
would inquire what does in law qualify an alien born for the enjoyment of the
rights and privileges of English subjects, and in due time let them know; that
for their part they would take no advantage of the present grievous
circumstances of the Refugees; that their lands should descend to such persons
as they thought proper to bequeath them; that the children of such as had been
married in the same way, were not deemed bastards in England, nor could they be
considered such in Carolina, where such unlimited toleration was allowed to all
men by their charter" (1 Hewit, p. 113).
     This favorable reply relieved their anxiety, but affected no change of
sentiment in the English colonists.  The Refugees were not allowed to choose a
representative at the next election, and the English settlers now addressed a
remonstrance to the governor on the privileges claimed by them.  Things remained
in this state when Governor Archdale arrived from England, about 1694-5.  He was
himself one of the proprietors, and had been specially deputed at the suggestion
of Landgrave Smith, to come to Carolina with full power, to settle various
matters of difficulty and discontent in the province.  Among other matters, the
concerns of the Refugees occupied his attention, but such was the state of
public feeling, that he beleived "their exclusion from all concerns in
legislature absolutely necessary to the peaceable convocation of the delegates."
     Lord Archdale belonged to the society of Friends.  He is represented to
have been a man of piety, humanity and intelligence, highly respected and
esteemed by the colonists.  Although he remained in Carolina about 18 months,
and evinced a zealous interest in the welfare of the province, he was unable to
overcome the jealousy existing between the English and French settlers.  Yet it
is remarkable, that within a few months after his departure for England, an act
was passed by the assembly in March 1696-7, for their benefit, entitled "An Act
for making aliens free of this part of the province, &c."*
     This act was founded on an application for naturalization, made by the
Refugees, by the advice of Governor Blake and some other friends.†  We may infer
From its adoption at 

* Trott's Laws. p. 61.
† 1 Hewit p. 139 - 1 Ramsay, p. 51.

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this time, that the disputes between the English and Refugees had other
foundation and support, than mere prejudice and national animosity.  There is no
doubt that these had long been exhibited to a considerable degree; but they were
most probably excited by honest differences of opinion respecting their
constitutional rights.  The principle involved in the claims of the Refugees,
appears to have been the great difficulty.  It is reasonable to suppose that the
one party were reluctant to ask for benefits to which they believed themselves
entitled, and that a just regard to the rights of sovereignty prevented in the
other, an acquiescence in claims to which they deemed their sanction necessary.
     This supposition is strengthened by a review of the act itself.  It
commences with a general clause for the naturalization of aliens, which is
restrained by a proviso in the 3d section, "that no person whatsoever other than
the persons therein expressly named, viz. (63 persons are here named) which have
already petitioned the General Assembly for the liberties, privileges and
immunities aforesaid, shall have any benefit thereby, except such persons shall
within three months next ensuing, petition in writing under their hands the Hon.
Jos Blake, governor, &c. for the same."  The 5th section too, requires "that for
the better manifestation and proof of their having petitioned," Gov. Blake shall
give to each petitioner a certificate of his having done so, and of having taken
the oath prescribed.
     There appears to have been four French Congregations in this colony, viz.:
At Santee, Charleston, Orange Quarter, and St. John's Berkley.  They professed
the doctrines and worshipped according to the forms of the Church of Geneva, But
the distinctive features of three of these Churches, yielded to the arrangements
made by the act of Assembly called "The Church Act," passed in 1706.
     By this act all congregations and places of worship according to the usage
of the Church of England, for the maintenance of whose minister, &c. any certain
income or revenue is established by law, are declared settled and established
Churches.  It then incorporates certain parishes, placing the Churches in them
upon the footing just described.  Among them is "one in the Orange Quarter for
the use of the French settlement there," called the parish of St. Dennis; and
another "in Craven County, in that part of it which is commonly known by the
name of the French settlement on 

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Santee river;" and the Church built in Jamestown was made the parish Church.
     The incorporation of these two settlements appears to have been founded on
an application made by them; and their object must have been the support which
their Churches would derive from the government.
     Mr. Humphreys in his history of the Society for the propagation of the
Gospel in foreign parts, in speaking of the French settlement of Orange Quarter,
says. - "The major part of them usually met together in a small Church, where
they generally made a pretty full congregation when they had a minister among
them; they were poor and unable to support their minister, and made an
application to the Assembly of the province, to be made a parish, and to have
some public allowance for a minister Episcopally ordained, who should use the
liturgy of the Church of England and preach to them in French."*
     In speaking of the settlement at Santee, he says: - "in the year 1706 they
petitioned the Governor and Assembly, to have their settlement erected into a
parish," professing for the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England a
high esteem.†
     As most of the inhabitants of the Orange Quarter and Santee were ignorant
of the English language, the Church act, after reciting that fact, allows them
in conforming to usages of the Church of England, to use the Book of Common
Prayer, translated into French by Dr. John Durell, by order of Charles II, which
had been approved by the Bishop of London.
     The Rev. Mr. Philip De Richbourg was the first minister of the incorporated
Church of St. James' Santee.  He died in 1717, and it was not until 1720 that
another was obtained - the Rev. Mr. Pouderous, a French Clergyman, then took
charge of the parish.‡
     The parish Church of St. Dennis, was built about the year 1708,§ and the
Rev. Mr. Le Piere was the minister.||
     It appears that St. Dennis was included within the bounds of St. Thomas'
parish, and that its being made a separate parish was for the accommodation of
the French inhabitants.  It was, therefore, provided by act of Assembly in 1708,

* Humphrey's Hist. Soc. for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, p.
105
† ditto, p. 118.                ‡ ditto, p. 117.
§ Humph. p. 105.               || Dalcho's Ch. Hist. p. 285.

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(founded it would seem, on the fact of their being an admixture of English then
among them), that whenever the services should be performed in English, the
Church of St. Dennis should become a Chapel of Ease to the parish of St. Thomas
- (Trott's Laws, 155).
     The small French congregation in St. John's, Berkley, appears soon to have
been merged in the Episcopal Church.  In 1707, the Rev. Mr. Maule, a missionary
From the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, took the
charge of the parish.  The English having no house of worship (the parish Church
not having been commenced till 1710,) he used often the small Church of the
French Congregation, which the Rev. Mr. Tuillard, their minister had offered;
and such of the French as understood English went to hear him.*
     The French Calvinistic Church in Charleston only, adhered to its peculiar
worship, and this it continues to do at the present day.  The Church was built
anterior to 1693.†  It appears that the time of worship in this congregation,
was regulated by the tide, for the accommodation of such of them as came to town
by water.  The Governor and council having passed an order that they should meet
for worship at the same hour as the other Churches, they remonstrated against
this exercise of authority, assigning to the lords proprietors as a reason for
the custom they had adopted, the accommodation of the members who lived out of
the town.  The proprietors directed that they should not be interfered with in
this regulation.‡  This Church at an early period acquired a property in some
low lots, which having increased in value, have long afforded an important
revenue.
                                A Descendant of the Refugees.

* Humph. p. 88.                 † Dalcho. p. 23
‡ Dalcho. p. 29


[to be continued ...]

-------
Spelling and capitalization all sic, forgiving any transcription errors.

Transcribed from a copy of an original in the holdings of the Caroliniana
Library in Columbia, South Carolina, by Steven James Coker, another descendant
of the Refugees.

Catalog number:
s.c. 
p975.793
R19l
1868

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