The Proprietary Government of'Carolina. any pious desire for the spiritual welfare of the heathen after events too forcefully pro claimed. That they were spurred to the re quest for lands by the prick of their own rapacious desires and selfish interests was also only too clearly made manifest. The souls of the heathen were empty of the gos pel, but the pockets of the Proprietors were not empty of gains. On the granting of the charter to Sir Rob ert Heath the Province of Carolina had been constituted a County Palatine, modeled after the three that had existed in England, those of Durham, Chester and Lancaster. But at this time there was only one remaining, that of Durham, within which the Bishop of Durham, as Palatine, exercised cer tain imperial power, such as the King him self had in his own palace. In plainer words he was " lord of all." He could pardon treasons, murders and felonies, appoint Judges and Justices of the Peace, and all the writs and indictments issued and served throughout the Palatine County had to be in his name, as they were in the King's for the other counties. In the letters patent given to Sir Robert Heath, Charles I. had explic itly declared that he had bestowed upon this favorite, All Rights Jurisdictions privileges preroga tives Royaltyes libertyes immunityes with Royal rights & franchises whatsoever so well by sea as by land within that Region Territory Isles & limitts aforesaid.
Furthermore he was empowered To forme, make, & enact, & publish .... what laws souer may concerne the publicke state of the said province or the private profitt of all according to the wholesale directions of & with the counsell assent & approbation of the Free holders of the same Province or the Major part of them.
The same imperial powers were granted by Charles II. to his Lords Proprietors. The eldest was to be the Palatine; and on his death the eldest of the survivors was always to succeed him. The first Palatine of Caro
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lina was the Duke of Albemarle. The honor should have belonged to the Earl of Claren don, but, when on October 21, 1669, the Pro prietors met in London to organize the Pala tine Court, the Earl of Clarendon was in exile. He had fallen from the favor of his capricious Royal Master. Like Sir Robert Heath, these Proprietors were given authority to make any law " ac cording to their best discretion of and with the advice and assent and approbation of the Freemen of said Province, or of the greater part of them or of their delegates or depu ties." In order to enact laws for the good of all concerned, the Lords Proprietors were to assemble delegates or deputies of the com mon people from time to time " in such man ner and form as to them should seem best." This was truly a most important clause of the charter and in time proved to be the po litical as well as the social salvation of the people of the Province of Carolina. For it gave them the one bit of sure foundation on which to plant themselves in the struggles against the tyrannical provisions of the Pro prietary Code, better known as the Funda mental Constitutions, the Grand Model of Locke and Shaftesbury, to which respects have already been paid in these columns. Their assent, at least, was necessary ere the laws could become constitutionally of force. The Proprietors also had the power of con ferring "certain marks of favor," or titles of honor, upon whomsoever their choice should fall; a privilege unwisely and rashly bestowed, since it led to a state of affairs, of dissatis faction and dissensions, that in the end came near plunging the whole Province into civil war. In order that the government might be all the more acceptable to the sovereign, but chiefly to avoid the setting up of a " too nu merous democracy " — in other words to cur tail the rights and privileges of the common people — the Province was divided into coun ties. Each county had eight seigniories, eight baronies, and four precincts, the pre
